Re: strange comment in store

[Guest guest]

Doug wrote:

>But I wonder ... you mean most people don't make a list of what they

>want and, after having been in a store a few times, figure out where

>different things are so they can go right to them? WTF is wrong with

>this guy?

I shop the same way you do. Since I buy the same things

all the time, I have a regular route through the store

that allows me to collect the items efficiently and get

out as quickly as possible. (But I always write out and

take along a list anyway.)

The man's comment probably was mere NT " echo-location "

noise (see the item on my Snippets page about how living

among NTs is like living among whales).

Jane

[Guest guest]

Hi,

You met someone on a " childfree pagan list " ? That struck me as a

sort of " only on the internet " comment. :-)

Nice pictures.

Camille

> People are weird ... I was in the grocery store this morning. I

went to

> the drinks aisle, and as I was putting a few bottles into my

basket, a

> clerk nearby commented " There's a man who knows what he wants " . As

> usual in these situations, I ignored him (stupid NT's) and

continued on

> my merry blitzkrieg-male-shopper way (my style is to go in, ignore

as

> much as possible of what's happening around me, get what I want, not

> respond to the cashier's small talk, and leave quickly).

>

> But I wonder ... you mean most people don't make a list of what they

> want and, after having been in a store a few times, figure out where

> different things are so they can go right to them? WTF is wrong

with

> this guy?

>

> On another subject, I don't think there's a picture of me on the

group's

> site, but go to http://home.alltel.net/tychobrahe/austrip.html ...

> two of the pictures referenced at top have me in them. Two hints: I

> don't have a beard, and I'm not female.

>

> Doug

[Guest guest]

My guess? The clerk was making " chit chat. " It's his job to be friendly to

you, even if you don't want him to be. I still have yet to figure out the

clerk/customer relationship in all its glory and complexity. Keeping in

mind that I am a clerk at a gas-station, I *think* my job is to say hello to

everyone, and if I can find a way to strike up chit-chat, to do so. The

customer has the right to engage or to remain silent, as he or she sees fit.

I have no right to complain of rudeness, because the customer came to the

store for entirely personal reasons, which may or maynot include socializing

with me. Other co-workers have become discouraged, or complained of

rudeness, when customers don't accept the offer to engage in conversation.

However, I view it as a part of the job. Perhaps my point-of-view comes

from the fact that I see a meager paycheck as my reward, rather than the

reciprocation of conversation. Although I'd be paid the same if I didn't

engage in small-talk, our " secret shops " include being scored on one's

" sincere greating. "

The only thing I have a problem with, at times, is eye-contact. The more

sensory stress I have, the less desire I have to make eye-contact. I

suppose this lends credence to the idea that eye-contact avoidance is partly

due to the amount of visual information and rapid rate of change that the

eyes posess.

Either way, take it as a compliment.