Rant Du Jour

I'm sure this will offend someone. Let's start off with that. "Oh, that Danielle. She has no respect for the elderly." Sure I do, but not when they're ass faces. And I've been known to be a little racy here on the blogaroo, so here we go.

Today's rant stems from the economy. Times are tough, apparently for everyone. More and more companies are firing and laying off employees and more and more people of all demographics are being forced to look for jobs. Women who have been stay-at-home moms have had to go and get jobs working outside of the home. Elderly people who can no longer pay for their healthcare and prescription drugs are now being forced to join the workforce also. And this presents a problem for me.

So many rude old women are now cashiers at all the places I shop. Target, Walmart, Kroger...I can't seem to escape it. "Well, Danielle, maybe it's just you. You do have short fuse, you know." No, faithful blog reader, it isn't me. If you'll remember, I was a cashier at many a grocery store and I know how difficult people can be. I know that alot of people displace anger and resentment and cashiers catch the worst of it sometimes. I've been on that end. I've been there MANY times. But never as a cashier have I been outrightly rude to a person who was perfectly nice and mannerly to me. NEVER. Because I treat people how I'd like to be treated. Most of the time anyway.

Toward the end of my last cashier/office/closing manager grocery store job, I HATED my job. I loved my co-workers, but I hated the job. I had to deal with the worst of the worst. I was the manager, after all.

Her: "My eggs rang up ten cents more than the tag said."
Me: "The tag is for ______ brand of eggs. You bought Eggland's Best eggs and they are ten cents more. I'd be happy to trade you...I'll go get you the correct eggs and you can be on your way."
Her: "Well then, if that was the case, these eggs were on the wrong shelf. I want my money back."
Me: "I'll be happy to give you the difference since the eggs were on the wrong shelf. Ten cents you said?"
Her: "No, for the hassle I want a full refund. And I want to leave a note for your boss since you hassled me."

At this point I just gave her the full refund because that is what my boss would have wanted me to do. If it were my decision, she'd have never been allowed back in the store...BUT I was never rude to her. Even though I wanted to PUNCH HER IN THE FACE.

One time a guy brought in a cake from the bakery that was about 3/4 of the way gone. Here's that conversation.

Him: "Hi, this cake is bad."
Me: "Is it spoiled?" (I was thinking he just didn't like the cake.)
Him: "No, it's rotten. I have the receipt right here. I want my money back."
(At this point I was wondering who keeps a receipt for an effin' cherry bundt cake. I looked at the receipt and it was from 19 days ago. I also checked the label on the cake and the Sell By Date was for 17 days ago.)
Me: "Sir, you bought this cake 19 days ago. Did you just eat it?"
Him: "No, I served it at a party the night I bought it."
Me: "Was it spoiled when you served it at the party?"
Him: "Well, no. But I ate some this morning and it gave me diarrhea."
Me: "As it should have. It's almost 2 weeks old and it was a FRESH cake. I'm assuming you didn't refrigerate the leftovers?"
Him: "Umm, no." (looking at me as if I was the moron.) "It wasn't refrigerated when I bought it."
Me: "So you want a refund because your 2 week old cake leftovers gave you diarrhea?"
Him: "No, I've decided I want a different cake."

I turned that one over to the bakery manager so she could explain to him that cake doesn't stay good indefinitely...and to tell him that "spoiled" and "rotten" basically meant the same thing.

So, I've digressed...alot. I've had multiple incidents at multiple stores where my cashier has been an elderly woman just looking for a fight. At the grocery store where I shop, the baggers are always jerking around. They are NEVER bagging groceries. I've bagged my fair share of groceries, so I don't really mind doing it. I will also say that as a cashier I know not to put pretzels down the conveyor belt DIRECTLY BEFORE a case of beer (especially when the customer arranges it the OTHER WAY AROUND). We had a cashier at the grocery do just that...she put a bag of pretzels down the belt DIRECTLY BEFORE a case of beer. As the bagger, I moved the pretzels out of the way as fast as I could and proceeded with my bagging. At the end I picked up the pretzels to put them on top of a full bag of stuff and the pretzel bag was completely busted open...from the case of beer smashing it. I sort of chuckled. The guy behind us in line made a comment to the cashier like, "Oops, they need new pretzels." So what does this rude old lady say? "Well, she touched them. They're hers." I luckily did not hear this. My child would have witnessed the beating of an old lady if I had. She then turns to me and says, "Do you want new pretzels? Then go get them." I will NEVER. BAG. GROCERIES. AT. KROGER. AGAIN. I don't care how long the lines are or how much stuff gets damaged. I will not take the heat after trying to help out a cashier.

That's just ONE story. I have many more but I'll spare you.

Moral of the story? Someone PLEASE make healthcare and prescription drugs more affordable for old people...for the sake of all of us who have to go grocery shopping.