I sometimes have moments of being outspoken. I think my 4 hours at work today were those moments.
Some Sunday afternoons are busy, but others are painfully slow. Today was a busy one. At Brighton Collectibles, we greet each customer when they enter the store. A man walked in and went directly to the charm bar. I asked him if I could do anything for him and told him about the fun promotion we were doing. He said the promotion sounded great and that he would like to do that.
He pointed to a handful of beads and charms and then asked what it totaled. I was still pulling things out and adding up the numbers in my head
"Could you go any slower? I know you don't have anything else to do, but I do."
"I'm almost done," I said patiently. Seriously dude, it had been 10 second since he pointed to a handful of beads and asked for the total.
"If you'd have gone to high school, you could do the simple math," was his belittling response.
"Excuse me," I rebutted as I shut the desk drawer hard, "you don't know a thing about me."
I think I caught him off guard. He may be used to trampling over people in his everyday life, but I'm not one of those people who puts up with it. Especially when he was blatantly being a jerk. I completely quit working and turned to face him.
"I have a double major and a minor and am in the process of applying to graduate schools. And I'm also in the process of working with a Pulitzer prize winner at the San Francisco Chronicle. I've had my writing and photography published in a few different places. I have a great future and this part-time job is simply a stepping stone, not the achieved goal. Anything else you'd like to know?"
He was silent and looked stunned.
I continued calmly, "so what can I help you with?"
"Uhhhh, I'd like some help making a charm bracelet for my wife's birthday," he managed to stammer.
"And I will gladly help you with that if you'd let me. It'll take me a few moments to find what you've asked for," I said as I continued finding the desired beads. "Your current total is $57.50. You need $17.50 more to get the promotion."
We finished the bracelet and as I rung up his purchase, he apologized. It was nothing special or meaningful. I think he was still a little taken aback. I forgave him and we both continued on with our lives.
Some Sunday afternoons are busy, but others are painfully slow. Today was a busy one. At Brighton Collectibles, we greet each customer when they enter the store. A man walked in and went directly to the charm bar. I asked him if I could do anything for him and told him about the fun promotion we were doing. He said the promotion sounded great and that he would like to do that.
He pointed to a handful of beads and charms and then asked what it totaled. I was still pulling things out and adding up the numbers in my head
"Could you go any slower? I know you don't have anything else to do, but I do."
"I'm almost done," I said patiently. Seriously dude, it had been 10 second since he pointed to a handful of beads and asked for the total.
"If you'd have gone to high school, you could do the simple math," was his belittling response.
"Excuse me," I rebutted as I shut the desk drawer hard, "you don't know a thing about me."
I think I caught him off guard. He may be used to trampling over people in his everyday life, but I'm not one of those people who puts up with it. Especially when he was blatantly being a jerk. I completely quit working and turned to face him.
"I have a double major and a minor and am in the process of applying to graduate schools. And I'm also in the process of working with a Pulitzer prize winner at the San Francisco Chronicle. I've had my writing and photography published in a few different places. I have a great future and this part-time job is simply a stepping stone, not the achieved goal. Anything else you'd like to know?"
He was silent and looked stunned.
I continued calmly, "so what can I help you with?"
"Uhhhh, I'd like some help making a charm bracelet for my wife's birthday," he managed to stammer.
"And I will gladly help you with that if you'd let me. It'll take me a few moments to find what you've asked for," I said as I continued finding the desired beads. "Your current total is $57.50. You need $17.50 more to get the promotion."
We finished the bracelet and as I rung up his purchase, he apologized. It was nothing special or meaningful. I think he was still a little taken aback. I forgave him and we both continued on with our lives.
Way to go, Andrea! You handled his idiocy beautifully. :)
ReplyDeleteI would have done the same thing! Not to mention, it's your job to make sure you take the time to ring up his purchases correctly-I wonder how many people have been flustered at his impatience and charged him too much or too little for his purchases.
ReplyDelete