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Background: at my seasonal job 2 days ago I had a big cash variance and ended up with a write-up. I'm usually to the penny, but I had been very exhausted and made a mistake--totally my fault. Also, we have only a leeway of 1 dollar as far as variances, so you can see how a nickel could put it over the edge.
So tonight I had a woman with 3 kids. It was bit confusing because they were paying all separate and moving stuff around on the belt. I was reaching back and forth, item to item, confused, and the mom said to take the one girl first. I said ok and gave her the total, nicely enough, I thought, and gave her the change in a nice enough tone, so no problem so far. But then we went through the merchandise dance again, and a nickel dropped between the belt and scanner. I did not say a word or ask for another nickel, just took the loss and put the dollar in. But my immediate reaction I'm sure was frustration on my face, just before I inwardly reminded myself it was just a nickel. However, I did not berate the child in any way. I handed the receipt for that one, saying, "Here's the receipt for that one."
After that the mom berated me for my attitude, said I was very rude, etc. I was flustered and put the last toy on the belt after scanning it, but then thought, "Oh, I should bag this instead 'cause it's bigger." So I picked it up, but kind of waved my hand a bit trying to locate the bags. (I know that seems weird, because I've been there 3 weeks, but the setup is forward, where I'm used to sideways, and she was jumping all over me.) Maybe it was at that point she started in.
At any rate, the sentence that got me was "I'm a citizen of this country!" She's ethnically part of the minority around here, and I'm, to outward appearances, the same race as the majority. Whether she were legal or not would never cross my mind; I never speculate on that. It's just not something I ever really even think about. And it had NOTHING to do with the situation at hand. I apologized anyway, since I may have unintentionally made her kids feel bad in some way, and I believe in aoplogizing even if you didn't intend to offend someone. But I am offended she assumed I was discriminating against her because of ethnicity, and was ready to complain to the manager. I told her I was trying to make sure I was scanning the stuff correctly and she left angry.
So tonight I had a woman with 3 kids. It was bit confusing because they were paying all separate and moving stuff around on the belt. I was reaching back and forth, item to item, confused, and the mom said to take the one girl first. I said ok and gave her the total, nicely enough, I thought, and gave her the change in a nice enough tone, so no problem so far. But then we went through the merchandise dance again, and a nickel dropped between the belt and scanner. I did not say a word or ask for another nickel, just took the loss and put the dollar in. But my immediate reaction I'm sure was frustration on my face, just before I inwardly reminded myself it was just a nickel. However, I did not berate the child in any way. I handed the receipt for that one, saying, "Here's the receipt for that one."
After that the mom berated me for my attitude, said I was very rude, etc. I was flustered and put the last toy on the belt after scanning it, but then thought, "Oh, I should bag this instead 'cause it's bigger." So I picked it up, but kind of waved my hand a bit trying to locate the bags. (I know that seems weird, because I've been there 3 weeks, but the setup is forward, where I'm used to sideways, and she was jumping all over me.) Maybe it was at that point she started in.
At any rate, the sentence that got me was "I'm a citizen of this country!" She's ethnically part of the minority around here, and I'm, to outward appearances, the same race as the majority. Whether she were legal or not would never cross my mind; I never speculate on that. It's just not something I ever really even think about. And it had NOTHING to do with the situation at hand. I apologized anyway, since I may have unintentionally made her kids feel bad in some way, and I believe in aoplogizing even if you didn't intend to offend someone. But I am offended she assumed I was discriminating against her because of ethnicity, and was ready to complain to the manager. I told her I was trying to make sure I was scanning the stuff correctly and she left angry.
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