Does anyone automatically cringe at customers from working retail so long?

[powerboy]

No, you are not alone! I have actually grown to hate most of mankind and expect the worst from them. I'm actually suprised when people act nice and are polite.

I am the same way

really find it disheartening that retail workers recognise eachother even out of uniform or on the other side of the counter because we're the only polite, nice, smiling ones. *sigh*.

So true, I see that also

I totally understand. It's been impossible to find employment out here.

It the same here also. There is the same ads in the paper each day. Seems like they would be taken by now.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I do the tensing thing, whenever someone comes up to me while I'm cashing up with a closed sign on my till, I assume they're going to shout at me.

[blas]

I hate a lot of people in general.

Do I think this change of heart spurred from working retail for 5 years? Damn right.

I learned when I was a tender 14 years old just how AWFUL people who were supposed to be my elders and my examples could be. People past 60 who acted as though they were 3 years old. Which is why I NOW always connect toddler and childlike behavior with elderly people. To me, they are overgrown babies.

I learned working at the grocery store that there are people who work their ass off and barely make ends meet, yet will spend up to their last dime to make sure their children eat good food and don't go to bed hungry. I also learned that their are low life leeches who haven't worked in years, who do nothing but collect a check every month and spend it all on junk food and soda pop and bling bling.

I learned at the gas station what serious effects drugs have on people. I also learned that there are some people who scrounge the couch and car for pennies just to get a pack of smokes. I learned how some people can smell so awful that you can't bear to be within a mile radius of them.

I learned at both restaurant jobs that there are people, not even always rich people, who will run a waitresses ass off for hours and hours and leave no tip. I learned that there are jackass high school students who will hide a quarter tip under an upside down glass of water. I learned that there are people sick enough to change an infant's diaper on the table of which they just ATE upon.

I learned at the truck stop that there are dirty old men who will grab your ass and harrass you for their whole stay and not leave you a penny. I also learned that there are managers who will do nothing to stop the harrassment and will make you put up with it. I also learned that there are managers who will throw plates and bowls at waitresses for being "too slow". Some managers need to be deported back to Mexico, ASAP!

[wagegoth]

Does my signature make my feelings about humans clear?

[justZu]

OH.MY.GOD. What is it about Christmas shopping and holidays in general that brings out the extra suckiness in people?

Its because SCs all believe that they(and they alone) are entitled to everything their little blackened hearts desire in order for their Christmas to be acceptable. Therefore, they will do whatever it takes to get the things they need for a perfect Christmas. Woe be unto you if your store dares run out of something they "need" for the holiday. It will be considered ALL YOUR FAULT YOU RUINED CHRISTMAS!!!!!OMG!!!!!! Other peoples' needs, wants, and desires are irrelevant in their quest for the perfect consumer holiday. Anything less than the perfect holiday is...UNACCEPTABLE!!



Oh, and FTR I hate almost all customers. The few who are nice are a pleasant(yet unexpected) surprise. Every day it gets a little bit harder to paste on a happy face when I go to work. Most days now I don't even bother smiling at all.

[Neo_Classic]

I cringe everytime I see a customer as well. I usually come in to work very happy but these people have a way of sucking out any positive energy that I have.

[AriRashkae]

Its because SCs all believe that they(and they alone) are entitled to everything their little blackened hearts desire in order for their Christmas to be acceptable. Therefore, they will do whatever it takes to get the things they need for a perfect Christmas. Woe be unto you if your store dares run out of something they "need" for the holiday. It will be considered ALL YOUR FAULT YOU RUINED CHRISTMAS!!!!!OMG!!!!!! Other peoples' needs, wants, and desires are irrelevant in their quest for the perfect consumer holiday. Anything less than the perfect holiday is...UNACCEPTABLE!!

I have always wanted to get a customer like that.

No, seriously. Because I want to ask them if I killed Mary before she gave birth. Since I cannot have done that, the only one ruining Christmas is the SC with the martyr complex. Might I suggest a move to Iran to justify that feeling?

[Pagan]

Faith in humanity. I think I read about that in a book. I remember the passage was next to the passage about Unicorns and Dragons.

I keep telling you people - dragons are real!!!

Yep, I blame retail for making me into a cynical and twisted person. Of course, I was a bit leaning towards that before, but the retail work put the lid on it.

I was already twisted. I just hadn't realized just how cynical and jaded I've become until I was sitting in the training class with a bunch of kids, really, in their first job and believing the bullshit the company was telling us! And they were buying it! The whole "you really count to us" line....yeah, sure I count, insomuch as I contribute to your bottom line!

What's making me cringe right now is the damn tax-free weekend we've got in New Mexico this weekend. Man, is this bringing out the cheap-ass SCs, which we all know are the worst variety out there!

[theredbaron47]

I usually come in to work very happy but these people have a way of sucking out any positive energy that I have.

I agree! Whatever kind of happy mood I have when I come into work, it is usually destroyed by the end of my shift (or even just an hour into my shift, it doesn't much matter). Not even sucky customers, just people who look like they want to kill someone, or who mutter and mumble instead of talking, or anything like that.

I wish the world was happier. Or at least contained more pleasant people.

As far as things I've learned:

*The hardware store taught me that rich people do not necessarily have to have manners (other way around, by and large).
*The pizza joint taught me that people who work for a pizza joint have statuses that are roughly between that of a homeless bum and that of the crud behind the refrigerator.
*The computer technician job taught me that sometimes, sometimes, co-workers can be as bad as or worse than customers.
*The gift shop stint taught me that old people only LOOK harmless and non-sucky, but as blas stated earlier, are no more than overgrown babies.

Ah, what lovely lessons life teaches us.

[Retail Associate]

Not only do I cringe when customers approach, the first thought in my head when seeing one is "Go Away, Go Away, GO AWAY!!!"

After 7+ years in retail I have become an equal opportunity racist! I am completely intolerant of the entire HUMAN race!



.

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

I believe they do it because they are cruel I want to refrain from standing too long and they just appear out of nowhere and come to your till. It's like there is millions of them just like ants!

[Amethyst Hunter]

Retail has actually turned me into a slight racist. Why? Becuase my god, a few of the stereotypes are overwhelmingly true when it comes to retail (ie discounts, rebate hording, haggling). Do you know how bad that is !? I used to be a total peace and harmony sort of person.

Pezzle, you aren't alone. My last job had this effect on me as well. And I, like you, was totally into the 'peace and harmony' gig too.

Still, I don't consider myself prejudiced. I hate everybody equally!

[Broomjockey]

After 7+ years in retail I have become an equal opportunity racist! I am completely intolerant of the entire HUMAN race!
.

You're not racist if you hate everyone equally. The proper term is "Misanthrope."

[BlackIronCrown]

You're not racist if you hate everyone equally. The proper term is "Misanthrope."

Damn straight.
There are times when I'm watching Dr. Who and I'm sitting there muttering "Damn STRAIGHT, those Daleks!" or "Bet your ass those Cybermen are going to upgrade you!". It's sad. I identify more with fascist aliens than I do with my fellow men.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

For me, the main effect has been severe dread of the "holiday" season.

Maybe I'm a bit nutty (okay, a lot nutty but you already knew that ) but I don't mind the holiday season so much. In fact I sorta enjoy it. I get all the hours I could want, there's always things to do, and somehow I don't get any more suckage at that time of the year from customers than I do any other time of the year. Of course I don't work with customers quite as much as the cashiers or salesfloor people do.

And now that I'm off third shift I have more time to sit back and enjoy things, instead of trying to sleep all the time because I can't fall asleep at 8 in the morning.

I much prefer the holidays to the absolute dead boring period that runs from January to about April when hours are nonexistant, there's no customers and not much to do.

Although I must say I'm hating back to school right now. You can't walk anywhere in the seasonal department without having a bunch of kids screaming, touching things and underfoot. It's constantly a mob scene and you don't get that when the seasonal department is full of trees, ornaments, lights and other chotchkies. Plus the parents are so stressed out because they have to have red notebooks and blue folders and they have to have them NOW. Somehow people don't stress as much if we're out of an item on the Christmas gift list because they have several different choices for the people on their lists, or they can just go online to buy their gifts.