Umm, that's my friend you're talking about!

[customersruinmylife]

I have begun to notice this more and more. Why do a lot of customers think that people at work hate each other? It's very strange. Where I work, our staff is quite small, 30 people at the most, so you all have to get along, a lot of us are close friends, some are couples and some are roomates, so we're quite close.

One of my friends was serving an SC.

SC: Oh, I wanted white wine, not red.
Friend: I'm really sorry about that, I misheard you, I'll just get you the white wine.

He walks away. SC turns to me.

SC: What an absolute idiot, eh?

I ignored her.

SC: *not getting the hint* It must be difficult for you having to deal with mistakes that idiots make all day yeah?

Also, a few days ago, me and a co-worker where out buying food and drink, when a regular customers spotted us and said hello. The regular customer came into the bar the next night and spoke to me.

RC: What were you doing with HER in that store? Did she follow you or something?
Me: No...we went shopping...we're roomates.
RC: HER? Why?

Seriously, why do they think we all hate each other?

[Miffed]

It's because we're supposed to be robots, focused on the customers and not socializing with our co-workers.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I've actually put my pen down at Kinko's, gave the SC a meaningful look, and said "Actually, she's a wonderful coworker and a great friend." Very firmly. Very icily. It usually got the point across.

I have often wondered that myself. They think we all dislike each other for some reason. I can only imagine that the SCs that do this are all so bitter and nasty they don't actually have any friends and and can't imagine that anyone else does, either.

That, and they want to vent but dont' have the stones to do it to the person they are actually angry at.

[Plaidman]

yeah, we're all good friends. Sometimes when we get someone from another store to cover us, we go out to eat.

Alotta times we go to the store just to hang out. (And um. do some slightly illegal things in the store, that could get us fired, but frankly, we all like to help each other with the stocking).

I'm also a bit defensive about them. A while back we had one poor girl who was terrfied of everything, and some jackass tried to pressure her into giving him beer way after hours. I may be small, but I can be rather smartassy enough to get people to back off.

[Pedersen]

My guess? I think you're getting a glimpse of their unhappy workplace. Too many companies wind up playing the blame game internally, with blame being a hot potato. "Nope, it's not my fault because so-and-so in such-and-such department didn't get me me what I needed to prevent the problem."

Pass the blame along to the next person. And upper management allows this behavior to occur, so people stay out of trouble as long as they can pass the blame along.

As a result, in those companies, you really don't like your co-workers. They are the people who will drop the latest bit of blame on you whether you deserve it or not.

I see this more often in office/professional environments than I do in retail/sales floor environments, though. In retail/sales floor, you have to work better with your co-workers just to survive. In the office/professional environment? If the person you just blamed gets fired, then that means more bonus money is available at year end.

Sad, but true. And that's what I think you're seeing.

[protege]

As a result, in those companies, you really don't like your co-workers. They are the people who will drop the latest bit of blame on you whether you deserve it or not.

I know what that's like, and it sucks. Trust me. We had an asshole here who was constantly doing that. He blamed me because he couldn't find things in the storage closet, because he wouldn't hand me things (and claimed he had...never mind they'd still be on his desk!), or other attempts to get me into trouble with the boss. Needless to say, I was sooooo freaking happy when he quit

[gunsage]

The sad part is that though we're a relatively small department, there are a few people I don't get along with well. Notice I didn't say hate. That's primarily because I force myself to get along with them. I figure they'll change or they won't. And if they don't, sucks to be them. I'd love to go out with, oh, probably 95% of the department for drinks. Yes, they're THOSE kinds of people that I'd be willing to socialize with...at least 95% of them.

The best part is even the ones I don't know I still enjoy being around strictly because in a department like this, you really DO have to get along so that there's an air of teamwork. But I have worked in environments where I've absolutely despised one or more of my coworkers. Ready for the ironic part? Here goes...

- Stockboy job. Got along with everyone except one supervisor and even then, I deserved the tongue lashing he gave me for being lazy.

- First gas station. Got along with everyone but one guy who was an ass to everyone. Manager kept him in check, awesome manager, all good.

- Second gas station. Things started off great and initially I got along with everyone. Went to third shift and... Got used to the shift, people on other shifts started not pulling their weight, complaining to them did no good and caused them to hate me, complaining to management didn't do much either, left there after being yelled at in parking lot while contemplating not going in for my shift because I was SICK.

- Third gas station. Never really got a chance to meet many people because I let them know up front that this was just until I could get full time at security job. Nice people, though.

- First security job. Sites went from decent to bad to worse. Got along with all my employees, though there were a few asses here and there.

- Tier 2 job. So much turnover that people came and went. Only really got to know supervisors and ops desk. Got along with most supervisors, but those I didn't I REALLY didn't get along with, typically due to the fact that they harassed my then girlfriend.

- Second security job. Hated the captain, hated his righthand lieutenant. Got along with most everyone else minus one or two people. Branch manager felt sorry for me about reasons for me being removed from main site and gave me a reference to...

- Third security job. All fellow security officers were awesome. ALL. Most clients were very cool too. Both sites I worked were awesome.

Which then brings me to my current job. I guess it really all depends. I try to get along with people the best I can, especially since I know I can be very introverted.

[aurelemsrealm]

I've worked in some great places with great coworkers, and left for reasons like going away to college, trying to find a job with better pay, or moved back to my hometown to be closer to family and friends. I've worked in some sucky places with horrible coworkers, which is why I never stayed any longer than necessary to find a different job.

At my current job, we've been through a major shake-up. The store manager got mad for legitimate reasons and quit. We've been short-staffed for several months, and most of the staff we had has quit since her departure. She was a good manager, so I hated to see her go even though I agree with her reasons. The only reason I'm staying is that most of the chaos happened while I was on vacation, which is ironically hilarious to me. I come back, and think I've stepped into an alternate reality at work. Then again, I tend to view work as an alternate reality anyway.

Back to the point, I got along just fine with my manager and coworkers prior to this change in the last couple weeks. The regular customers regarded me as a fixture in the store. In the last week, most of them have expressed relief to see that I've come back from vacation with all of the chaos at work. I seem to be getting along pretty well with our interim manager and she's told me that she has come to rely on me since I've been there a while and know the ropes, so that's good. The area supervisor has taken a more active role in the store given all that has happened. I get along with him okay, but I don't really trust him since his actions are what led to the dispute with the original manager. So far, I'm getting along just fine with the fill-in staff and new hires, but I'm the one training most of them on the job and assisting when the interim manager is otherwise occupied.

Sorry that I tend to ramble, as you can see, it's just a crazy situation. I just concentrate on what I know to do at work, and deal with everything else as it happens to the best of my ability. I guess that's all a person can do.

[Imogene]

Of course, you forget. In the SC mind, all retail people work on Commission. Thus, we are always looking out for the best way to screw over our fellow worker. And to do that, we can't have any sort of feelings toward our coworkers. It just doesn't work that way.

[theredbaron47]

I don't have anything new to say that hasn't been said before. It doesn't really happen in the pharmacy much, for some reason. I guess they know we aren't in it for commission.

I, like many other people here, go out for drinks with people I work with, and just generally hang out with the people and friends I know and have there, respectively. I only have problems with two of my co-workers there, but that is strictly on a work-related note (i.e., they have some serious flaws about them in the workplace that make me dislike working with them). Other than that, they're a great time at the bar.

[Shards]

I don't have any of my own stories here, but since the odds are very sharply stacked against this specific law enforcement official logging on here anytime soon...

Last summer my then-girlfriend, now-fiance, and I went to a birthday party of a friend of hers. To be perfectly honest, I hate this friend, with a passion. She's a stoner, an alcoholic, a delinquent, and I'm fairly certain she's slept with at least one teacher for a grade. (Because having blond hair, blue eyes, and a big chest gives you the right to always get good grades.) As you can tell, I'm a bit of a stickler for the straight and narrow. Anyway, the only reason I haven't turned this girl (she's like 17, BTW) in to the proper authorities is that I have no physical evidence to hand in, only suspicion and word of mouth.

Anyway, we get to the party, and the place still smells like drugs from the stoner party she had had the night before. Everybody is drinking, including my fiance's most recent boyfriend before me. (I hate this kid. Not because he dated her, because he took advantage of her. Repeatedly. But that isn't something to be talked about here.) Maybe half an hour in, a cop shows up, having been called in for a disturbing the peace complaint, and smells booze. He breath tests all of us, and then turns to Morgan (My fiance) and I, and says "These two are the only people here who haven't touched the alcohol, and only one of you is above the legal drinking age."

He then basically gave us a pat on the back, and started going about the business of making sure all the booze on the premises was disposed of. Finally, as he was about to leave, the one person there who was old enough to drink spoke up. "You're an [insert name of local neighborhood PD] cop, aren't you?"

"Yes, why do you ask, sir?"

"Well, [insert name of town PD] cops are assholes. You aren't." By the way, letting your friend who broke the law off the hook because he didn't want to fill out paperwork doesn't make a cop less of an asshole, it makes him understanding and lazy at best, incompetent at worst. "So you must be [insert original local PD]"

To be perfectly honest, at that point I really wanted to go beat that jerk silly for what he said there. I don't care who you are or why you think that, deciding that people who do their jobs are assholes for doing it is a blatant disrespect to the officer you were talking to, the department you were talking about, and the authority of the law of the United States of America, and it's enforcers. You shouldn't be able to get away with it. Unfortunately, assault falls under the same category under most circumstances or I may well have given that moron what he had coming.