If You Are Any of These, You Must Quit Your Job
By: Jasmin El-I
Tags: Customer Experience, Customer Engagement, Customer, Service Worker, Customer Service

Do you work in the service industry, especially the restaurant and food services or the retail sector? Do you fit any of the three descriptions below? If you do, please do us all a favour. Quit your job.

The Working-Man with the Small Man Syndrome

A less than 5-foot guy seemed to be having the time of his life, clownishly dancing to a tune while handing out leaflets outside a shop at the mall. He was trying to give me one, which I politely declined. He aggressively insisted, but I nodded, tried to smile behind the mask, and waved my right hand to say no. He appeared as if he was going to shove one in my bag, so I walked away. I could then hear him crassly calling me names.

“Hey, Alaska!” “Fucking Alaska.” “Fucking Indian.”

A few weeks ago, this 4’11 fella behind the counter at a cafe spoke to me slowly and yet strangely loud. He asked what I’d like to have in a sing-song, animated manner and with phrases lacking prepositions and proper verbs. He then proceeded to ask if my name was Mei-ling or Hello Kitty.

What do these ill-mannered, pestering clowns have in common? Their height. I can’t think of any other trigger behind their impertinence but their lack of tallness. I thought about calling them Tinkerbell or shorty and hurling at them a barrage of insult-laden jokes. I ended up walking away instead. I supposed, given their short stature, they have presumably been unhappy all their life.

Let’s face facts. It stinks, but we’re living in a world that favors taller people and makes fun of short ones, especially 4’11 or five-foot guys. The cursing fellow at the mall is a few inches shorter than me, and so was the loud-voiced dude. There’s nothing they can do to change it. Unless, of course, they’d wear 4 inches platform shoes. But even then, neither would be considered tall.

Being the armrest to taller friends most of their life probably created that hideous chip on their shoulders. Being the constant butt of jokes at grade school possibly enhanced that Napoleon Complex or The Little Man Syndrome in both of them.

If you decide to be nasty to avenge the world that didn’t allow you to be a bit taller, then quit. Stop working in an industry that requires you to uphold clienteles’ happiness first and foremost. Get a job that doesn’t put you around consumers.

It’s nobody’s fault that you didn’t grow a few inches more. Stop taking your anger and frustrations on potential buyers.

While there might be annoying, demanding, or overly fussy customers, the majority only want to buy goods or look at products they’d eventually purchase.

The Proletarian Snob

“You know what, people shouldn’t come here if they can’t afford it.”

“It’s expensive here and not for everybody.”

With visible disgust on her face, a bartending lady uttered those words while she was glaring at my friend and me.

My pal, an Ivy League grad from a wealthy family and has done well for himself, wasn’t outfitted with the trendiest and most expensive garments. I wasn’t dressed to kill either. On that chilly December evening, we needed a place to relax to end a long day of sightseeing around NYC. We decided to give the famous rooftop place a try.

Like a cheesy scene in a Latin or Asian telenovela, the antagonistic, beautifully dressed bartending ladies coldly sized us up the moment we entered. We were looking at the menu when one of them decided she should let us know her or their shared thoughts about us, the penniless hobos.

I was going to leave without much ado, but my friend decided to flaunt it. We had food and drinks and enjoyed the view from up there. Despite the bitter taste of what had initially occurred, we sat and laughed at the crudeness of some people.

Another story was told by a friend, a hard-working director of nursing. She was window shopping with friends at a famous shopping district somewhere in the UK when a shoulder bag caught her fancy. They then entered the store excitedly to be gruffly told by a very well-dressed, long-faced saleslady. “Everything in the shop cost a lot of money.” Still, she politely asked for the price of the bag, and the curt reply was, “it’s a lot of money.” She then handed the snobbish and impertinent saleslady her platinum card. She got herself the bag and other accessories she hadn’t planned on buying.

That’s reminiscent of Julia Robert’s shopping experience in Pretty Woman. I would’ve just left if I were her. But she said she was so insulted and humiliated that she acted erratically. And according to her, she loved the purchase and the satisfaction she felt seeing the embarrassment plastered all over the salesperson’s face.

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The Plebeian Lady and Lord of Perpetual Menstruation

According to Mayo Clinic, it’s estimated that as many as 3 of every 4 menstruating women have experienced some form of premenstrual syndrome. The symptoms include headaches, abdominal cramping, fatigue, joint or muscle pain, weight gain, acne flare-ups, constipation, or diarrhea. No wonder women during their time of the month are highly irritated, emotional, and obnoxious that you’d like to get as far away as you could from them.

However, it has become common among men and women at some establishments to carry this hostile behavior. It’s as if they’re on their period constantly. You nicely ask for something, and the reply is either crude or sarcastic. They can sound like mono-syllabic robots that are low on battery or furious wolves that are about to devour you. Sometimes you enter their shop, and they look at you as if you’re a speck of dirt. They act as if you’re disturbing them. You try your best to be polite by smiling and saying hello, only to be met with looks of animosity and indifference. Wow.