“It’s just shopping…not an emergency room”

I thought by now, being a few days after Christmas, the shops would be less busy. Working in retail, I get the experience (wouldn’t say fortunate) of working with the public. Usually I am in the back room, away from the public so I don’t really have to answer questions. I prefer it that way. I don’t know the way around the store, and I’m usually just filling stock. I do sometimes have to go on the floor, and converse with customers. I try to avoid it at all times, but sometimes, if I’m walking from one place to another, someone will stop me to ask a question.

Today, I was walking from the footwear department to the home entertainment department (I work in home ent.) and an older woman stopped me. She wanted to know where these certain sandals were. I couldn’t really just say “I don’t know…” So I said “your guess is good as mine, I’m not familiar with this area.” I don’t think she cared. She wanted me to find them, and at that moment. We looked around for a couple of minutes, and then I said “I don’t think we have them.” She said “well, I came here specificially to get these sandals and you don’t have them. Is there a way we can get them?” I didn’t know, so I ended up asking a woman at lay-by for some assistance. She said that yesterday, a woman had asked for the same shoes, but our store didn’t order them. So there were none. So the customer wanted us to ring other stores to have it sent to this store. Come to find out, we can’t have other stores send items to this store unless it’s over 20.00. The item was 12.00. The woman at lay-by was much more helpful and much more willing to help. When the customer realized I wasn’t from that department, I think she felt kind of dumb. I kept trying to help out, but every time I gave her an answer, it didn’t seem like it was good enough for this woman. ANY WONDER why I hate working with customers!!

So I was busy working later on, and T (I’ll say) was walking beside me. She’s usually a real “harsh” with her tone and her personality. She’s got a stern look, and always seems like she’s out to get someone. She’s in charge of accounting, and so I know that today must have been a busy day for her. She asked how I was doing, at the same time, I asked how she was doing. She said that she was so ready to go home. She proceeded to tell me that she couldn’t stand customers on hot days. It was as if the cranky mood was put on full blast, with most of the customers. If someone didn’t get help right away, they’d get out of joint. She then said “it’s just shopping. I swear people think this is the emergency room, and if they don’t get help right away, then they’ll die. I said “tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter..” She just rolled her eyes and said “oh great, another eventful day we’ll have tomorrow.”

I guess the moral of the story is…I know we’re all consumers. So if you’re in a store, and the store doesn’t have what you want, or the store or an employee has done something to tick you off..just take a deep breath. Don’t get your knickers in a twist, and realize that they too are humans. Just because you may be a customer and that most of the time you’re “always” right..that we don’t deserve to be abused and treated rudely. Granted, there are some rude workers, but we try our best to accommodate to your needs. So don’t think that your sh*t doesn’t stink, because mate, it DOES. At the end of the day, we’re all the same, so don’t treat us differently just because we’re working in retail.

-current mood-MY FINGERS ARE BLOODY SORE..opening safers for cds is hard on the ol' fingers, especially if they don't want to open.