As you probably know by now, I sometimes listen to podcasts about what the internet is calling Karens/Chads. And well, there are a couple of things I don’t understand.
First off; how come all these fools can’t tell the
difference between a fellow shopper and a store employee?
Think about it. How dense do you have to be not to recognize
that the man wearing the blue vest with military patches and medals all over and
not one shred of the store’s logo? And how blind do you have to be not to recognize a man in full military camouflage complete with name and rank clearly
showing, that he is not the hired help out collecting carts?
I really don’t get that.
On my most recent trip to Wally World (as my husband always
called it), at one point as I was moving up an aisle, I saw a fellow customer
putting something back on the shelf. Now I knew she was a fellow customer because
she had a shopping basket on her arm and wasn’t wearing that distinctive blue
with yellow logo vest. Dead giveaway.
But to listen to these “I don’t work here, lady,” stories,
the fact that she put something back on the shelf makes her an employee! How? In
what world does putting something back you decided you didn’t want make you an
employee?
And my second question is what makes these people think
store employees are there to be at their beck and call? What makes them believe
such human beings are nothing more than peons they can push around all they
want?
Had one of these dilutional persons seen the lady I saw put
that item back, she would have, upon reaching her and seeing she was standing in
front of the item they were looking, demand she hand it over and possibly even insist
the lady accompany them on the rest of their shopping. Such a person would even
go so far as to yell at her that she needed to do her job!
Newsflash, not even the actual store employees are there to do
your every bidding. These people were hired to stock shelves, clean floors,
straighten up, or maybe even gather orders, but they are not there to bow to
your every demand.
By the way, the lady I saw putting something back, was
standing next to what I needed when I reached her. Something that is on a high shelf,
and I always have trouble getting it down.
I asked her politely if she would mind handing me one of those
product.
She got it down and kindly put it in my basket and asked me
if I needed anything else. I told her no then thanked her for her help and said
I hoped she had a nice day.
Plain and simple, I was polite.
I was equally polite a few aisles later when I found a store
employee with a ladder and quite a few boxes, stocking shelves, right in front
of something else I was there to get. I said, “Excuse me, I hate to bother you while
you’re working, but could you hand me,” and told him the exact item I needed.
He put said item in my basket and asked me if there was
anything else I needed. I again expressed my gratitude for the help and went on
with my shopping while he returned to do his assigned job.
But well, that isn’t the only time I’ve been considerate of
the folks hard at work in a store.
I can’t tell you how many times I move out of the way of a
store employee pulling or pushing some large cart or dolly, so they can get
past. I once stopped in a main aisle so an employee pushing a big cart could
get across said aisle. Not that my stopping helped much, every other shopper
around me kept going, as if they couldn’t see that poor woman trying to get
across there.
What happened to manners? What is wrong with being compassionate?
Especially to the poor folks working such hard forty-hour-a-week jobs?
I read one story where this poor fellow did work at the
store, but he was in there on his day off to do his own shopping! That didn’t deter
this lady; she knew he worked there, and for some strange reason felt he still
had to serve her very whim even though he wasn't working at that time!
Excuse me? They are not there to serve your every whim in
the first place, they certainly don’t have to put up with that when they are off
the clock!
So, I really don’t get these so-called Karens/Chads. Do they
really believe store or restaurant employees are, well, either their personal
slaves or maybe not human, do you think?
Anyway, happy writing everyone.