Free column today. Please consider becoming a subscriber to access everything. We do these things 3 times a week. I used to work in retail and was forever browbeaten with the mantra "the customer is always right" even though we knew better. 99% of customers are pathologically wrong, and the 1% are the equivalent of a broken clock. Complaining customers were invariably vicious little creeps who would lie, steal, cheat, and bully anybody they could, on a whim.....a brain-damaged gaggle of dishonest shitheads who adored making the lives of anybody making $3.65 an hour more hellish than it already was. The only customers I respected were the ones who would grab whatever shit they needed quickly, wait in line quietly, and pay whatever they owed without calling any attention to themselves whatsoever. If you came into my store and I somehow remembered you at the end of the shift, you were either drop dead gorgeous or a complete fucking asshole.
I wish it were that simple ... pay more. That's not going to change anything. There are plenty of signs EVERYWHERE "help wanted, will pay top wages, signing bonus and incentives...". The issues we are facing with unemployment is a behavioral one. Its the belief "Why work if I can survive without it" that's crippled companies. There is a new kinda of normal that I honestly don't understand. It's people and families live too much in the now and future needs be damned. It seems there is no pride in a job well done. I get it I'm old ... I think values need to be revised not wages.
I wish it were that simple ... pay more. That's not going to change anything. There are plenty of signs EVERYWHERE "help wanted, will pay top wages, signing bonus and incentives...". The issues we are facing with unemployment is a behavioral one. Its the belief "Why work if I can survive without it" that's crippled companies. There is a new kinda of normal that I honestly don't understand. It's people and families live too much in the now and future needs be damned. It seems there is no pride in a job well done. I get it I'm old ... I think values need to be revised not wages.