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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
On that token, what's the deal with boomers being so insufferably arrogant? Guys, you screwed up everything. You really did. Show some humility.
How can you possibly think a "How's your day going so far?" is meant just for you? It's called courtesy, and I think employers kind of demand it. What starts out merely polite often turns into a real human connection, if you let it. It's kinda nice.
I don't care if they're sincere. It's just nice.
From here on out when elderly people walk over to me I'll ask them why the fuck they aren't dead yet, and possibly punch them in the face if they have that old people smell.
I'm sure my display of honesty during what could have been a polite, if superficial encounter will win their admiration.
As someone who also works in a service profession I have to agree with anon. I've seen it time and time again. People raise their voices and start using 'easy to comprehend' English with seniors.
However... I would encourage anon to appreciate the little things. At least the cashiers are acknowledging her. Best I get (as a young-ish, middle-aged woman) isn't even an accounting of the total. The cashiers just stand there, not announcing the total, expecting me to clairvoy it out of them somehow. Then, when I've paid, they proffer a receipt and say, "Here you go." Whatever happened to 'thank you for shopping here'? I live within a mile of no less than four grocery stores (Ballard Market, Safeway, QFC and Fred Meyer - with TJ's and a Cash & Carry thrown in for good measure). If you want to keep your damn job, start being polite or I will definitely go elsewhere (and I'm looking at you, QFC.)
Then go to PCC instead of those shit stores. You get what you deserve.
I work in the service industry IN BALLARD and, I like so many others making your day easier by being at your fucking service, ask pretty much every person who walks through the door how their day is, or how they're doing. Because I am a nice person. And because being nice to people makes everyone's day a little better. Except for yours apparently, because you are a miserable human being.
Although I'm not a fan of the nicey-nice stuff in general, and it's a big reason why I don't really give a shit if a retail/service worker is grumpy or aloof. Give me what I paid for quickly and competently, and I'm satisfied.
Checkers always say to young or old "Welcome to Rite Aid", and "How's your day been so far?", and "Did you find everything you needed?" etc. They are told/taught to do that. All you need to do is nod, smile, offer a pleasantry in return, proffer your credit card and go home to bask in your pension. Is that so difficult?
That said, the only customers I actively disliked were the rude ones, so anyone who doesn't act like a prick is probably fine.
@25 JustSayGo: Well said!
I speak as an outside SLOG territory Australian, but for what it's worth, these people are one of the reasons I have worn the same boring clothes for the past 15 years. I can't stand clothes shopping and being retailed at.
Sales people who know how to detect the delicate balance between being helpful and welcoming, and not being intrusive are a rare species.
FYI....those customer service monkeys you're sneering at are required to be nice and smile. They're 'on script' while they're at work. They actually hate you with the white-hot fire of a thousand suns. Oh, and enjoy your pension while it lasts. You might think it's for the rest of your life but I know plenty of boomers just like you see their pension shrivel up and disappear because some corrupt CEO managed to loot the company they worked for.
Take the first step and stop treating the grocery clerks as less than human.
"Anyway, what's with this "How's your day going so far?" question I get from checkout people at different stores?"
I love the smugness from someone who's never, ever had to deal with the unwashed masses in a customer service role.
If you ask me a question like "how are you" and you don't actually give a damn what the answer is, then don't ask.
How do I respond when asked inanities like this?
I answer the question, truthfully and completely.
And then I ask them right back how they are. And I start a conversation.
And if some motherfucker behind me complains the line is taking too long, I will engage them in dialogue and integrate them into the conversation.
See how you like your fucking "manners" when they're used back at you.
Fuck this bullshit.
They are seriously the most fucking self centered self entitled assholes and cunts on the planet. And for all the faults of Generation X, Y and the Millennials none of us are that fucked up in the head.
Holy shit, you got them there!
Oh wait, you're faking humanity, I actually chat with people in public and enjoy it, or at least can tolerate the inanities of life.
Hadn't realized the hating on boomers was so widespread.
I'm feeling a little sad now.
How is that for an honest interaction?
PS I agree that this person is clueless about life in general, but I don't lay it to being a boomer. It's just them.
The checkout line in the grocery store is not the place for your personal validation. This is true whether you're nine years old or ninety. Be nice, buy your groceries, then take a hike. And Good God, get some friends or join a club so you don't spend so much time fretting about whether a poor retail worker fawned enough (and in exactly the right way) over your self-obsessed self.
Don't want to be nice to people? Don't go out into the world.
@39: It's a hard-knock life for a crusty jerk.
Admittedly, you were the ones who did most of the damage to the environment and the economy, but only because it was you that had the opportunity. I'm not sure mine, or the next generation would have treated it better if they'd had the chance to.
We're just bitter that you got in first. But you did good as well. You were also the leaders in the anti war movement, and you are cooler than your parents. Your parents were total squares, what with their crystal cabinets and lavender.
Your grandparents, on the other hand (who lived through the depression) were ok, and they know about how to live frugally, just like the gen x y and m will have to live frugally.
I'm glad you got to have a fun time, burning the future with your cars and consumerism. All I ask is that you look around at the younger people, and the debt and struggle we face, and try to reign in your consumerism, and try to live more simply. Otherwise, it's just rude.
@43 You're a donut hole.
The boomers...they were one of the most insufferable, privileged, self-centered generations ever made. And sadly, it's because the Greatest Gen didn't want them to feel the suffering they felt. Gen X? they were accused of being lazy, but yet, they are responsible for most of the tech we now take advantage of. Gen Y/Millennials? They are hard working, interesting and realistic people, who know and fear that they won't have a job when they graduate.
BTW, what's a young Gen X? So, you are like 33? That ain't young. Gen X ended in 1980.
My grandparents (Greatest Gen, I am a Gen Xer) were FAR MORE COOL than my parents (boomers). True facts.
: (
Sometimes it's about the combined hundreds of customers you have to deal with per day. Dead silence will piss customers off more often than not, as will line-delaying "genuine" conversations. So these empty niceties are the best harassment-minimizing compromise, but of course there are always going to be people who are such thorough assholes that even that sets them off. Thanks for that.
Or do you expect people to predict what each individual customer will prefer, and to tailor their greetings accordingly on a case-by-case basis, hundreds of times per day?
Look, if this type of shallow interaction robs you of your belief that you're a special snowflake for whom every nicety must be motivated by a genuine desire to hear detailed laments about how much you've fucked up your own life, that's too bad. Maybe you should ask yourself why you're relying on grocery store clerks to give you this validation, at the expense of their own peace of mind at work.
Life isn't a movie, and the clerk isn't there to change your life. Just buy your goddamned nutter butters and be polite like a grown-up.
(I'm so glad I don't have to do that shit anymore).
You people depress me. My New Year's Resolution of unplugging from the miserable fucking sinkhole of bullshit that is the internet is looking more and more tenable.
What, no thanks for me marching, and picketing for your dumb-asses to have clean air, cheap health, equality, and rights?
I am going to laugh at you all when you're 70, and blind, hunched over, with crippled hands from texting like you dorks do.
I'll be 90, and evil as all get out, just like the rest of my people.
Americans have clean air, cheap health care, equality and rights? Where? Who? Since when?