“All you do is overcompensate for having what’s basically a monkey’s job: You push fucking buttons. Any moron can waltz in here and do our jobs, but you’re obsessed with making it seem so much more fucking important, so much more epic than it really is. You work in a convenience store, Dante. And badly, I might add. And I work in a shitty video store. Badly, as well.
You know, that guy Jay’s got it right he has no delusions about what he does. Us? We like to make ourselves seem so much better than the people that come in here, just looking to pick up a paper or-God forbid-cigarettes. We look down on them, as it we’re so advanced. Well, if we’re so fucking advanced, then what are we doing working here?” —
Randal Graves- Clerks
True words spoken there, but I admit I have to work hard to stop myself feeling like I’m better or more superior to many of the customers that come into our store. Case in point, a guy comes in today looking for a PS3 controller. We phoned another nearby store but they’re sold out too. The guy then asks if there are any other shops (aside from Blockbuster) where he can get a PS3 controller.
This may not seem that big a deal but speaking as a consumer myself, I can think of a dozen other more obvious places to pick up games consoles peripherals than Blockbusters. There are 3 big town centres nearby with shopping malls full of shops that sell this shit but the way he was talking you would think he’s searching for an obscure book on fly fishing by J.R. Hartley
Another odd thing that has only started happening a lot recently are customers returning items they have bought through our rental returns box. Not because there is something wrong with the film, but for the bizarre reason that they haven’t realised that they’ve bought the films not rented them. I only figured this out last night when I sold The Goonies and Cats & Dogs to a customer and they asked when they have to be returned… There were stickers on the box saying “To Buy” not “rent”, I hadn’t taken the membership card from them, the fact that they took the DVD cases out of a big dump bin in the centre of our clearly sign posted ‘To Buy’ section might’ve given them a clue.
But it’s not fair to call people stupid… well not most of the time. Some of them come in with big families and hyperactive children so I know how it’s easy to be a bit scatty and make silly mistakes. I also know that as much as I like to feel superior to the people who come into our store, many of them feel superior to those of us behind the counter as well.
