Thursday, July 5, 2012
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
My Life...The Real World
Have you ever worked with the “general” public? I do or at least I think I do and actually I hope I don’t, because that is just too depressing to fathom. First you’ve got the “under the influence” group. Some people come into my store absolutely reeking of marijuana or booze. Okay insert joke about how would I know what marijuana smells like. Duh! Anyway, I don’t see anything wrong with lighting up or having a few drinks after a hard day of work, sitting on the couch and putting your feet up, but that’s not what we are talking about here. We’re talking about people who smell like they’ve been dipped in a vat of bong water or swam in a pool of booze. Over indulgence is not really the issue either, it’s that fact that they’ve decided to take it on the road for public viewing, sometimes with kids in tow. Can I fail a drug test because I’m inhaling your pot funk? Is your drunk ass really gonna do some casual shopping and then drive home? Why should I have to walk around spraying air freshener so my store doesn’t smell like a coffee shop in Amsterdam or Anheuser-Busch? It’s just stupid. And speaking of stupid….how many times to I have to explain a buy 2 get 1 free sale to the same person? No you don’t get to pick the free one; it will be the cheapest one. Yes you have to actually buy two. No you will not get any money if you return the free one. People are really dumb! My favorite question…Do you have the new 2K game? I just want to scream 2K what!?! ?!?! For what system??!?!!?! NHL 2K10 for the Xbox or Major League 2K8 for the PS3?!?!?! And on and on….No I can’t give you your money back on a game you purchased new 2 days ago because it sucked. Will Wal-Mart give you a refund on that DVD you bought from them because the ending was dumb? Will Best Buy give you a refund because you bought a Taylor Swift CD to impress a girl that has since dumped you? I think not dumb ass! You can’t get a refund on any type of media from computer programs to bluerays ANYWHERE unless it is still sealed. Them’s the rules and I don’t make ‘em. It really pisses me off too when people get angry because they’re only gonna get $0.30 for a scratched up copy of Madden 04 on the PS2 when they paid $30 for it brand new. Well should my husband have paid $9000 for the 1986 Ford Ltd he picked up at a junk yard? That’s what someone paid for it new. It’s a free country, if you don’t think $0.30 is enough then here’s a brilliant idea….don’t sell it here! Why do you have to stand there and berate me for five minutes then take the money anyway while other consumers wait patiently in line behind you? It’s not like we actually pay $5 and I get to keep my cut for getting you to leave with only thirty cents. WTF people? And yes we will turn around and sell that game to someone else for twice as much as we paid you. It’s called making a profit. So I digress from true stupidity to just plane asinine. Let’s move on to what I like to call, “Delusions of Grandeur”. These are the people that think they can just walk past the line, come up to the counter, and interrupt you mid-sentence to ask their question. You could be on the phone, counting out change, and this douche bag has just got to know if you got the new 2k. Why do we treat people in the service industry like shit and then complain when they are rude? He’s another stupid scenario…”I purchased this item for $350 dollars and I would like to return it. It’s broke or something. I left the plug at home. I don’t have the receipt. Can’t you just look it up? When did I buy it? Sometime in the past month I don’t remember the day. I think it was in this store. Don’t you remember me? This is ridiculous. Can I talk to your manager?”...I wish I was joking. Some people just don’t know how to interact in the outside world. They stand way too close to people they don’t know, they don’t make eye contact when they speak, or they give way too much info for a simple question. Example…”I was in here last week cuz I had to stop by my grandma’s house and take her some milk cuz my uncle was in town and I thought I would come in and see if you had this game cuz me and my uncle used to play it back when I was in jr. high. I was glad you had it but when I got to my grandma’s house she told me that she threw out the ps2 cuz nobody ever played with it anymore and she needed some room in the closet to put her new vacuum cuz her old one broke and the new one takes up so much more room so can I get my money back” Yes, really, it happens. One of the most depressing cases I see are the really really really badly behaved kids whose parent STILL buy them something. OMG!! No wonder our society sucks! I saw a teenager pinch his mom and she still bought him a game. One kid, about 8 or 9 yrs old ran around in circles in the store screaming because his mom would not drive back home 20 miles and pick up his old system so he could trade it for a new system. Guess what, they left and returned an hour later system in hand. She said to me, “He’s very determined.” Fucking spoiled is more like it. How do you think that will translate into adulthood? “Mr. Smith we can’t finance your bank loan at this time due to your lack of good credit history.” AAAUUUUGGGGHHH! “Mr. Smith please stop running around the bank screaming. I can see how determined you are to get this money. Let’s sit back down and hammer out the details.” I was one of those mothers that would actually pull the car over and beat your ass. Not that I condone beating children, officially anyway, but for god’s sake don’t reward them for being dicks! I heard one mother tell her kids, “It’s my money. I earned it and I will decide how to spend it.” I almost came out from behind the counter and gave her a hug. Then of course you have the just plain criminal. Someone who comes in with a stack of games, three different systems, all new releases, no fingerprints or scratches, pieces of cellophane still clinging to the boxes, “My kids didn’t like these. Can I get cash?” Or the complete douche bags who actually buy the game, carefully remove the game disk without damaging the plastic, replace it with a blank CD, and then try to return it with receipt in hand. People fucking suck!