Black Friday

Thanks to the fact that I am now working in retail, I experienced my first ever Black Friday today. Yes, I have never even so much as stepped foot in a store on Black Friday before. In fact, I've never even shopped online on Black Friday. All the deals don't appeal to me, and frankly, having known not only worked that day, but been the one to put up all of the sales signs, I can say with certainty that ninety percent of the sales going on aren't even worth your trouble. In some cases, maybe, but the majority of the time, no.

But it wasn't the crowds that blew me away and made me utterly despise this experience. Sure, it was crowded, and trying to move around everyone and answer questions while attempting to do my actual job was frustrating. But that's just to be expected. No, what made me question humanity was how incredibly rude and self-entitled people were while they were shopping.

It's Black Friday. The stores open early, the stock is limited, and the employees are busy. These should all be givens. But evidently, to some people, it isn't. They expect to be treated as royalty, and to be able to get whatever they want whenever they want at whatever price they think is reasonable. And let me tell you - whatever price they're thinking of is most certainly not reasonable.

While there are many examples that I could point to of just how terrible people were today, there is one instance that was far and away above the rest with how much of a shit head the guy was. For context, we had way more people working in the store today than we usually do at any given time, and for good reason. But because of that, equipment supplies were low, and I received neither a walkie talkie, nor a scanner, which meant that I could not call for help, look up information, or get supplies from the backroom. I knew this perfectly well, and was sure to inform guests of this who asked me for assistance.

So a man approached me while I was working in toys, asking about buying a chair from the furniture section three areas away from where I was working. He asked me if I could help him, and I said that I wasn't sure, but that I would try, and if not, I would find him someone who could. Immediately, his response was "So does that mean you can't do shit? No one in this store wants to take my money apparently. They're training you to lose money."

I don't know what the hell was going through the guy's head, but I knew that all I could do as an employee was to try and help him. So I took him back to where his barstool was, all the while he was telling me how much of a fucking loser I was and how the only thing I was good for in the company was losing money, and how if I actually made any sales I would be fired.

We got to the chair, and because of my lack of equipment, I couldn't do anything for him, and he rages on about how much of a fucking loser I am. I inform him that I will get him someone who can assist him, and he responds with, "And how long is the wait gonna be? Two days?"

Despite the lack of a walkie talkie, I was back with someone who could help him in less than a minute. And when I return, before he even sees that there's someone else with me, he says, "How are you going to not help me now?"

Not everyone was such a fucking asshole as this man was. But I spent a large chunk of the day being insulted, simply because people couldn't get things, or couldn't get them as fast as they wanted.

It's Black Friday. They came in hours and hours after opening. I don't know what they were expecting. But don't blame the guys trying to get your stuff on the shelf for the fact that someone else bought the last one three hours ago. It just doesn't work that way.