mrs-roboto's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You Got to Have a J-O-B aka Ain't Nothing Going On But the Rent Today I had a run in with a Kinkos employee. I won't go into details here because it is related to my job and the it's dull and boring stuff. Suffice to say that I was having something printed on a tight schedule and the gal taking down my order was less than excited at the prospect of doing the job and felt no need to hide her lack of enthusiasm from me. She was also disappointed in my inability to plan efficiently and had no desire to help me achieve my short term goals. She never used those exact words but the rolling of her eyes and her body language said it all. But here is the funny part - I had a real hard time being snotty back. Why? Well, because it wasn't that long ago that I was in her position. No, I never worked at Kinkos but I had more than my share of crappy customer service positions and if there was an award for being the nastiest customer service representative, I would have won it hands down. It all started when I took my first job at a major apparel retailer. I won't name names here but it rhymes with crap and that's pretty much what they sell. From the start, I was less than amused with the position but I needed the $3.75 per hour to pay for the dozens of things my parents refused to buy for me. I had a major realization on my first day - I hated the customers and that interfered with my ability to succeed at my new career. When someone would ask me if we had an article of clothing in a particular size I would respond "I don't know. Did you look for that size," in the snottiest tone I could muster. If the customer asked if we might have something in the storeroom I would either immediately say no without checking or agree to go check and then never return to the floor. Needless to say, my employment with this retailer ended quickly and badly. My next customer service position was at a restaurant and all of those things you've heard about an angry waitstaff are true. Did you send your meal back because you were unhappy with some aspect of it? Did you get food poisoning the next day? If you suspected those two events were related, you'd be correct. Did you order coffee with your breakfast and thought it tasted like lighter fluid? That's probably because it was whatever was left in the pot from the night before. Waitresses are tired in the morning too and the last thing we need to be doing at 6:00 AM is fixing a fresh pot of coffee for your ass. Try coming in a little later and give us some time to get around to fixing a fresh pot of coffee and having a cup ourselves before you get on our backs like that. In college I worked in an exotic bakery. Sounds fun right? Sounds light hearted? Well it wasn't. After you have taken your third order for a penis cake from a bunch of giggly sorority sisters the job really loses it's magic. The cute little sayings you write on the cakes (things like "Happy Birthday Jenny - The Best is Yet to Cum," "Breast Wishes on your New Position," and "Have a Ball at your Bar Mitzvah") begin to make you ill and you wince every time someone asks you where the "coochie" pops are kept. We had a policy at this job of making cakes on short notice but I only took last minute orders if the owner was around. If I was working alone or with one of the other cashier jockeys, I'd tell the customer to take a hike and then I'd joke with my fellow staffers about what a loser that person was for not ordering in advance. I was not made of the right stuff to serve the general public and often I don't know if I should even be allowed to walk amongst them. There are so many other tales I could tell you (hotel sheets that went unchanged in between guests, credit cards that were deliberately overcharged because the customers attitude sucked, etc.) but I guess what I am saying is I understand where this girly was coming from and more than anything it made me real glad I didn't work in customer service anymore and I am sure this tale makes others pleased that I don't either. 7:21 p.m. - 2002-06-25 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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