Alt text: a text post that reads: Work in retail long enough, and you'll eventually realize the rules for dealing with Customers are exactly the same as dealing with the Fae:
- Avoid eye contact.
- Never reveal your full name.
- Accept nothing They offer you.
- Never verbally agree or disagree with anything They might happen to say.
- To apologize is to acknowledge a debt owed.
- Under no circumstances are you ever to thank Them.
- Remember that They are incapable of reading signs in human languages.
eternally grateful to live in a place where people are more likely to help retail workers do their job
Me too. God bless the Appalachian mountains.
I’ve probably met more mouth breathing, lead paint eating morons (myself included. As a matter of fact, at one time I was a t-1000 Liquid Metal mercury from 50 thermometers in my hand moron) than most people will ever encounter in 10 lifetimes. I can count on one hand just how many of those people were truly bad people.
If I have a visibly heavy load at work, it can be annoying how many people wander up and say, “hey ‘ere buddy. Yew gawn need inny hep wittat? I’ze just checkin’.”
Open the hood of your car and you can summon an entire neighborhood. For real, need directions in the Appalachians, just stop somewhere with houses, open your hood and spend a few minutes staring at your engine.
It's important to note that "the Appalachian mountains" span thousands of miles / kilometers across the United States and Canada and there aren't many generalizations that hold up for folks across that entire span. That may not be clear to a lot of folks, especially those not familiar with the eastern USA.
Of the parts I'm familiar with, mostly the southern parts, I would say that advice probably works best if you already fit in enough that you might appear to be "one of them" versus if you are visibly a minority, particularly if you stop some place outside the more liberal towns and cities. I can tell you for sure that many peoples' demeanor changes for the worse if/once they find out or assume you are gay and there are parts where you will find yard and road signs that specifically are anti-lgbt.
Granted, I'm not trying to paint the whole population of that 2,000+ mile swath of land as all being rabid bigots and racists either, just that for people reading that advice, I would say "your mileage my vary."
Most people are actually that good, it's just that in the Appalachian mountains the people density is a whole lot lower. Just by being around less people automatically makes you being around less bad people too.
Sure, in the bigger cities you probably have more asshats in general, people are more on-top of eachother so it's easier to annoy one another as well. it's eqaiser to accept and copy certain bad habbits too.
In the same way, of you open up your hood in the middle of nowhere, locals will stop and help because other help ain't coming whereas in the city, people will presume you're waiting for the AAA or a friendly Canadian to give you a leg so they won't stop and help you.
I think that in reality things aren't as black and white as you perceive them to be
I mean, my perception isn’t off about what I know and where I’m at. I don’t disagree with anything you said, I just prefer the kind of people where I’m at.
I've been that guy at a computer store. Had already found what I needed on my own since I was quite familiar with the store and was browsing a different isle to look at the shinies. Overheard a customer ask a salesperson what the difference between product x and y was, which were marked very similarly on the box but one was something like 30-50% more.
I noticed the salesperson become quite unsure of what this specific technical difference was, so I added the quick TLDR paragraph of what the generalized difference was and what words the manufacturers use to differentiate them (since there were several product pairs that matched both classes elsewhere on the isle).
Customer says "oh ok that makes sense". I forget which one he decided on (I think it might have been the more expensive one kek), but the salesperson put his commission tracking sticker on the selected box and the customer wandered away, hopefully happy. Salesperson turns to me sheepishly "Um..... I guess you probably don't need help?" I responded "No, I'm just browsing, but do you want to put your sticker on this gizmo I found in the bargain bin over there?" He seemed happy with this arrangement, adds the commission sticker, and we part ways.
.......did I inadvertently make a pact with a different type of fae?
you the fae
chaotic good fae, bound by their nature to help anyone they reasonably can
great idea for a paladin honestly:
No patron, just their inherent nature that compels them to do good and they level up from doing good. Bonus points if they're slightly reluctant about it, but like it is their nature so they still like doing it but every time they see someone struggling with something they and their party sighs because they have to spend 10 minutes helping out unless they can come up with a good excuse not to.
I do this.
I used to work in grocery, and I know how to do the job quite well, even after being out of the industry for a long time. When I come up to a shelf that I know the workers have recently done up to look proper, I will take what I need, then fix the shelf so it looks the same when I leave.
If I spot a box of product behind the box I just took the last product out of, I'll toss the empty in behind and bring the full one forward, because I'm not a neanderthal.
Grocery workers aren't paid enough as is and they have enough work without me adding to their workload. I loathe anyone who picks up products, then leaves them elsewhere in the store, especially if it's something perishable like meat, dairy, or frozen goods. Fuck those people. Is it really so hard to either take it back to where you found it, or at least find an employee and ask them to return it so it doesn't spoil? Don't be a lazy fuck. You have to go talk to the cashier when you check out, so give it to them. If they let it spoil, that's not your fault nor your problem, just try. FFS.