bank

I had a customer come in today and ask the location of a specific bank.  I don't understand why people think I should know all the banks including locations and ATM fees.  I looked the bank up in the phone book (why do these fools even have fancy ass phones if they don't use them?) and consulted with my co-workers about the bank in question.  The bank had a branch that was out of the way and difficult to explain to this out-of-towner.

The whole time, in my mind, I'm wondering why he hasn't gone to one of the banks across the street and used their ATMs?  I mean, there will be a fee, but what is $2 or $3 compared to 60-90 minutes of fucking around, driving all over a strange town, talking to people that don't give a shit about your bank problems because they are trying to help the real customers in their store?  Then he mentioned that he wanted to find the bank because he didn't want to pay the $3 for the ATM across the street.  Fuck off.  As far as I'm concerned, that's the price you pay for not planning in advance.

Hell, I occasionally use an ATM 4 blocks away from my bank because I need the money NOW and I don't have the time to wait 8 blocks (there and back).  Often, I'm with friends and don't want to drag them all around just because I wasn't smart enough to get some cash after work.

Maybe file this under "that's why rich people are rich:"  gripping those dollar bills SO TIGHT.  But it seems rather stupid to me.  Just pay the fee.  Or go to a damn drug store, buy a pack of gum, and get some cash back, just like the rest of us dummies.

a collective "fuck that shit"

I know your grandparents are mad at me. I don't count back change. I see what the computer tells me to give, mentally assure myself that it's right, and hand it to the customer in an orderly fashion. I do count the bills so we all see that I did give you three $20 bills and not two, but I don't do that whole counting forwards bullshit. That was the past, in a cold dark time before machines did math for me.

I am not alone. I don't remember the last time someone counted back my change and I am thrilled because, if no one else is doing it, I'm not going to feel guilty.

High five, my fellow clerks! Old lady at Target, kids at the drugstore, volunteers at my thrift stores, and self check out at the grocery store! One less oppressive chore!

You don't know what I don't know

I had some Canadian customers use a Canadian two dollar coin to pay for some candy. She started to hand me the coin, then paused and said "You probably don't know what this is, do you?"

Are you fucking kidding me. I work in a retail store close to Canada. Of course I know about the damn Canadian Toonie.

There is a presumption with many customers that because they control a situation by making decisions about shopping, they are also omniscient. Few seem to realize that, in fact, I might know about the world. I also know alot about them (name, address, phone number, credit card number, purchase and return history, birthday, names of spouse and offspring, home color schemes, favorite food, food allergies, pet's name and breed, car make and model, location of vacation homes) while they often don't know anything about me other than my physical description, and maybe not even that.

Creepy but true.