"IMMA SUE", and, Towels are NOT Food (language, blood)

[ralerin]

As you may or may not know, I'm working at "FreshBasket" supermarket as a cashier. Occasionally, when the store is slow, I will be told to close my lane down and go bag groceries on a different register for a different cashier. I was doing that this afternoon, at a register 10 registers away from where I was stationed. (I was logged into register 6, got told to bag on register 16.)

Guy (who I will SF for "smashed face") had put a bunch of sundae things down on my cashier's register (whipped cream, ice cream, sprinkles, pineapple, etc) and had wandered off. SF came back about 3 minutes after the cashier had rang in his stuff, carrying another large tub of ice cream, saying "sorry sorry I got the wrong flavor than she wanted." He paid and left, getting about 5 feet away.

When suddenly!

A wild security dude appeared!

Security dude used tackle!

It's super effective!

SF goes down like a ton of bricks! A dogpile of 5 of the other male managers surround him and pile on top of him while SF gets his face smashed in. Blood all over the nice clean tiles. SF starts screaming "LET GO OF ME! LET GO OF ME MOTHER FUCKER! I JUST PAID $25 FOR MY FUCKING GROCERIES! LET ME GO! I DIDN'T DO NOTHING! CALL 911 THIS IS BRUTALITY! IMMA SUE!"

(While he was laying there on the floor screaming, this comic kept repeating in my head.)

Long story short, police come, SF gets a pair of shiny bracelets and a trip to the Greybar Hotel.

Lest you think his treatment was excessive, know this: SF has been stealing from the store for months. He was caught today with 7 boxes of a cold medicine containing an ingredient used in meth making down his shorts. Seeing as he was caught in a manner very similar to today's episode just last week...you would think SF would learn....

Paper Towels Are Not Food

i had to explain that to a guy roughly my age, who seemed genuinely shocked that you could not use food stamps to buy paper towels with. He wasn't sucky about it, just....

Bonus Hypocrisy

Dear Lil Miss "I Fucking Hate This Place", aka Grocery Wench who had been called up to bag while the whole SF aftermath was being cleaned up:

If a customer/coworker comes up to me and makes a comment that I look tired and unwell, and that I explain to them "I am not feeling well", you shouldn't feel the need to lecture me on telling me that I shouldn't say I'm feeling sick to customers.

If you are going to do that, then don't start gossiping to nearly every other customer in my line about the pool of blood on the tiles, when those customers hadn't even asked and hadn't even seen, because my register was on the other end of the store.

All of my hate,

Ralerin

[Food Lady]

If a customer/coworker comes up to me and makes a comment that I look tired and unwell, and that I explain to them "I am not feeling well", you shouldn't feel the need to lecture me on telling me that I shouldn't say I'm feeling

I get this all the time, but instead of my co-irker getting annoyed that I said it, the sucktomers get mad.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Happens every time I go to work with a cold. "Oh, you look terrible!/You shouldn't be at work if you're ill/How dare you be here with an infectious illness!" from customers. Sorry, but if I took time off every time I had a cold, I'd hardly be there at all during the winter. Second, I only get a small amount of sick days (when you call in sick but don't have a doctor's note) and I'm not about to waste them. Finally, I don't get paid if the managers don't see me as being sick, so my tried and tested method is to come in sick and be sent home. It sucks but there it is; if so many people didn't abuse sick days, it wouldn't be in place.

[notalwaysright]

If the person doesn't want to know, then don't make the comment! I mean, what response do they expect after saying "you look sick."

Do they expect you to magically perk up and say "Oh, well I was a bit tired but now I feel great, and I do SO apologize for the short moment that I looked less than thrilled to serve you on this lovely day!"

Oh, they probably do expect that. They are the same type that shop at Food Lady's place and want to control everyone around them. Normally people don't say stuff like that to me, but when they do I say that yes I am tired, I've been here since 4 or 5 or 6 in the morning, and also am a full time student. Though, some people then feel the need to say "Oh, are you open that early?" And are completely astounded when I tell them we have crews which come in as early as 2:30 AM to do stocking and seasonal moves. Do they think we come in at 9 AM sharp, when the store opens?

[Slave to the Phone]

Paper Towels Are Not Food

i had to explain that to a guy roughly my age, who seemed genuinely shocked that you could not use food stamps to buy paper towels with. He wasn't sucky about it, just....

In his defense, food stamps are confusing and many people think that they should work for soap and other hygiene items. Personally, I think they should as well.

Did you know that they can be used to buy live fruit trees and vegetable plants? The federal government wants to help people become self sufficient. They can't be used to buy live chickens. Chickens are a wonderful source of protein (eggs and meat), breed quickly and help with gardens by eating bugs and pooping all over the place. There is no rhyme or reason to the rules IMHO.

When I first started this job, I caught a horrible cold. I was obviously sick, sneezing, coughing, runny nose and fever. I didn't have any sick time built up and had been told that TPTB frowned on people who stayed home when they were sick in the first 3 months, so I came to work every day. A quarter of the workers got sick and who knows how many customers did, but at lease TPTB were happy that a new employee was dedicated enough to work while sick.

[XCashier]

Do they think we come in at 9 AM sharp, when the store opens?

They probably do, or they think that we live at the store. If they think at all, that is. They never do seem to see us as fellow human beings and citizens, with homes and lives outside the store.

[drjonah]

Happens every time I go to work with a cold. "Oh, you look terrible!/You shouldn't be at work if you're ill/How dare you be here with an infectious illness!" from customers. Sorry, but if I took time off every time I had a cold, I'd hardly be there at all during the winter. Second, I only get a small amount of sick days (when you call in sick but don't have a doctor's note) and I'm not about to waste them. Finally, I don't get paid if the managers don't see me as being sick, so my tried and tested method is to come in sick and be sent home. It sucks but there it is; if so many people didn't abuse sick days, it wouldn't be in place.

Of course if you did call off sick, the same SC's would be complaining about your 'lack of work ethic' and that you should be fired for calling in

[Seshat]

I've mentioned this before, but masks are fantastic for reducing the risk of contaminating others when you have a cough/sneeze-type illness. Or, indeed, any illness which spreads from particles distributed via mouth/nose.


I just found this article on choosing a mask. It seems to be about reducing one's risk of catching influenza in a pandemic, but the info should be helpful for choosing a mask for any situation.