Life in the Trenches

Sometimes, working in retail really sucks majorly. When I first started my job, I instantly fell in love with it, it's really been a fantastic job & I've loved doing it. Lately though, I've really begun hating it, specifically hating some of my customers. There was an incident at work yesterday, upon reflection & having a good long think about it, I have to admit I probably could've handled myself a bit better than I did. Yesterday though, I felt pushed to the limit.

I happened past an isle in my section when I saw the same scene I see so many times a day, a young couple holding up yet another open curtain panel. Instantly seeing red again, but attempting to hold off my temper, I smiled at them & told them that we actually have displays up on the way & pointed them in that direction, I then said to them, to let me take the curtain panel & fold it up for them & took it out of their hands. As I turned & walked away, the young snotty chick said sorry in an extremely sarcastic, not even remotely sincere way. Now here's where I didn't handle it well. Ordinarily, I would've just walked away & vented quietly to myself if she had been nice about it. But under my breath, & because I just can't help myself when I've been bullshitted, I said, under my breath but loud enough for her to hear, "no, actually, I don't think you are at all" as I walked around to the next isle.

It only gets worse from there. After leaving the curtain panel on a crate where I would once again fold & repackage it, I heard the little craphead say, "it's what you get paid for", to which I again mumbled, "do you have any idea how many times a day I do this?"; she asked me to repeat it, at first I said nevermind, she asked me again to repeat it, so I did, again, she said it again, it's what you get paid for, I replied that that wasn't the point, I was SO TEMPTED to say at this point, that it wasn't the point that I get paid to do that & clean up after slobs like you - I didn't though, that really would've made it worse. So, she again said "it's what you get paid for you fucking bitch" & off she walked.

Oh no she didn't just say what I think she said!?!?!?!?!?!? Unfortunately, yes, she did. So, I immediately walked off to find my manager, soon as I did, I told him to come with me, & I pointed out the craphead & told him in front of her what she called me, craphead immediately yelled that I was rude to her, pointing her bony finger at the same time, I said back to her that no, I was not, & I walked away, leaving my manager to deal with her, I'd had enough. I walked into the warehouse, & smacked my hand on the top of a box, I was just livid. One of the warehouse guys jokingly asked me to take that box out on the floor, I think I said to him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. hahahah. I apologized to him later, at the end of the day. I then went into the lunch room & proceeded to hyperventilate, trying to calm down.

When my manager came in to speak to me, by that time I was crying my eyes out, so upset, & I proceeded to vent to him about this person, once I could speak, hahah. I said to him that I wasn't sorry about how I handled it, that I wasn't rude to her, & that I don't get paid to be called a fucking bitch. Luckily for me, my manager has been there & done that for years, so he knew exactly how I was feeling.

Of course, there were other mitigating circumstances that lead to my meltdown. It's been so incredibly hot lately, & so humid in the store that it's almost unbearable. I also had a bunch of product that I was in the process of putting back on shelves, I was also getting really annoyed with a co-worker, who'd pissed me & another woman off from earlier in the day. So at the point of my blowup, the poor unfortunate dear who chose to push my buttons that day was the lucky recipient of my misplaced sarcasm.

It just gets incredibly frustrating when on a daily basis, I'd say I spend more than half of my time, when I'm not on til, simply cleaning, fluffing, refolding, putting back, repackaging constantly. Is it too much to ask for customers, when they come in to shop, to not be complete slobs? Is it too much to ask that they don't leave their Starbucks coffee cups in crates & on shelves or wherever the hell they see fit, because they're too lazy to actually throw it out in an actual garbage can? I seriously wouldn't dream of walking into a store & just trashing it. Unfortunately, this is what happens in our store day in & day out, every day. There are days when it is just so unbearably discouraging, especially because I truly do like my job. I will say though, that while we do have quite a few great customers, sadly, it's mostly only the Crapheads that leave a lasting impression. It's really crappy that we have some of the most incredibly slobby, piggy, disgusting shoppers ever.