Deep exhale
(…) Means I’ve been distracted by a customer
… Many a year ago I was a bit of an asshole. I would openly judge people, often times based on their appearance… This is something that most people do in their day to day lives. We all hear stories of people hiding their wealth to try and weed out undesirables. Often times we hear of those who don’t take any stake in their appearance but are some of the most enlightened and productively giving members of our society… But these gems of the human race are regularly judged by the masses who do nothing more than try to fit in.
I started thinking about what I was doing a couple years back and began analyzing myself. I didn’t like the fact that I had become so callous towards others. I would pass by beggers on the street and think they where complete scum and I would call people names in my head if they weren’t as pious as I. I’d formed this version of myself in my head that was neither humbled or nice. In reality my desire to be different from others on sheer principle was pigeonholing me as one of the crowd. Everybody claims to want to be different and most people believe that they are different. Even those people who actively go out of their way to act different are in fact not different. The idea is that these people are acting. They are putting on a mask, just like everyone else.
Thinking about all this depressed me a little. It depressed me because I’ve realized lately that being different isn’t a good thing for a lot of people. Some people can’t help being different and they get socially shunned because of it: people who have a retardation, physical deformities, missing body parts, etc. The reality is sad. These people want to be normal but will never be, while others wish to be different to stand out from the crowd.
It seems to me that if people want to be different these days they should educate themselves or learn to be more observant. And no matter how humble I might possibly become I will never be able to deal with stupidity. It annoys me greatly. I’m not a genius and I’ll never claim to be a genius. I’ll be the first the admit or openly state that. What I am on a regular basis is curious and observant. I try to take in my surroundings and get an overview of the situation before do anything. I pay attention to people and I read things. I also try not to assume things. I’ve been trying for quite sometime now to live under the principle that nobody is dumb. I do this because I’ve been surprised by people far too many time in the past to judge a book by its cover.
I’ve been working at Whiffies for a good while now and I’ve dealt with a myriad of different folk. On a regular basis I get cool people ordering pies, chatting with me and over all making this job enjoyable. But then, there are the others. I’m surprised that I haven’t begun grinding my teeth at the overwhelming number of people who do one of two things:
1. Customers walk straight up to the window (with tunnel vision it seems) and order an item that is not on the menu just to their left. They then get upset and disappointed that it’s not available. — I understand that we have certain items regularly that people know and love and will assume that we have. But even larger businesses run out of things from time to time, and Whiffies is not a large business.
2. Customers who walk up to the cart, look at the menu board (sometimes for a couple minutes, it seems) and then order a pie that’s not on the menu or ask if we have something that’s not on the menu. — This astounds me and I can’t help but judge these people. I don’t know why they do it. Perhaps they’re just being hopeful that the flavor that they want might magically appear if they ask for it, but other than that scenario I’m dumbfounded. The sad thing is is that this happens a lot. I chalk it up to blatant stupidity. When I tell them that their flavor, that clearly is not written on the board, isn’t in and they get confused and stare at me like a deer in head lights. I don’t know what to do or how to feel about this situation. I just know that it pains me and makes me hate these people. It makes me think about the movie Idiocracy.
So, I have to bite my tongue for a little while longer. Until I either go back to school full time or until I get to movie making. The way I see it is, the only way out is to remove myself from the situation. My job is a customer service job. I know what this entails. But I also know a way out and I’m running at it.
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