New Tales from Old Navy: The Night Before Christmas

I've worked the part time gig a lot this Christmas season. That's a really good thing since I get no money from the primary job due to there not being any school. Unfortunately, it meant I needed to work a shift on Christmas Eve, which kind of cut into the time I got to spend with family. Yeah, I missed dinner. I missed the macaroni and cheese!

Thankfully, my grandmother saved some for me. Otherwise, I would have single-handedly canceled Christmas.

But this isn't about my ability to eat side dishes with my family on Christmas Eve. This is about the people I came into contact with during my shift at the store on that fateful day.

They were miserable. And that's me being nice about it.

I don't know if I've expressed how much I enjoy working at Old Navy here. I think I have, but how can I be expected to remember everything I've written on this blog? Anyway, I enjoy it. And this is coming from someone who, while working at the bank, decided that mankind was basically evil at heart. Due to that experience, I should despise customer service of all shapes and sizes. But Old Navy has turned me around. Not completely around, but enough to enjoy the time I spend there.

Christmas Eve nearly destroyed that slight illusion. It also nearly destroyed my ability to enjoy Christmas altogether.

So many of the customers were just mean. It would have been okay if only a few of them were being a pain. That's typical, law of averages kind of stuff. But, seriously, it was nearly all of them. I lost track of how many impatient customers yelled at me for pitiful reasons. Because we had a number of items on sale at 75% off, it should be understandable that some of those items were running low on size options. Funny enough, the screamers were less than understanding.

I'm certain that if I did not value my position with this store, I'd have become more vocal and less polite with some of these people. Here's my dream response to a jerk customer...

"Why are you so grouchy, ya Grinch! (only I didn't say Grinch) You chose this! You are the one who decided to wait until Christmas Eve to do your Christmas shopping! Why do you feel the need to take it out on me? If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at yourself! And don't wait 'til the last minute next year, Scrooge!"

I might would throw in something about how I had to work on Christmas Eve and really didn't have a choice about it. Oh, and by the by, I'm missing dinner with my entire family. You're welcome. Grinch.

If I ever decide to wait until the last minute to finish my Christmas shopping, I'm gonna need someone to punch me right in the face.