But, not today.
Maybe another day.
Today, I was reminded of the reason why I do not ever shop at a particular store in my town. This store has two locations within reasonable driving distance, and, when given the choice, I go north to the "froofy/trendy area and enjoy my shopping experience up there.
But for this shopping trip I chose to stay on the south side of town in hopes of finding some extra deals on meat and such.
Sports Fan and I successfully navigated the aisles, collecting everything on our list and made our way to the front. As we stood in line, I turned around to say something to Sports Fan, and I saw her.
She used to be a cashier. Now she is a bagger. Thanks to yours truly.
The story goes like this.
I was 9 months pregnant with Little Boo. I had a shopping cart overflowing with our essentials when I pulled up to her line. She looked at the cart, rolled her eyes and groaned. Then she spent the next 15 minutes complaining to me about how badly her back hurt.
And so I empathized and helped her unload the cart.
Since they were severely under-staffed, I also bagged my own groceries. All the while listening to her "bad back" litany.
At the very end of all of this, my own back hurting, my legs wobbling, and head spinning, I dropped a can of frozen juice on my finger, catching it between the can and the metal rack that holds the grocery bags. Tears squirted out of my eyes, and I grabbed my receipt and pushed my heavy cart to the car, unloaded it and drove shakily home.
I was furious.
The next day I e-mailed the store about the incident (naming names) and received a phone call from the manager, who apologized profusely. Since he was the new manager of that location, I wished him luck and told him I would not be shopping there again. The much much nicer location was just as far from my house, I might as well shop up there.
And I normally do.
But when I don't, and I pay a visit to this location, I see her.
She is a bagger, not a cashier anymore.
And it's my fault.
6 comments:
Don't feel too guilty over this. You may have been one of many people who were not happy with this woman's treatment of customers. I think when you work in an arena where you deal with people all the time, you need to fulfill the expectations of that job.
Maybe she was just meant to be a bagger ;)
Oh, Nutmeg, my heart goes out to you. Momto5minnies is right---it might not have been you...or only you.
Regardless, this is a good reminder (to me) not to get carried away in my anger and frustration.
My advice: pray for her.
And shop at the other store. :)
Happy Weekend!
not necessarily....she probably was nasty to lots of other people too. Who knows what happened to the other people she was subjected to...it was probably a boat load to incidents that just couldn't be overlooked any more...just pray for her.....God knows her needs...and yours too...don't beat yourself up over this one.
She may be very lucky to have a job at all. You can't worry about stuff like that. You likely did the store a favor -- they can't know about your experience unless you tell them.
Nutmeg, it is most certainly NOT your fault.
It is her own.
If you'd been unreasonably complaining about something trivial that had somehow caused her to be "demoted," that would be one thing. But you needed to let the store know that this woman was letting the customers do what was really her job, and that one of them (you) was severely inconvenienced (and maybe even slightly injured) owing to her dereliction. Many jobs require the applicant to be able to stand for long periods of time, lift 25 or 50 pounds, etc., and I'd imagine that grocery store jobs are among these--so either the woman lied about her ability to do these things prior to being hired, or became incapable of doing them after starting to work.
The store could have fired her, after all. They obviously worked with her to find a job she was capable of doing without complaining or inconveniencing customers. In the long run, you might even have done her a favor. In any case, as others have said, I doubt her transition from cashier to bagger was the result of a single complaint, and if she was annoying/inconveniencing many customers it's hard to see how this is anyone's fault but hers.
Certainly, pray for her--but you have no reason to feel guilty when you see her bagging groceries. After all, if she didn't like bagging groceries, she could quit and find another job! :)
Oh, my dear, don't be so hard on yourself. She acted inappropriately from the moment she saw you. Yes, there are probably all kinds of reasons she did it, reasons with which you might even empathize, but it was still inappropriate for the job she was being paid to do. I seriously doubt that you were the only one who complained about her behavior -- yours could have been the 10th complaint that week ("And the pregnant lady, TOO??")
Prayers for her and for what is probably a sad and difficult life, but a life that is not your fault.
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