mrsronweasley

Current Mood: tired

Hmm.

Good things:

- Newly legal

aneli8 came to visit me at work today and then went home with me. (That sounded rather wrong. I promise she was unharmed.) While I worked, she planted herself in a comfy chair and leafed through a big art book called 'The Hidden Love'. After she was done with that, she buried herself in 'The Gay 100'. I hate her.

- Work went surprisingly quickly today. I think it was due to the above point

Bad Things:

- Some idiot 'customer' had me growling all morning. Here's what happened:

This was 10:20am. By this point, I have already been awake for over 4 hours. The store was nearly empty. I was the only one up at the register, and wasn't doing anything, because there was nobody coming up to buy anything. It's pretty much always this slow in the morning. So, I was standing there and sort of reading through the 'Bushisms' books we have there, only looking around every once in a while. I didn't really notice the few customers milling around, because there was no need to. I suppose my face was the way it normally is when I'm not talking to anybody, daydreaming or whatever. It was just normal. Suddenly, I saw somebody standing behind the rope that separates the register line from the rest of the store. It was a man, in his fiftees, grey-haired, male-pattern baldness, ponytail. And he gives me this little wave.

'The fuck?' think I, as I tentatively wave back, still confused. The man follows the wave up with this:

'You know, I know it's a Tuesday, but just, you know...smile!'

He smiled, my face made some sort of an attempt at it, and he walked on. By the time I saw his retreating back, I wanted to gouge his eyes out with a very dull spoon.

I mean, who the fuck does that? The look on his face as he waved at me was like: 'Hello, why aren't you noticing me, you puny little human?'

Hello, it's because you are not worth my time this early in the morning, you selfish asshole. I don't smile while looking at nothing. I don't smile at every customer that walks by, because I am human. I didn't smile when your Royal Assholeness entered the store because I didn't SEE you. And, for all you know, somebody I know might have DIED, and you would STILL be telling me to smile, because it's all about YOU walking into a store and not feeling WELCOME, breezing in at 10:20 in the morning, when others have been up for four hours just so YOU can walk into the store and condescend to the employess, you selfish BASTARD.

Ok, I might have overreacted a bit, but it was really fucking obnoxious.

- I have a stranger sleeping in the living room, so I can't even get a Mike's Hard Lemonade or watched the 'Queer Eye' that I'd missed. Oh, well.

*~*~*~*~*

My other big news is the decision to celebrate whenever I get a job in school and pay off the rent in September. I am going on Amazon and ordering the original 'Queer As Folk' on DVD. Both seasons.

YES.

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Er…I always feel weird posting in complete stranger's journals, but here I go again. I found your journal in a completely back-ass-wards way involving the SRFQF and vague recollections of excellent fic, and then I realized you preside over The Howl Kingdom and wrote 'Mint' and 'Heropsychodreamer' and…well, I could go on, but I'm sure you know. I just wanted to express my ~~crazy fangirling~~ love of your stories, especially the James one for the SRFQF (and especially the end of that one), but all of them really. I've friended you because I have this wild paranoid theory that there's all this wonderful fic out there that I missing because people only post it on their journals. Hope that's all right, let me know if it's not.

And because I can make things relevant to actual posts- I work in a bookstore too. I feel your pain. Someone wanted a book with photos of dragons the other day. Photos. Of dragons. And 'Queer Eye' was excellent, and not to spoil it for you or anything, but Carson acted like a flaming gay man. Can you believe that?

Hello!

Wow, that was a nice thing to read after this morning, thank you! (Weird question: is my LJ somehow linked through the FQF? I'm just curious...) This was great to hear - it's good to know people are still enjoying my stories, old as some of them are, especially 'HPD'. Thank you for the kind words! And you're very welcome to friend me, though I actually post stories elsewhere, too. Actually, I don't remember where I post them anymore... I think it's the SBRL list, but the James one was the first story I'd written in a while. I know what you mean, though. I will have to agree with you on the missing out, some people are stingy. ;)

A photo book of dragons. Ummm. That almost beats the story someone told us of somebody calling in and asking for a book. When asked which book, the person said: "Well, it's about 4 by 6..." As in, dimensions. No, really.

He acted like a flaming gay man? CARSON? No, get out of town!! I will never EVER believe you! Heheh... I'll have to catch up. I love those guys...

Nope, your livejournal's not linked through the FQF, I just have a bizarre memory and remembered seeing a livejournal with the same username as your penname mentioned somewhere in conjunction with S/R fic and thought I'd see if it was all the same person, which, obviously, it was.

I've had people do the dimensions thing to me before, it's infuriating, people give the dumbest details and then think they're actually helping their chances of finding the book. A title, or an author maybe, that would help. The fact that is has a glossy cover with a tree on it does not. I had someone looking for a book on Sept. 11th tell me that it was, 'published in the last couple of years.' You don't say?

And, no! I swear! It's true! He used words like 'couture' and taught us that vertical stripes lengthen the torso.

Aha, gotcha. Hey, bizarre memories are all good, I'm frankly for them. Tolstoy used to say that he remembered his own birth. I say he was a crazy old man, but hey, we all have problems.

And oh my God, are people stupid sometimes. I actually have wanted to make a list of things that you Should Not Do When Asking For Service. For instance, do not, I repeat, do NOT, ask somebody who is wearing a shirt and tie, has a nametag hanging on a chain with the store name on it, and is standing behind the register if he works here. It simply is not done, as a courtesy nod to common sense.

GARRRRRRRRRRRRRAAGAHGH!

Yeah, so, anyway...

Well, then, I must be a flaming gay man, because I already knew that about the vertical stripes! Hehe... I love Carson.

'You know, I know it's a Tuesday, but just, you know...smile!'

You know, the problem with this cunt is that he's probably lived with that permo-cheery American service (that I've heard so much about) all his life: "Hello! How are you today?!" If he came over here, he'd have to acclimatise quickly or go hoarse from yelling "Cheer up!" at shop assistants. And if he was born over here, he wouldn't have bat an eyelid yesterday. In fact, he'd probably be thinking: "What's she got to look so happy about?"

Ohhh, he SHOULD go there, if only for getting the shit beaten out of him for being an asshole. Honestly, what the hell? He walks into a huge store and expects everybody to smile at him? Even when they don't see him? As in, in mere expectation of his entering? Give me a break. And fuck you too, buddy. (Not you... you know, him.)

Thank you for understanding. Glad I wasn't the only one who thought it was absolutely ridiculous and absurd.

I owe email. I suck.

I've had that happen to me loads of times, and usually, if I'm not smiling, it means I'm IN A BAD MOOD. On a few occasions, it has cheered me up. But in general, I find it annoying. Especially when random people do it to me on the street.

and usually, if I'm not smiling, it means I'm IN A BAD MOOD.

THANK YOU. Honestly, sometimes as the day wears on, I find it difficult to TALK, much less be happy-go-lucky. It HURTS to smile after a while. And sometimes, there is no reason to smile at all.

Random people do it to you on the street? And you're still not on parole for justified homicide? I'm very impressed.

Ugh, that used to annoy me so much when customers did it. If I'm not consciously smiling, my mouth's natural set is kind of down-turned. So they used to say that to me all the time, even if I was in a perfectly good mood. Very annoying.

So they used to say that to me all the time, even if I was in a perfectly good mood.

Oh god, that's even worse. Man. I feel your pain. When anybody tells you to smile, it is the last thing you want to do. It's like an instinct.

'Smile!'
'Fuckyou!'

*growl* What's wrong with some people? Kick them in the nuts and see if they smile.
Too bad you can't kick customers...

I know! There was a counter and five feet of space separating us! But I did watch his retreating back with disbelief until he walked off.

My philosophy-- frequently expressed out loud-- when I worked in those shitty service jobs was, "they don't pay me enough to wait on you *and* smile." Feel free to quote me next time someone does that to you.

What a cheeky git! I'll bet you didn't get too many tips, then, other than along the lines of 'get back to waitress-training school'.

I never actually had a job where I worked for tips, amazingly enough. So I knew I had that $5/hr nailed, no matter what. And if they complained to the manager-- hey, I *still* wasn't making enough to have a positive attitude.

What surprises me about Liz's story is that New Englanders are not exactly famous for their cheerful attitudes, so a non-smiling counterperson is par for the course. Her obnoxious customer must have been from another part of the country. I bet/hope he got crummy service all over Boston.

What gets me is that it's almost always the least physically attractive people who say things like this to you. You wonder if they wouldn't ever make the connection.

And I've heard that before about Bostonians specifically and New Englanders in general, but to be honest, they just seemed normal to me. That probably says a lot about the service and attitudes you get in Britain.

You wonder if they wouldn't ever make the connection.

Oooh, harsh. And you DO wonder. He made me think of Tim Robbins from 'High Fidelity', and much like John Cusack, I did absolutely none of the things that I had imagined doing to him, such as gouging his eyeballs out with a spork or kicking him senseless and smiling afterwards. Oh my God, I'm terrible. Wow.

And I don't care about the customer service in Britain, get me the hell out of here!

This moment of 'Prisoner of Boston' brought to you by a very strange day.

Good night.

Considering where I work, a good chunk of our customers is actually from out of town. He was certainly not from around here, and then his daughter - who, I may add, smiled happily as her father taught me good salesmanship and then proceeded to walk around as if she had a metal rod up her ass - bought a university t-shirt, so they definitely were tourists. I hope they learn the ways of this town quickly. I hope I was a good step towards them learning it. I should have been mean, but I didn't want to get the store in trouble, besides which, I can never be mean on cue, anyway. That's always upset me...

Ahahahahahahahahaha!

I think I just might. Especially considering the fact that I'm there for another, oh, two weeks. Hmmm...

I love that you get mad at someone for telling to to smile. That just actually made me laugh out loud. My work people think I'm insane for laughing that hard at a screen.

*lick*

You are...priceless. For some reason, you always say the strangest thing and I love you for it.

*lick back*

So much depends on his tone of voice. Maybe he just wanted to cheer you up?

At least, Britain is not a "shiny happy people" culture!

percival

Well, see, that's the thing. His tone of voice suggested that I smile because I wasn't doing my due to the customers. Which is why I got so mad...

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