Something to Think About
Today I experienced one of the worst workdays ever. Being a worker in retail, I have seen my fair share of angry, rude and just unpleasant people but today it was as if a line between rude and just plain verbally abusive was crossed.
I had a lady who was a customer who bought a laptop from us. Now, the store I work for offers installations of anti-viruses and Microsoft Office so she decided to do so. Everything started to go well until I accidentally rang up a phone she and her friend were purchasing seperate from the computer. What was even worse was that my co-worker was assisting me in bagging their items when a customer came up to make a purchase. This lady began to yell at him to get his attention when she could have asked me for the answer or wait until he was done. She then proceeded to chastise both my co-worker and me for “changing the locations of items”. Us cashiers do not dictate where things will be moved to around the store. Things change but they never saw it that way.
I then had to re-explain to them that things get changed around the store but they continued to verbally insult me by saying that I was such an “angry individual”. Anybody who knows me knows that I will be the shoulder one can cry on, I give my two left feet for you, heck, I will be someone’s support system. Angry is never something in my heart. It got worse when they called me nasty in front of my face and as they left they yelled at a line of customers, pointing at me and yelling “SHE IS SO NASTY!”
Those words actually caused me to do something I have never done in the two years I have worked retail; they caused me to break down in tears. My manager was appalled by what had happened when he found out from seeing me cry and had me sit in the back of the store to calm down. I have the toughest skin in the world but this was the first to tear it to shreds. I felt as if they were dragging me through the mud and labeling me without knowing who I am and for their own insecurities about whatever.
So, why did I decide to share this story. I decided to do so because people can try to get you upset. You may not have been the reason they are upset but they will use you like a welcome mat to muddy boots. They may be going through stuff we are unaware of but because we are retail workers, they use us like punching bags.
Now, I know the name of this person and some may think I should share the name so they can get a piece of their medicine. I will never do that in a million years and here is why. Sure, when someone is mean you want to see them humiliated and feel bad but I am not someone who wants to judge others based on their attitude. Maybe she was going through some stress from work or at home and she just did not let her words out properly. Plus, in my opinion, its unprofessional to share a story like this and go “by the way this is their name, tear them to shreds!” It is not only petty and immature but it can also get dangerous when their names get traced back leading to doxxing, which I am 100% against. Plus, I would endanger myself if I did that both reputation wise and in my workplace.
Finally, I want to close it out by sending this individual a message. I know they might never read it or even care but I just wanted to let you know that I am not angry at you, I am not resentful of what you said. I feel bad for you. I feel bad that you had to stoop to childish antics. I don’t know if you are going through something right now in your life that is causing a lot of stress but I will be sending a prayer your way. A prayer full of love and joy, since I was raised to love my fellow man even when they are not pleasant.
As for me, I will continue to be the same person I always am; coming up with new ideas, being creative, caring, loving and being an educator.
