You've just been to church-NOW you can be mean & nasty again for another week

[Becks]

I'm not partial to gristle. Is there something else I can chew on?

[DisgruntledBadger]

I will never (even after years of therapy) forget my first day at Spazoli's. Y'see, Spazoli's was my first "real" job ("real" meaning non-horse-related), so I hadn't yet developed the armor needed for dealing with sucky customers.

So it's a Sunday, and poor little naive Badger is at her register with a cheery smile on her face, being nice to the customers and just generally doing her thing. Mister Sucky Customer comes up with his brood of children and his wife. They've obviously just come from church, as they're all nicely dressed and carrying church bulletins.

SC: "(phrases in language I've never even heard before)".
me: "I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand. Shall I get you a copy of our menu to make ordering easier for you?"
SC: "(continues to talk in this language, getting louder and angrier)". His wife and kids are just staring at me.
me: "Sir, I'm quite sorry, but I only speak English and a smattering of French. If you would like to try ordering in either of those languages, I will be happy to help you. If you would like for me to find you a translator, I will do my best."
SC: "(more angry phrases)." By now, I'm getting pretty upset. The line behind him is stretching out the door, and I feel like I'm the one holding everything up. I finally just stare blankly at him.
SC: (with a somewhat creepy smile) "Oh, calm down. I was just funnin' with you. You should learn Romanian, because I like to order in Romanian when I come here. You must be new, since you don't know that. I'll have the..."

I was dumbfounded. I can understand ordering in Romanian if you're IN Romania or the surrounding area, or if you're in an area with a high population of Romanian-speaking people....but this happened in a small town about 25 miles outside of Charleston, South Carolina!

[Gurndigarn]

For whatever reason, the after-church crowd at the cafe was by far the worst bunch of SC's we ever had. There was always a different mixture of people: men and women, young and old, from various different churches in the area. But the one thing they all had in common was that they were mean, nasty, cheap, rude, and condescending.

Well, there's a basic reason for it. Speaking in very broad generalities, the people who pay attention to the sermons on kindness, loving your neighbor, and so forth also listen to the parts about the sabbath, and will generally avoid unneeded shopping/eating out/etc. So you miss the people who are trying to do good and catch the people who go to church for social or elitist reasons. Especially the elitist (I'm better than you are) ones, who are one of the leading definitions of an SC.

[SuperB]

I hate working Sundays. I always attributed it to the fact that maybe they *should* be in church.

[Geek King]

The pastor at my parent's church just did an entire sermon on treating service people nicely, and how terrible it is that Sunday is the worst day for tips. I am told that there was a fair amount of uncomfortable shifting in the pews.

[Mr B Rabbit]

Probably. Someone will complain about you working on the holiest day in Christianity. Bonus points if you point out that the players they are going to see are also "working" as are the folks inside the arena, and why aren't they home resting anyway?

Three handy points for those people, pick and choose your favourite:
- Originally it was a pagan festival
- The Sabbath is Saturday
- One of the charges levied against Christ was working on the Sabbath

[Rapscallion]

We've had to delete four posts from this thread so far, despite a mod warning not to start slamming religions etc. Cut it out, or we cut the thread out.

We've got Fratching for a reason.

Rapscallion

[Teysa]

When I worked at a downtown cafe, we had two major conventions that came through town. One was a Christian convention the other was Jehovah's Witnesses. Now with both of these conventions, we had lines literally going out the door and down the street. However, that's where the similarities ended. The people with the Christian group were rude, impatient, snarky, and just downright annoying. Sorry but you're not getting your breakfast in two minutes with a line like this. The Jehovah's Witnesses, on the other hand, were extremely patient and understanding. They understood that everyone was working as fast as they could, but helping that many people takes time. All in all, they were a delight to serve.

[karma_gypsy]

SC: (with a somewhat creepy smile) "Oh, calm down. I was just funnin' with you. You should learn Romanian, because I like to order in Romanian when I come here. You must be new, since you don't know that. I'll have the..."

Ooookkkkaaaayy. So, you have to (well basically) learn the menu in Romanian, just so this guy can make an order . . .? I would have been like . . . "uhhh, no."

[Der Cute]

I remember my old C-store days.

Sundays were dreaded by the crew for multiple reasons:
Sundays being slower (average) were used for project days.
Sundays were cleaning days.
Sundays got a bit boring.....

but the morning shift was always interesting...

Working 6 AM - 2 PM I'd get the Saturday Nite Leftovers...still buzzed/ drunk/ wigged out on Sunday morning...
then it would quiet down and I could get the cig count done.

Then after church times would let out, we'd get rushes of people. Most of the time they were ok, but Sundays were known to have snipey-er customers.

My theory is that someone got a chastising/ dressing down, and felt guilty, then took it out on the next helpless human.

So, after getting chewed on, we'd trade jobs and go sweep parking lot or take the grrrs out on the garbage.

Sundays were interesting, you would be dead dead quiet or could be extreme busy. Plus trying to restock and keep up the orders......aaaaaaa

Oh well, I liked having MONDAYS off I could sleep in, while everyone else had to go to work!! Neener Neener Neener!

cutenoob

[CurlyLocks]

One was a Christian convention the other was Jehovah's Witnesses. The Jehovah's Witnesses, on the other hand, were extremely patient and understanding. They understood that everyone was working as fast as they could, but helping that many people takes time. All in all, they were a delight to serve.

Teysa, as a JW, I thank you for that very nice compliment! Whenever we go to a convention I'm always mindful that the hotels, restaurants, etc. are even busier than usual so I try to be extra patient. Just one thing, and if I misundertood what you said, please let me know - Jehovah's Witnesses are also Christians.

[LostMyMind]

SC: ... I was just funnin' with you. You should learn Romanian, because I like to order in Romanian when I come here...

I'm suprised since you knew alittle french that you didn't start talking to him in french. Then say, "I was just funnin' with you. You should learn French, because I like to take orders in French when I work here."

[greensinestro]

We do our grocery shopping on Sundays. Sometimes I'll do it, or the wife will, depending on the circumstances, and we will do it around 9am, mainly for this reason. A while back, we got into a bind and were not able to go shopping until around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Big mistake that was. I did the shopping, and it took three times as long at the deli, just to get two items I needed. I had to wait and deal with the nasty, ugly, rude, dressed in their very best church people, raising hell about how the one pound of ham they wanted was 1.02 pounds, and they should not have to pay for that mistake. You know what? I don't care about this as long as it is right at around what I asked for.

The same thing also happens on the dairy aisle and in produce. I usually buy three gallons of milk, some cheese, and some yogurt, knowing what I will be getting before arriving there. But, if you go after the church people are out, you have to wait while they decide what milk they want, what brand of yogurt they want, let alone they have to check the expiration dates and sift into the back until they get the later dates. In produce, my beef is the people that will bump into each other, and have a conversation right in front of the bananas, and many of these people just saw each other at church!

From now on, we always make sure to get the shopping done as early as possible. With Easter approaching, it looks like we'll have to do it on Saturday, maybe even the Friday before being Publix is closed on Easter. Too bad Winn Dixie and Albertson's don't allow their employees to observe this day being they are open. I hate shopping there.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm thankful that I don't do weekends any more, since I work in an office environment these days.

But one of my worst phone calls was from a professed Christian.

I don't remember what day it was, but it was early afternoon. At the time, I was the company receptionist, so I got all the phone calls, including the breathers, pranks, hang-ups, and the occasional religious fanatic.

So, this afternoon, I answer the phone as usual.

Me: My Company.
RF: Do you accept Christ as your personal savior.
Me: I'm sorry, but religion is very personal to me and I do not discuss it with people I do not know.
RF: *screaming* You're going to go to hell, you blasphemous @!&$#* ... (it degraded into a string of obscenities as I hung up)

That's actually the second time a religious fanatic told me I was going to go to hell because I politely told them that I didn't discuss religion with strangers.

^-.-^

[greensinestro]

Lovely story. Reminds me of when I worked for Publix, and on Sundays after church let out, I had to deal with these type of people. Nothing like that call, but sometimes I had the ones who would keep you in the parking lot for 20, 30 minutes at a time. These people needed to know your business, what church you went to, what you thought about God, your beliefs, everything. It got to where after a while of working in a grocery store, you recognize the same people, therefore you learn how to avoid bagging their groceries.

Wednesday nights could also be bad being some went from 6pm-7pm, then did their shopping at around 8pm. And, imagine what Christmas Eve was like with those heading to midnight Mass!