I'm going to Hell....that's all there is to it.
My husband works many weekend days, today included. Despite having 3 sick children, I had 2 quick errands that I absolutely HAD to run this morning. I finish my errands and despite none of them feeling very well, all three kids were complete angels. They deserve a reward. Let's go to WaWa for "'prinkle donuts" (and a newspaper & coffee...Mommy needs a reward too).
I've been going to this WaWa at least 3 times per week since we moved in to our house 11 years ago. Every employee/manager on the day shifts know me by face and most of them know the names of my kids as well....and we have a very well-known routine. The kids walk in and go straight to the donuts. I pick out a donut for each of them, hand it to them and they follow me around WaWa eating their donut while I grab anything else I need and then we pay. I have never not paid for anything. Even when one of them dropped a donut and the manager told me to just get a new one, I insisted on paying for the dropped one as well.
Enter the semi-new cashier. She is obviously mentally disabled. Despite the fact that she is slower than molassas in January, I am nothing but nice to her. However, several times she has scolded me for letting my kids start eating their donuts before we have paid. Each time I have told her that the managers don't have a problem with it and even gone so far as to call over a manager to confirm this.
This morning, she was the only one ringing and she started in on me again:
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Her: You shouldn't let them eat it until you pay
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Me: Haven't we had this conversation before? We do this all the time
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Her: You are stealing when you do it.
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Me: It's not stealing unless I don't pay for it...something that I am trying to do right now
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Her: You're stealing! You're a thief!
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Me: All right, I've had it! Look lady - I realize that you are a little slow, but you need to shut up about this. This is at least the 5th time we have had this conversation and (Manager's name) has told you that it isn't a problem. The guy in front of me was drinking his coffee before he paid and I didn't see you accusing him of stealing. Now shut the hell up about it and let me pay you and get my sick kids home or I'll make them cough on you!
In the middle of my rant, the manager (who knows me so well he knows to ask the boys if they were "milkshake good" or "donut good" at church when we go in on Sunday) came over to see what was going on and told her that it was ok....that we were great customers and were not stealing in any way and apologized to me for her.
You know, every time I have complained about her to my husband, he always reminded me that she is slow and to just cut her some slack. But I don't care how disabled you are....no one calls me a thief!
Still, isn't there a special circle in Hell for those who make disabled people cry?
bakinbit
I'm sorry...this made me laugh. Although I realize the definition of being a thief might be embedded in her if she is mentally challenged but you are right...if someone calls you a thief they deserved to be yelled at. I was in a car wreck where even the policeman said the other lady was at fault but the lady still yelled at me and called me a liar and how she hates liars and here I was standing on the curb holding my small child...saying I'm sorry but you ran out in front of me......She's lucky I didn't lose it.....I don't like to be called a liar...no more than I would a thief.
The donut girl will get over it.
BuzzeeDad
Your hell will consist of endless aisles of prinkle donuts and not a cash register in sight.
FreeFromItAll
BuzzeeDad - ROFL!!!!!
HP
BuzzeeDad has it right. But, I would add that "Been Caught Stealin'" will be playing as Muzzak on the overhead speaker.
Blog Hopping--HP
Pammy Girl
Just reading the headline made me laugh out loud. I would've yelled, too.
Years ago I was driving across country with three other cars, going home for Christmas break. As luck would have it, out of the 3 cars only 4 people have a valid license. The trip was 1400 miles and most of the people (AKA: those who weren't helping to drive) wanted to drive straight through.
I, on the other hand, wanted to check into the local Motel 6 for some shut eye. Thus ensued a huge screaming match at the Circle K in Santa Rosa, NM. When I asked to use the Circle K phone to call the motel (before everyone had a cell), the clerk asked if we were the new cast members for MTV's "The Real World." I told him to fuck off and mind his own business.
Maureen
Wow... I wouldn't know what to do. You handled it very well. Perhaps being a cashier isn't the best position for her; I am sure you wouldn't be the ONLY customer she would treat this way. Wouldn't it be in the shop's best interest to find her another job in the same place, but not where she can call the customers thieves??
Maureen
Blog hoppin'
Vampy
Mindi, after the last few days you had, she was fortunate that you handled it as nicely as you did! Regardless of being mentally challenged, it's for certain she would NOT appreciate someone calling HER names. I gotta hand it to you, I loved the "Now shut the hell up about it and let me pay you and get my sick kids home or I’ll make them cough on you!" She's fortunate the guy in front of you left or I'm sure there would have been a "coffee splorf" scene!
Mindi
Vampy - it's possible that my fuse may have been just a tiny bit shorter than usual the other morning...
but she has been on my shit-list (as opposed to just being mildly annoying) since the last time we went in to get donuts and she asked me if I let my boys touch all the other donuts before they got the ones they had. Ummmmm - yeah! but first I insisted that they pick their noses and wipe their asses with the bare hands! I held my tongue then. I was bound to explode!
Vampy
I hope you don't think I agree with HER!? I'm 100% in hearing what you are saying and I think that she should NOT be working with people, period! I think she deserved the answer and just like she wouldn't like being called names herself, she shouldn't be calling other people names. Personally, I may have not been as nice as you LOL....
Vampy
"Ummmmm - yeah! but first I insisted that they pick their noses and wipe their asses with the bare hands! I held my tongue then. I was bound to explode!"
You have me in stitches on this one...you are too funny.
patientanonymous
I picked this up from your comment on our "Blog365 Realm," and I just had to come over and see what kind of "trouble?" you had gotten yourself into.
However, first: I love your "About" Page. That made me howl.
Now, if you go to my blog, I am...certifiable? Bipolar, ADD, Seizures and Migraines--actually, I need to skip off and do a Neuro/Seizure update post soon--before I miss the "deadline." But I've got enough time, I'm pretty sure.
Still...I don't consider myself "mentally disabled."
"Mentally Fucked?" Yes, perhaps, at times. I guess I am of the camp that must say, "Better Living Through Chemistry." No, shit Sherlock! Nice comorbidities, up there.
I do have a soft spot for anyone that has any kind of disability, though...be it mental, physical...whatever. I understand your frustration--don't get me wrong. Between your own demands and the repetition of the service (or lack thereof?)
There does need to be support of businesses etc... to offer employment for people who may be disabled in whatever form but it needs to be tempered in the correct way. If the person does not have the ability to communicate well, then perhaps they should not be engaging in front counter work? If I was a business owner, it would make complete sense to me not to have them do it.
*shrug*
Best of luck next time you go in. I hope the communication works out a bit better.
Take care,
PA
Matthew
As the brother of a mentally handicapped sister (tuberous sclerosis), I know what it's like to be perpetually frustrated because that person has "glomed on" to a particular subject in their minds and it's just black and white... for my sister, it's smoking. If she sees someone smoking or smells smoke, she goes into exaggerated, fake coughing and says REALLY LOUD, "you know, smoking kills you". That she hasn't been accosted by some 3-pack-a-day biker and given a severe tongue-lashing is beyond me...
keep smiling... and I don't think you're going to hell, but if you are, save a seat for me, ok?
Keera
Saw this post mentioned at Blog365, so I had to go see the train wreck, too. 🙂 And you may as well save me a seat in hell, also.
I once was a member of a choir where the director had a daughter with Down's who sang, off-key, with the choir as a hobby, not as a member. The one time it became a problem was when I had her off-key singing in my ear while I was trying to learn a challenging piece, so I asked the director if her daughter could stand somewhere else.
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed that request. But the director did make her daughter sit the number out.
rachel
i understand your irritation. i work w/ people who are mentally handicaped and i know how it is. sounds like she felt like she was doing what she was taught "pay before you eat" they are just programmed differently then us and derserve our patience but just like us they have bad days to. now some of the comments mentioned that she shouldn't be running a cash register but i ask if your child was delayed wouldn't you want them to recieve the same respect as anyone else? also being "slow" can come from automobile accidents. i know of someone who was in an accicident and now has a child like mind. hope that young lady got better at her job w/ dealing w/ things like that.