Yesterday had to be one of my worst days. I was so completely stressed out because we were late to every appointment we had. But what really ticked me off was when we went to the grocery store and encountered an extremely rude woman. I'm normally a very nice person. I'm too passive and quiet to be rude to anyone, so I did nothing to set her off.

What happened was I put down two separete transactions and told her "These are on two different WIC checks, I'm not sure if you have to do it separetely or not". She stared at me for a moment then said in a monotone way "You have to sign them first then give them to me". Already feeling that she was in a bad mood, I said "Do you have a pen?" She stared at me in silence again then finally said "You have to say please first" in a huffy tone, finishing with "It's MY pen." I stayed silent for the rest of the transaction. I didn't bother saying "thank you" like I normally do because I felt that she didn't deserve gratitude for her horrible attitude. So I began to walk off with my boyfriend pushing the cart behind me, with our child sleeping in the carseat inside the cart. I glanced at her and saw her glaring at my infant son with disgust. Thats what set me off to say something to the manager and contact the company through email about it.

I don't see what I did to deserve such bad service, nor do I see what my innocent 2 week old son did to deserve such a look of contempt! My boyfriend was going to say something really mean to her but decided against it since he saw me walking straight for the customer service desk. He really had to hold back though, he was breathing hard and a vein was about to explode on his forehead from the very moment that woman got snippy with me. He was completely red in the face with anger when he caught what I saw her doing at the end, looking at our son as if he was the scum of the earth. I was about in tears myself because I was stressed and her rudeness just got me angry to the point that I wanted to cry. Not what I needed at the end of a day that was already kicking the crud out of my spirit.

I hope she gets fired. No one looks at my baby like that. I worked retail at one point and I didn't do anything to set the stupid bitch off.

I've seen some pretty stupid things from customers in retail myself. And som equally stupid things from employees. But certainly nothing that matches that!

Maybe she was having a bad day?

I don't care if she was having a bad day. Nothing gives her the right to look at an infant like that. Especially when that infant is my son.

I emailed the company and I hope to God they fire her ass.

That's a pretty selfish and ignorant position to take. Maybe this woman is just a bitch, but without knowing what right do you have to hope she gets fired? More to the point, without knowing her financial position, does what she did actually deserve the possible outcome? It's not a particularly nice act, but it does no real harm to anyone. Without knowing what prompted her, you really have no right either to say she deserves to be fired.

I work in retail and I see dumbass customers every day. I hate people who have that mentality of "i'm a customer so you must grant my every demand or else".

The 'you must say please' bit was over the line, yeah, sure, you've got her there.

But, since you already had a bad impression of her, when you looked back your impression influenced what you saw in her face. People see what they think they see, or what they want to see, not what is actually there. Since you had already had a bad day, and then got it topped off with bad service it's very possible that a simple blasé look from a tired and crabby retail employee on the last hour of her shift transformed into a glare of spite and hate in your eyes.

If your boyfriend saw it too, well, then you have more of a case. Maybe she eats babies for dinner. I dunno, I wasn't there. Sorry to hear about your day. Get more sleep (sleep, sleep, sweet sleep. Mmmmmmm). I hear the chemicals run rampant after pregnancy and childbirth.

mmm...Babies...

Demo makes a number of very good points, though far too kindly.

Suppose she does get fired? Suppose she can't afford to feed her two week old infant? Suppose she blows your car up.

Life is funny like that and there are no rules; only the silly limits you percieve for yourself. You may feel vidicated in your actions because they were within the generally agreed tolerance levels of society as a whole, but that same society tends toward mob-like reaction when true emotional contact is involved.

All I'm saying is; you may want to pause and consider the options beyond your own frame of referance before you respond to a situation like that.

I know it sounds trite, but give sympathy a shot. Failing that, attempt understanding. And, as a last resort, be prepared to defend your actions against the critical masses.

Heh... the worst thing in retail is when you answer a question with a "no, we don't have those" and ten minutes later you find them asking another employee the same question... and when they yell at you for not having the items in your flyer.

I hear the chemicals run rampant after pregnancy and childbirth.

Did you mean hormones?...or just chemicals in general?