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Today sucked, please allow me a vent (oatmeal raisin cookies for anyone who gets title reference...)
Anyhoo...bg: I work in the deli of a small independantly owned grocery store. I dont usually work on Mondays, for some reason our schedule's been turned upside down, and I got to pull a 6-hr shift on my normal day off. I cant say that I went into work with a bad attitude, but something in the stars decided today would suck for me. Upon entering the store, I tripped over my own feet and almost went down. It just got worse from there...
My very first customer...a drunk and/or insane woman. She perused the deli counter for a good 5-10 minutes before acknowledging my smiling face.
"Do you have that, um, what is it? Salami?" she slurred.
I answered "well, yes, we have three different types; hard salami, genoa, and cooked salami..."
"I want the small one!" and she giggled like she'd cracked a private joke I wasn't in on.
I tried to explain to her that hard salami and genoa are smaller in diameter than cooked, but they are both the same size. Before I could finish, the drunk and/or insane woman walked away, rolling her eyes and waving at me in a rude/dismissive manner, as if I'd insulted her. Whatever...
By now a small line had formed, maybe 4 people. Our deli doesn't have a ticket/number system, it's first come first serve, so I start blasting through people. Now, I work very fast. Not to brag, but yeah, I work fast, I get a lot of compliments on it. Also, side-note, as in most jobs, waiting on customers is not the only responsibility I have; at this time I was weighing and writing off shrink from our hot-food case, as well as dismanteling our rotissiere oven to be washed out, AND wrapping all of the unwrapped meats my co-worker left for me.
So I'm waiting on this old man, he orders 1/2 pounds of two different meat, and one cheese. I do my thing, "bam-bam-it's done" and ask him if there will be anything else?
Old man: "Wow, you work fast! Are you in a hurry or something?"
I glance at the 3 people waiting behind him. "Well, we've been kinda busy today..."
OM: "No, I mean, you seem like you're in a hurry. Do you always work this way?"
Me: "Only when there's a lot to be done.."
OM: "Well, you look koo-koo, you shouldn't be in such a hurry all the time. Are you koo-koo??"
I just
and stammered "Would you like anything else?"
OM: "No, nah... just...slow down..."
As soon as he turned his head, I called out my standard "Can I help the next person please" and carried on...fast...
I slammed through a few rushes, got some of the "other" work done. Then a woman in the middle of line of 4 or 5 people. She orders a salad...then asks "Can you make me a sandwich?"
*sigh*
Now, the sandwich station is at the far end of the deli, and yes, we deli slaves are the ones who make the fresh sandwiches. However, I'm not sure of the protocol when I am alone..do I drop everything and ignore the line of people wanting their deli meat sliced? I simply told her "Well, I'm alone back here right now and it's been really busy. My co-worker will be back in a couple of minutes..." and she snaps out "Well, that happens to *me* all the time!" and she storms over to the prepared food and grabs a pre-made sandwich. The customer behind her is one of my all-time fave guys; he looks exactly like Morgan Freeman, and for some reason, waiting on him always makes me feel better. He ordered some macaroni salad and commiserated with me about the woman who snapped.
Meanwhile, the old man who called me "koo-koo" came back. Not once or twice, but THREE times, to aplogise for calling me "koo-koo". Interrupting the customers I was currently waiting on. I was touched at the first, but by the third, annoyed would sum it up. I also had three or four of what we call The Vanishing Customer- bark out an order and when my back is turned, slicing said order, disappear somewhere into the depths of the store. But gods forbid me to take on the next customer, because Mr or Mrs Speshul had more they wanted to order. Sorry, pal, back of the line!
A half hour later, a cashier brings me one of our premade sandwiches and a container of salad, telling me "A woman decided she didnt want to wait in line and left this." I described the woman, and he said "Yup, that's her. She was bitching to everyone in line that you wouldnt make her a sandwich"
*sigh*
By the time my coworker came back from break, I had to get out of there for a minute, so I took an impromptu smoke break...interrupted by a regular customer we like the call the Offensive Guy. He always has an offensive comment to make, loudly. Everything we offer "looks like shit!", and he makes extremely inappropriate comments to the female employees, though the "worst" he's ever said to me is that I am "smokin hot!" From anyone else I would be flattered..from him, I feel dirty. Our male cashiers are rude as hell to him and it blows right over his head and makes us feel a bit vindicated. He sees me smoking a cigarette, and in his loud obnoxious way, he rants about the price of cigs, and how you dont get anything out of it, etc.. "That's Why I Smoke Weeeeeeed!" he practically bellows across the parking lot.
Later in the day, when it had slowed down a bit, my coworker catches me in the kitchen, and asks "Um, this lady wants to know if you sliced her salami yet?" Yup, the drunk and/or insane lady, at least 3 hours later, told my CW that she "called in an order" for salami. Bullshit, of course. I asked CW to take care of her, which she did. Drunk and/or insane lady actually waved her deli-bag of salami at me as she was walking away. wtf?
Then I get this gem from a middle aged woman..."I was just up front by the registers, and there is no one at the courtesy desk! Can you answer some questions for me about your store's check-cashing policy?" Seriously? I asked her if there were any cashiers up there, as they would know more about something like that than I, who merely slices meat and slaps a sticker on it. Her answer "oh yes, but they were really busy and I didnt want to stand in line."
Ahha, one mystery solved; the reason no one was standing idly at the courtesy desk awaiting check-cashing questions would be because he had jumped on a register to help with the lines. What I need explained to me though, would be WHY this woman chose, instead of standing in one place for a few minutes to ask someone in the know, to walk to the back of the store and ask a mere deli-jock, who handles no money or checks. Ever. Fortunate for me, a manager happened to walk by and I was able to defer the question to him...
Not much more in the way of suckage this evening. CW, who came in three hours after me, opted to leave early, so I was stuck cleaning the slicers, of course, right after which, I was forced to slice not only roast beef, but also muenster cheese (the two messiest things to slice, with liverwurst being a close third). The worst part was that this customer was an old high school buddy of mine. He started with "aww, you just cleaned the slicer, didnt you? I'm sorry, but... "
That was at 8:45, with closing at 9, but wouldn't ya know, little fast me was able to clock out at 8:59
Oh, a quick sidenote. While on my actual break tonight, I watched a cute kitty walking across the parking lot. It entertained me, told CW about it. Upon leaving the store at closing, the stench of skunk was everywhere. Maybe I should wear my glasses to work....at least I didnt try to pet it (the thought crossed my mind!)
Twisted Tea anyone? Help yourself...
I know it's only Monday, but can you think of a better reason to drink?
Anyhoo...bg: I work in the deli of a small independantly owned grocery store. I dont usually work on Mondays, for some reason our schedule's been turned upside down, and I got to pull a 6-hr shift on my normal day off. I cant say that I went into work with a bad attitude, but something in the stars decided today would suck for me. Upon entering the store, I tripped over my own feet and almost went down. It just got worse from there...
My very first customer...a drunk and/or insane woman. She perused the deli counter for a good 5-10 minutes before acknowledging my smiling face.
"Do you have that, um, what is it? Salami?" she slurred.
I answered "well, yes, we have three different types; hard salami, genoa, and cooked salami..."
"I want the small one!" and she giggled like she'd cracked a private joke I wasn't in on.
I tried to explain to her that hard salami and genoa are smaller in diameter than cooked, but they are both the same size. Before I could finish, the drunk and/or insane woman walked away, rolling her eyes and waving at me in a rude/dismissive manner, as if I'd insulted her. Whatever...
By now a small line had formed, maybe 4 people. Our deli doesn't have a ticket/number system, it's first come first serve, so I start blasting through people. Now, I work very fast. Not to brag, but yeah, I work fast, I get a lot of compliments on it. Also, side-note, as in most jobs, waiting on customers is not the only responsibility I have; at this time I was weighing and writing off shrink from our hot-food case, as well as dismanteling our rotissiere oven to be washed out, AND wrapping all of the unwrapped meats my co-worker left for me.
So I'm waiting on this old man, he orders 1/2 pounds of two different meat, and one cheese. I do my thing, "bam-bam-it's done" and ask him if there will be anything else?
Old man: "Wow, you work fast! Are you in a hurry or something?"
I glance at the 3 people waiting behind him. "Well, we've been kinda busy today..."
OM: "No, I mean, you seem like you're in a hurry. Do you always work this way?"
Me: "Only when there's a lot to be done.."
OM: "Well, you look koo-koo, you shouldn't be in such a hurry all the time. Are you koo-koo??"
I just
and stammered "Would you like anything else?"OM: "No, nah... just...slow down..."
As soon as he turned his head, I called out my standard "Can I help the next person please" and carried on...fast...
I slammed through a few rushes, got some of the "other" work done. Then a woman in the middle of line of 4 or 5 people. She orders a salad...then asks "Can you make me a sandwich?"
*sigh*
Now, the sandwich station is at the far end of the deli, and yes, we deli slaves are the ones who make the fresh sandwiches. However, I'm not sure of the protocol when I am alone..do I drop everything and ignore the line of people wanting their deli meat sliced? I simply told her "Well, I'm alone back here right now and it's been really busy. My co-worker will be back in a couple of minutes..." and she snaps out "Well, that happens to *me* all the time!" and she storms over to the prepared food and grabs a pre-made sandwich. The customer behind her is one of my all-time fave guys; he looks exactly like Morgan Freeman, and for some reason, waiting on him always makes me feel better. He ordered some macaroni salad and commiserated with me about the woman who snapped.
Meanwhile, the old man who called me "koo-koo" came back. Not once or twice, but THREE times, to aplogise for calling me "koo-koo". Interrupting the customers I was currently waiting on. I was touched at the first, but by the third, annoyed would sum it up. I also had three or four of what we call The Vanishing Customer- bark out an order and when my back is turned, slicing said order, disappear somewhere into the depths of the store. But gods forbid me to take on the next customer, because Mr or Mrs Speshul had more they wanted to order. Sorry, pal, back of the line!
A half hour later, a cashier brings me one of our premade sandwiches and a container of salad, telling me "A woman decided she didnt want to wait in line and left this." I described the woman, and he said "Yup, that's her. She was bitching to everyone in line that you wouldnt make her a sandwich"
*sigh*
By the time my coworker came back from break, I had to get out of there for a minute, so I took an impromptu smoke break...interrupted by a regular customer we like the call the Offensive Guy. He always has an offensive comment to make, loudly. Everything we offer "looks like shit!", and he makes extremely inappropriate comments to the female employees, though the "worst" he's ever said to me is that I am "smokin hot!" From anyone else I would be flattered..from him, I feel dirty. Our male cashiers are rude as hell to him and it blows right over his head and makes us feel a bit vindicated. He sees me smoking a cigarette, and in his loud obnoxious way, he rants about the price of cigs, and how you dont get anything out of it, etc.. "That's Why I Smoke Weeeeeeed!" he practically bellows across the parking lot.
Later in the day, when it had slowed down a bit, my coworker catches me in the kitchen, and asks "Um, this lady wants to know if you sliced her salami yet?" Yup, the drunk and/or insane lady, at least 3 hours later, told my CW that she "called in an order" for salami. Bullshit, of course. I asked CW to take care of her, which she did. Drunk and/or insane lady actually waved her deli-bag of salami at me as she was walking away. wtf?
Then I get this gem from a middle aged woman..."I was just up front by the registers, and there is no one at the courtesy desk! Can you answer some questions for me about your store's check-cashing policy?" Seriously? I asked her if there were any cashiers up there, as they would know more about something like that than I, who merely slices meat and slaps a sticker on it. Her answer "oh yes, but they were really busy and I didnt want to stand in line."
Ahha, one mystery solved; the reason no one was standing idly at the courtesy desk awaiting check-cashing questions would be because he had jumped on a register to help with the lines. What I need explained to me though, would be WHY this woman chose, instead of standing in one place for a few minutes to ask someone in the know, to walk to the back of the store and ask a mere deli-jock, who handles no money or checks. Ever. Fortunate for me, a manager happened to walk by and I was able to defer the question to him...
Not much more in the way of suckage this evening. CW, who came in three hours after me, opted to leave early, so I was stuck cleaning the slicers, of course, right after which, I was forced to slice not only roast beef, but also muenster cheese (the two messiest things to slice, with liverwurst being a close third). The worst part was that this customer was an old high school buddy of mine. He started with "aww, you just cleaned the slicer, didnt you? I'm sorry, but... "
That was at 8:45, with closing at 9, but wouldn't ya know, little fast me was able to clock out at 8:59
Oh, a quick sidenote. While on my actual break tonight, I watched a cute kitty walking across the parking lot. It entertained me, told CW about it. Upon leaving the store at closing, the stench of skunk was everywhere. Maybe I should wear my glasses to work....at least I didnt try to pet it (the thought crossed my mind!)
Twisted Tea anyone? Help yourself...
I know it's only Monday, but can you think of a better reason to drink?
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