Customer Service Work SUCKS.

So today I am blogging about yet another thing that is close to my heart. And that is the fact that retail jobs are shit. I work in customer service, food service to be exact. I like most of what goes down at my job. I like making food from scratch, and I like working on a very strictly regimented daily schedule. I like my coworkers and for the most part I even enjoy interacting with customers. But among the many shitty things about working retail (shitty pay, shift work, no benefits, lack of job security), there is one thing that is inescapable. You know what that thing is. Say it with me. ASSHOLES.



I often have to remind myself that when a person is being a massive, screaming, howling, rotten asshole to me, they are probably a generally pretty OK person who is just having a shitty day. But that doesn't change the fact that when you come up to me and demand shit for free, or fly into a rage when we do not psychically anticipate that you would want sixty cinnamon buns with no frosting and are unable to accommodate you, you are being a gigantic asshole.

Boyfriend and I constantly talk about how there is a massive imbalance when it comes to ideas about those working in customer service. Somehow people expect us to anticipate what they need and be able to provide it, no matter how unreasonable that demand. "What do you mean you don't have a candle that smells like my grandmother's home-made hair spray? Where can I get one? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!?!" People also, simultaneously assume that we are complete idiots who couldn't possibly understand a simple instruction without slow talking and constant repetition. The following is an actual exchange from my workplace, between me and a customer:

Customer: And I'll have a coffee, black, but only about two thirds full, the rest just water.

Me: Sure thing, would you like your order for here or to go?

C: Just two thirds, and then water.

M: Um...OK, I understand, is that for here or to go?

C: BLACK.

M: Um.....OK....Well, we always pour it black, because the cream and sugar...

C: THIS. MUCH. (indicates with fingers) COFFEE. THIS. MUCH. (indicates again) WATER.

M: O_O....

After I poured this dude's coffee/water/BLACK, I STILL had to ask whether he wanted his damn cinnamon bun in a box or on a plate.

I feel like as soon as I step behind the counter and put on a hat and an apron, I become devoid of any kind of humanity or identity. I have a name tag to facilitate making complaints about me. Somehow, people seem to think that because we are performing a service, we are inhuman. I can't count the number of times, I have held my hand out to receive a payment in cash and had it dropped next to my hand on the counter. That primitive grasping mechanism is out there for a reason, asshole!

People do their damndest to avoid eye contact, they insist on carrying on conversations with their friends while I try to serve them and then give me stink-eye when I have to interrupt to clarify something or remind them that they have to pay me. The worst offender are people on cell phones at the cash. That shit is the most frustrating, rude, dehumanizing BS I have encountered in a long time. I've had people ignore me, give me the "wait a minute" hand wave while I try to take their orders, regardless of a line up behind them, I've had to refund or replace orders because someone wasn't paying enough attention to me to clarify when I've asked them a question, but of course that's my fault so they want their money back and this is supposed to be a CINNAMON pretzel, even though you were too busy talking into your phone about how drunk you were last night to pay attention to the fact that you DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT CINNAMON (also an actual experience I have had).

People come to the counter and say "Two please". This is not an old time-y movie house. I sell more than one thing. You have to be specific, and do not look at me like I just set you on fire when I ask "two of what, please, sir". You are interacting with another goddamn human being, from whom you are requesting -- or often DEMANDING -- a service. Learn to conduct yourself with a little civility. Learn to at least pretend you don't think I'm a piece of shit. Learn to consider that maybe we are working our way through school, or maybe we are only doing this to support a sick family member, or MAYBE...

Maybe we actually LIKE this job! Maybe we aren't just a nameless employee-bot who doesn't give two shits whether our job is done well. Maybe we are working our way up through a company to have a decent job where we can excel and feel even MORE proud of what we do! And maybe you're ruining that right now by assuming that we are literally stupid just because we're all wearing the same shirt. Because you assume, based on some ignorant -- and yes, I'll say it, CLASSIST -- bullshit that we are somehow LESS than you. Think about that the next time a service person spills your drink and has to ask you to please wait just a second while they get you a new one and now they have to do extra laundry tonight to make sure they are ready to come do this all over again tomorrow. For no money.