The Rudest Customers

Grocery Store Shoppers.

When I was young I thought working in a grocery store would be a fun job, so when I got a job at the customer service desk in one a few years ago I was really excited about it. Oh was I ever wrong. It was not the pleasant customer interaction I had envisioned at all. My co-workers were often unpleasant and surly, and management were a bunch of ill breed baffoons. And the customers, my goodness, the customers, how can I say it? What a horrible lot.

Most people know that you don't mistreat the people who are handling your food, and those who don't understand this rule, well I pity you, you are a fool. At the customer service desk though, all bets are off. A day at the desk meant, selling people cigarettes, lottos, movie rentals, money orders and taking returns. One would think the people trying to return items they are displeased with would be the majority of the problem, but no, most of them were unusually polite as they should be. Most of the returners were scamming anyway, so they didn't want to draw attention to themselves in a negative light. These were the people who would bring in a quarter of a loaf of moldy bread expecting a refund, which was then taken next door the liquor store for a pint of some horrible tasting cheap liquor.

No, surprisingly, the most memorable mean customer was an old lady wearing too much rouge. This woman walked up to my desk one day asking for money orders, for "a hundred and thirty". I said, "you want a money order for a hundred and a thirty?" And it went like this:

Old lady: Scowls, "That's what I said, a hundred and thirty"

Me: "So, a money order for 100 and a money order for 30?"

Old lady: Snarls, "That's what I said, what are you some sort of idiot?"

Me: Glance at my supervisor who is observing the exchange

Old lady: Growls, "What are you looking at her for? She's an idiot too."

Supervisor: "Don't bring me into this, I'm just standing here."

Old lady: "What's wrong with her?" (points at me) "Is she stupid or something?"

Me: "Ok, so two money orders then?"

Old lady: "What an idiot!"

Supervisor: (wanders off)

That's how it went. Later that day, one of my nicer co-workers came in and I told her about the exchange with the customer, and she said, "Well, you would have to be stupid to work here."

My supervisor who seemed nice the first few days, got mean thereafter. There was a point that she treated me like a person, and then, one day, she stopped. I came in one day, and she said, "You stocked the cigarettes wrong." I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, what did I do wrong?" She showed me and then said, "And don't LET it happen again." I laughed, and said, "oh all right." and smiled, and she looked me straight in the face without even a hint of a smile and said, "I'm not joking.'' And she wasn't.

I walked past the Store Directors office one day, and overheard her speaking to one of her henchmen, err I mean managers. The conversation went like this:

Manager: "so and so called in sick"

Director: "tell him if he calls in again he could be fired"

Manager: "it's his first time"

Director: "let him know now that we don't tolerate people calling in"

Then there were the soccer moms. They came in with a gaggle of pre-teen girls, decided to skip standing in line at the check out and instead walked up to my desk and dropped about 40 pieces of candy on the counter. Our registers were sort of dated, and there was not a function to ring up multiple items at the same time. So, I started ringing them up, and the really pushy soccer mom sniffed and sighed and finally said, "What the hell? Can't you ring them up all at once?" I said, "No, we don't have that function on our register." I know because I had asked about it before these two bimbos had ever shown up at my desk. Here's how it went after that:

Snotty Soccer Mom: (rolls eyes) "Oh my God, this is ridiculous, you've got to be kidding me."

Me: "Sorry, there just isn't an @ function for several items at once"

Snotty Soccer Mom: (smirks, rolls eyes, expresses utter annoyance) "I'm sure there has to be, maybe you just don't know what you're doing!!"

Me: "Well, if you like I could call a manager and see if she can help"

Snotty Soccer Mom: (shakes head, rolls eyes) "There's got to be a faster way to do this"

Me: "One moment, let me call a manager" I'm doing that now just to piss her off, since she's so impatient, I figure she'll just love waiting on a manager.

Snotty Soccer Mom: (looks at her friend in disbelief) "This is ridiculous!"

Me: (laughing inside because every time she complains it takes longer to ring her up)

Me: (on the phone with manager) "Could you come to the desk, am having a problem with register, the customer would like to know why I can't ring up multiple items at once."

Manager: "tell her we can't do that"

Me: "could you please come and tell her, she's really mad, and doesn't believe me"

Manager: (sighs) "all right, I'll be there in a minute."

Me: (walk back over to register/customer) "A manager is coming to help you, since I apparently can't do it right" (walk away)

Snotty Soccer Mom: (looks about to blow)

Manager: (shows up about 5 minutes later)

Snotty Soccer Mom: (highly annoyed) "I can't believe this! Why can't she ring up my items at once?"

Manager: "our register cannot ring up multiple items at once ma'am"

Blah blah blah, manager makes me finish ringing her up.

Snotty Soccer Mom: (BITCH personified) "I can't believe how long this took!"

Me: (beyond caring at this point) "Would have taken a lot less time if you had just let me do it how I was doing it"

Snotty Soccer Mom: Hrrumph!

Believe it or not, every day was much more of the same. I worked at that job for 6 weeks, and finally, I called them one day and said, "Hey, I'm not coming back." I had a very strong job lead, which I later got, and I told those horrible people at that grocery store to kiss off. To this day I have not stepped back in that store, and I refuse to shop there, no matter what they have on sale. My friends and family secretly shop there behind my back, but I won't. It's the principle of the thing, I know I'm not affecting that stores sales at all, but I simply cannot bring myself to walk through those doors of unhappiness ever again.

I've worked fast food, I've worked day care, retail, and other types of places, but the grocery store was the worst as far as the customers went. The day care was awful beyond words as the management went, they were just terrible to us, but serving customers at that grocery store jaded my view of the public forever.

This Crazy Thing

I Have It.

I did something that might just have me branded a nut by many standards. A few months ago, I quit my job and am now attending college full-time. It's something I have wanted to do for many years now, and there just came a point where it seemed possible.

So, I'm that student. You know, the one who always has their homework done, the type who speaks with the instructor as if we are somehow on equal footing, the kind that asks questions in class, and will even contribute to discussion. Yeah, the annoying older student that I remember just couldn't seem to fail when I was that sleepy eyed kid years ago.

Well, I don't remember things like I did when I was 18, I've noticed that for sure. However, in some subjects, the second time around seems much easier. I listen better, study longer, and take the whole thing so much more seriously than I did when I was young. However, I doubt myself constantly, and wonder what type of fool I am to go back to school at my age.

The instructors, it seems, have a love/hate relationship with non-traditional students. They seem to love that many of us require little guidance, that we do the work, and are present for class. They seem to hate that we don't shut up, that we don't slurp up their opinions like spaghetti, and that their classes are merely speed bumps for many of us.

I try not to talk too much, ask too many questions, or contribute to discussion too much. I try not to come across as a know-it-all, or to confront or disrespect the instructor even if they deserve it. I do understand that this information is new to some people, and avoid making an ass out of myself whenever possible. The way I see it is, I had my turn when I was young to be naive, clueless, and immature, and I mean no insult by that. In some ways, that is the audience the instructors are trying to reach, not the old fart know-it-alls that never shut up. They focus on the kids, and that's where it should be.

Oh I've got plenty to learn don't get me wrong, I just have to remind myself of that now and then. A couple of my classes have been quite humbling. Going back to school at just shy of 40 is humbling in itself, and my doubts, they don't ever go away. The discussion in my head is a constant battle of reassuring myself that I can do this, that it's not a fools errand, and that everything is going to work out swell. I can say this, I've experienced more happiness in each and every day of going to school, than I did doing the job I had. So, there is that, even if I'm still sort of crazy for doing this.

What's even more silly of me, posting that I was going to post, and then not doing it. I don't know when I thought I was going to post anything besides in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping. I hope none of my instructors find my blog. My English teacher calls them "those dreadful blog things".