Hawking Up Hairballs

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Just Leave Me Alone!

I hate greeters. You know who I'm talking about, those people at the entrance to various stores who are there to greet you as you enter. As far as I'm concerned, they're more annoying than anything else. I mean, for Chrissakes, I'm going to the store because there are things I need to buy, not because I want exchange pleasantries with some grinning fool.

I'm guessing that these stores think that greeters make for a positive shopping experience. A marketing firm somewhere probably did a study that shows people buy more when there are greeters at the door. Then again maybe not. In a lot of these stores, if you're leaving with an item that is too big to fit in a bag, like a large container of cat litter, they ask to see your receipt as you exit. You don't have to show them your receipt, and I always refuse to do so. What's the point of it then? It's just an annoyance.

Perhaps they think greeters deter shoplifting. Or maybe they deter those who might make a dash for the exit with their arms full of goods that they haven't paid for, though I can't imagine the people who work these jobs stepping in front of an escaping thief. Most of the greeters seem to be elderly, and they would just get run over.

I'd like to be rude to greeters, but I just can't do it. If the job were a career choice, that would be one thing. If it were something you could take an associate's degree in, like those offered by those bogus schools that advertise on late-night TV, then I'd really lay into them. That's not the case though. I suspect that greeters are the most poorly paid of the people who work in the stores. They're probably on the lowest rung of the employment scale, so I can't bring myself to be nasty. For the same reason, I always make a point of tipping generously at restaurants. Why make the lives of those who have shitty jobs any more difficult than they already are?

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