Patience

Let me get one thing abundantly clear, regardless of what you may have heard, I am actually a quite patient person. I can be calm, understanding, and even sympathetic if the situation calls for it. Often times I find myself on the receiving end of someone being patient. Nevertheless, what I cannot stand nor chose to tolerate, is when anyone decides to let me know that they feel like they have been waiting far too long to be heard. Let me explain: last week, at work, I found myself assisting a customer with the purchase of new clothing. The transaction was going normally and right as we were reaching the home stretch of our time together, I heard what sounded a lot like a woman’s voice, calling my name. As I turned around, I noticed she was holding a shopping bag in her hand and was babbling something along the lines of “Is this where I make my returns?” Once I took a breathe I felt as though I could properly assess the situation. “No ma'am, it is not,” I began. “You will need to come to a counter where there is a cashier present and then they can help you with that.” I mean what else was there to say? She had to be completely blind in one eye with only a fraction of visibility in the other eye in order to assume that I was not already occupied with another customer. And that is the safest guess I’ve made all day.

Another area in which I seem to have trouble with being patient is when I am in the process of ringing someone up at the cash register, they swipe their credit card 2 shirts into a 15-item checkout. Oh, what must go through their mind as they jam that magnetic strip into the machine? I can only imagine that every person who does this is in the biggest of hurries. Bullshit. These people see that I’m busy and as such, decide to toy with me. After I notice their failed attempt to pay early, I advise that payment can only be processed once I have scanned the last item. There response to this is always the same, “You can do that at other places.” Guess what scooter; this isn’t one of those “places” is it? No, so don’t swipe your card until I’ve given you the proper hand gesture signaling to proceed. The only form of adult that can get away from this unscathed is someone who is elderly, mentally incapacitated, or just plain hot.

At this point in the article, I would imagine you’re asking yourself why I let this stuff bother me. I could just as easily blow it off my shoulders as I can write about it. And to that, I say this – I deal with these instances, these “people” each and every time I work. It proves for an interesting work environment I will admit, but these citizens need to pick their battles. Because the customer is not always right.

Observations

Out of all the people I encounter throughout the course of an average day, I am most fascinated by the individual that does not understand technology. And while currently that is very uncommon to come by, I always enjoy observing these people. Watching them figure out how to enter a number into their cell phones or composing a text message. My personal favorite is the man or woman that cannot seem to figure out how to operate their personal computer.

“What’s email,” and “If I press this will that fix it,” are both common phrases you can expect to hear from them. I guess it makes me wonder what I would be like if I was not as technologically well informed as I am. What on Earth would I be like if I did not know how to send an email or respond to a text message. It is a scary thought really. I always wonder what the people who are not as lucky as me do for a living. And while most of the time it is an older individual that I observe, a young person tends to sneak into the mix every once in a while. How can a 23 year old survive in this society, economy, or world without knowing at lease the basics of how to use our current technology? Something as simple as picking up the phone can be terrifying to these people.

Cell phones are one thing, however. The people that I have the most fun watching are those that are clueless when it comes to operating their laptop computers. We have all see the ones that, once they get their PC fired up, lean in and position their face only inches away from the screen. I have never understood this and often times wonder why this happens. Will they absorb the knowledge that is contained on the device faster because their face registers the information faster than their brain? It is my personal belief that each city, town or province should hold town meetings and give their citizens Computer 101. Because like it or not, its here to stay and each and every day people get further and further behind. Leaving the rest of us to catch them up when they need to access something electronically. Do not get me wrong; I am not complaining. Just intrigued by this.

I spent a good bit of my youth teaching my mother how to change the channel or set something up to record on TiVo and after a while, she got it. Repetition is the key apparently!

People Watching

I love people watching. Going and sitting down someplace and just observe the people in that area. It’s wonderful. I’ve tried to determine where the best place would be for this and I have come to 2 conclusions – The Boardwalk at any beach and Barnes & Noble. You might be wondering why, after well-thought out and careful deliberation, I happened to land on either of those choices. But don’t worry; I am fully prepared to explain myself.

The Beach boasts an array of wonderful things to do. Soak up some sun on the shore, eat more than your fill of fresh seafood at one of the hundreds of restaurants, or wait until the sun goes down and people watch your heart out. I am not, however, an expert at this as this past summer (2010) was my first people watching experience at such a venue but I feel like I am no longer an amateur if that tells you anything! It always amazes me at how careless people can be with their appearance. I feel that if you plan on going out in public you should be forced to look in the mirror at yourself for at least 5 minutes. If after those 5 minutes you wouldn’t even want to have sex with you then it is in your best interest to change. For a great deal of the summer, it is beyond hot at any beach location in the northern hemisphere so shorts and a t-shirt and almost always in order – until you come across the guy wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. The thing that always shocks me is he isn’t sweating at all. So in order to make myself feel better about the situation I come to the inevitable conclusion that he’s an alien. How else can you explain a mid–December outfit in the middle of July? If this were North Dakota I bet he would fit right in. Then there’s the infamous “fat guy without his shirt.” Like it or not – we’ve ALL seen this guy. Heck, it might not even be at a beach. We might run into him as we run our Saturday morning errands or whilst on our way to Jury duty. Clearly people such as this not only have NO full body mirrors in their homes, they are blind also. Most of the time I feel embarrassed for them because deep down they have to know that everyone is looking at them! Long story short – if you find yourself running low on funds during your vacation this year, just head down to the closest board walk, get yourself a sno-cone and have a seat. Within 5 minutes you will be provided with lasting entertainment that is not in short supply.

Your local Barnes & Noble is another place you can get your people watching on at. You’re probably asking yourself why I would suggest a place such as this for something so juvenile but you’d be surprised. Some of the people that chose to come to this establishment are about as dim as a dying light bulb. Out of all the characters I’ve seen in this place there is one type of person I cannot stand to see and that’s the “guy who never trims his fingernails.” What’s weird is that this type of person isn’t even someone who is limited to the confined walls of B&N. I cant seem to wrap my head around this concept. Do some men just get to senile in their aging that they just don’t care about personal hygiene? Clean cut fingernails has always been a pet peeve of mine which is why I have to set aside a certain time each week that I trim and clean my own. It’s one of the first things people see when they meet you (as they shake your hand) so why wouldn’t you keep them in tip-top shape? Men who don’t follow this rule always manage to creep me out as well. I mean, if they can’t take time to keep their hands even partially manicured, what’s to say they don’t “clean up” after themselves when the finish up in the bathroom. Don’t give me that – “Eww”, you know you were thinking it just like I was. Is it wrong to think that men with long, dirty and often times yellow fingernails is a bad person. Put quite frankly, any man could be as nice as they come but if his fingernails aren’t in the right place he has the potential to be a serial killer in my book. But I’m getting off subject – another great specimen to observe at one of these locations is any of the Starbucks baristas (if your location has one within the store). The women are often times so jacked up on coffee that they may as well do a series of jumping jacks when they take your order and the men … oh lord the men are as gay as they come. I have only ever encountered one straight male barista out of all the Starbucks locations I have been to. His name was Michael and he was most definitely a heterosexual. If our reality ever turns into an actual zombie style existence, Starbucks is where the “running” zombies would come from. And they wouldn’t be running because they downed a 10 pound latte before joining the undead community, but rather fleeing from a $7 cup of coffee. The people that attend any Barnes & Noble location are definitely not the same of the same caliber of ones that inhabit the coastline every year But they aren’t far behind.