four

4. Work a service job to gain some understanding of how tipping works, how to keep your cool around assholes, how a few kind words can change someone’s day.

i will likely never forget the day she stormed in, hastily and filled with angst.

she threw the bag on the counter and demanded a refund
and

why the hell weren't you open twenty minutes ago?

and the answer was so simple

we don't open till noon.

with the greatest exhale i have ever witnessed, she hissed that she needed to return these earrings.

halt.

sorry, ma'am*. i cannot return earrings. it is against the health code.

*yeah, i was nice enough to call this pulsating puffing creature before me "ma'am"

all the sudden she was screaming.
a grown woman, standing in front of me and simply losing her shit
because she could not return a pair of earrings.

i wish i could remember what she said.
but i cannot because i was so deeply frightened by humanity.

here we are.
you, screaming at me at the the top of your lungs over a pair of earrings that were likely crafted by some poor child in china.
and, me, thinking about the child and how they are likely a lot more mature than you,
wanting to give you a refund to appease the toddler that has emerged in you suddenly
but also wanting to keep my job.
how truly ugly is this?
humanity will completely demonize each other at the drop of a teeny tiny earring.

so, yes, i suppose i know a thing or two about how to keep my cool and say nice things to people.
but that is not something i learned in a service job.
that is something i learned in life.
and if you really think one must work a service job to know how to treat others properly,
i'll let you in on a little secret...
i saw that woman days later.

at her service job.



http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/25-things-to-do-before-you-turn-25/