Hey all. This is my first Reddit post. NSFW language is censored.
I was working a very long shift today in customer service (big retail building) and I only had half an hour left. Then everything went wrong. I was incredibly sick, and I couldn't wait to go home. The other person that was working with me already left, so I was the only person who knew how to do customer service in the building (of about 15 people). Some guy calls trying to reach the Auto Parts department. He can't get through to them several times so he starts swearing and cursing at me and the entire company. As I'm listening to this man rant on the phone, I'm helping other people in the line who are also getting quite angry (No, you can't return used mole traps). At the end of that series of events, I'm barely refraining from crying (my sickness plus two piece of trash customers at once took a toll). 5 minutes before closing, several people come into the store with at least 10 water jugs that needed to be filled. It took them so long to fill them up that everyone else in the store could leave except for myself and the manager. The manager was just watching me the entire time even though she knew I was sick, but the only thing she did for me was carry up my water bottle for me once everyone finally left. I still had to carry 4 cash registers and the manager carried up nothing. I was feeling so ill on the car ride home in -40 degree weather that I was crying the entire way.
I fucking hate customers who treat the employees like pieces of shit. They are just bitches who intentionally make employees' lives miserable just to bring us down to their level. People who do this should be banned from our stores. I can't stress this enough: WE ARE HUMANS TOO. WE HAVE LIVES AND WE DON'T NEED PEOPLE HARRASSING US JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN. I am in school and just finished my pre-cal and physics exam while balancing work. We have families. We are not NPCs who do not have feelings. Put them in our spots for a few weeks and see how they feel.
I just had to get this off my chest. We have one of the most underrated jobs out there and I feel that it's imperative that we stand up for ourselves. Thanks to whoever read this far. Have a great evening.