while being in retail?

  • LGOrcStreetSamurai [he/him]
    ·
    16 days ago

    It wasn't me but my first job ever was a working at a grocery store. I was a bag-boy in high school and all my fellow bag-boyz were high-school aged kids. One of us had some visible mental disabilities (I don't know what the correct "PC" word is, not being a jerk but I know it may not be the correct term). For storytelling purposes I'll name him Ronald. Ronald was a sweetheart, very kind, great overall dude but was not very fast at any of his bag-boy tasks. The important thing is he always put your egg, bread, and soft items on top, your cold stuff on the bottom, and chemical in their separate bag.

    Anyways, one day on cart duty with I was grabbing grocery carts from the designated areas that good and upright people placed as well and the places that godless uncivilized mutants would prop up on the curb or just leave in parking spots. Ronald was also on cart duty, the parking lot was rather large so they'd have two of us out there. Somehow, he bumped a cart into someone's aggressively mediocre sedan.

    Before Ronald had a chance to apologize this dude just exploded at him. I heard this guy screaming across the pretty busy parking lot in a suburban shopping center. I didn't realize what happening I just heard someone screaming, I look up to see this big person swinging his arms around and barking at kid in a safety vest. I go over there to see what happened and cart left a mark on the car, but one of those marks that if you just take your shirt and rub it, the mark magically disappears. Before I could actually disappear the mark I noticed that Ronald was crying and this dude was calling Ronald a bunch of names for crying.

    I still think how much of a failure you are as man to lack the self-control to not explode at random bag-boy at your grocery store. This was core memory for me, because its what I measure "Manly™®©" behavior against in the negative sense. No man EVER should treat a teenager like that, and worse yet question that teenagers "manhood™®©" for crying when some big scary dude is yelling at him. I don't know how, but I think it planted the seed that made me realize all that "macho" shit is wack. No man would ever treat someone like that. I bring up the "man" stuff because this dude was obviously the fit and active, had the skull tattoos, that sort of thing. If this happened in 2024 he'd be the type of guy who listens to podcasts called "The Modern Spartan" or "Shit happens, Don't be Bitch - A Stoicism Podcast" with a large blue lives matter forearm tattoo.

    I, being a fat round boy at the time, stepped in and told Ronald to go inside and get the manager. The big dumb angry man continued screaming and followed Ronald as he walked toward the store. I should have walked with him to go get the manager, and I feel like I let the homie down by not doing so. I wiped off the mark on the car and went back to the store, and I heard the guy barking the moment the electric double doors slide open.

    I don't recall how it ended with the guy and the manager talking. I know that Ronald just played his Nintendo DS in the dairy cooler (the non-smokers "smoke break" place) after whatever happened and he was pretty upset.

    It really sucked that happened to him and it sucks that people treat poorly so quickly. I don't know how the cart bumped the car, but there is no universe in all the omniverses where you should blow up at a worker for doing minimal cosmetic damage to your car. I hate how people treat people.