the customer is always right...

...except for when they're a crazy, abusive asshole! i'm sorry but there's relatively no excuse for being belligerent and mean to a person who is doing their job the way they were trained to do it.

my day-job is in custom framing. as with any type of custom work, it can get pretty expensive pretty fast. and due largely to the rise of identity and credit theft in this country over the past decade, the company i work for mandates that i ask for an ID whenever someone wants to pay by credit card.

now, i know in our swipe and run culture this practice has fallen largely out of favor... i can't even remember the last time someone asked to see my ID when i paid with plastic. nevertheless, it is for the cardholder's protection, plain and simple. well... i got ripped apart today for requesting to see a lady's driver's license. she apparently thought that by my asking to see ID i was implying the credit card she'd handed me wasn't hers' and that i thought she was a thief. lots of people are turned off by it but this lady hit the roof. i don't want to make too big a habit of cussing on my blog so i'm not gonna publish exactly what she said but let me assure you it was the most brutal experience i've had with a customer in my entire life. EVER! i actually had to leave the sales floor, go around to the back of the building, and cry for a minute. i'm one tough cookie, believe me. it was just that damn bad.

on top of that, i am one of the nicest, most professional, helpful, and knowledgeable people when it comes to the ins and outs of this particular industry. i know my job and i do it well. my designs and craftsmanship are both flawlessly stunning. that's just the simple truth. this chic was obviously having a bad day (possibly a bad month) and decided to take it out on me. it happens. but it doesn't make it okay.

by the time she left the shop, i could see she was starting to feel pretty ashamed of herself. other customers were staring at her in horror and disgust and i didn't lose my cool (until i was outside and out of view)... and you know, she should feel ashamed of herself. the crap that she said to me was not only needless but heartless. maybe one day when her credit card turns up missing she'll learn this lesson the hard way and feel thankful for honest people like me who care enough to check IDs... until then, she's out in the world giving hell to worker-bees that are just trying to do a good job. stupid.

i guess it's needless to say that i'm so relieved to be off the clock and back at home.