I actually just about lost it the other day.. It's not a very Danielle thing to do, but.. shit, it was the closest I've come so far to losing my calm with a complete stranger.
I was already on edge since, well, the hubby was spending the weekend with me. And spending time with the hubby, especially having him live with me in very tight quarters, always puts me on edge. I try to be nice.. But every so often I get cranky and start my speech on how this isn't working and he needs to find a place to live and get a life so he's not always bothering me.
Heh.
I'm not a mean person, I swear. It's just.. well, think of it like living with your little brother. Who never leaves you alone. There is no "romantic" love there coming from my side, so.. y'know.. it's just getting really old..
Why he still persists, even knowing how I feel, I have no fucking clue..
But this is all besides the point. The point was that I was on edge. There are many other things I have to contend with as well, such as that traffic ticket, I still have to get an oil change, worries about being able to keep up with school.. plus, well, a nice little mishap on Hunbun's part to pay my credit card for me with my checking account that's already overdrawn. A nice little chunk of $100+ in fees both from my checking and credit account for me to worry about now..
But anyway.. on edge, I was. And my cute little hairdryer kept dying on me that morning. I mean, I already had the problem where, if I shut it off, I couldn't get it back on for another five minutes 'cuz it overheated. But the dryer lasted for the duration I needed to finish with my hair. So this was the first time that it actually shut off while I was blow-drying my hair, and I was only maybe a minute into it. So it's like, this isn't gonna work when I'm trying to get ready for work tomorrow. So I had to get a hairdryer that day.
Now, a hairdryer is something I'm a little picky with. I'm trying to get ready for work or school in the morning as fast as I can, so I don't want anything at all to slow me down or interfere. The thing about me, also, in probably anything I get, I want it to be as small and compact as possible while still being as functional as possible, without unnecessary added extras. Compact and functional are what I look for. AND aesthetically pleasing, of course. In a car [mini!], a backpack, a watch, a computer, a stereo system, a dvd player, etc., etc., etc.
So, anyway. Hairdryer. I wanted mine as small as possible, as lightweight as possible, the fold-up kind like my old one, and - very important - the buttons had to be situated comfortably. When I've stayed over at my parents' and I've used my mom's hairdryer, it can get really annoying, because the slide button is right where my finger hits when I'm blow-drying my hair, and it also easily slides, so I would keep hitting it and accidentally turn it off several times while I'm trying to style my hair. So, that was something in specific I was looking to prevent.
With this all in mind [god, I'm really dragging this out], I proceeded to Target. Target had a very nice selection of hairdryers and lots of models to look at, but.. no models of the specific ones [fold-up, remember] that I was trying to decide between. So I had to take them out of the box, being very careful not to disturb the box to much and making sure not to break any sealed bags [none of the boxes were sealed], in order to get a feel for them. When I was done I would carefully pack the hairdryer back in.
So I was doing this, trying to make my very important decision, when some punk comes by, not dressed in Target closes, but probably a stock boy, or EVEN undercover shopper, because they do have those -- and he says to me, "You're not allowed to open the boxes, ma'am."
I look at him.
"We have models here for you to look at," he says.
"Well, you don't have any models of this one," I say.
He looks at the specific hairdryer I'm holding, quickly searches the row of models and finds that, indeed, it is not there. But he still says, "Well, you're not allowed to open the boxes. It's company policy."
I say, while I'm putting the hairdryer back in the box, "Well, how am I supposed to figure decide which one I want if I can't get a feel for it?" motioning with my hands.
"Not allowed to. Company policy." And he picks up an empty box whose contents have been ravaged and says, "See this? No one's going to buy it like this now."
I'm like, "I didn't do that."
And he says, "I'm not saying you did. You're just not allowed to open the boxes."
I'm riling up inside, and the only thing I can retrieve at the time are the same words that so many customers would irately utter to me while I worked at the gas station. So I say something to the effect of, "Well how am I supposed to pick a hairdryer if I can't feel it! I want to know the feel of a hairdryer before I buy it! I don't want to buy something without trying it out first! If I can't do that here, then I'll just have to go somewhere else where I can try out a product before I buy it!"
You could tell he was a bit uncomfortable because he had nothing more than, "Company policy" in his defense. And he muttered something incomprehensible like "whatever..", the shrug and the avoided eye contact and the like. I didn't make eye contact when I was speaking either, now that I think of it. I only have a peripheral view in my memory of him.
But anyway, from that point I walked off to the front of the store. I was even more pissed that Hunbun was off somewhere and I couldn't just walk out of the store and leave. So I had to look for him, and I found him eventually a few steps ahead of me with his back to me. In a normal situation, I would have caught up to him to tell him I wanted to leave. But at this point, I was pissed and didn't care about being loud or causing a scene. So I called out sternly, "Aaron!" I motioned for him to come here and I'm like, "I want to leave."
He, of course, is like "What the fuck?" because he was actually off doing a price check for me for something else and now all of a sudden I just want to drop it all and leave.
But I let out my problem loudly, in front of families and children, while we marched out of the store. And I was "Fucking this" and "Fucking that" and, if they don't want me to open the FUCKING BOXES, then get some more FUCKING MODELS so I can try out the FUCKING HAIRDRYER before I FUCKING BUY IT!
This was Danielle losing it.
This was Danielle simply reacting.
Not thinking on how I can calmly state my interest in buying a hairdryer but that it's really important for me to get a feel for it in order for me to decide on one. Only reacting that this guy was an ASSHOLE.
And honestly, if he had any customer service skills, he would have approached the problem in a much more professional manner. You don't just tell a customer "You're not allowed to-" like you're parenting them or something. You have to give the customer some credit. At the very least, you say, "We would appreciate it if-" Even better if you add some empathy with an "I understand-"
So, but.. yeah, that really tipped me off.
And I ended up going to another Target and buying one of the same ones I was considering..
LJ