Yeah, he does. And a lesson in what constitutes making a joke, and what is just being a moron.
Crikey!
Back when I still had to pay child support, I would mail the checks 9 months of the year.
Since I had to go to the courthouse personally to renew license plates the other 3 months, I’d pay child support in person those months.
The court clerk must have known that her child support staff was infuriating to the point of inducing homicidal rage. She put the 4 hags behind bulletproof glass.
Upon approach to the window, the 4 would look up from their coffee and donuts and from their body language I just knew the conversation went something like this:
" Another goddamn pain in the ass who won’t just mail it in. Well, I got the last asshole; this one’s yours."
" Not me! I got the one before that."
" Not my turn, either."
4th hag would get up ever-so-slowly to come take my money, ask for photo I.D. which she would study for an interminably long period, shuffle over to a desk adjacent to the coffee klatch table, make out a receipt, and then shuffle slowly back to the window.
In all, a transaction that would take less than 30 seconds at,say, the gas company, took about 10 minutes.
I wish to apologize in advance to anyone who lost a loved one in Oklahoma City, but the day that bombing happened, my wife and I speculated that if the bomb had gone off in the child support office instead:
a) There would have been no loss of life since the hags are of the Undead anyway.
b) The hags would have pissed and moaned about whose turn it was to go down the hall to the sheriff’s office to report the explosion.
c) It would have taken 20 times longer for the “losing” hag to report to the sheriff than it would have taken anyone actually injured by the blast to do the same thing.
I went into a local coffeeshop to have dinner with Aaron. He can’t sit up yet, so he can’t go in a high chair without his carrier. I asked for a high chair so I can put the carrier on it, out of the way. I was told that they weren’t allowed to flip the high chair over to fit the carrier. They also didn’t want me in a booth because I’m just one person, so I had no table space for him.
Finally, I got the damn high chair, and put the carrier in there. It was by no means a good fit, but it worked for the half-hour we were there.
Gah!
Robin
WTF??
Next time, MsRobyn, don’t ask permission to flip the high chair. Just do it. I mean, unless you’re allowing BabyDoors to pee on the floor, you’re not doing anything every other mother hasn’t done.
These are the same people who freak out if a mother breastfeeds discreetly in public. Which I’ve done. And no one noticed.
The Blockbuster story reminded me, in backwards, of a woman that came in to return a copy of Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book, she was all irate because it had the word gigolo in it! I was really nice & wouldn’t get into a conversation about it, but if you’ve read the book, the point of gigolo being in there is part of the humor. I’m more irritated by people that buy a book & can’t take the time to at least scan through it to see if it’s what they want!
Last week, MrDeep went to register our new boat. He spent an hour & a half because the women at the DMV had to complain about the boat store, which is now out of business & many people who hadn’t gotten their paperwork done in a reasonable amount of time have now gotten lost in paperwork hell trying to establish ownership. I was amused, since I didn’t have to do the registering, that they would get angry at my husband because he was doing the correct thing at the correct time. You’d think that someone that works at a DMV would have mentioned to their relatives that one might not want to put the boat in the water before they actually own it. Two days later, we get a letter from the DMV, they accidentally gave back some of the paperwork they were to keep. Would we kindly send them the forms they should have on file?
Stories like this make me wish it was possible to give tips in the negative percentage range.
I certainly am NOT surprised. Heh
I’ve told this one before, and I’ll probably tell it again.
- Pacific Southwest Airlines, Burbank to Sacramento. PSA is gone now; it was like Southwest - one class, no frills.
I am in middle seat; female friend is on the aisle wearing an angora sweater. Male flight attendant is working the aisle with a big cardboard box of ice cream sandwiches.
The box is soaked with condensation and dripping copiously. At our row, there is a traffic jam and male flight attendant is stopped with the box poised over, and dripping onto, my friend.
She tries to get his attention and fails. I said (in probably a snappy tone) “Excuse me? You’re dripping on my friend.”
He looks down at me, looks at my friend, looks at the box, looks back at me, and snaps right back “It’s only water.”
We were going to report him, but we couldn’t stop laughing long enough.
What kind of shit is that? BabyDoors is a person! Mommy + baby + two people!
Well, yes, but it’s one person actually buying food. Aaron doesn’t eat anything off the menu yet, and at the rate we’re going, probably won’t for a while.
Robin
Oh, I knew that, MsRobyn…I just reacted viscerally.
{{{{{{{{{BabyDoors}}}}}}}}
Heh… needless to say I haven’t patronized [sub]Starbucks on University and 28th in Coral Springs oops did I say that out loud[/sub] since.
Best DMV quote ever:
“On some days, we don’t let the line move at all.”
“We call those ‘weekdays’.”
Patty and Selma Bouvier
I can’t remember the exact wording, but a couple weeks ago, Fez on That '70s Show was told something like, “You’re untrained, poorly educated, and you barely speak English…Welcome to the DMV!”
I don’t think ‘Ashleigh’ is that weird. I think it is a really ‘cute’ name.
Re: high chairs
Per my sister who has worked in retaurants-
When upright, a high chair base is wider than the top. This makes for a sturdy pyramid shape. When upside-down, the shape is an inverted triangle. Do you really want to put your infant on one?
The place MsRobyn went to was probably only trying to protect her little one (and avoid a potential lawsuit if the upside-down chair got bumped and tipped over). However, I think they should have explained that and then given her a booth.
Reading many of the horror stories in this post makes me sad at the state of customer service, but you have to keep in mind what the people behind the counter are going through. I work at Wal-Mart, (now back in the offices thank god) but I used to work the front registers. Most service industry cashiers/clerks are grossly underpaid, undertrained, and overworked. Many work 3 - 4 hours without a break under nonstop streams of customers. This leads to an annoyed bunch of people.
Many times, when lines are long, it is not the fault of the cashiers or their immediate supervisors, but of the company’s upper management. The push in the service industry these days is to do more with less employees. The store managers are cajoled into lowering the payroll through disciplinary action up to and including termination, if their employees log too many hours. Often the cashiers are the first hours to be cut. The customer may have to wait in line for 10 minutes, but the cashier is there for 3 - 4 hours, and they have constantly stay focused. Keep that in mind next time you are subject to long lines.
Service people are also generally underpaid. If they are relying on this as a profession, nearly all have to work 2 jobs at about 70 hours a week to pay the bills. The other half are kids trying to make it through school and who have a 7.5 hour school day plus a six hour woork day plus 2 - 3 hours of homework to top it all off. Many of these hard workers suffer from sleep deprivation and struggle to keep a smile on their face through the day.
To smile for a good customer is one thing, but for some customers it is damn near inpossible. If there are bad cashier stories, there must be just as many customer horror stories. I personally had one scream “F^&% YOU!!” to me at the top of his lungs because he could not return his broken cologne bottle without a receipt. Or how about the lady that puched me and shoved me into the door because I refused to take back 3 opened, half used bottles of nail polish she claimed were the wrong color. Granted most customers are pleasant or at leats neutral people, but about %30 ruin it for the rest.
I know this has not been in the true spirit of the post, but I thought that a little defense on the part of the servants was in order. Please continue with the BBQ.
Amen brother.(if that is what you are) I just biatched about this in another thread. 
Man, I work retail. And go to school. I’ve done 13 hours straight in my little booth before more than once, without a break, simply because my replacement was vomiting madly and noone else could come. And yeah, I get annoyed. With the vast majority of my customers, no less. But despite being tired and pissed off and underpaid, there’s no way I’d pull any of the shit people are talking about in here. I mean, even the ‘We dont have that. Just kidding!’, which is in my opinion the least of the offenses. It just wouldn’t cross my mind to do that. Even if the customer’s being a total asshole, there are better ways of dealing with it.
I totally see what you’re saying, and yeah, retail (and school) does suck. More pay would be nice. But it doesn’t excuse any of the behaviour talked about in here, to any degree.
That reminds me of this time at my local blockbuster. I knew the clerk pretty well,and he knew me as the weird chick who checks out way too many scary movies, well one day I checked out “The Wizard of Oz” and he looks at me and says " What the hell are you doing with this"
Me: I want to watch it.
Him: But you never rent stuff like this"
Me: Well I am today"
Him: " Why"?
Me: Because I can.
Him: Oh, I get it , yer looking for that suicidal midget, he’s at the part where they dance away from the cottage"
the sad thing is, he was right. :o