Don't you dare be tired!

[rerant]

Two days ago at around 6pm (four hours into my shift) I rubbed my eyes.
The cashier next to me asked if I was alright.

The following transpired.

CW: Coworker
AB: Audacious bitch
ME: Yup

ME: No I'm fine, I'm just tired.
CW: What time did you start?
ME: Two.
AB: HA! You started at 2:00 and you're TIRED? I work 9-5 every day and take care of two kids.

She then rolled her eyes at me.

ME: ...
CW: ...

Not that it makes a world of difference, but at that point I was in the midst of my fourth consecutive double shift.

You know how you always think of the perfect thing to say after the fact? Well here is a list of things I would have liked to have said to this leather-faced skeletor:

- Oh well then we should just burn your mattress, since evidently you don't require sleep, Super Mom.
- Yes I'm tired. Is that alright with you?
- And this affects my life how?
- That's nice, but I'm not interested in competing in and comparing notes about things that don't matter to me.

But UGH that comment just pissed me off.
For starters she just invited herself into a conversation that didn't concern her, then proceeded to be condescending and sarcastic with me because I was tired.
I don't care if you work one hour a week at a store that's so close to your house, nay, your BED, that you could spit from one to the other, that has nothing to do with whether or not you're "allowed to be" tired.
And the fact that you have two children means nothing to me, short of the fact that there are now two more of you developing and growing to become potentially equal skid marks on the underwear of life.

I get it: full time job, full time obligations to the two little bastards (yes she had them with her) you squeezed out. AND!? People get tired and this isn't a contest, you self-important bitch.

And the kicker? She didn't stop at just her comment.
While I was checking through her items her and her father (yes, a grown woman of likely 35+ -but who can really tell under all that self-tanner- and her father) stood there and pretended to yawn and laughed at me.
Real classy, guys.

So here's the running tally of that family's maturity:
Father: childish and immature, and from his loins springs the daughter.
Daughter: Sarcastic, self-important, condescending, immature, childish, overly tanned, malnourished bitch, who gave birth to the children
The children: did nothing but scream, play around with my gate, getting in the way of DECENT customers who deserve more than my strongest contempt, were ignored by their mother when they acted out, were nothing but a pain in my ass until they were hauled away by the grandmother

Wow.
Let's hope they all get stranded together on a desert island and never return.

You know, it's things like this that make me hope that the customer will stumble upon my post, read it and realise it was them I was talking about and either understand they were being a total jerk or just get irrationally pissed off.
Either one works for me.

[MrSunshineState]

Once when I was working at the movie theatre, I made the mistake of yawning. I had just finished cleaning a theatre, walked up to the usher and let him know that it was ok to let people in to sit. I yawned. Some jackass says something to the tune of "All you do is clean theatres and you're tired? HA! You don't know a hard day's work."

I love how I am somebody he has never met before or seen before, yet in that brief 7 seconds he knows I am a lazy, poor worker who has no idea what 'real work' is like.

Made me mad at the time, now I just laugh.


A philosophy I use:

Don't be mad that they are condescending, ignorant, and rude, be thankful that you aren't condescending, ignorant and rude. Be thankful that you are better than them.

[Listerfiend]

I hate it when people act like martyrs like that; life isn't a competition or anything, and it doesn't matter whose life sucks more--it does not make her a winner. She's just transferring her insecurities onto strangers because she's upset with her life choices. And I HATE it when people assume stuff, like since you work in retail you're obviously a dolt who is uneducated and lazy and totally undeserving to have, you know, physical needs. You obviously don't deserve any kind of compassion and shouldn't require sleep because only parents deserve sympathy. Hell--if I were you I would've shot back with a snarky comment along the lines of "well my newborn was up all last night, and I've been carting the twins around all day long..." But good for you for not stooping down to her level.

[edible_hat]

*opens another Red Bull*

Tired? What's that?

[GayleShy]

I always hated it when I'd yawn or something and it was around eleven AM, and a customer would say something like "you can't be tired already! It's too early for that!" A remark that would normally get them a run down of my day which started at 4:30 AM and ended at 8:30 PM or later, due to the fact that after I finished work, I raced to school for another 5 hours and was on my feet the whole time. I normally said it in a very polite way that normally shut them up.

[Seshat]

For all she knew, you were undergoing chemotherapy AND dialysis, while caring for an autistic child and a downs syndrome child, AND working.

That woman jumps to conclusions.

I hate it when people make a running jump to a conclusion like that. There are a lot of disabilities and illnesses that are invisible, and a lot of circumstances that can make someone tired that are also invisible.

[Sliceanddice]

i go to places after work and ill be tired and someone says aww tired already its only noon i say yeah but ive been upsince 2am delat with 10 insane people, and still need to do 3 more hours worth of choirs. when you can beat that ill stop yawning.

[chainedbarista]

so she has two kids; doesn't look like she spends much time parenting them, for all her 'martyrdom.'

i can top her, but then again, i prefer to keep my life to myself, and give idiots like this the 'didn't ask for, so don't share it' look. they shut up and leave me alone most of the time.

as for her job, i'm betting it's some pathetic job where she sits on her bony ass all day...

[qaxons]

Heh, I'm always tired. I'm always yawning. It especially sucked when I was working 11p-7a. People would come in at 7a and be like "Not awake yet?" or "Jeeze! Get up earlier!" and I would have to curb my tongue from spouting that I'd been up since 5pm the previous day, and working all night...

*grumble* I hate being tired all the time.

Seriously, why am I still awake when I should be sleeping? I'm always tired, but I can never get to sleep.

[Boozy]

I hate it when people act like martyrs like that; life isn't a competition or anything, and it doesn't matter whose life sucks more--it does not make her a winner.

Well put.

Aside from the fact that we should never presume to know another person's situation, life really isn't about working harder than everyone else. Its about how you treat people.

This woman and her father were incredibly rude. I hope that one day she looks back on her behaviour and sees the whole thing for what it was: not a victory, but an abject failure.

[rvdammit]

*opens another Red Bull*

Tired? What's that?

Overabundance of blood in the caffeine stream.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I've had a couple people say "Am I keeping you awake?" at Kinko's when I yawned. My pat answer was always "Evidently not."

[Imogene]

Just after my stroke, while recuperating, apparently, I yawned a LOT. Often enough, that, even when I had visitors, and was wide awake, it seemed I was going to fall asleep at any moment. I still yawn fairly often, but not as severely as while I was in the hospital.
"Ma'am, it's a medical condition."

[rerant]

Hell--if I were you I would've shot back with a snarky comment along the lines of "well my newborn was up all last night, and I've been carting the twins around all day long..." But good for you for not stooping down to her level.

I actually used that argument once outside a club when I heard some drunk guy ranting about how he hates it when people with kids go out to clubs, and how they should be staying home with their children.
I couldn't help but become the person who added an opinion no one asked for and said, "Excuse me, but I have two twin boys who are nine months old. This is the first night I've been out since they were born and I think one night every nine months PLUS the other nine I carried them is ok, don't you?"

I have no children.

This little fib usually wouldn't work so well for me either since I'm 22, and I'm sure I'd get a response back about how I'm an irresponsible unwed mother and blah blah blah.

[SuperB]

I get the "you call this work?" comment a lot.

Yes, yes I do it's 11 hour days and what housework, homework, kids stuff, yardwork, shopping, karate classes, school functions, et al that we can't get done during those hours must be done after those hours not to mention the 24 hours we sometimes have to do during snow storms.

And this is usually from the people around here, they see me, behind the counter with the computer and assume it's the cushiest job imaginable. They don't see the 24 hour days or the staying late after closing to get stocking done or the days off that are spent picking up supplies for the store an hour and a half drive (one way) away. (they assume all the distributors haul their arses up here to the top of the mountain for us )