Now be nice...

"I'm sorry ma'am, that particular item is not available at this time. I'm so sorry for any confusion the flyer may have caused"

*woman stares for an excrutiating amount of time, either not believing what you're telling her or in hopes that if she stares long enough you'll produce the item out of your ass*

"If you like, we can call you when it arrives and put one aside"

*cue bitch rant and childish flounce*

Sound familiar?

I'm not the only who feels this way, but I truly think that every person should have a mandatory year working in customer service. Maybe then they'd see reason and treat the clerk/cashier/sales rep/waitress etc. much kinder and stop acting like entitled asswipes.

Seriously, the worst job I ever had was at a grocery store. The town in which I grew up used to be quite sleepy and country-bumpkin like. All of a sudden rich people started sniffing its ass, ripping up the forestry and building cookie cutter box houses faster than I could count. Gone was Stittsville, now it was Fake Tittsville.  I was not only working in my now "pseudo chic, THE place to live, hoity toity Desperate Housewives wannabe" town, but I had to serve the spoiled, useless, poodle-esque lazy ass trophy wives that came with it. It would be 10:30 on a Wednesday and I'd have Leona Helmsley's ugly sister yelling in my face over the price of squash. Did she not have a job? Did she not have anything better to do than to risk her blood pressure over a piece of veg that she would probably only use as a facial mask? I'd often get what I call "The stare" (see above) and it would make me CRAZY. I'd almost prefer blatant, hostile belligerence.  I'm not sure if it was lucky or not that my boss was extremely lenient and let me get away with some of the shit I did but I certainly was not known for taking any kind of crap lying down. I could be as much of a bitch right back. Hmm really...I do think tomatoes belong at the bottom of a bag of cans.

But "the stare"...I got that one everywhere I worked in the service  capacity. At the insurance company I worked at, someone thought it would be a good idea to have a walk-in service where insured members could get their money 'on the spot'. Oh yeah, great idea... "I'm sorry but your "device" to make your vagina tighter isn't covered by your plan." *cue stare* Seriously, why do people do that? While she stares, I imagine she's trying to remember the words to the theme song for The Facts of Life, she just looks so idiotic. I stare back. She finally cracks. "Why not?" (Really??)  "Umm...because Kegels don't cost anything?" She stares again. I stare back. She then starts getting really snotty and it takes everything in my power to refrain from laughing after she starts in on threatening to 'go public' about it. Yes, tell the Public Citizen about how your insurance company won't pay for your vag tightener. Just because your shyster physiotherapist recommended it, it doesn't mean it's covered.

And that's just a taste of the treasures I've met in my customer service travels. And now I see it when I myself am a customer. I guess the former cashier/waitress/insurance assessor in me just has to come to the rescue at times and I find myself saying to the woman frothing at the mouth because her card was rejected that she needs to stop and that she's being ridiculous. (I'm going to get shot someday).

To the point, I realize things are crazy during Xmas. Lines are huge, stores are understaffed in some places, parking is scarce. Understandably tempers are running high. Please remember that the person serving you is a human being with feelings and while you may be frustrated, it's probably not their fault. (Of course there are assholes, I was one of them). Keep your cool, be an adult, don't be a spoiled bitch, accept that some things are not possible and the customer is 99% of the time WRONG. You will find that the nicer you are, the further they will go to help you. Manners go a long way.

That said, I no longer work in customer service, I feel that I did my time but I will never forget where I came from, what I went through and how ignorant and childish "the stare" is. I'm almost over-nice to my server but that would be better than acting like an immature idiot. Stay classy, folks. Merry ho ho!