A MESSAGE TO THE SURLY KID WORKING AT THE GROCERY STORE
Attn: Highly indifferent random kid. It's a crying shame that you have a job that you clearly hate with a passion.
My limited exposure to your people skills (or incredible lack of same) indicated that a cashier's job is clearly beneath your true calling as a Level 15 warrior in the latest video game.
Life is kind of hard that way.
But here's my problem: I am an old guy from a different generation that has been saddled with the label "Baby Boomer" for decades. All it means is that a celebration of life after World War Two meant that a lot of kids were born to mark the occasion.
Our parents were kind of happy that a World War and Great Depression were behind them. But now the baby part of the title seems fairly ironic as we have put a lot of decades between now and our baby years.
But we did learn something along the way about common courtesy from what has become known as the Greatest Generation. That group would be our parents and your grandparents. These people were old school and they had a rigid set of values and basic social graces that had been passed down from generation to generation until my generation fumbled the ball.
This little trip down history lane brings me to my point: if you accept a job that requires you to interact with other human beings, then you have to accept basic social skills that are obvious to most people. You have to greet people when they approach your till to pay for goods. Sullen silence is not a greeting.
As a human being, you have it better than a dog's greeting. They like to fight, sniff or try to hump each other. All you have to do is say hello to a random collection of old guys at the till. None of us expect a syrupy overkill of greetings in this department-a simple hello will suffice.
I wish that you were alone in this department, but we have a veritable epidemic of bad manners in this world, largely due to my generation's willingness to create a new generation of ill-mannered a****les. I guess the 60s cliché " Fight the Power" also included the power of civilized behavior and the trappings of basic manners.
Anyhow, I apologize for my intrusion into your comfort zone at your job. It is clear that you were absorbed in larger life decisions like where to put an earring or mini-dumbbell on your face. I was probably wrong to interrupt that magic moment of self-awareness. I would also like to apologize for saying " Thank you" when you handed me my change. It was simply a reflex action and I could tell by your hostile indifference that it made you uncomfortable.
It won't happen again my friend.
Jim Sutherland @mystarcollectorcar.com
