Simmer down and listen

So I find myself thinking this several times a day. I feel like we are all so busy and rushing so much that we don't even take time to think or listen anymore. Like the other day at work some guy yelled at me that the self checkout machine didn't give him his cash back. Well the cash was already out of the machine and as he was yelling at me the machine was saying "cash is dispensed below the scanner" Now, I;m sure he was in a hurry and there was more to his side of this interaction but once I came over and showed him where his money was he said "Well the machine should tell you or show you where it comes out. I didn't see it." Which is true the machine should do that but it's also true that it did do that. If he would have simmered down and listened he wouldn't have had to yell at me and cause everyone around him to look at him like he was a jackass.

This doesn't only happen at work though I feel like even with your loved ones they can assume they know how you are going to finish what you're saying and they can get mad and interrupt causing unnecessary arguments. I'll admit I've been on both sides of this with some of my loved ones. So I am now making an effort to simmer down and listen, or to pause and think before automatically going to the worst case scenario.

Another example I have seen of this is some parents with their children. Now I know that kids can spend all their waking hours saying "mom, momma, mommy, mom, mother!" or "dad, dad, daddy, dad!" but sometimes they really do have something important to say. For example a few months ago in a store I saw a very busy mom who was trying to hurry out the store to get her kid to daycare and then her to work. She was busy, hurrying, and distracted. Well her little boy kept saying, "mom, momma, mom" to which she kept replying, "Just a minute buddy I'm doing something." Well it turns out he urgently needed the restroom as he had a bladder infection and in a tiny kiddo that gives you even less warning for your urgent needs then in adults. So poor kiddo wet his pants. The mom was great and sweet and comforted him. However, I'm sure she was also much later to work because of this situation.

So I think that we all need to take a breath, simmer down, realize we are not chicken little and the sky is not falling, and listen to each other. And please even if you're in a hurry don't yell at the checkout person. It's rude and can throw off their whole day. Plus at SELF checkout there is pretty much only one person in control of your whole order, I'll give you a hint..... It's not me or it would just be called checkout. ;) For goodness sake be happy sometimes people. It's much more fun!

The real reason I want to have money.

There are so many people out there who want to win the lottery so that they could never work again and travel and all of that. As wonderful as that all would be I think the main things I wish I had money for are to help people. I would love to be able to pay of my mom and my mother-in-law's mortgages. I would love to take them on a trip and to spa's because they both do so much for me and my husband. I would buy my brothers all houses and make sure they had reliable vehicles. I would start a college fund for my baby niece. I would do so much good with more money.

That being said I will most likely never win the lottery. I probably won't become wealthy ever and that's okay. But that doesn't change my attitude. I still want to do everything I can everyday to take away stress from my family. I would love to travel but I always think of all the people who's lives could be made better with the money I would use on a vacation. I want to be able to not spoil but just provide for all my family, and friends. I wish that more people would do good with the money they do have.

So if you are a friend or family member of mine. Just know that I may have no way to financially help you right now. I may never have that. But I'm always here to help trouble shoot. Or even just to listen to what's going on with you. I will live my life giving what I can. Even if all I can give is a smile and some encouraging words!! God Bless you all!

How to be the worst customer ever.

I personally prefer not to make others miserable but you know whatever floats your boat. Also a few of these things will get you kicked out of the store.

- Blame every employee in sight for all the things that our clearly controlled by corporate like , prices, remodels, advertising, signs, etc. There is nothing we like more then having to listen to multiple people a day complain about things that are controlled by people who make more in a week then we do in a year. We love that and I'm sure Karma won't come back to bite you. We never fantasize about all the ways Karma could catch up to you.

-Insist that you are right even after you have been shown proof. Like when you say a sign said something was way cheaper then it would ever be and we bring you the sign. Clearly we have multiple signs just to throw you off because there is nothing we like more then dealing with irrational angry customers.

-Threaten violence especially to the short female employees especially if you are a large male. That definitely won't result in police being called. Nope never.

-Always assume that you are the only person we need to help because you know we have 1,000 employees hanging out in the back room waiting around so that we can have one employee per customer.

-Tell us that we need to hire more people because you had to wait thirteen extra seconds and we had all check stands open. Then threaten to never shop there again if we don't hire more people. We would be heartbroken if we lost your super charming personality from our lives and clearly as a busy store we really need that sixteen dollars you just spent. Our lives would be forever changed without you.

- Go through self checkout for the first time ever with 70 items in your cart. The person running it totally wants to let all the other customers wait while we pretty much do your entire order because you ask a question about each item. You are after all the only person there and the center of our universe.

-Make the joke that if it didn't scan it should be free. We don't hear that 80 times a day. It's still funny.

-Tell the employees that they looked bored so you came to help. It doesn't demean all we do or make us feel like you think we are lazy. Also we're pretty much always doing something and never bored. except Thanksgiving night then we are admittedly usually bored.

So if you want to be one of our favorites that we look forward to seeing and go out of our way for then do none of the above things, remember we are people. We always try but we also sometimes have things going on outside of work that we try to hide but even your small comments can hurt on those days. Remember that the less you act like you are the center of the universe the more we will treat you like you actually are. We adore our regulars we like watching your kids grow and hearing about your life. We understand that sometimes you have rough days too but remember we're human and we'll forgive the small stuff. Also never feel like we don't want to help you. We do if you stay nice and try to remember that we have other people to help as well. I hope that you all think and take a breath next time something upsets you at a store. We truly do adore most of our customers and we know that you are crucial to our jobs. Please remember that we are also a crucial part of your lives because unless you make your own clothes and raise all your own food then you probably need us too. :)

Please do!

I recently had an incounter at work where we had a huge rush that lasted all of about 10 minutes. And a large threatening man came up to me and said that if I (who is a lowley employee not even management) don't hire more people he will never come back. He continued to scream at me about how long he had to wait which was all of 30 seconds. And I became worried for my safety. I would like to also point out that this man had only spent about $13. Now I of course would be devestated if this jackhole found another store to shop at. What would my little store do without his $13. And who would tell us when we need to hire more people. He refused to speak with my manager because my manager is also a large intimidating man and clearly that's not as fun as yelling at the five foot six girl with no power to help him. Do these people seriously think we would miss them or even notice them not coming back. We are one of the busiest stores in town. We will always be that way. If you want a slower store then by all means shop somewhere else. Where your $13 may actually matter to them. But to us you will just be the guy who left right before we were going to call the cops to have you kicked out. We have so many regular customers and I would miss them if they left. But guess what 98% of them are a freaking delight to help. You catch more flies with honey Mr. Jerkwad. I feel sorry for the people who have to encounter your sons later in life because I'm sure you're raising them with great respect for women. And loads of kindness. Now would you kindly take a long walk of a short cliff. I hear there's a great new store down there. :p