Dealing with the Public Can Be Fun

I have been fortunate enough  to be a stay at home mom for more than 11 years and now that my youngest is going to school full time, it's time for me to re-enter the work force (if I can find a job in this messed up economy..thanks a LOT Mr President! )

I was thinking back to some of the jobs I have had in the past in which I had to deal with customers or clients. Sometimes it can be frustrating or funny. Sometimes a little of both.

I once worked in a hardware store's electrical department. Now, this store was part of a fairly big chain of  family owned stores and had been around for decades. But a recent addition to the area, a Home Depot super store was slowly killing the business. Toward the end, we knew we were going to close soon and we  would be looking for jobs elsewhere, so many employees decided to throw out the old "customer is always right", and just make the best of the store's remaining days. We were never nasty or rude (well, I wasn't) but we did....express ourselves with the dumber customers.  One time, a woman came in and asked if we had  any eight-foot  fluorescent bulbs.  We had them and she wanted one, so I went into the back room, up onto a huge ladder (I hate being on ladders by the way!)  worked the huge bulb out of it's nine foot tall box,  went carefully down the ladder with it,  through some heavy swinging doors remembering how a co-worker had one break in his hand and needed microsurgery to get all the shards out, and presented it to the woman.  She takes a look at it and  says, "Oh my God! How am I supposed to get that thing home??"   I looked her in the eye and said,  "You did ask for an eight foot bulb, right? It's eight feet long!  What did you expect? They don't fold!" She just turned and left, leaving me to go back to the room with the freakishly long bulb.


Another day I was working in the paint department. There in the middle of the aisle that was full of VERY flammable paint thinners  is a guy  smoking a cigarette.  I tried the polite  approach.  "Sir, I'm sorry there's no smoking in the store."  "Yeah honey, whatever."  "Sir, you are near flammable liquid and you can not smoke here, please!!"  "Sure thing sugar." And he keeps puffing  away.  Time to get my ultra surly  co-worker, Gene. Gene  gets in his face. "Hey! The lady asked nicely now I'm telling you! Put that  cigarette out NOW!"  So the guy gives him a dirty look and  tosses it on the floor, stamping on  it dramatically. Gene sneers, "No littering either! Pick it up!!"


Gene was a crackup.  One day we had to do inventory and  so the store was locked but the lights were on and we were all inside  counting stuff.   We had a big sign on the door that said clearly "Closed for inventory" but people seemed to ignore it. It was great fun, during our lunch breaks to stand by the  door which was usually automatic, and watch people crash into it when it didn't open for them. One guy was furious. He started pounding on the glass door and yelling "I see people in there!  Let me in!!"  we tried pointing to the sign but he was having none of it.  Finally the store manager unlocked it and opened it wide enough to explain the situation. Apparently the guy figured as long as there were employees around , he should be able to go buy something.  He re-locked the door and the guy stood there, still fuming. So smart ass Gene decides to have fun. He steps up, unlocks it and  nodding in the direction of the manager, whispers, "That guy just called you an asshole!" then he slams the door and locks it again as  the guy starts really pounding on the door.

After that job I worked in a bookstore in a trendy shopping area. I was at the register and it was Christmas time so we were super busy.  I was moving people through as fast as I could, when this woman marches into the store and demands that I wait on her right away. "You have to help me NOW! I'm double parked!" There were three or four people  on my at this point and they had been waiting a long time already. I look at the woman. She is dressed in a fur coat and has gaudy rings on her manicured fingers. I tell her she'll just have to wait at the end of the line as these people were here first. Rather tan get on line, she looks them up and down and gets a disgusted look on her face as if lining up with the riff raff is below her. She then stands there tapping her nails impatiently on the counter. I ignore the clickety-click and take my time with the others. When I decide it's her turn I smile, "Now, how can I help you?" She tells me she ordered a book and got a call that it has come in. Fine. I see the book under the counter but I decide to make her wait. She can't see under there, so I take my time as if I'm searching through a lot of books to find it. All the while I'm wishing a cop would come ticket her double parked car.  I eventually complete the transaction and smile. "Have a NICE day!"  She leaves in a huff without a thank you. If she had just been like everyone else and been nice, waited on line etc, I would have had her out in no time.  I wish I knew why some people who have money have to flaunt it, or act like the people who serve them in stores or restaurants are below them somehow.

I went to help my husband where he was doing construction on a big house, to give him a hand with the drywall because his helper called off sick and he'd need help with the ceilings (the boards are close to 3 foot by 12 foot and one person cannot put them up alone. They are heavy!) There was a woman there who was looking at the house, possibly thinking of buying it or something and as I got out of my rusty little minivan, parked next to her Mercedes, she asked if I stopped to check it out. "No, I'm just here to help my husband put up the drywall." She nodded and said, "Oh don't worry dear, some day YOU will be able to afford a house of your own."

I laughed, "I already own my own house...without a mortgage!"

Sheesh.