I've been working the box office this week, and of course I was a waitress and bartender and caterer for many years, and I have always said that the problem with a job where you have to deal with the general public is that the general public are a bunch of assholes. Do you deal with the public?

-- Kymm (hedgehog@hedgehog.net), July 13, 2000

Answers

Not any more, thank God! I was in retail for eight long, agonizing years, and hated every minute of it! I hated those damn snotty college sorority girls who always looked down their noses at us, like we were so far below them because they were in college and we were working in a clothing store. It killed me, because I had a Bachelor of Arts degree, and had ten times more class in my little finger than theyll ever have in their lifetimes, but I had to be nice, polite, and helpful to those little bitches! They always came in Friday nights and bought outfits to wear out to the bars, then brought them back in over the weekend and returned them. The clothes reeked of smoke and had obviously been worn, but theyd kept the tags on, and the company policy was a hideous No Questions Asked return policy. It sucked; especially when we (temporarily) sold underwear. Shudder! I later worked in a Factory Outlet store near a resort town, and that was a nightmare, too. One word: Tourists! Oh, and those arrogant, late-middle-aged, pot-bellied men - doctors and lawyers mostly - who thought they were just so damn funny, and so damn important. Luckily, I got out before I went Postal and killed a bunch of people. Now Im a Paralegal, and Ill (hopefully) never have to deal with the public again!

-- hez (lmjaliashez42@hotmail.com), July 13, 2000.

My public dealings now are nothing compared to that joyous college experience of being a stock person and cashier at Radio Shack. It's amazing how customers seemed to be drawn to me as soon as I was perched on a rickety stepladder hanging the advertising signs.

CUSTOMER: "Excuse me, Sir, can you tell me what type of connector cable I need for..."

ME: "Why don't you ask one of the other 10 employees who are currently standing around the stereo area doing nothing, and incidently not about to fall over and topple the pyramid of minispeakers."

-- Mike (m_is_for_mike@hotmail.com), July 13, 2000.

Well, since my customers are all convicted felons or relatives of same, I've got a bigger bunch of assholes to deal with than most of y'all. And I'm not allowed to be rude to them, either. What I do instead with out of control clients is turn on my Mom Voice: "Please don't interrupt me. I listened to you, now you need to listen to me. If you keep interrupting me, this conversation is over." "Please don't use that language with me. I'm not swearing at you." (And you all know how I'll just MELT if someone says "fuck" to me or calls me a cunt, right? Shyeeah, right.) "I'm sorry that I can't give you the answers you want, but I am not the one who put you in this situation. I am doing my best to get you out of it, but you haven't left me much to work with."

Obviously I don't do that unless someone is calling me every day to call me an incompetent bitch. It's usually pretty successful, though; lots of criminals have mommy issues, and mom guilt works pretty well.

Man, I am a manipulative bitch, aren't I?

-- Beth (beth@xeney.com), July 13, 2000.

Funnily enough, I was thinking of you, Beth, when I posed this question! Because when it comes right down to it, there are rude people in restaurants and people who think that they should get free theatre tickets because they clearly walk on water, and then there are people calling their lawyer from jail.

-- Kymm Zuckert (kymmz1@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

I work for a staffing agency (temp service). I have lost all my faith in humanity. I walked in here thinking I would make people happy because, hey, who doesn't want a job and make a successful life? Well, I'll tell you what, there is a class of people who will work just enough to get their next 6 pack of Old Milwaukee (sorry Deb but it's cheap beer here) or their next dime bag. I've been called a racist bitch, an upper class white bitch, and a rich c*** who's never know suffering. One time I was told by a woman that her children were starving because I wouldn't find her a job. I wish I could tell these people that I was poor growing up and that I do know what suffering is but I just decided to get off my ass and change my life. I'm so looking forward to get back to a job in a lonley little back cubicle somewhere.

-- Amy T. (als918@aol.com), July 13, 2000.

Like most people, my first job was in retail. I really liked working with the general public most of the time, but I couldn't live on retail pay.

For the past five TV seasons I've been working part time (two nights a week) as an audience page for sitcom tapings (and the odd awards show) and again, I really enjoy it. Meeting people from all over the country (and world) is a blast, and they're always interested in the production process. Of course I've gotten my share of assholes, but I can always pass them on to the head page (who oversees us regular pages). That's the main reason I've never asked to be a head page. Too many assholes and too much responsibility for very little money.

But I could never work a purely customer service job. Who wants to deal with people whose only reason for contacting you is to complain?

-- Carol (webgal@ordinarygoddess.com), July 13, 2000.

Oh, Amy, sometimes to help fill the audience, we have groups from temp agencies come in. Now, I worked as a temp for a couple of years (for a number of reasons) and I know there are plenty of temp workers that are everyday, normal folks. But most of the people in those temp groups...well, let's just say there's a reason why they don't have a regular job.

-- Carol (webgal@ordinarygoddess.com), July 13, 2000.

That's what I found back when I was temping! I would be offered a permanent position every single place that I temped, and they always raved over my doing very ordinary work, like being able to alphabetize was genius work. I was temping because I wanted to, so I always refused, but I wondered what kind of horrors they usually got!

-- Kymm Zuckert (kymmz1@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

I did customer service, retail management, and collections for about ten years, all told, and I hated every minute of it.

Not so much the "trouble" customers; those I could handle. If you're endlessly polite and firm and articulate, you can usually win them over.

No, it's the inanity of having to interact with people who, for some reason or another, want to impress you, make you laugh, make you LIKE them. THAT'S tedious. After a long day, it's hard to smile at anyone, no matter how charming s/he thinks s/he is.

As for temping: Kymm, I was in the same boat. Every time I went in for a temp position, I'd be offered a permanent job. Even when I first started temping right out of my freshman year of college and couldn't type, I was offered permanent work. The people lined up to take skills tests in temp agencies are some of the most frightening people out there.

-- Patrick (xingcat@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

okay, i think that anyone who works in a law office, much like myself, has got to know what assholes there are out there. and i work in personal injury. so pile on the asshole extra thick, cause we've got em. if you're crazy-psycho, a total loser, a thief, a co- dependent alcoholic, a junkie whore (yeah, we have one of those) or anything else you can think of...you are a client of ours. and yeah, you're all assholes. :)6y7

-- Linsey (writergirl76@hotmail.com), July 14, 2000.

I used to work at a local video store, and god, if I never have to deal with customers again, I will be a mighty happy camper. People bringing back tapes FIVE days late, then blinking in shock when we tell them they have a late fee, coming in and demanding a copy of whichever movie was just released in the theatres and throwing a fit because we don't have one, the neverending stupid questions (Do you rent movies? No, the five foot by five foot signs for our rental fees on the windows are just lures to draw you in. Do I have to have a membership to rent movies? No, of course not! You look honest, take what you want! Where are the new releases? Do you think maybe the HUGE flashing neon sign that says new releases might help guide your way? And my favorite, when the doors first open at 9.00am, Can you break a hundred??)

Cannot tell you how much I loved that job. I actually had a woman throw (!!) a metal sign at me(!!) because I told her she had 1.99 in late fees!

-- Saundra (headspace@anywherebeyond.com), July 14, 2000.

The first time I fled retail at the ripe old age of 18, I believe I said, "I'm never fucking doing THAT again!" Let me take you back *wavy flashback effects* to Christmas-time, 1988. The incident that started it all.

I had just been hired at Osco Drug and I was 17, still bright eyed and sorta fluffy. This meant that I smiled at ALL of my customers, and wished all of them a happy holiday season. (And god knows THAT phrase rolls so well off your tongue after saying it to a few hundred people who would rather die than make eye contact with you.)

Enter Bitter Rage Guy, who came up to my register and laid his purchases down which I remember as a Goody comb and rolling papers (this could be apocryphal). He looked me up and down and tried to pick up on me. He was a short guy with neatly combed hair, a mustache and a really unhealthy air of tension topped by a thin film of holiday cheer.

My response to his aura of rage and his leering was to laugh nervously and mentally shove him towards the door. Neither worked. He hung around my register asking me questions despite the grumbling from the customers who were stacked 10 deep behind him.

Finally, and out of desperation, I said I needed to help the next customer and for him to have a happy holiday season.

He looked at me strangely and replied that he didn't have any family and hadn't ever.

I froze, sensing the danger but not recognizing it for what it was. What I said was,"Gee, I'm sorry to hear that. Have a happy holiday anyway." What the hell else was I going to say?

This wasn't the answer he was hoping for. I think he was expecting me to offer up my lily-white virginal ass as a pity prize for him. When that wasn't forthcoming, he exploded, calling me a stuck up bitch. He called attention to my eye shadow, my perm, and said that he knew what a little cunt like me needed. He eyed me significantly after he said the c-word and stalked off.

That started the year long cycle where he would buy a few dollars of of merchandise and go through my line to be checked out. He never said a word, but he would stare me down like he was picturing how I would look in a shallow grave.

After he mysteriously disappeared (he went to prison for a sex offense, what a shocker) I was treated to another pervert who wandered in drunk and showed me a sheaf of anal porn magazines and explained to my manager he was "picturing [me] naked". I ran crying to the back and my managers both thought I was being a wimp. As if any 17 year old girl needed that kind of shit from the perverts and then the derision of her superiors. That was when I became a bad seed, the employee from hell. I never smiled. I grunted at friendly customers. I rolled my eyes. I hid from customers needing help. Eventually I quit.

Seven years later, during my second stint in retail, I was confronted with a tootless man whose wife cowered behind him as he cussed me out. I told him to fuck off and to grow a dick, and I walked out. And I will never work in retail again. I'll whore first.

-- Blanche Blank (Mireillie@yahoo.com), July 14, 2000.

Um, the guy I told to fuck off was "toothless", not "tootless". The shame, the shame.

-- Blanche Blank (Mireillie@yahoo.com), July 14, 2000.

I used to be the person who was on the other end of Sear's customer service so if you wanted a yellow refrigerator and you got a blue one, you called me. you called me if they were late. You called if it was the wrong appliance, and you certainly called me if the delivery guys were delivering a pool table and dropped it on your marble floor and cracked it ( poor baby). I also handed out audio cassettes at the Faberge Egg Exhibit, "this button makes it go, this button makes it stop, and yes, the headphones are Lysol-ed each night."

-- Isis (tangp@stratos.net), July 14, 2000.

Geez, am I the only person on the planet who enjoyed working with the public? ;D

I'm not saying it was all roses, but I generally didn't let the idiots get to me. Very early in my working life one asshole did cause me to go into the bathroom after my shift and cry, but after that I just decided I wasn't going to let them to that to me again. Assholes will be assholes and I wouldn't let their problems fuck up my life.

The one time I had to deal with customers in a consistantly high volume store (Sav-on Drugs) I quit after working one month. It was only a part-time gig and $6/hr wasn't worth it.

I wouldn't mind working part-time in a little boutique, though I expect the level of rude would actually go up a notch.

-- Carol (webgal@ordinarygoddess.com), July 14, 2000.

Does working in a call center count as working with the general public?

I ask because I currently work as a customer service representative at an HMO. While I do get my share of idiots, it's 10 times better than the last two places I worked at. One of them was at a discount phone company. Those customers were real winners ::heavy sarcasm:: People would call and curse me out because their phones were turned off for non-payment and they'd want us to restore their service without any payment, people calling and complaining about the rates, etc. I lasted six months. Another place I worked at was as a switchboard operator for a major investment banking firm. The other employees there looked down on the operators because they got paid more and had fancier titles. Don't know how I lasted two years there, but I did.

And Amy, I know where you are coming from where temp work is concerned. I temped for a while and half the time, I would be offered permanent positions. In fact, I was a temp for a month at my current position before they asked me to stay on permanently. As if being polite and arriving to work on time were extraordinary attributes. If they think I'm so great, it's not hard to imagine what their opinion was on other temps.

Vena

-- Vena (ladyv_39@yahoo.com), July 15, 2000.

I think it's a rite of passage for high school and college aged kids to work in some type of retail establishment. I sold really ugly, not well made clothing to unsuspecting boys/men trying to stay boys at that 80's mecca: Chess King. My favorite customer: the boy who asked me to hold his toothpick while he tried on pants. I was laughing so hard I had to run to the employee bathroon to avoid wetting myself. Second favorite customer: I had the luck of being scheduled to work during the onset of a hurricane. Unbelievably, there were quite a few people out shopping, despite the storm warnings. ABout an hour into the storm, the mall lost power, requiring all the stores to manually crank down their respective gates and shut down. One woman demanded that she be able to purchase a t-shirt. Myself and the manager calmly explained that without power, not only could we not ring up her purchase, but we couldn't even open the cash register drawer to get her change. SHe stood there throwing a fit for 10 minutes. Of course, the karma gods struck swiftly -- as I ran through the monsoon-like rains to get to my car and get home, I saw her at her car -- she had parked under a newly planted tree, and said tree had been freshly retransplanted through the windshield of her car.

-- Kathy S (ksinniger@comdt.uscg.mil), July 17, 2000.

is it ok for me to be here even though i'm not one of your on-line journalers? hope so...

anyway, my entire job is dealing with the public. i'm a librarian, and if ONE MORE person ever tells me what a nice quiet job that must be, there will be an incident that'll make the newspapers. the public includes snotty teenagers, latchkey kids, weirdos, nuts, the psychotic... i have delt with paranoid schitzophrenics telling me they are being followed by communists. i have delt with fist fights in the branch, and kicked-in doors. thats forgetting the just plain rude so-called normal people. and all through everything, i have to keep smiling and be nice, cause after all, i'm a librarian!

there. is that whiny enough for my first post here?

-- nicole (nicolemrw@go.com), July 17, 2000.

I have worked with the public for twelve years now. I cannot tell you the sorrows they bring me. I started in a grocery store, which was great at first. You wouldn't believe what those middle-aged housewives wore to get groceries. Half my shift I couldn't even stand up *lol*. Then I got the assholes. "Boy, where can I find such-and- such" I hated being called boy. On my last day, I got someone who said to me "Alright, kid, let me tell you what you're going to do. You're going to fetch me The dozen LARGE eggs and a gallon of SKIM milk because you changed your fucking layout and I can't find a fucking thing" to which I replied "No, I'll decide what I am going to do. And right now I am going to walk off of this job after telling this fat piece of shit in front of me who shouldn't even be eating eggs for fear he'll soon fall through the fucking floor to get bent and get fucked, and to kiss my ass and fuck off because HE is going to FETCH his own goddam Large eggs and his own goddam SKIM milk" Then I clocked out and went home, only returning for my last check. The tyrant manager was pissed, but the other employees were estatic about what I had done to the men. They had all heard about it. That made the manager even more pissed. Who cares? Then I went to work for Sears. To the person who had to work their complaint line, I can only begin to feel your pain. I actually had a call from them once. I was a Sales Manager at one of their scratch 'n' dent appliance outlets right after high school. (I wonder what the qualifications must be) This guy had come in and pulled a sexist act with one of my clerks. He wanted her to "cut her a deal" and called her a cunt when she wouldn't. She ran off crying. Then I came out and he started to berate me because I "was the manager" and why can't I "control that little fucking twat's mouth". I told him he was an asshole and I told him he had better go before I decked him or called the cops. I had to finally call the cops to get this guy out. I thought the matter was over with, but an hour later I cad a call from the customer service line, or "Golden Opportunities" as it was called. We all called it "Golden Showers", because that's what it translated to. The young lady explained to me that he had been treated unfairly and rudely refused a discount, and that he had been removed by the police for asking for a discount. I told her that he was just an asshole, and what he had done to my salesgirl. I told her that "if that bald fucker ever enters my store again, I'll have him arrested" and that he was lucky that the clerck had opted out of charges for harrassment, verbal assault and a suit for sexual harrassment. I told her that this guy was a jerk and had gotten what he deserved. Then she said to me "Why did you have to say that, he's listening in" and I told her "Well, that's what you get for being sneaky. I'll have my boss call yor boss in the morning" and then I hung up on her. I never heard anything out of it after that. And I did have the store manager cal golden showers and report her. I think she got fired. Now I work in a motel. We get lots of government workers. They suck. Only met three decent ones. The worst ones, as usual, are a toss-up between the baby boomers and the geriatrics. The boomers are rude, pompous and loud. The geriatrics are just plain crabby and obnoxious. They whine about not getting their measly discounts a week or so after they're gone, they whine about being kept up all night by a group of rowdy kids. WHen I ask them "Why didn't you tell me last night when I could have done something about it" the only answer they have, if any at all, was "I didn't want to complain and get someone thrown out". All I can really tell them at that point is that they aren't getting anything off, and that their own stupidity for not complaining when I could have done something about it got them what they deserve. They want to pack 10 people in one room (they're only allowed five by the fire marshall) and they don't want to pay for the extra occupancy. And they think I'm really going to be upset if they take their business elsewhere. Please.

-- Danny (dr_funky@excite.com), December 08, 2000.

This goes out to first time poster Nicole.... I hear you. I am a public librarian as well (young, masters degree the whole shi-bang)...and I work at a downtown location... which is right across the street from a YWCA, a battered women's shelter, a drop in center and a reaclaimation center for convicts. I have felt your pain as I have broken up arguments, fist-fights, been privy to viewing public masturbation, hands going into places they shouldn't belong (in a public setting anyway), crazies, homeless, schizos and conspiracy theorists of all sorts (one guy even claims our library is a hive for aliens and telepaths and that we not only put him into a coma ritualisticly burn him but we are also chemically castrating him - I wish!).

It's gotta make you bitter.

Maybe we should start a support group for librarians suffering fates similar to ours?

Counting down the heartbeats until an academic library job opens up.

-- Brian (hmbprod@yahoo.com), July 18, 2001.

Try to fuck more men. You'll be all the better for it. Love and kisses, Minni

-- Minni the Ho (Minni_Ho@knxmail.com), January 10, 2002.

I worked retail\sales for a number of years, and generally found people to be nice, maybe a little stressed sometimes, but generally OK. There was however, one time when I was verbally lashed by a customer, but it had a great ending. I was straightening shelves at a Fred Meyer, and I did not notice the lady who had come around the corner and was standing behind me. She said, "No, you're not in my way!". I turned to her and said, politely, "Excuse me, I didn't know you were behind me.". She then proceeded to go off on me for about three or four minutes on how all she had gotten since she walked in was terrible service, blah, blah, blah. It was at that time that the customer standing about halfway down the aisle said, "Hey lady. You'd probably get better service if you weren't such a fucking bitch!". I couldn't believe it. It was the first time that I had seen true justice in action! In one swoop I had seen the worst and the best of humanity! So really, some people do sympathize with us

-- Wes Mauer (sqpgame@hellahivemind.com), January 15, 2002.

I love working with the public, as a party DJ for a local bar there was nothing I loved more than making a big crowd happy wathing them cram money in my tip jar. :oD

-- Ray Watkins (rayadj67@hotmail.com), January 16, 2002.

Listen, all of you. Lick my hairy ass and suck my greasy dick.

Dick Dunn

-- Dick Dunn (hxm90313@hotmail.com), April 21, 2002.

I've been a clerk at the library for 15 years. I've worked inner city and the ritzier areas of town. While the inner city has it's share of bleeding patrons who say they've talked to the Virgin Mary and have come in to ask if the newspaper in town would be interested in the story (I'm not making this up) the Yuppies win hands down for priviledged arrogant "I'm entitled to this" ass bag behavior. I would rather deal with a baker's dozen of the illiterate, the unwashed and the toothless than one homeschooling cow who doesn't understand that while she's raising her passle of sociopathic misfits to shun public interaction, she must yes indeed pay her damn $1.20 fine and NO I don't give a rat's anal canal if she does think she renewed them over the phone last week, she's WRONG stupid and UGLY so she can get the hell out of my face and go down to the bookstore and try buying those textbooks for a buck twenty. At least the poor and downtrodden want to be helped and they respect our hard work. The well off think they could do our job but they're too "busy". HA!

Boy look who had a bad day at work! :)

-- Sophia (sophia2206@hotmail.com), September 26, 2002.

A call center does certainly qualify as working with the public. People are particularly agressive when they don't have to look you in the eye. Now that customer care calls are routed to our center it's 10 hours a day of bitching pissin and moaning. Everybody wants to use their service but not pay their bill. And then scream at me when I can't send them $300 worth of equipment free because they haven't paid their bill! Well go ahead rant and rave at me over the phone. Ive got you on mute. Put you on speaker. We're all laughing at you. You ignorant, warty-assed, inbred, illiterate, no bill reading, I aint got checking account, hillbilly, rednecked, mother f*!#er!

-- lorene (simah_down_na@yahoo.com), November 09, 2002.

I used to work at a video store(clerk,ass't mgr.for a little while) Most customers were normal people who didn't give me any more guff than anyone who ,say, gets gasoline,gives the gal his cash,and leaves the gas station.no prob. but, the significant minority of felons,losers,imbiciles,freaks,lowlifes,and self-important elderly gasbags were enuff to drive someone nuts.I think what it is is POWER AND CONTROL.People know that service employees must be absolutely polite and professional at all times.Therefore,they vent their frustrations at people who are helpless to retaliate,and they say things to clerks and cashiers that few people would dare say to their worst enemy.People think they have power over those who they can verbally abuse.I used to work on the basis of the "1st amendment theory"-- customers are free to say anything they want to say,but I will enforce the policies of the store regardless of what they say.And if they don't like it,there is another video store within the length of two football fields away.I trned against the video business in a major way after 9/11;after that point,I could no longer care if losers and freaks and grumpy old retards watched movies or not.

-- jeff governale (axiologyguy@yahoo.com), December 26, 2002.

I fully agree with the entire lot of you and your stories about retail and how it is truely a pathetic excuse for a job. I've worked alot of retail, and all that it has amounted to is, that you become a net for other peoples frustrations and problems. I worked at Radio Shack for a couple of years off and on, and discovered that I do get a sense of pride for helping your customer. Now, when you describe the average customer, you would have to say that the average includes it's hefty sort of misfits, freaks, and of course drug addicts. I know this because, I used to drive a couple of minutes out of my way into the next county to work at a store with good sales, and thus good commission. However, I quickly learned at this store, that you must keep a watchful eye on every person who enters the door. And NOT because they are going to steal a boombox, a tv or a freaking cellphone. But because they want to steal lithium batteries, why??? Because they are intent on only one thing, the ingredients to cook meth. It is extremely pathetic to see a group of two guys and a girl walk into your store, and having them ask where the lithium batteries are, I tell them, that they are behind the counter, and then they ask to purchase two or so pack(Seperately each of them). You must realize that these batteries cost around $15 dollars for 4 batteries, I always ask them what they need them for, incase I can recommend a samely priced non-lithium rechargable or a much cheaper alkaline. You would think, that three seperate people entering a store together and conversing together, would get there stories straight, but they have ignorance to tell me different reasons why they want to buy the batteries, The first guy tells me, he wants to put them in his remote control, because he's heard he won't have the change the batteries in them for years(And this excites him). I say... Okkk..... and I sell him a pack, he leaves without his friends and waits outside. The next two people then move on to also request to purchase a pack, and tell me it's for there son's Radio Controlled car. I offer to sell them a newer Radio Control car that runs on rechargable battery packs, offering them the features of the much cheaper cost of operation, knowing well that they want the batteries for only one purpose that isn't for a toy. They of course offer some mild interest and then decline. I sell them the batteries and they are off. The store is $45 greater in sales, and these poor fools will get there fix. This kind of thing happened so much, local police detectives started leaving there cards with us, and asking us to report liscense plate numbers etc on there behalf. So the question is, why... for an average of maybe $7/hour would I want to have to deal with drug addicts, being a snitch, and rude customers? Oh and did I mention that when I worked there you had to ask EVERY FREAKING customer for there name and address...(Fall below 90% and you get a warning, 80% and your FIRED) and to top that off, what did I hear twenty times a day from my Boss, my District manager, our daily highlights sheet? Sell more cell phones. Does the customer already have three? Well then there's an opportunity to replace them with newer models that do the SAMETHING. Half of our customers were scared off because they don't want to hear the dozen's of pitches for CELL PHONES they will hear when they walk into our store. Pitches presented by me, the forced employee, pitches for cellphones from the in store TV Ad's running on 12 differently sized TV's. Pitches from signs at the counter, around the store. It is a miracle that anyone can walk into a Radio Shack these day's without receiving a healthly bit of brain hemorphage from listening and seeing all this crap. Anyway, Excuse my length and words, I haven't had a chance to vent my radio shack experiences in some time...

-- Nich Kajok (nkajok@earthlink.com), February 05, 2003.

Wow, I guess I am not alone. I am currently working as a cashier. (Used to be a Bus Boy and waiter.) I can tell that I am getting more bitter the longer I work there, but I am trying my best to stop myself. Most of the customers are good, well behaved. However, some are bad and I care less for them. But what hurt me most are customers who are just innocent. For example, today I was doing cashier and the lady with 3 kids. I remember she gave me a $10 bill. I told her she gave me $10 and placed it on the cash register. Just in case, she said she gave me a $20,$50, or $100 bill and I can point to it and prove my innocence. After I gave her the change, she accepted it and left the door. The acceptance of the amount meant it was okay to put the money into the cash register. So I did. She left and came back in 2 minutes later and said she gave me a $20. I personally remember a $10 dollar and I took all the precautions to prevent such incident. Since the store was owned by my brother, I told him that I remember exactly what was given to me. But ask him if he was willing to part with $10 loss if I give into the lady. Well, he told me it was up to me. Even though I sympathize with the lady, I know giving into her was wrong. I can tell she wasn't trying to rip me off but genuinely believe she had a $20. I tried to keep as calm as I can and told her I can not give her the other $10 cause I dont believe she gave me a 20. She and her boy kept saying why can't I since I made the mistake. Then went around telling customers I ripped her off. Then they called the Police like they were going to do anything. Through it all, I kept quiet. The police never arrive and my brother's wife told her they're gonna check the amount in the cash register to make sure it's balance. Anyway, she left and said, "He works for you? He's no good. You keep an eye on him." I know there is a possibility I could have made the mistake. However, having taken some precautions: Said the amount she gave me out loud, place it on the cash register, and waiting for her to accept the amount return. When I told her, she said she was too busy with her childern to notice. In addition, I remember the amount given to me. I felt I am more likely to be correct, and I decided not to give her what she wanted. Suddenly, I was turned into a bad guy.

Dont people know sometime they put the wrong amount in the wallet or purse? That once you walk out of the store, you better make sure your change are correct before you leave.(Not to mention, one time a man dropped some of his money on the floor while putting it into his pocket. Then came up to me and said I didnt give him correct change. Had no choice but give to him, since he was at cash register. Luckily, my brother's wife walk by and pointed out to him.)

So you see, just being nice and friendly to your customers just dont cut it. You can be innocent. Yet, dealing with the public can be just as miserable.

-Mark

P.S. And I was thinking of giving her 3 kids one Yu-gi-Oh card each if there mom wasn't looking before the incident happen.

-- Mark (feefam@mybluelight.com), March 18, 2003.

Rude and inconsiderate S.O.B.'s...? .... Try working for a state road crew for 22 years. It is automatically assumed that if you stand beside the highway with a "Stop/Go" paddle sign, you have the I.Q. of an intelligent lab rat, besides the fact that you are too lazy to hold a "real" job. I have a B.S. degree, but the internal "B.S." associated with related employment, drove me to something I found, overall, more enjoyable and less stressful....... Constantly "in touch" with the driveing public, you quickly find most are upset that they are being slowed down or stopped due to work on the road ahead.....They want the road repaired, but they don't want to be inconvenienced while you do it.....They are ALWAYS in a hurry, and will readily let you know that. After ignoreing a "SLOW" warning sign, they think nothing of doing 60 MPH thru a work zone, and within inches of people attempting to do a job that will ultimately benifit them........Now, I have been hollered at, talked down to, ignored, cussed, fingered, had things thrown at me, been threatened and challenged, and damn near run over, on more occasions than I care to recall. And yes, it does piss me off! But I will tell you one thing......I'd prefer that over getting hit by some moron sitting behind the wheel with an attitude problem....or their head up their butt...and in our state it happens several times each year.

-- Mongo Joe (Imongojoe@aol.com), April 10, 2003.

I work at a local supermarket, and let me tell you, the customers that I deal with are the most nastiest, mean spirited, condescending people I have ever dealt with in my entire life. I work at the bakery department, and the customers who want their stuff don't just want it -- they want the red-carpet treatment given to them. Customers are so demanding and demeaning that it's hell working there. I've been yelled at, spit on, I've had food thrown at me, the abuse I've endured is endless. What has happened to customers? Do they think we're robots and we're going to follow their every command?

I understand that customers are what drive your business, but the rude customers have driven out some of ours. More than half the people at the supermarket quit their jobs, and I am waiting for the day when I will join those who quit because I will never work at retail again for the rest of my natural born life. Not even an excuse from God will make me work retail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- Anonymous (mhuda@snowhite.cis.temple.edu), May 17, 2003.

I was an assistant manager of a small truck stop (Diesel, gas, C- store, cafe) for 2 years. After awhile, the assholes stopped becoming annoyances. I actually started enjoying matching wits and fucking with them. Some examples:

The asshole who bitches about everything -- fuel prices, his maxed-out bank card, the cop who just wrote him up for 20 mph over the limit -- that I have nothing to do with, and then has the nerve to ask me for directions or a jump start. I just gave 'em a big friendly grin and sent them on the scenic route, or gladly hooked up the jumper cables while switching a few plug cables. Have a nice trip, sir.

The big spender who demands free soda refills in addition to the two he gets in the restaurant. Since I sometimes had to work 16-18 hour shifts, I always had a bottle of Visine in my pocket. A healthy squirt in Mr Thirsty's Dr. Pepper and his Chicken Fried Steak dinner was in his drawers before he could make it to the Gent's.

Stupid dipshits and lottery tickets: The asshole who brings in 50 or so scratchers to validate when the line at the counter is 15 customers deep. The jerkoff who hands you 100 Powerball tickets to check on the machine when he could get the winning numbers from any of several sources and eliminate the 99 losing tickets. I had a mental rolodex of technical sounding excuses for why the lotto machine was down at that particular time -- "sunspots causing satellite comm failure" -- crap like that. People who are stupid enough to play the lottery will believe anything you say. Dumbasses.

-- (kbar@nmt.edu), December 08, 2003.

Yes I hate those Public Mo Fo's they sure do make me sick to the back teeth. I was in retail for 16 years working in the sex industry. The idiots I got buying Sex Toys etc, saying such things as is trhere any way I can test these Dildo's out !!!! Like on me I suppose.... what fuck heads !!!!

-- Vallerie Halla (weildingway@yahoo.co.uk), February 19, 2004.