It's a good thing we don't exchange Christmas gifts anymore. We decided years ago to drop out of that rat race. The holidays for us mostly start and end on Christmas Day when we go to Mass, and then gather with family for a feast. You can't believe how refreshingly easy getting through the 10 weeks of Christmas can be until you strip it down to the bare bones and celebrate "the reason for the season," without all the bells and whistles of brainwashed consumerism.
But even though I'm spared the hassle and expense of Christmas shopping, I still have to go to town at least once a week for groceries and to run errands. So I still have to brave the shopping mobs and the snarky store employees.
You'd think, in this age of austerity and joblessness, people would be so thrilled to have a job, any job, that they'd at least be able to fake cheerfulness when dealing with customers. On my end of things, I do my best to be cheerful, with a smile ready for those I come in contact with. So it kind of hurts my feelings when I'm treated like a "nothing."
Today I HAD to go to town. Couldn't put it off another day. I had library books overdue, the truck payment past due, a few things we needed from the grocery store for the long deer hunting weekend ahead, and I had a "$10 off a $20 purchase" coupon from *** that expires today. A good time to stock up on toilet paper, half off!
At ***, I had to get out my *** Savers Card and my debit card, but I forgot the coupon in my sweater pocket. After I'd been checked out (by a chirpy, cheerful young lady, I should add) and paid up, I realized too late that I'd forgotten to use my coupon. The checkout girl had to send me to Customer Service.
Oh, no! Not Customer Service! Customer service must be the worst job in the world. I can't ever remember having a nice person wait on me in Customer Service in any store. And today was no exception.
The unfriendly young lady seemed all put out when I explained that I'd forgotten to use my $10 off coupon. I apologized and she muttered, "I'll have to ring it all up again." There were four items in my cart. Gimmee a break!
After she'd worked through the process, she shoved my money at me with a "there you go." I smiled and said, "Thank you for your help." Not just an automatic thanks, but a sincere thank you. She just turned and walked away.
Yes, a "you're welcome" or "have a nice day" was expected. Even a "no problem," the younger generation's version of "you're welcome," would have been nice. But to just turn her back and walk away meant I wasn't welcome. I was just one more annoying customer she had to deal with.
I know I shouldn't let rude people steal my sunshine. But I walked out of the store feeling like I'd been spit on.
I would write a letter of complaint to the manager. But I had to do that recently when I was shorted 5 Vicodins of the 16 my dentist had prescribed for pain after a procedure. I would have just picked up the missing pills next time I was in there and went along my merry way, but the person who waited on me neither apologized for the inconvenience nor even said thank you!
So I made a big deal by writing a complaint to the pharmacy manager and enclosing all label info so she could track down the person who shorted me, just in case that person might be in the habit of shorting folks on "the good stuff." I mean come on! If you can't count out 16 big pills correctly, you shouldn't be working behind a pharmacy counter, right? Anyway, if I write another letter to the manager, they're going to think I'm just some cranky, old troublemaker.
So....to get it off my chest, I've blogged the daylights out of it. And now I feel better. :o)
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