Hello, how are you?
My grandmother flew down from Taiwan a week ago and is spending Christmas with us this year; so in between my erratic Christmas shifts and gigs, my nights have been slotted full of silly banter whilst playing Rummikub. Work has been more stressful as of late, as the mall’s been far busier than usual (and I only get called into work on the hectic days). According to today’s newspaper front page, Christmas sales have been down significantly since last year, but at work it seems to be that most people are resorting to cafes to catch up with people, instead of actually spending money on presents for one another.
I’ve been stuck on the till for somewhere between 15-20 hours in the past 4 days alone, and so many things are really making my nerves tick. You know when you enter a store and the sales assistant greets you and ask, “Hi, how are you?” and if they linger for a response you usually respond with “good thanks” and keep browsing? Or, if they’re awful at their job and completely ingenuine, they’ll simply ask and move on before you respond… that’s all very well because it seems to be the routine for sales people. But what I truly cannot wrap my head around is about the 2/5 customers that approach me at the till and go “Hi how are you I’d like a flat white… etc…” – the painful lack of punctuation reflecting the exact way they speak – not even pausing to make their words a question or proper sentence. WHY do they open their sentences with “how are you” without really even making that a question?! Furthermore, even when you totally disregard the fact that it’s a completely redund
ant thing to say, it also makes me feel like a right prick because I’m the one who is supposed to be asking such things, and I don’t know whether or not I should even acknowledged that they’d said it at all?! On top of this, I think the usual 80% of people who say medium when I ask whether they’d like a small or large coffee (whilst pointing to the small, then large cup), has grown into about 90%. Is it really so hard to figure out that a middle-sized cup will not miraculously appear out of thin air, just because many womens’ conscience (or stupidity) seems much more satisfied when they think that they’re not getting a “large”. I give up, I truly do.
I’ve got so many more pet peeves accumulated from work over the past year, but it’s all been heightened over the last few days. It didn’t help that on Saturday morning I started work at 7am following a very late night out in town watching Yacht, who were supported by a crazy set by The Sneaks, and the alien-headed Kazaam Blam. The mere three-hour nap I took before rolling out of bed to get to work on time was simply not enough to refresh myself from having to get quite pushy and block the view of other people in order to get a decent shot of Yacht; their dance moves and craziness kind od reminded me of Karen O, but definitely nowhere as wild. Overall it was a good show, but it was a shame that my friend and I couldn’t stay until the very end of it, just because we were both sooo exhausted from work and Saturday the following would be much worse and busier.
I’ve picked out some photos from Yacht, click here for the full set:
Category: Audience, Concert, Family, General, Music, Photography, Rants, Work 9 comments »
December 23rd, 2009 at 7:20 pm
yep! It was supposed to happen on the Monday of the following week, but oh well. That was the only time I’m going to help cause it was really annoying and too much.. your right, we should have been paid more. We did so much stuff that we weren’t even supposed to do.. oh well.. and yeah, if they did get someone to cater it she would have paid a lot more…
———-
haha i know what you mean, that is really annoying as well! Even when you do get a chance to say “fine thanks, how are you?” they don’t even answer the “how are you” and just go on with what they want or some weird random conversation. Wow, thats a lot of work and long hours.. good thing Christmas is almost here and it’s almost over then its back to normal. Although, the extra money is always nice.
haha I love the “alien” one, so cute! Reminds me of ET lol.
I hope you have a great Chrsitmas! and A happy and safe New Year
December 23rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I’m not sure if my comment went through or not :/
December 24th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Hehe thanks! I think I’ve got it sorted though; I had to get other programs to scan and I had to format stuff.
At camps they always seem to wash the dishes like that. Eeek..
It’s nice to be greeted by a shopkeeker or a member of staff when browsing; it shows that they are appreciative and not just talking to co workers and having a chat. Sometimes it can be overdone though, like in a clothes store. They usually compliment you 9306 times to convince you to get something.
And customers asking you “how are you” at all is weird. I usually just say “hi”. I mean, what if you said to a customer “Well, I’m going pretty crap because I have to serve everyone..”
Besides, that person didn’t mean it as a question at all. I think it was rude and inconsiderate.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:58 am
I find it nice when shop assistants actually ask how i am or if i need any help- suggests acknowledgement. i was very annoyed by the number of times i’ve entered the MAC store and everyone just ignores me.. so i haven’t bought anything there.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I’m not fond of shop assistants asking me how I am, but that’s just me. I like to be left alone, and if I need help I’ll obviously approach them. But then I guess, it makes them more personable, so I see their point.
I’ve never heard anyone order a medium coffee, actually, but I do know a lot of people who are constantly confused my Starbucks’ cup system — why can’t they just stick with the standard sizes?
December 27th, 2009 at 4:42 am
Oh my gosh! I have family that live in New Zealand. Is it wonderful there?! I love ballet too. I creeped a bit on your profile.
I totally understand where you’re coming from on that work thing. It’s so awkward and it sucks saying “Hi, How are you”….wait….”GOOD THANKS!” lmfao. I know just all about that. I’m a cashier at a grocery store. 
December 27th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
EW @ that alien mask ROFL.
Xmas time is a difficult time. It’s so busy and packed and there are so many things to do and so many people to deal with that it’s easy to become disenchanted with the whole thing and gain lots of pet peeves. I think you held out fine though!
Merry belated Xmas!!
December 30th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I understand your pet peeves but maybe the customers are just in a hurry and their words are jumbled because they just need to get their product and leave? I don’t know I feel like I may have acted this way, and I serve customers at a food place so I understand how you feel at the same time. Anyways, Happy Holidays, hope its not too stressful.
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:45 pm
I’m undecided as to whether or not I like shop assistants approaching me and asking me if I need assistance. But I’m never rude to them, even if I don’t need their help!