*thinks customers are a pain up the butt*

Limericks.
Slugs.
Pub lunches.
Fairy tales.
Crazy dream/nightmare.
A nasty post on Brighton or Butlins.
Zombie apocalypse.
Nonions.
Star Wars - Taff style.
Monty Python - Taff style.
The origin of pi.
Plato vs. Aristotle.
Chocolate - good or bad for you?.
The smallest country in the world.
Why are villains so damn sexy?
Creepy Halloween stories/movies that have the same lame plot.
The relativity of time.
Rubber ducks.
Air sex.
Palindromes.
Saucy seaside postcards.
Nude calenders.
Toffee apples.
Dung beetles.
Bicarbonate of Soda.
Spinsters and cats.
Chemical toilets.
Light bulbs.
Flea circuses.
Door stops.

Something you do not wish to even think about, let alone write about.

Something about a commonly held belief or myth that you'd like to take umbrage with.  

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So I'm going with Jan's "Something about a commonly held belief or myth that you'd like to take umbrage with" suggestion today, because I am just home from work, and it occurred to me that one of the most irritating things about working in retail is the 'customer is always right' policy. Maybe it's not strictly a belief or a myth, but it's widely known, and I definitely want to take umbrage with it. *nods*

OK, I know it's basically just a case of being polite most of the time, and it's always in your best interests to keep your customers happy, but agreeing with everything they say and do (while keeping a smile on your face) is bloody difficult, even on a good day. 

Like the person who wants to know why something is dearer than that other shop down the road, and demanding that we should price match. Or the person who expects you to smile and be nice to them, but who looks down their nose at you and doesn't even bother to say 'thank-you'.

Itdoezmyheadin!!!

Who came up with that, anyway? Some bigwig who obviously never dealt with the public on a daily basis, that's my guess. 

I've worked in retail since leaving school at 16, and even with the couple of years I had off to have my kids, I still have over 16 years of experience with dealing with the public. And I can tell you, they're a nasty bunch. You do get a decent amount of nice people, but on any given day, you are bound to run into a gremlin or two. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if these people have anything better to do other than wind up the people who are giving them a service. There is just no need to take out your grumpiness on the poor people who, at the end of the day, are just earning their (often meagre) living.

Retail, on the whole, is a generally mundane and thankless way to earn your crust. It's usually the same routine day in, day out, and when you add rude customers to the mix, it can really get you down. Especially when the really snooty ones come out with 'Well, the customer is always right'.

Well, let me tell you, Mr Grumpy Customer, the customer is NOT always right. In fact, the customer is often so wrong that they need their heads read. I am not here to pander to your every whim, and I am not here to take crap off you. I will serve you with a smile, and I will help you if I can, but the next time you give me grief, watch your back, because you may think you're right, but I know you're nothing but a grumpy old so-and-so who needs to have a bucket of slime dumped over your head. And one of these days, I will lose my cool and, in the absence of slime ammunition, will at the very least give you a blistering set down so humiliating, that you won't be able to come back ever again without feeling mortified.

So there. *nods*