Reflections on retail

This is a "me" post, not really a Wal-Mart adventure, so you might want to skip it, unless you're curious as to how people think.

In a rare moment of not-too-many-customers last Sunday, the other person working the Service Desk with me asked if I knew of any openings at my real job. I said that there were openings, but you have to have a specialized degree or a computer tech degree. Then he said that he was tired of working in retail and that his sister had told him "Retail is the hardest thing you'll ever do." I was like "No, food service is tougher. Imagine working in McDonald's for an eight-hour shift. Or waiting tables. Those are the true heroes.

And as evil as Wal-Mart is, one thing we do have is numbers. What I mean is that there are always lots of other people working with you in the store. Chances are slim that something REALLY major bad is going to go down without someone noticing.

I used to think I could work at 7-11. Then I pulled up the other day to get a soda and some chocolate because I had a headache. I was about to get out when I saw this guy stomp in. Literally. I was parked right in front of the door and saw the whole thing.

He cut in line. The woman he cut in front of opened her mouth to say something, then realized he may well be pissed off to slug her, then just gave a head shake to her friend behind her.

The guy keeps standing at the counter getting more and more agitated. He starts arguing with the clerk and finally slams the door open and leaves. I wait until he gets into his car and leaves the parking lot before I go into the store.

The place is still abuzz. Apparently he forgot his PIN number. The girl who was running the register he tried to check out on told me the whole thing. "He was trying all these numbers. None of them were close to each other. And he kept getting more and more angry."

She was real cool about it. I wouldn't have been. I totally couldn't take being alone in a convenience store in the middle of the night with who knows what rolling up drunk, stoned and high and acting stupid.

The only time I ever got really scared at the Service Desk was when a guy was trying to return an open CD and a baseball bat at the same time. He didn't like what I was telling him and started yelling at me. When I realized the bat was still on the counter, I grabbed it and put it on the floor. He finally left but signed the reciept "FOK YOU!"