i love my job for the basic reasons- it gives me security, a versatile schedule which has allowed me to further my education in psychology, and pretty A+ health benefits [for a single woman]. more reasons why I love my job include, but are not limited to- the people I've worked alongside of and essentially became. best. friends. with. the stories I hear everyday, the smiles I help create, the smiles that appear almost instantly upon my face when I see my favorites, and lastly, all the incredible knowledge I've picked up.
I can chop up veggies about 25 times faster, make a 50 person catering order in 30 minutes, make 50 wraps/sandwiches in, hmm, about 42 minutes, make a pretty badass pizza, tell you about all sorts of diets and allergens, help you point out the FAKE gluten-free folks, the celiacs, the short-term vegans, the ignorant vegans, the on and off vegans, the 5+ years vegans, the vegans that have "been a vegan before all this fake chicken crap became popular," and the beginner vegans. I have learned to cook a substantial amount of meals/recipes, - I know what temperature different proteins should reach before they're ready to be eaten, how many CUPS ARE IN A QUART and my favorite, bring my busy kitchen etiquette home and say "behind you!" to my girlfriend whenever we're cooking at home. <-- fun.
but the downside.. the inevitable and the always painful parts of working in the food industry/retail are the ways that [some, mostly the 3% of the day] customers dehumanize you every. single. way. if I was the kind of person to keep things short, i'd just say "be nice", but since I'm not, I'm going to say: WILL YOU HANG UP THE PHONE FOR TWO MINUTES?
I cannot stress - won't ever be able to stress - can't BEGIN to stress how, not only is it incredibly annoying to be on your phone when someone is attending you with something YOU want, but it's also just about the rudest thing you can do. if you do this, and you're never mean to the people helping you out, cool, thanks but still, ask mom or your boyfriend to hang on for two minutes. they won't stop loving you for being courteous and the person serving you what you want in those two minutes will L O V E you.
this is true. this is a fact. there are countless of customers I really really like- even care about to an extent that they're in my thoughts after work. that part makes me love my "college" job. it makes me p r o u d to be naturally good to people, to go out of my way because I LOVE it. to walk customers to all areas of the store to show them where anything and everything is, just to have them ask for name, thank me sincerely and have them leave on the happiest note.
in sum, in every single day trips, in all aspects of your trips to places that employ people that are there to help, that have been sufficiently trained and who are more than happy to perform A+ service, please, please remember that they are probably just like you. beyond the phd, the millionaire husband, the fake boobs - hey. hey! hi, we're all skin and bones. with a huge heart tucked in our center, protected by a set of ribs that can only help you with so much. so work for the other aspects; don't be that one person to hurt someone else for reasons beyond the both of you.
and if you happen to find yourself in a situation with a grumpy, moody, rude member.. hey, kill them with kindness. it always works. beeelieve me.
and on a delicious note to accompany this sad, ill-written blog, here are baked apples that I was spontaneously asked to bake for our demo specialist today:
sweet tango apples with pecans and currants, baked with coconut sugar, pumpkin spice, clove and cinnamon.
hey, vegan & gluten-free.
thank you for reading.
Oh goodness, I am familiar with this feeling. I used to work in retail for about 3 years at a bookstore, and I, too, loved/hated my job. I loved running into so many different people, seeing what material they were looking for, learn about it, and so on. I always made sure they left the store happy and with the intention of returning because of their (hopefully) great shopping experience. However, I had my few run-ins with those extremely rude customers, and the worst ones who I still cannot believe I share the same air with everyday.
ReplyDeleteThe worst I can think of was this one lady who decided to call the police on me, because we had a Kama Sutra book on display with what she felt was an inappropriate cover (mind you, books/magazines that would come in the store that had graphic/sexual content were always wrapped in plastic to prevent kids from opening them). I simply told her that I was doing my job and following corporate's instructions, because they send out what every display should look like, etc, etc. She kept on with the spiel about its inappropriateness, that I should consider her child, that it's people like me that are ruining society, and so on. I told her that she could express her concerns to my manager (who at the time was already standing there and didn't seem to know what to do). It felt like every single word that came out of her mouth got louder and louder to the point that I could feel everyone's eyes staring in our direction. Once she started with the verbose personal insults, I felt my blood start to boil, but I kept telling myself to keep my cool, nod, and smile. The police eventually showed up, realized everyone's time was being wasted, so they escorted her and her kid out of the store. There are few times in my life that I can say I really wanted to hit someone on the face, and this was one of them. However, the good always seemed to outweigh the bad, so I stayed there for as long as I did.
Now that I'm doing my internship in the healthcare field, I thought I would get away from the rude types, but I have learned that this happens everywhere. You are trying to explain to a patient's family what you are doing and why you are doing it, and they are too busy to listen because their phone conversation is far more important than their mother's/father's/husband's/wife's risk for aspiration which can lead to a lung infection and inevitably, death. You would think that even after standing there for 15 minutes while they finish their conversation they would get the hint that the information you are about to give them is crucial, but they don't realize it (not just that, but I also have other patients to see). For lack of better words, it really sucks sometimes.
I have learned to become more assertive with my experience in retail and healthcare (after all these years, I still haven't gotten over my shyness), and I realized that my patience sometimes works against me. Oh, and smiling. Smiling a lot always helps, too, no matter how far some of these folks can try to push you. (Sorry for the long comment!)