Some Surly, Some Sunny

Oh, dear. Mrs. HM finds it necessary once again to call out her subpar treatment at the hands of a convenience store clerk!

There's an employee that I prefer not to have wait on me at the Casey's near The Gas Station Chicken Store. She always greets me with her mouth, but scorches me with her eyes. I don't think I'm the only one who gets ocularly incinerated. I guess this gal just doesn't appreciate having a job.

Let the record show that I'm never in a hurry. I'm polite. I generally trade even on my scratcher winners, or have correct change if I purchase more. I say please. I say thank you. I don't sigh or tap my foot. I don't knock on the counter for service. I go in there once or twice a week.

On Thursday, there were no other customers in the vicinity of the counter. I stepped up to the first register. That makes sense, right? You come in the door, and go to the first register, since nobody is there. It wouldn't make good sense to walk over to the second one. Besides, there were THREE employees behind that counter, one behind the register, one behind the lottery tickets, and one in between them.

Thus began a Public Employee Standoff! Oh, I don't consider the Casey's clerks to be public employees. But I used to work for the state unemployment office, and I am well-versed in Public Employee Standoff procedures. Not that I ever did it myself, of course. I was happy to have my job. A Public Employee Standoff is when one worker waits until another worker works before working. Like, they each (or three or four) withhold service, waiting for someone else to assist a customer first.

I perused the scratcher case for my selections. Again, I was in no hurry. I took a picture of a penny on the floor, and snatched it up. I was ready to do business, but nobody wanted my business. It was becoming awkward. A dude came up behind me. I looked at all three clerks. Reached out my scratcher winner. Not to a specific person. Just across the counter, in a neutral zone. The clerk I prefer not to have made a couple fakes like she was going to take my winner. Then not. Then maybe. Finally, she took it.

Then the clerk who had been waiting behind the scratcher case went to the second register, and said she could help whoever was next. Dude didn't go over there. So she called out again. Then specifically asked him if he was ready to check out. Which he was. But we KNOW when we're not wanted, heh, heh!

After my unwanted clerk rang up my winner and the tickets I was purchasing, and said it would be five dollars, she didn't respond when I thanked her. She turned to the middle clerk, who was by then standing with a drawer, and said snottily, "And five dollars."

Sweet Gummi Mary! All they had to do was say that they were changing shifts, or switching out drawers. I could have easily waited, with my nose still in joint. Just as long as I knew what was going on. How dare I show up at 1:06 (the time stamp on my penny picture) and expect them to wait on me? I don't think that five dollars threw off their count. It was only five dollars. Even.


It was a different story over at Orb K. Two clerks working. One customer at the counter of the far register. I hung back a minute by the scratcher case. The clerk said she could help me. Cheerfully. I stepped up and told her my tickets. Then I switched one of them. She hadn't torn them off yet. But that confused her. I apologized. She said it was no problem, she wanted to get them right.

"Sorry! I need to wait in a line while I decide which ones I want!"

"Heh, heh! I usually HAVE a line! So that would make you happy."

"There are no lines anywhere today!  I guess it's the rain. Nobody's out."

"We haven't been busy, either. Here you go, sweetie. Good luck."

"Thanks!"

See how easy that was? A sunny attitude, on a dreary day.