Me no use brain

[evilhomer]

I generally don't get chatty with customers. I'm there to do some work and get the hell out of there, guys like this remind me why.

This guy was just your typical amateur comedian, thinking he's making cute and funny comments but instead just showing what a dumbass he actually is. He didn't say a thing that didn't register as white noise with me until he came up with this gem: "maybe I'll start doing this when I don't feel like using my brain anymore". This pissed me off so much that I couldn't even comment, I had to stop myself from telling him off and I'm glad I wasn't closer because I might have clubbed him. He just thought it was a hilarious comment and it didn't even occur to him that it was so insulting.

[Aria]

People don't realize how much intelligence it takes to do so-called 'menial' jobs. I remember when I worked in a burger shack, we had a guy who, at the time, we just said was retarded. Now it would be disabled... anyhow, his job was the fryer. Nothing else. He couldn't be trusted with anything else. Was quite alright on the fryer though. Then we got a new manager who let him go because he couldn't do burgers right. Anyway, where am I going with this? Oh yeah, so-called 'simple' jobs are usually anything but.

[Marmalady]

I'm training someone up where I work at the moment, fortunately she seems bright and practical - at the end of the first shift I asked if there was anything she wasn't sure about and she said, 'No, most of it is common sense really', and I answered 'Yes, but you'd be surprised at how rare that is'.

[Evannah]

I would have flown off the handle at that. Cashiering and shop work is harder than most people think. People in the industry realise this, those who don't think it's soooooo easy a monkey could do it. People like him need a couple of weeks in retail to understand just how challenging it actually is.

[evilhomer]

I would have flown off the handle at that. Cashiering and shop work is harder than most people think. People in the industry realise this, those who don't think it's soooooo easy a monkey could do it. People like him need a couple of weeks in retail to understand just how challenging it actually is.

Oh yeah, these people need to step into the real world and see what it's like to have a real job where you need to do real work. Never mind the skill and intelligence that are required that isn't so obvious to a simple mind like his, never mind the strain it puts on your body. How about this reality check, getting docked that hour you spent doing absolutely nothing except watching guys do real work and making dumbass comments, then getting written up for it. How about not getting to take your breaks, forget about this whole thing of getting them, then spending an hour to get back to your desk while you socialize and chat. You're up in arms about taking away banked sick days, you can have my life of unpaid sick days, and an unpaid week off for daring to call in. And of course there's pensions, feel free to join me in my retirement plan of dying if you don't think your pension of $50,000++ is fair and sufficient.

[wolfie]

Cashiering and shop work is harder than most people think. People in the industry realise this, those who don't think it's soooooo easy a monkey could do it.

On the other hand, management seems like something a monkey could do. After all, they screech a lot, occasionally steal the workers' lunches (did you have a banana in your lunch? Too bad), and (figuratively) fling poo).

Running a library is something an ourangutang could do. Note: I didn't use the "M" word - please don't tear my arms off.

[Catwoman2965]

I would have flown off the handle at that. Cashiering and shop work is harder than most people think. People in the industry realise this, those who don't think it's soooooo easy a monkey could do it. People like him need a couple of weeks in retail to understand just how challenging it actually is.

TOTALLY AGREE! I just left my PT retail job after 9.5 years. We had so many customers who thought it would be "fun" to work there. Not realizing hey, its work! Nights, weekends, holidays, NO ONE is immune. And as a closer, we have to make sure the store is pretty, empty trash, including the nasty customer bathroom, put hangers away, and swiffer and vacuum. We don't have a cleaning service, we do it ALL. Surprising how many didn't make it past a couple of months!

[earl colby pottinger]

Easy

I hate the term "EASY" when anyone applies it to a job that they can't do untrained themselves.

While my job as a computer tech is not seen as easy as other jobs, I have heard time after time "Can't you just do it for free (or discounted) after-all it is easy for you to do."

I use to get angry, now-a-days I just grab a bunch of manual, dump it on the person, and say "It is easy for me because I had to study hard on how to do it, if you think it is easy just read the manuals yourself. After-all it is just reading, how more easier do you want it?".

I think using a broom is an easy job, every job after that takes real training to do well and safely. On the news last week they mention a young man who died digging a ditch beside his house, the ditch collapsed and kill him. So even a simple job like that needs you to KNOW what you are doing.

PS. I started off repairing my deck, I realized I must be doing it wrong because I was having so much problems, so I already decided to hire a handyman to do the job so it will be done right.

[Jay 2K Winger]

That's right up there with thinking that any job that isn't in an office or behind a desk isn't a "real" job. I've ranted about it before, both on this forum and in real life, and I did once let a guy know, at the wholesale club, that I didn't appreciate comments like "they finally gave you a job you can actually do!" when he saw me hauling a couple of empty dairy shelves that had been left outside back into the store.

Don't ever assume the person doing those jobs is stupid. Many of them are far smarter than they look, and work those jobs because they can't get a job elsewhere for whatever reason, or because they like the work.

And especially don't ever assume that they won't fire back at you out of fear for their jobs. You don't know that their bosses might not side with the sucktomer. You don't know that the worker might be, for whatever reason, on their very last nerve, and just let you have it with both barrels, if not actually physically attack you. (Not that I condone such things, I'm just saying-- some people will snap if that last nerve goes, and you don't want to be around them when that happens.)

[notalwaysright]

I thought I already replied, but then I realized I was getting it mixed up with this other thread. http://customerssuck.com/board/showthread.php?t=110796. Yet another idiot spouting off about something they know nothing about.

I was thinking about the customers who shop at my work, and how they expect me to know everything about everything in the whole flipping store. SCs think I am an expert at sewing (apparel, quilting, and home decor), knitting, crocheting, scrap-booking, jewelry making, framing, and any other craft project which the SC "saw online." No, it certainly doesn't require a brain.

[carryonnow]

It never ceases to amaze me when customers express opinions like this. "Seriously, how hard can it be to run a store like this?"

hmmm....lemme think about that....

13 fuel dispensers, 2 car wash bays, 3000 sqft of selling space, 20 cooler doors, 10 freezer doors, food service, two tenant businesses, over 20 company's products on the shelves, plus fuel deliveries, car wash chemical deliveries, 14 employees to manage---not to mention handling landscaping, trash removal

Ya know upon closer review, I see how easy it is to operate a multi-million dollar business

[Thud-n-Blunder]

I blush to admit this, but there was a time when I was part of the ignorant ones. My only excuse at the time was that I grew up in an age where anybody who worked with computers was seen as a thickly-bespectacled super-genius, and I bought into the hype.

Any more, with computers as ubiquitous as they are today, we're seen more like people who can fix automatic transmissions - possessing a mix of skills and interests that are seen as outside of the interests and desires of "normal" people, but not necessarily smarter than the average Joe or Jane.

This view has been seeming more and more like the truth to me... and an additional truth is that I like that image better.

[Marmalady]

Sometimes I wonder if part of the problem is that people look at someone doing a job and think 'that looks easy' when the truth is that the person is making it look easy. Because they've been doing it for years / have read and studied / done the training courses / used their heads and learned various tips and tricks over time. The other person looks at the worker and only sees them as they are now, not what they've had to experience to get to that stage.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Reminds me of the morons at Gamestore who thought it would be awesome to work there because they'd get to play games all day.

[wolfie]

Sometimes I wonder if part of the problem is that people look at someone doing a job and think 'that looks easy' when the truth is that the person is making it look easy.

I've read about a case (more than half a lifetime ago) where Football linebackers (i.e. strong guys in good shape) were called on to perform in a ballet (it was part of a study) - and had difficulty doing the things the "wimpy" male dancers did, never mind doing it gracefully.