We get some crazy people at the Salvation Army. No, seriously. Sometimes, I wonder if it wouldn't be nicer to work at some really really upscale store, even though it's totally not my style at all. Then the only people coming in would be the ones who could actually afford things in your store, and they wouldn't always be asking you to mark prices down, or whatever. But I guess they'd be weird, too, in their own special way.
But we have the cranky seniors on Wednesday (Senior Discount Day) who don't inform you of their age before you start the sale and then you have to call a manager to void the whole thing out and they act like it's your fault that you couldn't tell if they were 54 or 55. And we have the people who can't really speak English, and so you just kinda guess what they're saying and they kinda guess what you're saying and you go with it. And we have the people who aren't sure they have enough money and ask you to add it all up before you actually ring it up. And we have the people who have you ring it up and then aren't sure they have enough money and give you $10 in Sacajawea dollars... or ask you to void out things.
But all these people pale in comparison to the annoying 9:00-check-out-ers. This not-so-rare-as-we'd-wish breed is full of people who have been in the store since 6:00. We close at 9:00, so they've had plenty of time to make their selections. However, as they heave their cart full of already super-cheap clothing to the counter, they tell you that they're still deciding. And some of them are still shocked that their entire cart full of clothing is going to cost them nearly $30. "Oh no! I might have to break into my laundry quarters!" And then there's one lady who had 4 shirts, but our clothing sale was 5/$5, not 4/$4... so she decided to go look for another shirt... at 9:15...while her 1.5 year old kid peed on the floor! Yeah, we didn't give her the time of day to pick another shirt. Kate, the manager on duty, said, "Alright, it's 9:15, we're just going to ring up these four shirts." (With a tone of voice that said, "Please leave the frickin' store; you're driving me up the wall.")
Seriously, I don't understand some people.
Also, we had torrential storms on Memorial Day. Seriously, we got like 10 inches of rain. (The weather report in the paper says we got .3 inches, but the roads were flooded with at least 4 inches of rain, so I don't know what's up with that.) I drove to work around 3:30, and I could not see more than a few feet in front of my car, and even that, hardly. It was pouring (no, 'pouring' doesn't even begin to describe it) and hailing, and basically the scariest drive of my life, considering I've always hated driving/riding in the rain. I had to go down a hill, and I thought I was going to get stuck at the bottom because there was so much water.
So I got to Salvation Army, and we had only half-power. But we stayed open. After about an hour and a half, we lost ALL power. Yet, the District Manager said, "Nope, stay open." Why? It's a frickin' secondhand clothing store! You can't see what you're buying ANYWAY! And the registers don't even work so we have to do this all by hand!
I figured no one would come, save the people who had already been there. Nope. People still came. And shopped. Somehow. It's all really ridiculous if you ask me. We got power back around 7:30, and then we had the obnoxious 9:15-kid-peeing-on-the-floor lady, so it was just a grand day at work.... But seriously? No power and we stayed open? And people came?
To what is this world coming?
Eh.
Love and Apathy,
Leah Joy
