Workin' Retail...

It was my favorite part of the workday: lunch. I always try to do something productive or fun over lunch. Either meet up with some friends, run errands, catch up on some reading, or go home and sometimes work out or during the summer, watch part of the Twins day game.

Regardless, I don't understnad people who want to stay in the office over lunch. Weirdos. That is for another blog on another day though.

Today I decided I needed to do some reading. I went to my local Quizno's to get a tasty sub. It was a little busy and I had to wait in line for a few minutes. No big deal. I ordered my Beef Brisket sub and started to watch the dude make my sandwich. All of the sudden there was YELLING from further down the line, near the cash register. There was a 40 something women, red in the cheeks and a bit on the heavy side, just lashing into the nice looking Aisan man operating the register. I had talked to this guy in past trips to Quizno's and he has been nothing short of a great, friendly guy. I learn throught the shouts that woman was upset because they would not take her EXPIRED coupon. There was nothing he could do and this women was determined to yell until something was done. It was just errible to watch. The employee then just told her the meal was free, I think just to get her out of there. At that point, that seemingly enraged this woman even more to the point she rattleted out an ehtnic slur put her tray down and just stormed out.

Talk about awkward. There was only one person inbetween me and the crazy-yeller-I'm better then you-lady and he said nothing to the guy as he paid and quickly left, obviously recognizing the awkward situation. I decided I was going to say something. I apologized on the behalf of customers and told him that was rediculious. He seemed to not be too fazed by what had just happened anymore and said thanks and smiled a little bit. Prety much what I expected, but I felt it needed to be said.

It brought me to thinking while I sat and ate. Just about everyone I know has worked in some sort of retail/service job in the past. Do people just forget what it was like? Do certain types of people just go around and hypocritical to that extreme? Most retail/service employees can't do much about your problem except try and help you. I just don't get what being an ass gains you.

I think it might stem from the general reputation of these types of being lazy, young, clueless and generally not caring. This has been spread by stereotypes and mass media. However, I usually feel that it isn't quite that way. While there is a good chunck of people working this industry who do fall into the stereotype, I don't feel there malaise dictates consumers yelling at the top of their lungs. Why can't things just be worked out. You can't always get your way. Whether you like it or not, the customer is NOT always right.

I say this as somone who has seen some UNREAL stuff as a retail employee. I worked at the Service Center at Cub Foods in high school and witnessed people trying to return eaten fruit, try to get items for free because they paid LESS then they were supposed to and lastly someone stealing other employees paychecks. I moved on to working at LEGO my senior year of high school and thought that my days of dealing with pepperoni ladies, angry moms, lying scumbag cheaters and thiefs was over. Boy was I wrong. I've been screamed at in different languages, almost kicked in the face by a crazed man who jumped up on a playarea table, cursed at in front of children, had various objects thrown at me from the upper floors of the mall and was the target of a drunken punch of a man who been saying innappropriate things to children drunkingly. After all that, one of the worst came just a month ago or so. I still work at LEGO every so often, mainly for special events and to helpout on Thursday nights. I was out on a Thursday night helping cleaning the albatross known as the playarea. This is where kids can build stuff out of provided LEGO bricks and run around and whatnot. Various unspeakable acts happen out there all the time. Anyways, cleaning the place usually sucks for the person who gets stuck doing it and I remember how that sucks, so I typically lend a hand. As I was picking up some bricks off the ground I noticed an odd stare from a very well-dressed, older woman sitting on one of the benchs. Her look turned to a little bit of disgust and she actually said this:

"Does it take a college degree to become a LEGO janitor?" She had the snidest look on her face. I didn't know what to say. I walked back in the store and told my co-worker (the manager) what she had said. He looked weird. "Thats one of the worst things I have ever heard". We both have degrees from universities. He does very well. I work at LEGO for the fun of it and have the other job (even though I generally hate it) that pays well. The other person working that night is a retired teacher, who also works at LEGO because she enjoys it. She has a masters degree.

Apparently it DOES take a college degree to be a "LEGO janitor".

Lets be nice to our employees who serve us kids. Step in there shoes for a minute before ripping them a new one.


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