Manners? What are manners?
Warning: This post is sure to make you think I'm a crotchety old woman. Maybe I am. You decide.
Which means we've made a lot of trips to retailers of a variety of sorts.
And I gotta tell ya: I just don't understand kids nowadays! Not crying kids in carts who need a nap and shouldn't have been brought to the store in the first place. I'm talking about the kids who serve as cashiers, customer service reps, stockers.
They're all a bunch of idiots! And they have no manners, no professional courtesy about them!
I know, this isn't anything new. Everyone laments customer service nowadays, and I'm certainly one of those regularly complaining about the lack of manners -- and smarts -- on the part of those supposedly servicing the customers. But just this past weekend, Brianna and I experienced such idiocy to the nth degree.
At the hardware store, where we needed an electrical kit for the dishwasher and new innards for one of her toilets, Brianna politely asked the young man working in the electrical supply aisles if he had an electrical kit for a dishwasher. She held up the old cord that no longer worked as an example. He looked at her with a smirk. "Yeah, we have that," he said ... and just stood there. No attempt to locate it on the shelf, no sign he was going to even tell her where it's at.
"Good," Brianna said, thinking that would urge him into action. But he just stood there, looking at her like there was an inside joke she'd not yet caught on to.
"Can you show me?" Brianna asked.
"They're right over here," the guy said with a chuckle then headed down the aisle to retrieve the kit. Brianna and I just gave each other a "What a friggin' dumbass!" look behind his back, then politely thanked him for his assistance.
We also were confronted with -- at another store -- a young (and I mean YOUNG) itsy-bitsy tiny SuperStore cashier who sported a huge, HUGE pregnant belly and appeared ready to pop out the baby at any moment. She wore a tiny T-shirt, low hung pants and a sweater of some sort hanging around her butt and tucked into the waist of her pants. A very unflattering look. But what was even more unflattering was the way she completely ignored the older woman in line before Brianna as she went through the motions of her job. No fake smile, no "How are you today?" No "Thank you for shopping at this madhouse." She did the very same with Brianna.
Maybe she was in pain as she struggled through another shift with a ready to drop baby, in hopes of covering the cost of diapers for her soon-to-arrive little one. I get that. And I get that it really sucks to be a young mama living a life you didn't expect to be living. But c'mon! You've got a job -- something many folks would kill for nowadays -- and part of the requirements of that job should be that you be considerate to -- or at least acknowledge! -- your customers.
As teens, my daughters worked as servers in restaurants -- Brianna and Megan at a microbrewery; Andrea at a local burger place (made famous by "Fast Food Nation"). They worked those jobs throughout high school. And they made mega tips, more money than they make now in their chosen "adult" careers. The reason they made so much as servers? Because they had manners. And they knew how to treat the customer right. And they knew that if they didn't have manners and treat the customers right, they'd likely lose their jobs.
But apparently the rules are different for retailers. Those employees don't work for tips. Or maybe the rules are just different all around nowadays.
I remember watching educational films on manners at school during my formative years. Goofy black-and-white films -- or the really cool Disney "I'm No Fool" shorts hosted by Jiminy Cricket -- that taught kids proper etiquette in a variety of situations. Kids apparently aren't forced to watch such propaganda anymore. And it shows in their conduct out in public.
I think such films should be brought back. I'll start if off with the one below. Sure, it's about office jobs, but the same rules apply for any job. So if you have a teen or young adult child hoping to secure employment, share this video with him. It might help him secure a position. And it surely will help keep some crotchety old woman from bitching and complaining about him in a blog posting!
Today's question from "If... (Questions for the Game of Life)":
If you could choose exactly what you will eat and drink for your last meal before death, what would the menu consist of?
I would like boneless buffalo wings with lots of chunky bleu cheese dressing on the side, homemade macaroni and cheese (with real cheese, not Velveeta), fried okra (also dipped in the dressing!), and hot apple pie ala mode. To drink, I'll take a cherry limeade from Sonic. Nothing healthy there, but what difference will it make at that point?
Monday, January 11, 2010 Brianna, customer service, educational films, manners 
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Reader Comments (9)
I hear ya, and the only slightly crotchety thing about your position is saying ALL kids need manners. There certainly are a lot of good kids out there working as cashiers and such, even if it seems the indifferent or downright rude ones outnumber them significantly. I find that hardware store employees are particularly unhelpful and almost any age. Especially at the huge Depot stores.
As for food, I'd have to say really good Indian food with fresh naan, followed by homemade gelato. Mmm.
I agree with you and with the last comment from Kate. I run into SO many people, and not just kids, who act like they are doing me a favor by working in a customer service role in a store. Many times it IS a young person, but sometimes it's someone my age who just can't be happy about anything.
And I will say, my daughters, who are 24 and (almost) 26 would be the first to tell you that the service you got was horrible and they wouldn't THINK about acting like that!
The message is a good one though. Let's use the golden rule out there folks. I think Miss Purcell is on to something!
"Golden rule" - wow, how refreshing to see someone mention that. I think it's a lost art, in all sorts of situations.
I agree Lisa. It does seem like being kind is getting left out of the customer service industry. It's very frustrating. I just hope when my kids get out into the workplace they won't be rude to customers like happens so often.
You aren't crotchety at all!! One of my pet peeves is when the clerks say 'have a nice day' when I think they should be thanking me for shopping at their store. (Sometimes I get so sick of hearing that phrase . . .) Guess I'm the crabby person!!
Kate: I guess it *is* stereotyping a bit to say that ALL youngsters act so unacceptably. And when it's someone your age (or Kathy's ... or mine) it's even MORE unacceptable. Regarding your meal choice, you're a much healthier eater than I, even when it'll be your last bite!
Kathy, Rhonda, Tammy, Nina: I'm glad you guys all agree with me and don't think I'm crotchety. And Nina: I agree with you on the "have a nice day" overload. It's particularly bad when they say it with absolutely no feeling.
I agree!! I do blame management for part of the problem though. Even if proper customer service is included with the training, it is not usually followed up. And the attitude of management is not that much better than the employee's. If good customer service was a priority to the employer, there would be more courteous employees.
As for my last meal I would want filet mignon topped with crab and wine sauce, scalloped potatoes, fried green beans and chocolate pecan pie! Oh and sweet tea!
Service to customers has become so awful, in my opinion, that I'd probably faint and fall on the floor if some employee was actually nice, helpful and thanked me for being there.
For my last meal, I'd choose KFC, original recipe, with all the "sides".
What's so crazy is that there are SO many people needing jobs these days, you'd think that management would be able to find the cream of the crop. And I really do lay poor customer service skills at the feet of management. The small store where we buy our pet food has GREAT employees. They are all quite young but very helpful and knowledgeable about the products. Again, I think the manager probably really screens the candidates and trains them well.
Along these lines, something that really makes me grumpy is when I thank someone at a store for helping me and they say "no problem." Well, I would hope it would be no problem since it's your JOB! What ever happened to a simple "you're welcome"?
As for my last meal, I truly can't settle on anything. Food and I have quite a love affair so it seems wrong to choose one type of food over another. Ha! Safe to say, though, it would be something heavy on carbs and fat!