Perpetually Sporadic

This evening I went to Kmart to pick up a prescription. As I walked in the door and headed towards the pharmacy I saw a young boy, about 7 or 8,  knock over some pool toys. I looked around and saw what appeared to be his mother looking on at him, smiling and talking. I kept walking past thinking she’d either ask him to fix it or fix it herself. Instead of doing either, she walked past the display.

My first retail job was when I was 16 and just old enough to work. I worked at one of the local grocery store chains. The work itself wasn’t tremendously difficult, but what retail job is? Working with the public, however, can be very tedious. I remember times where I’d get yelled at by a customer because the price on a product was wrong or their coupons were expired. And interactions with customers were not the only place to find difficulty with the public. I can’t tell you how many times I would walk up and down the aisles of the grocery store putting items back and come across ice cream, meat and other refrigerated products sitting on the shelf. Most of the time, the refrigerated items needed to be thrown away. Not only is that wasteful, it’s money that the store is losing because a customer couldn’t be bothered to walk back and put it away or give it to the cashier.

I suppose what I’m most bothered by is the notion that customers carry that they’re always right. A notion that has expanded to the inability of employees to say anything to customers that could possibly be offensive. If I had ever witnessed a customer leave meat on the shelf in the baking aisle, I never would have been able, as an employee, to say “That doesn’t belong there, please return it to the meat case or give it to a cashier.” A comment like that would have most likely cost me my job.

Instead, employees are now trained to say things like “Can I help you find anything?” or “I love using ground turkey in my tacos, it’s a healthy and tasty option!” Perhaps companies think they can guilt customers into behaving, and to some degree, I’m sure it works. But the truth is, there will ALWAYS be customers who leave refrigerated items in the baking aisle.

If you’ve never seen ABC’s “What Would You Do?” you’re missing out on some good reality programming. The show creates ethical dilemmas and uses hidden cameras to see how the public reacts. There have been episodes that touch on everything from racism to theft to abortion. So many times people are seen standing up for others, but sadly, there are people caught on camera who chose the questionable side of the dilemma or flat-out ignore it.

While I didn’t see the episode, I do remember seeing a preview for a scenario in a grocery store where a man was opening containers of strawberries, eating a few and then closing them and leaving them there.

Certainly if you saw that you’d be shocked…but would you speak up? Would you say something?

The misbehavior of the general public is and should be something of concern. We see when people do wrong, but we’ve grown afraid to say anything for fear of offending. Perhaps it’s time to reclaim society and stand up for what’s right.

When I saw that woman at Kmart walk away from the display, I stopped dead in my tracks. It only took a second to decide my course of action. I turned around, walked over to her and said “Are you going to tell him to clean that up or are you going to leave that mess there?” The look of shock on her face was priceless. She then pretended to not know what I was talking about. So I informed her that I saw what the child had done, and repeated my question. As she stared at me in shock I walked away towards the pharmacy.

I was mid conversation with the Pharmacist when she walked up to me and interrupted me. “Excuse me, do you own this store?” I could see this was going to be a pleasant exchange. I answered her question:”no”. “Then what do you care, mind your own business.”

I then went on to tell her that leaving the mess for someone else to clean up was extremely inconsiderate. Her child had made the mess, in front of her, and it was her responsibility to do something about it. She retorted with “he’s just a boy”, as if that statement excused him from any responsibility. That’s when I repeated that it was her responsibility to either ask him to clean it up or clean it up for him. She called me a couple of different things, including inconsiderate, as she walked away but I stood my ground.

I saw at least one person looking on at our exchange, and to be frank, I didn’t care.

Walking away she remarked that I’d understand when I had children of my own. I then responded “Yes, and I will make them clean up after themselves, like any good parent should do.” And with that she walked away and said nothing further.

I finally turned back to my Pharmacist and apologized, explaining what I had witnessed and adding that it’s not fair to employees who work here when irresponsible parents let their children destroy the store. He smiled at me and said that he agreed.

So the next time you see a customer yell at an employee, leave meat in the baking aisle or allow their child(ren) to destroy a store….speak up.

It’s time we start holding each other to higher standards.