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This happened to me a few weeks ago :
Two women came up to my register. One of them handed me a book she wanted to buy (a guide to taking the U.S. Citizenship exam).
At one point, the other woman reached across the counter for something, and it looked to me like she nearly knocked over the small display of Zagat travel guides on the counter.
I held up a hand and said, "Careful, you almost knocked that over."
The first woman went bonkers.
"What's your problem?!" she demanded, looking quite indignant.
"Ma'am," I said, "you almost knocked this over-"
"Do we look like animals to you?!" she said. "Just because I'm buying a Citizenship book, you have to treat us like that?!"
Near as I could figure, I had not said anything that could be construed as a racial remark, or any kind of comment on the fact that she was buying a Citizenship exam guide. She just seemed to automatically jump to that conclusion.
Having worked in retail for a bit more than seven years, I am seldom startled by the oft-bizarre behavior of customers anymore. But this one did startle me.
For a few moments, I could only stare at her in disbelief. And then I got my voice back, and I said, in measured tones, "Ma'am, I only said that because you almost knocked this over."
"We did not! God!" She gave me a disgusted look, paid for her book, and they left.
Looking back on it, in hindsight, I now believe that it's possible that I was overstating the matter when I said the woman had almost knocked over the display.
At the time, it honestly looked to me like she did come close to knocking it over, but I might have been mistaken.
Even if I was mistaken, though, I still think that the first woman's reaction was way over the top.
I spoke to one of our managers and told her what happened, just in case they came back to complain about it. (They seemed like the kind of customers who would.)
My manager told me not to worry about it, and that she would take care of it if they did come back. (I never heard anything further about the matter, though, so I figure they didn't.)
The kicker here is that this all happened at the very end of my shift, just before I was about to go home. I'm sure you've all experienced this as well :
You're coming to the end of your shift, and you'll be going home soon. It hasn't been a great day at work, but not a really bad one, either, and you're in a fairly good mood . . . And then, just as you're finally about to clock out and leave, there comes that one SC that totally ruins your whole mood, along with a good portion of your evening after you leave work.
Two women came up to my register. One of them handed me a book she wanted to buy (a guide to taking the U.S. Citizenship exam).
At one point, the other woman reached across the counter for something, and it looked to me like she nearly knocked over the small display of Zagat travel guides on the counter.
I held up a hand and said, "Careful, you almost knocked that over."
The first woman went bonkers.
"What's your problem?!" she demanded, looking quite indignant.
"Ma'am," I said, "you almost knocked this over-"
"Do we look like animals to you?!" she said. "Just because I'm buying a Citizenship book, you have to treat us like that?!"
Near as I could figure, I had not said anything that could be construed as a racial remark, or any kind of comment on the fact that she was buying a Citizenship exam guide. She just seemed to automatically jump to that conclusion.
Having worked in retail for a bit more than seven years, I am seldom startled by the oft-bizarre behavior of customers anymore. But this one did startle me.
For a few moments, I could only stare at her in disbelief. And then I got my voice back, and I said, in measured tones, "Ma'am, I only said that because you almost knocked this over."
"We did not! God!" She gave me a disgusted look, paid for her book, and they left.
Looking back on it, in hindsight, I now believe that it's possible that I was overstating the matter when I said the woman had almost knocked over the display.
At the time, it honestly looked to me like she did come close to knocking it over, but I might have been mistaken.
Even if I was mistaken, though, I still think that the first woman's reaction was way over the top.
I spoke to one of our managers and told her what happened, just in case they came back to complain about it. (They seemed like the kind of customers who would.)
My manager told me not to worry about it, and that she would take care of it if they did come back. (I never heard anything further about the matter, though, so I figure they didn't.)
The kicker here is that this all happened at the very end of my shift, just before I was about to go home. I'm sure you've all experienced this as well :
You're coming to the end of your shift, and you'll be going home soon. It hasn't been a great day at work, but not a really bad one, either, and you're in a fairly good mood . . . And then, just as you're finally about to clock out and leave, there comes that one SC that totally ruins your whole mood, along with a good portion of your evening after you leave work.
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