Amazed and Bewildered

Tuesday afternoon a young couple from Missouri robbed one of our local banks. That's not the story I'm going to tell, though. The story I'm telling is how amazed I am at how so many people go through life uninformed on things I consider basic, maybe even important  knowledge. Tuesday is our Senior Citizen day plus this week there was talk of bad weather coming in, resulting in a very busy afternoon. The robbery happened around 2 o'clock and the grade school, at the other end of the block, was put on lockdown. Hoards of people starting coming in- possibly because of the reasons I just listed or maybe just to hear the gossip. At one time we had lines of people at our two registers. The discussion became "I sure hope they didn't steal my money" which was all funny and people were laughing. Then I realized a few of them were serious. They really were afraid their own, personal money had been stolen. I looked at one lady and said, "well, you know, the bank is insured. You won't lose anything". I could physically see relief pass through her body. And I realized, she really didn't know. All those bank commercials with "FDIC insured" meant nothing to her and some of the others standing there, afraid they had just lost their money. I've always considered myself to be of average intelligence,  but lately people have really done their best to make me feel smart!

Tales From the Bitchy Cashier

We've had some extremely hot weather mixed with massive humidity--the kind that makes you feel like you are trying to breath underwater. Miserable. It's just high summer in the Midwest. It happens almost every year and we all stay in a much as possible. Thank God for air-conditioning. Which I imagine is why the woman brought her dog into the store the other day. It's common knowledge that pets aren't allowed in grocery stores, but some people seem to think that doesn't apply to small dogs. If you can carry it in your purse, you can bring it in. Wrong! I noticed she was carrying her purse weirdly when she first came in the store, but I didn't realize she had a dog-- two, as it turned out. I think what pissed me off the most was the fact that there was another woman with her. She could have stayed in the car with the dogs and ran the air conditioning. This was just a "show-off" thing. When they got to the register they made a point of being loud enough so everyone knew that there was a puppy in the bag also. I didn't say anything, but I wanted to say, "you know if the Health Inspector comes right now, we're going to get in trouble". Some people just don't think the rules apply to them!

Daily Irritants

Why do people think they can go into a store (or any business, actually) trash talk the products and the employees, and then wonder why they aren't greeted with smiles and service? I'm sorry, if I'm that unhappy with a store, I quit going there. I don't continue to return weekly! I had a customer today who was unhappy that we were out the bacon we had on sale. I explained to her that store policy is we only give rainchecks if we have been shorted the item and will not receive any before the sale ends. This particular customer said she wouldn't be in again this week--but I would almost bet she is. She comes in several times each week. And she was unhappy with the response she got from the employee in the meat department that told her we were out. (He has had previous run-ins with her and kept his answers as short as possible.) At that point I offered to give her the raincheck but she refused. She didn't want it any more. She said she would just have to go to Walmart and she was having a good day until she came to the store. I mumbled "me too" and then clamped my mouth shut to avoid telling her how much we dread seeing her come in the door. I think she started to realize she had gone to far by the set of my face because her tone changed and she even tried to smile a little. 98% of the customers are okay--quite a few downright chatty and friendly--but it's that 2% that ruin my day!