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this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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Cashier here. I managed to outwardly stay friendly and nice during the first wave of Covid, even tho at least 70% of our customers had managed to turn into the most insufferable nuisances in the history of mankind. It was especially exhausting when they started to bulk-buy toilet paper and literally everyone had some sort of super lame excuse why they NEEEEEEED eight packs at once and why we definitely SHOULD make an exception to the "one pack per customer" rule specifically for them.
If you have the same old discussion fourhundredandeightyseven times a day, it gets old pretty fast. But you can't just tell them to STFU without risking your job, soo ... well. It was simply exhausting.
One day I had a proper Karen at the register, who tried to tell me that she was buying the second pack for her poor old neightbor lady which allegedly had a broken hip and couldn't walk to the store herself (you know, because if you have a broken hip you DEFINITELY stay at home instead of the hospital and definitely also use the toilet yourself, no issues here ....) and she simply refused to leave the register. I was honestly contemplating whether I should call security and have her removed when the guy behind her looked at me and said:
"Well, that lady definitely needs twice as much toilet paper as others ..... because judging by the amount of shit that just came out of her mouth, she's got assholes on both ends."
It took all of my remainig willpower to not laugh. Imagine the "Biggus Dickus" scene from the Life of Brian for a mental image of how hard I tried to keep a straight face. Karen got red, huffend and left without buying either pack, and that delightfully snarky guy has been my favorite customer ever since. I might or might not sometimes "accidentally" swipe my own tag across the scanner to give him an employee discount...
I’ve been working retail for the past year and I have gotten so much less reactive.
It’s really hard to toe the line between allowing disrespect, and being disrespectful myself.
One of my main goals for myself right now is to be able to hold my boundaries without getting loud and unpleasant. Just quietly, gently.
Good luck. It's not an easy feat to consistendly walk that fine line without burning out, especially in the holiday season .... take care.
lol true dat. Thanks for reminding me I wasn’t even thinking about holiday uptick in activity.
However I will say it’s easier than being on the street, and if I go long enough at this level without fucking up, I get to level up to someplace even easier.
The thing that really scares me though is the way the problems change at the higher levels. The current problems get easy enough and new problems become visible and those problems are so complex. I like simple, even if it’s hard. I used to run long distance races. I love pushing into a simple but really hard problem like that. But complexity really scares me.
In case you find yourself in the situation, tell your employer. It may sound awkward to them at first that someone wouldn't want to be promoted, but in the end it is in their best interest to keep employees who ARE good at doing their jobs, instead of creating a situation where the same employee is suddenly no longer able to do a good job. This is no shallow talk by the way, but a well-documented, scientifically proven effect called the Peter Principle (which basically boils down to "everyone gets promoted until they reach the point of maximum incompetence and then get stuck in that position")
We as a society are trained to percieve "climbing the corporate ladder" as the main/only goal of working jobs with a hierarchy, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with staying at the level you're comfortable at. ;)
That’s a good point about the Peter Principle. What I’m referring to though is more like the ladder of existence. The hierarchy of stations in life.
Earlier I was a homeless man. Now I’m a single guy living in a small apartment, saving a tiny bit of money from a pretty hard and low-paid job. If I push a bit more I can be a single guy in a medium apartment, with a car, and a slightly higher-paying job.
But not a new job within the same company, just some totally different job that of a totally different nature. Hopefully more meaningful. Right now I’m making retail wages and doing retail work, so low pay for low meaning. But hopefully I can move up to something like social worker salary (not high in the overall scheme of things, but higher pay than retail work).
That corporate ladder is a microcosm of the overall ladder I’m describing. In both hierarchies successful execution, smooth surfing, is the path to the next layer up. And the responsibilities get more complex.
And yes, I appreciate you reminding me to face it and communicate, instead of just backing away silently, when I don’t feel that I’m ready to face the problems of the next level.
Growth requires discomfort and a big part of that discomfort is taking the risk of trying things I feel like I can’t do.
One of my problems in my career is I interview extremely well. I’ve talked my way into jobs I can’t do, then failed badly.
And it’s not by lying or anything. I just sound really smart because I’m a good talker and sound extremely confident.
But interviews are sprints and jobs are marathons, and I’ve burned myself by failing to acknowledge what I can and can’t do.
Ohh okay. I really misunderstood your point then, but thank you for clarifying ;)
Failing at something is not the end of the world. Sure it sucks at first, and possible setbacks in life aren't exactly cool either, but you DO sound like someone who refuses to stay down whenever life decided to knock you down, and that is something not everyone can do. That requires an inner strength and determination that a lot of people simply can't muster.
And you know what? Your idea of working in the social sector sounds like an excellent goal - it IS a hard job with little pay, but since you fought your way up from the bottom already, you have a completely different, deeper insight into related issues than someone who knows homelessness and its struggles only from a textbook. You will be able to understand clients in similar situations on a completely different level, and they in turn might be more inclined to trust your advice. You might be able to actually help people that simply fall through the cracks elsewhere.
Good luck, friend. May your spark never fade.
Hilarious. People like her are why people like me paid two hundred fucking dollars for a pack of TP at the height of the crazy.
There was none to be found within several hours drive, and Sears doesn’t make catalogs that double for the purpose anymore.
Exactly ... there would not even have been a shortage if everyone just kept shopping the normal amount instead of trying to hoard stuff. Especially for TP it was completely unneccessary unless your entire family planned to shit themselves eight times a day for weeks on end, yet people acted as if their lives depended on it (and even stole rolls from the public toilets, bought paper towels as backup and the like).
Another delicious "FU" moment, that I was sadly not personally present for but got told in great detail, was when one customer tried to return 100-something packs of TP for a refund after the first wave of Covid was almost over. Turns out he and some buddies had the genius idea to buy "one pack per person" multiple times each day for a couple of weeks (he had a giant bundle of receipts so we know when the packs were bought) and then resell the TP online for profit, but noone bought it.... and since TP is a "hygiene article", we don't take those back for safety reasons, just like underwear, swimsuits and everything else that is meant to come in contact with human bodies. He was so furious that he started throwing things, screaming about how "we ruined him and will pay for it", and threatening employees to the point that police had to be called to remove him.
Not the shop security, but actual police. A report was filed and a shop ban issued.
Because of toilet paper.