Three Minutes
Have you ever walked into a store and gotten into the checkout lane, readied your credit card or cash, and politely said hello to the cashier who simply responded with a slight glare, which only functions as a means to let you know you've been recognized?
I hate that.
When this first started happening to me, when I was very young, I decided to label these people as "dicks." It was easy to do considering the applicable nature of the statement in coordination with my situation; these people were rude for no reason. This realization stayed the same until today. I discovered something: I am in no position to judge a person if I've only known them for three minutes.
I came to this conclusion because of what happened to me at work tonight. I work at Blockbuster, which gives me the incredible opportunity to deal with all sorts of interesting individuals. Because of this incredible opportunity, I sometimes get an absolute waste of life standing in front of me, arguing about the dollar amount on their account that only exists because they lack the ability to understand what a fucking "due date" means. Tonight was one of those nights. This irritating mixture of skin, puss, and evil -- a stupid, arrogant lady -- came in tonight and decided to piss me off. She was holding eight movies when she approached the counter and said to me the following statement: "I only want one of these." (Let me give you a tip about shopping at Blockbuster: don't be a dick and do things like that. If you decide against a movie, put it back. The store is not that big, and, if it is, God forbid you walk an extra two minutes to put a DVD back on the shelf. Speaking of which, put the movies back where they belong. If you fail to adhere to these overly simplistic requirements of avoiding Dickland then shame on you.) I simply took her one choice, which was Prom Night instead of both Wayne's World and Fight Club, just to name a couple. I instantly hated this woman when she asked the next question:
"Why are your movies 4.99? That's ridiculous."
"Well ma'am, before work every day, me and my colleagues get to choose how much the movies are. Too bad you missed ten dollar movie day, it sounds like it would have been right up your ass...I mean alley. "
I don't make the prices of things, I get paid almost minimum wage to scan things, alphabetize things, and put things away. I deal with "things" people, things that are as useless as this woman was to me. I tried to explain this to her in a very nice way, which was incredibly difficult, and she wasn't having it:
"Well, I'm not paying 4.99 for a movie."
Okay, bye? What does she hope to prove by saying this? It affects me in no way, other than the fact that I have now created a blog in which she has become a central part. She eventually left with three movies, which is awesome considering I got to take fifteen dollars from her, making her a victim of today's marketing genius (it is stupid that movies are five dollars).
Anyway, the next part of the story is what I'm getting at. I was now pissed off and it was showing through my motions; I was immaturely placing things in a violent way, you know what I mean; when you kind of throw your shirt in the laundry out of frustration rather than placing it softly. This was me with DVD cases. Then a customer came up to the counter. I didn't care about their existence at all, they were empty vessels of consumer bullshit and I wanted them to leave. The transaction was smooth though, and they were out of there in about two minutes.
I then stopped and realized I was that person I described at the beginning of this blog. I was a "dick" all because that stupid woman pissed me off.
The message is simple: don't judge someone you don't even know, you never know what they could have gone through to become the way they are. This especially stands true when you are dealing with cashiers. Sometimes we have a bad moment, and you get caught in the middle of the anger-storm.
Three minutes isn't enough time to decide who a person is. So don't try to judge, just hand them your money, receive your reward and walk out the door.
That sentence in no way promotes the profession of prostitution.
( ^ Greatest ending to a blog I've ever witnessed)
I hate that.
When this first started happening to me, when I was very young, I decided to label these people as "dicks." It was easy to do considering the applicable nature of the statement in coordination with my situation; these people were rude for no reason. This realization stayed the same until today. I discovered something: I am in no position to judge a person if I've only known them for three minutes.
I came to this conclusion because of what happened to me at work tonight. I work at Blockbuster, which gives me the incredible opportunity to deal with all sorts of interesting individuals. Because of this incredible opportunity, I sometimes get an absolute waste of life standing in front of me, arguing about the dollar amount on their account that only exists because they lack the ability to understand what a fucking "due date" means. Tonight was one of those nights. This irritating mixture of skin, puss, and evil -- a stupid, arrogant lady -- came in tonight and decided to piss me off. She was holding eight movies when she approached the counter and said to me the following statement: "I only want one of these." (Let me give you a tip about shopping at Blockbuster: don't be a dick and do things like that. If you decide against a movie, put it back. The store is not that big, and, if it is, God forbid you walk an extra two minutes to put a DVD back on the shelf. Speaking of which, put the movies back where they belong. If you fail to adhere to these overly simplistic requirements of avoiding Dickland then shame on you.) I simply took her one choice, which was Prom Night instead of both Wayne's World and Fight Club, just to name a couple. I instantly hated this woman when she asked the next question:
"Why are your movies 4.99? That's ridiculous."
"Well ma'am, before work every day, me and my colleagues get to choose how much the movies are. Too bad you missed ten dollar movie day, it sounds like it would have been right up your ass...I mean alley. "
I don't make the prices of things, I get paid almost minimum wage to scan things, alphabetize things, and put things away. I deal with "things" people, things that are as useless as this woman was to me. I tried to explain this to her in a very nice way, which was incredibly difficult, and she wasn't having it:
"Well, I'm not paying 4.99 for a movie."
Okay, bye? What does she hope to prove by saying this? It affects me in no way, other than the fact that I have now created a blog in which she has become a central part. She eventually left with three movies, which is awesome considering I got to take fifteen dollars from her, making her a victim of today's marketing genius (it is stupid that movies are five dollars).
Anyway, the next part of the story is what I'm getting at. I was now pissed off and it was showing through my motions; I was immaturely placing things in a violent way, you know what I mean; when you kind of throw your shirt in the laundry out of frustration rather than placing it softly. This was me with DVD cases. Then a customer came up to the counter. I didn't care about their existence at all, they were empty vessels of consumer bullshit and I wanted them to leave. The transaction was smooth though, and they were out of there in about two minutes.
I then stopped and realized I was that person I described at the beginning of this blog. I was a "dick" all because that stupid woman pissed me off.
The message is simple: don't judge someone you don't even know, you never know what they could have gone through to become the way they are. This especially stands true when you are dealing with cashiers. Sometimes we have a bad moment, and you get caught in the middle of the anger-storm.
Three minutes isn't enough time to decide who a person is. So don't try to judge, just hand them your money, receive your reward and walk out the door.
That sentence in no way promotes the profession of prostitution.
( ^ Greatest ending to a blog I've ever witnessed)
posted by Clayton at 7:50 PM
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