Crusty Customers
This is a public-service announcement: If you have the time and the money to go out shopping, don’t be a dick to your sales person, because despite what you think, they are in hell.
I have spent the past eight years working multiple part-time jobs, wasting precious years of my life. These years occurred during a period when I was supposed to be out having fun and experiencing different things: under-aged drinking, dancing at clubs, flirting with guys. When I wasn't going to school, I spent all my free time working. I spent every evening, including Fridays, and every weekend trapped between four walls, with no view of the outside world, meticulously counting down the time until I got to go home and sleep. Every time I served a customer I had to grit my teeth, push down sarcasm, and resist the overwhelming urge to scream. Though I am grateful that greedy consumers have paid for my education, having to slave away while others frolic in the moonlight is not exactly the most pleasurable experience.
So when you come into my place of work mid-morning Monday looking for a new digital camera to use on your trip, please do NOT do any of the following: don’t ask for my help choosing when you’ve already picked one out and then yell at me for not being able to read your mind. Don’t claim that Future Shop went under because of me, just because I take a little too long to find your product. Don’t brag that you not only have the day off, but that you can see the future and know that I will cause Best Buy to go out of business as well, and will be coming back in a couple of months to laugh in my face. This is totally uncalled for behaviour, and you can guarantee I’m building a voodoo doll of you in my mind.
However, I know you will not heed my warnings. I know this because, on average, you all insist on being rude, but don’t admit it to yourself. It’s not my fault that you get to go out shopping in the middle of the day or on the weekend, or stop in and browse after catching dinner and a movie. I would be more than happy to switch places with you; you wouldn’t even have to bribe me. If I weren’t a broke student with tuition, rent, and multiple bills to pay, I would bribe you to switch places with me.
CAITLIN GRAHAM
Caitlin Graham prides herself on saying she graduated university without debt, after working up to six part-time jobs at a time. However, she can be classified as a glass-half-empty person with a tendency to be straightforward. She hopes to become a glass-refillable person after grasping a stable career.