hummingwolf | Monday, December 26th, 2005

Friday: Decided I was feeling hale enough to pick up the rest of my prescriptions, so I got in a nice 1¼-mile walk that way. While at that store, figured it was a good time to do more grocery shopping with another one of the gift certificates I'd gotten, so wandered off to that other store and picked up ingredients for another batch of chicken soup as well as various other items. The store was crowded, but my shopping went well enough.

There was a small incident at the checkout line, however. In fairness to the customer involved, the clerk was perhaps not quite as professional as she should have been. The cashier expected to be treated with the respect due to all sentient beings, and reacted with some dismay when she was not so treated. This is a perfectly human reaction, but not a perfectly professional one. Still, while the cashier may have been too sensitive for her job, the customer was simply obnoxious, both to her and to those of us waiting in line. After some harsh words, the customer demanded the presence of a manager, saying to the clerk, "Do! Not! Touch! My! Food! Ever! Again!"

So we waited for a manager, and I couldn't help reacting my own way. I laughed. The man behind me laughed with me. I gleefully said to the others around that the customer's behavior was caused by "The Christmas spirit! The joyous holiday spirit!" The woman rolled her eyes, her elderly mother waited unsure of what exactly was going on, and the rest of us laughed. Perhaps my reaction was not the kindest one possible, but I do think the woman in front of me had chosen to be miserable and that laughter kept her from infecting the rest of us.

Eventually a manager came over, serenely rang up the customer's order, and then took the cashier aside, telling her kindly that she should expect craziness for the next few days and shouldn't take it personally.( Read more... )