raisedbymoogles (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raisedbymoogles) wrote2017-07-20 10:48 pm
raisedbymoogles) wrote2017-07-20 10:48 pm
Entry tags:
One way or the other I suck at customer service.
Kinda-but-not-really seeking reassurance that I'm not an asshole, here? I've reached the point where I just Cannot anymore when someone asks me where I'm from*, for various reasons ranging from "it is fucking embarrassing being from the US given the state of our politics right now" to "I don't wanna." I used to try to explain as quickly as I could that my family was military and I moved around a lot, etc., but - again. Just Cannot anymore. (I said I was from Virginia, that being my most recent place-where-I-kept-my-stuff before I emigrated, exactly once. I was promptly lumped in with the Confederacy. Never again.)
Don't think I haven't thought about lying, but for some reason I can't do it. Even if I plan for it, when I'm in the moment I just freeze up and what falls out of my mouth is the truth. I've started saying lightly, "Nowhere, really!" which is true from a certain point of view, but people almost seem... offended by that? Like, I've gotten a few scolding "Everyone's from somewhere!"s, and today there were two guys in near succession who just would. not. let it go. Was I from America? Was I from Canada? Well, I'm certainly not English.
No, dude, I'm not, chill out about it.
I get it, you know? I'm a cashier. I'm supposed to be amiable and friendly and yield to the slightest impulse of everyone I talk to. I am aware that I fall well fucking short in this regard - I am blunt and frequently stressed and I'm not very good at smiling on command - but on this issue, I feel like I am well justified being irritated. Why do I owe complete strangers my backstory, again? Just because I run a register? Buy your crap and leave me alone, goddamn it. Why is my reluctance to talk about where I'm from taken as a personal challenge?
...you know what, I take that last sentence back, I'm totally an asshole. And I don't care. I'm tired of my existence being available for other people's gratification.
Jesus in a cat dish, I need a new job.
*As happens at least once every shift. For those of you just joining us, hello, I'm a Yank living in the UK.
Don't think I haven't thought about lying, but for some reason I can't do it. Even if I plan for it, when I'm in the moment I just freeze up and what falls out of my mouth is the truth. I've started saying lightly, "Nowhere, really!" which is true from a certain point of view, but people almost seem... offended by that? Like, I've gotten a few scolding "Everyone's from somewhere!"s, and today there were two guys in near succession who just would. not. let it go. Was I from America? Was I from Canada? Well, I'm certainly not English.
No, dude, I'm not, chill out about it.
I get it, you know? I'm a cashier. I'm supposed to be amiable and friendly and yield to the slightest impulse of everyone I talk to. I am aware that I fall well fucking short in this regard - I am blunt and frequently stressed and I'm not very good at smiling on command - but on this issue, I feel like I am well justified being irritated. Why do I owe complete strangers my backstory, again? Just because I run a register? Buy your crap and leave me alone, goddamn it. Why is my reluctance to talk about where I'm from taken as a personal challenge?
...you know what, I take that last sentence back, I'm totally an asshole. And I don't care. I'm tired of my existence being available for other people's gratification.
Jesus in a cat dish, I need a new job.
*As happens at least once every shift. For those of you just joining us, hello, I'm a Yank living in the UK.
no subject
I actually used to say "I'm from the US." But the follow up was always, ALWAYS "where in the US?"
Argh.
"Small town in the South, you wouldn't have heard of it. Called Nunyabizness." <-IF ONLY