Retail Cashiers are sub-human species (another Customer Complaint)

Retail Cashier's are Sub-Human and not entitled to Employee Rights like everyone else, right?

Rants ahead, caution!

You have been warned!

I've "offended" two customer's in four months! Oh Noez! what ever shall I do?

I don't know if I'm more flabbergasted that the managers at my store took this complaint seriously...or at the fact that this lady had the audacity to even make such a complaint in the first place.

Okay so Today is Sunday, and the last Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Translation absolute nightmare for anyone working in retail/grocery.  any retail worker reading this is instantly cringing at this thought right now.

and on days like to day, my biggest pet peeve holds no bounds. that peeve is customers and/or people in general who take thier holiday frustrations out on the retail workers.

So, today went by pretty smooth, no major complaints, I was in a good mood, I was doing my job and doing it effectivly and making the customers feel welcomed and helping them and doing my job.

well around 2:45 comes around and I'm supposed to go home in an hour, and I realize that I haven't had my last break yet. and I'm just standing at my register because one of the office girls is there collecting my till, taking the checks and the coupons and etc. as they do several times a day it's called "doing a pick up" to make sure there is only so much assests at any one time at a checklane and so they can put the checks and stuff in a safe until Brinks can come and collect it and take it to the bank for the store.

well,I'm sitting there waiting on the office to finish thier job, and i'm talking to the cutomer immediately waiting to check out. making jokes about women taking my money all the time. The guy laughed. and we continued to converse. well I happen to look up and ask the person who's been running breaks all day when my last one was going to be..because I went home soon.

I thought nothing of it.I mean we all work, right? and all workers deserve a rest every now and then? and asking when we get it is just insuring our labor rights are upheld....and sometimes the supervisors just forget. If I go into a establishment, I don't get angry if someone says they are going to break...they work for a living and as such deserve a break.

Anyway, from behind me I hear a woman go "Well, if you don't want to wait on me that is fine. I'll just leave it doesn't bother me."

I turned around and saw a disheveled lady with an angry look on her face.

I smiled at her and apologized promptly, and told her that I didnt mean anything against her, and I would be happy to wait on her, I was just joking around with my supervisor and asking when my last break was going to be becuase I went home soon, and I apologized again.

I turned around, and finished waiting on the male customer that was ahead of her and bagged his order up, and he told me to have a good day and to take it easy and what not. (I think hew sensed t hat this woman was a few burgers short of a happy meal, and was telling me in his own sort of way to take it easy and that he felt sorry for me, at least that is how I took it.) I thanked him, and told him to have a good day and to come back again. and he smiled and left.

Then I turned around and politely asked this lady if she had her shoppers discount card, and if she found everything okay today...and how she was doing today. she tossed her keys at me and ignored me. I scanned her card and handed the keys back and started ringing her order.

I don't know what had her panties in a wad today, but man. I was nothing but nice, tried to make small talk and everything and she blew me off, she made comments to her companion she was with to"Watch the screen ring up the order, because she didn't trust US (the store I'm assuming) becuase we might try to rip her off"....

I rung her order,stated the total took her payment helped the bagger bag her groceries. and I told her that I hoped she had a better day becuase it sounded like she was stressed out. (It was a sincere gesture, I wasnt trying to be a smart-alec or anything.) She smiled at me and left. I thought it was over all was said and done.

WRONG!

The floor supervisior finally came and ran my break. I went on it. called home told Heather, well reminded her when I got off work, got off the phone, drank my water, then clocked back in from break and went back to my floor supervisor.

I was told that the managers wanted to see me upstairs.

(At first I thought it had something to do with tardies, and was fully prepared to go to war because I havent been late in a long time, and so they had nothing to write me up for)

I even went up there and said "I havent been late in over a week, so you can't write me up, I didn't do anything!" I meant it in a half-joking gesture.

well I got a managers smack down, and was informed it was about a customer complaint, that they thought it was rude that I asked about the status of my break. etc. and so forth.

I explained them my side of the story, and how I felt I did nothing wrong, nothing to warrant this manager sit-down. and I was told that I had to look at it from the customers Point of view, I told them that as a customer myself  when I go into an establishment that stuff doesn't bother me becuase I realize it is part of the working world, that employees need thier breaks etc. and I was told "well...that's your personal opinion..blah..blah"

You're darn tootin' that's my personal opinion and the personal opinion of any sane adult.

I got yelled at a few times for cutting the manager off, becuase for everything they said I had a counter-point to.

I'm sorry but I do not feel like I did anything wrong.

I'm a staunch supporter of Employee rights.

The Government and Employee rights groups say that I am entitled to breaks while working. so simply asking my boss when my break is going to be should be a non-issue.

to Customers, I'm sorry if this has amde you feel upset, in no way did I mean any disrespect, but even Cashier's get breaks, I don't go to your job and get mad and think its rude when you ask your boss for a break....so don't get offended when I ask my boss for a break.

Thank you.

(I'm contemplating calling my Union Rep, becuase a customer complaint goes into my personnel file, and since the issue of breaks came up that is a labor issue.)

So, I'm pretty mad, right now. Mad that the managers wasted my time dragging me upstairs into thier offices for such a utterly-stupid and bogus complaint. Mad that they even entertained this complaint seriously, and mad that this lady actually had the audacity to say "You don't get a break, not today, not on my watch." Basically and metaphorically.

Seriously, Whats up with the world today, when it's considered rude to ask when you can take your god-given 15 minutes of rest?

I am not a robot, I am not a slave. I am a human being, I thirst just like you, I hunger just like you, I need to rest just like you, I understand you might have had a bad day, and I chalk it up to you having a bad day, and I am not mad at you personally, but I am certianly mad at this whole rediculous idea and scenerio.

And For The Record, it's not like I do this all the time, going out of my way to "offend someone" either actually or percieved. 99.999999999999999999% of the time, I go out of my way, above and beyond to help someone, not because its my job, but because its the right and nice thing to do, and I would hope someone would do it for me. But, sometimes you encounter people that make you just go "What in The Heck Is Their Problem?"......This little incident being one of those times. Thank you.