(no subject)

[verbminx]

I don't really "do" Valentine's Day. I've gone through phases of doing things for it in different ways, but more or less I don't bother or angst anymore.

We did indeed make it to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon today, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I think the tone was a little uneven, and wasn't prepared for the last fifteen minutes or so at all, but it's still definitely one of the best movies I've seen in the last year. Ang Lee made one of my favorites, Sense and Sensibility, and as I couldn't get into his more recent films, I was glad to see another that I loved.

Dinner was hell, though. Tried to eat at the nice restaurant by the theater, but had forgotten that it's Valentine's Day, and would have had to wait a really long time. We were hungry, so we decided to just eat in the mall food court, and happily selected Subway in anticipation of a nice big turkey sandwich.

Alas, it was not to be. I waited for the girl behind the counter to finish with the customer ahead of me, and when she did, she refused to take my order because I wasn't standing in the right spot. I went and stood in the place she pointed to, but she refused to wait on me, didn't realise my mother was with me and tried to wait on her, and then waited instead on someone who had been standing in the right spot but not waiting as long. This other customer was on her lunch break, so I didn't say anything.

Then the counter girl smirked at me and again would not take my order and started waiting on people who had been behind me in line. By this point I'd been waiting like fifteen minutes... and it wasn't crowded! She just refused to take my order! It was seriously amazing. I stomped off, and as I was leaving she smirked at me again and waved. I flipped her off and yelled the matching comment (yeah, I'm so mature.)

Where the hell are these people coming from and why are they all picking on me? I mean, what did I even do to this girl to deserve the way she was treating me? Pleh. (I'm calling the district manager of Subway tomorrow, but I doubt she'll get in much trouble - the store is understaffed, and when a lot of jobs are available, people can pretty much treat customers however they feel like.)

After that, I had bourbon chicken and vegetable lo mein from the Chinese place, where everyone was nice and polite. Drove home and stopped for hot cocoa on the way. Picked up some discount Philosophy books (general and postmodern) for like $4 each. Now I'm home.

Is it too much to ask that people just be nice and polite? I'm not a hugely difficult person, really.

Comments

[hilarykay.livejournal.com]

thats so weird!! speculation: are you wearing something that could "offend" them? are they discriminating against you in some way? does your shirt have some kind of logo that freaks them out. I assume you look totally normal- i guess they are just psycho. sometimes I get attitude because I look young. If I walk into a jewelry store or something wearing my backpack and casual clothes then I am ignored by the staff. Also, people ask my age or accuse me of being too young to be doing whatever I am doing. Sometimes, though I get special treatment for looking young, especially from cops.
go figure.

[verbminx.livejournal.com]

weirdly, i got less attitude when i was a total hardcore goth in makeup three inches thick and floorlength black skirts and so on.

i don't look completely normal normal - i have a small rhinestone stud labret in the center of my lower lip. I wear fairly conservative makeup, and usually red or raisiny lipstick. I'm extremely pale, and I have short red hair (blonde at the roots, deeper red at the ends, but essentially "red") in a sort of artfaggy pixie/angled-bob. Today I was wearing a pair of boot-cut slightly too large "dirty denim" jeans with a black leather belt, a 2/3 sleeve red hoodie with cute little cartoon monkeys and some kind of kanji on the sleeves, black and white Vans sneakers, little rhinestone earrings, and a necklace that's a glittery blue star charm on a shotbead chain. I carry a furry black purse with a Powerpuff Girls C-Watch (blue glittery heart shape clip-on) on the strap. I look "alternative" - probably mostly indie-rock - but not in any particular way. I wear about a size 10 in clothes and I'm 5'7" or so tall. & I'm extremely, insanely sweet and polite to salespeople... I smile, say please and thank you, all that good stuff.

The only thing I can think of is that the girl was African-American and overweight. I do occasionally get attitude from overweight girls; I doubt it was a race thing. Both explanations sound bizarre to me - I have no idea what it could have been, logically, except that the girl was a nasty bitch in a bad mood and decided to take it out on me.

The whole thing was just so super-weird!

Re:

[hilarykay.livejournal.com]

utter oddness about their attitudes

well your outfit and whole style sounds very very cute!! maybe they are jealous hehe

customer depreciation

[jet.livejournal.com]

i too have had equally horrifying experiences lately while shopping...i don't know what the deal is with retail people. i realize they are not paid well, and have to put up with a somewhat significant amount of crap on a regualar basis...but why take it out on the innocent people who just want to spend their money without having to put up with all the attitude?

i was thinking the other day how nice it would be to just shop at one of my favorite places without having to put up with the bitchy salesgirl who gets all huffy and annoyed because she has to get off the phone with her boyfriend to ring up a sale that she will probably make some sort of commission off of (slight, but still its something)...

so...because of the poor service that seems to be commonplace virtually everywhere, i have taken to shopping online. its amazingly stress free. i recommend it.

Re: customer depreciation

[verbminx.livejournal.com]

I wish I could find a way to get a sandwich and have my laundry done without ever having to interact with anyone (well, the laundry part at least is coming true - my mom is actually going to get the new dryer, finally). this is getting crazy. like to the point where i'm starting to dread even leaving the house.

anyway, i have read it's because the economy has been so good... in most areas, crappy jobs are a dime a dozen, anyone who wants a job can probably get one with little trouble, as long as they aren't picky about it being retail or food-service (both of which are, IMO, utterly frickin' thankless and stressful, but still). Most people know that their places are hard-up for workers, and if they happen to misbehave enough to get fired, they can probably get a new job within a day or two. I remember a few years ago when it was genuinely difficult to find even a retail job in my area - now everyone has "Help Wanted" signs in their windows. Nobody really has to behave, because there's no real benefit in it.

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

You poor thing. I would have demanded to see a supervisor on the spot and started a big row in front of all those other people, even if it meant getting arrested or something. I am sick to death of poor customer service at stores, restaurants, etc. I have worked in retail and it just amazes me that people can just *do* this to customers without even considering their feelings.

Yesterday G. and I went to a bar after Toy Fair. The bartender (an Irish woman) asked G. what she wanted and took care of her right away. I then opened my mouth to tell her my order and she *walked away*. Out from behind the bar and into the back of the place. We waited like 10 minutes or more to the point where I was about to go behind the bar and pour myself a freaking drink. She came back and then we had to yell for her 3 times before she'd come over.

Later G. wanted to order some food and again, she ignored us. Only this time, she was busy with some other patrons -- not getting them drinks or food, but just chatting with them. I should add that when we *didn't* need her, she managed to interject herself into our conversation!

We also had to wait like 20 minutes to get the tab taken care of -- we couldn't get her attention because she was off somewhere and then it took her forever to get G. the check. Needless to say, she was tipped very little for her lousy service.

The place was also pretty much empty -- it's not like there were 30 people standing 3 deep. When we first got there and she ignored me, we were the ONLY people in the place. :-p