Tonight I was doing my usual job of attending the check-your-own-damn-self-out lane. I saw a guy – nondescript, overweight, late 30-ish – set a bag of dog food and a box of fireplace starter logs on one of the terminals belts. “Oh, please don’t scan the shipping label on the box and make me walk out there,” I thought to myself. It was prescient thinking as there was no way I would have touched that box after I got a closer look at him.

When he was scanning his items, he turned slightly and I could see blood pouring out of his nose. He was using his sleeve and hands to wipe the running blood. His gray sweatjacket and the dog food bag (poor doggy) was streaked with blood. His chin and cheeks were smeared with blood. He did not seem alarmed, embarrassed or apologetic. He did not hurry or ask for tissues.

I am not afraid of blood or vomit, but I was so alarmed by the sight of actual hot human blood being smeared around my workplace that I was almost catatonic for a few moments. When I noticed that there was blood on the floor and the terminal, I called a manager over to get maintenance. When no one showed up another manager donned gloves and used paper  towels and Windex to clean up the blood. I kept repeating, “We need a bloodborne pathogens kit and a bucket of water with 1 part bleach and 10 parts water.”

After 45 minutes of staring at a plastic bag stuffed with blood soaked paper towels, the maintenance lady finally showed up, mopped with dirty water and did a half-assed job of wiping off the terminal. I pulled rubber gloves on, sprayed the entire area with Lysol and refused to take off my gloves for the rest of my shift.

It’s one thing to not see a contaminant, but after you’ve seen a full on human hemorrhage in your workplace, how can you ever touch it again?

And should I rat all these people out for not following biohazard cleaning protocol?

*From G4’s “Web Soup”

One of the recent signs of the end of polite human society is the inability of people to respond to a common nicety.

“Hi, how are you?” is usually followed by a barked command or a complaint or silence.

A smile is generally greeted by a blank stare.

For the record, when someone says ‘Thank you”, you should say “You’re welcome.”

It’s disheartening that retail workers are expected to greet, thank and smile at customers, but the customers don’t have to give us the same courtesy.

I found this t shirt yesterday at Salvation Army. There’s a few things about this shirt that bug me. But first – the pic…

1. As opposed to the unpopular one?
2. This shirt was sold at Walmart.
3. This shirt is for children.

This is wrong on so many levels, I’m just going to let the shirt speak for itself.

Yesterday, I was talking to a co-worker about having to always work holidays. I said I hate the lead-up to the day: “Have a good holiday”, “You’re closed on (insert holiday name here), aren’t you?”, “I hope you don’t have to work on the holiday”, etc. ???????? ? ?????? ????????

Jenny said she hates when she is working on the holiday and people come in saying: “It’s a shame you have to work today”. She said she wants to reply, “Well, if you kept your asses home, I wouldn’t have to work!”

I hope it’s slow tomorrow. I want to catch up on my People Magazine reading…

Today’s events included going to the downtown Riverwalk. Here’s a few pics:

When there’s no one around to take your picture, take a picture of your feet together. You will always remember where your feet were at that particular time. In this case, this is the reflection of our feet in the shiny guardrail around the river.

It’s been awhile since I’ve added to this continuing series. Have I been lazy? Bitter? Jaded? Tired? Yes! Click here for Part One and Part Two.

If you receive incorrect change whether via a cashier or a “check your own damn self out” terminal, remember your manners.. Do not yell “WRONG!” or “This machine f***ed me” (Really? That would be painful.) or “You dumb bitch, you gave me the wrong change.” Instead, say, “I’m sorry, but you gave me incorrect change.” or “The machine seems to have given me an incorrect amount of change.” If your cashier doesn’t count back your change to you, stand and count it before you walk away. Once you walk away, management assumes you are lying. If you don’t immediately count your money, or even if you do, be prepared to wait while the drawer is counted, the security tape is reviewed, etc. Don’t take this out on the cashier. Do you know how many people have lied to her in the past? She won’t risk your job for you.

If you don’t like “check-your-own-damn-self-out” don’t use it! Don’t complain to the attendant that you don’t like the way it works or the computer’s voice. They have no control over that. If you think that these terminals have “took our jobs” and put people out of work… then don’t use them. (This is a lame excuse. In my store, “check-yourself” added two jobs. Plus, over 3,000 people have been hired and fired or quit since I started 4 years ago. Yes, that’s 3,000! If you want a job at Big Box Store, they are always hiring!)

If you have never used a “check-your-own-damn-self-out”, don’t expect that you can come up to one on a busy Saturday afternoon and ask the attendant to stand next to you and explain to you in minutia how to use it. (Even if you have two hooks for hands! True story!) If you don’t want to lift heavy items or scan 20 of the same candle, don’t come to “check-yourself”. If you don’t want to type in the PLU or look up your produce, weigh it or put in the quantity, don’t come to “check-yourself”. (So many people get stumped when the computer asks for quantity. It should say “how many f***ing things do you have?” These people would understand that language.) This is probably wrong and un-PC but if you are handicapped to the point where you cannot reach the touch screen, pick up your items and, basically, check your self out, don’t come through the “check-your-own-damn-self-out“! If you want a person to unload your cart, ring up your items, bag them, and put them in your cart – go to a cashier!

Why do you bring expired coupons or coupons for a different size/scent/type and try to convince me to take it? This coupon expired 2 months ago. Not gonna take it. Period. This coupon is for $1.00 off full size body wash. You have the 97¢ travel size which the coupon specifically excludes. Nice try, but no. Don’t argue, you know you’re a coupon scammer. Also, don’t flip out when I tear up your expired or photocopied coupons. I’m just trying to save (yes) my competitors from your BS.

If you think someone has cut ahead ahead of you in line, don’t throw a third grade hissy fit. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Be the bigger person and let it go. In today’s case, a lady thought that the “self-check” line was like a bank line. You wait until one becomes free. No, it’s every man for themselves. So, the lady who was waiting for a free check out stepped up and the woman waiting for that terminal freaked out! They were screaming at each other about who was right and how the line worked. Even the woman’s kids got in on it, “Stop screaming at my mommy!” (Yes, woman #2 had three kids with her.) After the first woman rang up and paid for her three items, the second woman rang up and paid for 44 items. She paid her $58 total with one dollar bills. One at a time. Do you see where I am going with this example? Even if the first woman was right (and she wasn’t), courtesy, the number of items in your order, the method with which you are going to pay and the fact that you have your kids with you should lead you to shut your whiny ass baby f***ing mouth and let the other person go ahead of you. Damn!