Sunny Weekend
I just became someone I hate.
Over the on-and-off 8 years of working in retail as a cashier for Fred Meyer, I would always become immediately embittered when someone would make a comment on how nice the weekend was going to be for them. As weekends are the busiest time of the week for grocery stores, I barely ever even got one weekend day off. This includes Fridays.
So when people came through my line all chipper about all the fun they were expecting to have over the weekend, I didn't give much of a response. Come to find out, it took me less than a week to fall into this same mindset. I have my first "real" job, the ol' 8-5er, Monday through Friday. I started one week ago. On Friday I was sent to take a First Aid class at a place near the airport. This place also happens to be in the same shopping complex as a Tasty Freeze, which has been "serving Alaskan families since 1958".
Anyway, the girl that was previously helping customers went to place orders and an older guy stepped up to the register. He seemed friendly enough with a big smile and even gave a vibe that he may have even been happy to be there. So I wanted to throw in some small talk, but after the formalities I mentioned how it would be nice to have nice weather for the weekend as it was a nice sunny Friday at noon. Almost immediately his demeanor changed. He slumped a bit and I realized that I had become one of those inconsiderate people who didn't realize that people do have to be stuck inside for most of the day over the weekend. The guy kind of shrugged his shoulders and it made me want to take it back.
Too late. I just rubbed my freedom in his face. The freedom of not being tied to the retail lifestyle where you're forced to interact with mostly assholes that have never seemingly learned that what they're interacting with on the other side of the counter are people too. I'm glad to be out of there, but I still feel for all of those who face an eternity of living that way. You never get a holiday because you're serving everyone else on those days. Maybe you'll get a random Tuesday off.
C'est la vie for way to many people.
Over the on-and-off 8 years of working in retail as a cashier for Fred Meyer, I would always become immediately embittered when someone would make a comment on how nice the weekend was going to be for them. As weekends are the busiest time of the week for grocery stores, I barely ever even got one weekend day off. This includes Fridays.
So when people came through my line all chipper about all the fun they were expecting to have over the weekend, I didn't give much of a response. Come to find out, it took me less than a week to fall into this same mindset. I have my first "real" job, the ol' 8-5er, Monday through Friday. I started one week ago. On Friday I was sent to take a First Aid class at a place near the airport. This place also happens to be in the same shopping complex as a Tasty Freeze, which has been "serving Alaskan families since 1958".
Anyway, the girl that was previously helping customers went to place orders and an older guy stepped up to the register. He seemed friendly enough with a big smile and even gave a vibe that he may have even been happy to be there. So I wanted to throw in some small talk, but after the formalities I mentioned how it would be nice to have nice weather for the weekend as it was a nice sunny Friday at noon. Almost immediately his demeanor changed. He slumped a bit and I realized that I had become one of those inconsiderate people who didn't realize that people do have to be stuck inside for most of the day over the weekend. The guy kind of shrugged his shoulders and it made me want to take it back.
Too late. I just rubbed my freedom in his face. The freedom of not being tied to the retail lifestyle where you're forced to interact with mostly assholes that have never seemingly learned that what they're interacting with on the other side of the counter are people too. I'm glad to be out of there, but I still feel for all of those who face an eternity of living that way. You never get a holiday because you're serving everyone else on those days. Maybe you'll get a random Tuesday off.
C'est la vie for way to many people.
Labels: weekend, work, working on the weekend
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