Deja Vu

I think I've said it before; so forgive the repetition.

Yesterday, at the store; had to be the most painful, awful 8 or so hours of my working life.

There, what do you think? Have I said that before? Yeah, you're right...I did. Well, this time, I truly mean it.

I can handle a busy day. Clearly that's the case, cuz here I am today; following yesterday's wretched sentence.

Let's forget all of my complaints about a great many things @ my job these days. I want to share with you three doozies of customer ignorance which I experienced (one second hand) while on the job.

One: I often have problems w/ breeders; or at least w/ their actions. If you are a breeder, and consider yourself a good parent, then you should have no problem with me calling attention to this self-important, clueless lack-wit who brought her useless ass into my store yesterday. She brought in her husband, and her child; who was encased in my most hated enemy; the over-sized stroller. Where did she park it? Why, in the most convenient place imaginable, of course. In the main thoroughfare of our salesfloor. First off, WTF? Well, she left hubby and child on the sofa next to said path (where the stroller was parked), and then went about to do her shopping. Friend and co-worker Wendy had to go down this path; in order to get some product into another customer's hands. At this time, the breeder mother was standing next to the stroller. Wendy politely said "excuse me" in order to get by. What does the breeder mother do? She moves her body out of the way; LEAVING THE STROLLER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PATH. Why are people so dumb, and why are parents so entitled? I am so exhausted by this behavior. How can I handle such situations in the future? I know...the next time it occurs, I will scream, "Get the F*** out of my way!" You think that will get the message across?

Two: This story is not a direct accounting of the situation, but told to me by Wendy; just a few moments after the stroller incident. Apparently an older gentleman was going to pick up his purchases in the back (these are the bags that Wendy was carrying out while simultaneously trying to avoid the fire hazard that is the breeder mother's spawn stroller). Rather than ring the bell to alert us to his presence, the customer began yelling out of his car window; as he was parked in one of our spots in the back. Our doors are closed. It's a brick building. Suffice to say that we would NEVER hear this. If it weren't for one of our business neighbors, who eventually rang our bell for the screaming customer, we never would have known he was there. I know you're old, senile and a weight on our society, but please use some common sense. I've seen some elderly folks who are smart as a whip...so what's your excuse...you moron.

Finally, to top off my already horrendous day, we received those dreaded last minute customers. Of course, we're the only store that stays open past 7pm (for a whole adt'l hour), so any wandering customers; desperate for some shopping; can always turn to us. Oh joy. Well, about 5 minutes before we are mercifully allowed to close and lock our doors, we get a gaggle of folks; who insist upon pulling lots of pillows from the walls; to start color-coordinating their designs. They finally bring their items to the register (about 8:15 by now), but do that most disgusting thing that late-comers ALWAYS do--play the game that they're ready to pay, as we begin to ring their items, and then wander off for minutes at a time...continuing their painful spree. That's pretty bad, you say? How awful, you muse? Well, it gets worse. THEIR CREDIT CARD IS REJECTED. I call to see if I can get a manual authorization. DECLINED. Okay, by this time, I'm starting to have pain in my left arm...surely the onset of a massive coronary; brought on by stress and PURE, VIOLENT ANGER which is seconds away from exploding from my fists. So, the customer gets on the phone with the credit card company; and waits for an agonizing 15 minutes before they get the go-ahead. I am inwardly asking myself, "What level of hell am I in...right now? Right @ this moment?" I couldn't answer that, as I was attending to my ailing arm; and prepping myself to dial 911. These customers (customers ANYONE would die for) finally dragged their asses from my store @ 8:40pm--4o minutes after our sign out front said we were closed.

So, while these events certainly don't make for a spoiler of a day on any other day, all of them combined; as well as a dash of my usual issues @ work, made for one major BULLS*** shift.

I've had my therapy for the day. Thanks for tuning in.

That is all.