By Donaelle Benoit
The perfect cure to boredom is a public freakout video. You know–the one that usually takes place at a grocery or clothing store where an unruly customer takes out their misplaced anger on an unsuspecting underpaid employee through verbal and sometimes physical assault. Yeah, I used to kneel over laughing at those too. And then I got a job.
This past summer I became a cashier at a popular grocery chain. The naivety in me viewed it as a teenage rite of passage for taking responsibility and gaining independence. I knew hostile people were an option because of the internet, television and passed-down stories, but I was still unprepared for it. You shouldn’t have to be. No one should be trained to endure abuse and pain. Yet this is exactly the model of our world. Your worth as a person is dependent on your resiliency and this makes people do things they don’t want to do, things they don’t have to do.
From a man ripping up his receipt and slamming it on the counter to customers blaming me for New Jersey’s anti-plastic bags law to arguments about price, the condescension was unreal. I shouldn’t forget to mention the men who seemed to believe the checkout line was their personal speed dating service. I’m glad no one pulled out their phone to record these moments. It’s embarrassing enough, in reality, it doesn’t need to be immortalized on the internet.
If you’re a college student, then you probably work in customer service part-time. I’m sure you hate it and would rather be anywhere else. I can’t tell you to quit, because that’s unrealistic, but the worst you can do is engage with insolent customers. I made that mistake and it soils your mood. You become easily angered. Try to ignore them as best you can even if it means walking away and handing them off to a co-worker or supervisor.
I don’t know when this entitlement in our society began and why, but all we’re doing is making each other miserable. Life’s hard enough, so why make it worse? Why can’t people just search for their items, pay and leave? If you don’t like the price, you can return it and go somewhere else. If you forgot to bring a reusable bag, whose fault is that? I think a lot of people need to hone their conflict-resolution skills and develop self-control. Regardless of the situation, aggressive behavior is never going to make you look like the hero.