Conditioning

I really hate stupid people. Today at Victoria's Secret served to confirm this. It is the semi-annual sale for the next two weeks and that means we are PACKED!! It is very busy and the registers usually have lines. The store made the very stupid decision to close down 1/3 of the store for renovation starting the first day of the semi-annual sale. So, not only are we busier than normal, but we have 1/3 less space and only 3 of 7 registers are now available.

Due to the lack of registers, lines get long sometimes! As a whole, I would say I'm not a huge fan of people that I don't know, as a general rule. I particularly hate some of the people waiting in line though. One would think that when you put things in your shopping tote to take to the register, you at least have some idea that you might want to buy those items. This is not the case in Victoria's Secret...not with our customers.

Our customers wait in line for 10 minutes or so and feel the need to wait until they get to the register to decide what they want. They empty out their tote and want me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while they decide what they do and do not want. This is the semi-annual sale...stuff is cheap! Don't make me ring up 30 items and then decide (after I hit total) that you want to remove an item that is $2.50 because it's putting you over $100. I don't have time for you and your indecisiveness!

Then they decide they want to pay with their Victoria's Secret account (which I probably convinced them to take another strike against their credit and sign up for a few days before), but they don't have their card. So, they wanna know if I mind looking it up. YES, I mind looking it up, and so do the people behind you while I get your social security number and call it in manually. Just use another card!! The interest on that card, because you're probably not gonna pay it off on time, is exorbitant! Why would you use it?

These people need conditioning...Pavlov's dogs style. When they hear frantic register button pushing, and people grumbling at the long lines, they need to pick up the pace. Develop a damn sense of urgency!! I don't care how they're conditioned to do so. Beat them if they're too slow, shock them, I don't care...just get the point across.

Yesterday at one point, the line was particularly long. A lady had just finished paying, but was taking a minute to read her receipt and put stuff away. I'm ok with this as she did it to the side of the register. But while she was doing it, I looked at the man behind her and told him I could help him. He looked at me and stood there. So I said it again, "Sir, I can help you, just step up to the register." He said he would wait for her to leave and was in no rush! Really? You're not, ass hole? Maybe the people behind you are. I was pretty pissed off at this, and the air conditioning was broken, adding to my lack of patience. So, I called the person over from the line next to him to get in front of him so they wouldn't have to wait for him (since he apparently didn't care). All of the sudden, he was not happy and in a rush. Oh well, I made him wait while I helped the next person. That made me smile just a little :)