Behaving Badly

I think that I am beginning to burn out a little bit.

Only back from holidays 6 weeks ago and am already counting down  to my week off in New Year.

Irritable.

Temper.

And I suppose I could blame it on menopause but I refuse to cop out that way.

While a portion might be due to hormones the balance is based on behaviour from adults that I am subjected to.

M: Ma’am you can go ahead and place your groceries on the conveyor.

****There is more then 2 meters between end of till where you put your groceries and the other end where paying.

C: She is not wearing a mask. I am not wanting to get that close.

***I look at the young lady paying who is one of my co-workers and not at work and we say nothing.

C: Why are people not wearing masks?

M: Until the gov’t mandates it we are unable to enforce it. All we can do is encourage our customers to wear a mask.

C: Well they have to wear them to go into Wal-mart and Superstore.

M: Ma’am they ask that customers wear masks however they cannot force them to wear them.

C: Well at least they try. I will not be shopping here again.

***Three grocery stores in town. In the two that have said masks are mandatory even staff are not all wearing masks. Where I work it is mandatory for staff to be masked. It is a part of our uniform.

I was in check out 1 yesterday afternoon.

Express.

I turn to smile at my approaching customer and realize that she has more then 15 items in her cart.

As I go to point this out to her she announces that she has three separate orders.

Really?

A customer is standing behind her so I called across to my supervisor:

M: L could you please take my next customer. She has three orders here.

Did I bellow loudly?

Yes I did.

This is not the first time that she will do this and it is not the last time either.

And she is smug about it.

Could not care less that there was a line up behind her.

And she wanted paper.

I put the last order in paper and turned while she and her friend loaded her cart.

I heard a rip and turned to see that she had grabbed the bag and pulled it up from the top.

No I did not offer her another bag.

I turned and began my next order.

It is not often that I will outright be a bitch to a customer.

Not often at all.

And it takes a lot to push me to that brink but of late there are more and more customers that seem to be succeeding.

In a time where we need more kindness, more consideration, more understanding I am seeing more selfishness, less care, less kindness.

More about what is in it for me?

More what are you going to give me?

More rolling of eyes.

More bad behaviour.

I have been told that if I am going to clean a till I should do it properly.

Want to know what I was thinking at that time?

I have been told multiple times not to put the bread on the bottom of the bag.

By children.

Customers who I could have given birth to are giving me a snotty attitude.

Looking down or rather up at me because I work in a ‘menial’ job.

Well my menial job is more important than that one that has you sitting behind a desk every day pushing buttons.

Tell me again who rang your groceries through?

Tell me again who stocked the shelves holding the groceries that you purchased?

Those of us with ‘menial’ jobs are the ones who silently stand taking your abuse, your lectures, your snide tone, your expectations that you are to be treated as if the Queen of England.

The derision you treat me with, that you treat my co-workers with, that you feel it is okay to make someone who is providing you with a service to cry and feel second class will rebound tenfold.

Karma is always watching.

And if we are lucky we get to watch it in action.

I apologize this was not suppose to be a rant and rave post.

But I am tired.

So tired of what I am seeing.

Unkindness.

Meanness.

Selfishness.

Heartlessness.

Stupidity.

I want Tember to be so much better…..so much more…..but how do I ask him to do so when all around he sees adults acting badly?

©Oct. 30/20

Picture is my own