I'VE GOT AN ISSUE!

Those of you who have worked retail, which is just about all of you, know just how (insert string of obscenities, shouted) the general public can be. I was at the store last night, and two of my BIGGEST irritants seemed to happen over and over again.

1 - Why do people bring up to the register stuff that they do not want to buy? They dump it off with me to put away. Man I hate that. Last night a woman came to me with a bracelet and said that she had another one like it on hold. So I went and got the one held for her, and then asked if she was buying both. Oh no, she only wanted the one that was on hold. Well then why did you bring me another one?! And then later that night a lady who wanted very much to tell me all about why her back hurt when I simply did not care had about 8 items in her hands, and said that she was still trying to decide what to buy. Shouldn't that have been done before coming to check out? The cash register is not the place for decision making. Honestly. So we rang stuff through, and she asked me every few items what her total was, and then she'd think it over, and then told me they were going to Lagoon for her son's birthday, so she couldn't spend much money, and in the end left 3 items behind, because she knew that there's nothing I love more than putting away all of this stuff.

At one point I said to Frank, my manager, "If I had all power and could rule the world, I would stop people from bringing to the register things they do not want to buy." He laughed and agreed that it is really annoying, and then said that it's like they pick something up off of the shelf just to tell us that they don't want it, and then he picked up a book and handed it to me, "Here, I'm not going to buy this."

The thing is, they never offer to put things away themselves. We're not a huge store, like Target, so it's not a half-mile walk back to where an item belongs. Sure it's ok to go to a register to ask what the price is on something, but then if you don't want it, take it back to where you found it! Don't leave a mess for someone else to clean up. That's just common courtesy.

2 - Speaking of putting things away, after we closed last night Frank asked me if I would clean up the children's area before going home. I walked to that section and found a GIANT mess. There were piles of books everywhere. Everywhere! What is wrong with people? Don't we all remember our mothers telling us to put things back where we found them? Why don't today's mothers tell their children the same thing? We have people leave their kids in the children's area, go do their own shopping (some have actually left the store) and then come back, grab their kid and go, without giving any attention to the mess their kid has made. That is not ok. That has never been ok. It will never be ok. So it goes without saying that it's also not ok to let your kid rip up a book and then leave it on the floor.

The nerve of some people.

Those are my issues. Thanks for listening.