The Store Nazi!

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Many of you probably remember the show “Seinfeld” that aired in the 1980s, it was the “Show About Nothing”.  Every week the show had a random script that turned a boring, nothing life into something that was incredibly hilarious!  The character Cramer is still one of the funniest ever created (at least that’s my belief).  The show occasionally aired episodes with a character know as “The Soup Nazi”, whom the Seinfeld cast never failed to piss off, which gave birth to the famous yell, “no soup for you!” and the gang was denied the alleged best soup in New York.  It appears all the Seinfeld characters had to do was look at the Soup Nazi wrong and it was “no soup for you!”

I have found my own version of the “Soup Nazi” right here in my own town and this person could easily have been incorporated into a plot-line of Seinfeld.  I will call her “The Store Nazi” and believe me the name is befitting this situation and its character.  The person in question here is a store manager of a regional supermarket located in my home area.  I have had some influenced feelings about this manager as she has been rather snarky at times with employees and her idea of friendliness leaves one a little disenchanted with her sincerity.

Recently, after having completed our usual round of shopping for goodies, we were ready to pay for the collected supplies.  We headed for the cash registers and discovered that only one was open and two customers were waiting in line.  We took our place in line and did the customary wait for your turn.  As the person two places ahead of us was having their groceries scanned, the cashier dropped a bottle of sanitizing cleaner.  The bottle popped its top and covered the floor underneath the cashier with a soapy substance and releasing a vaporous cloud of pine scent.

To me, I felt as though this was a useful moment as the floor looked as if it had not been mopped in a while, thus giving ample opportunity to clean it.  Suddenly, the manager appeared and in a voice that probably resembles a warden in a penitentiary, she ordered all customers in to “immediately move over to this checkout line”.  She also stated that “we should not be standing in that line” as if we were stupid for standing next to a chemical spill.  First, it is not a 55-gallon drum spill and second if the vapors from this stuff are toxic how the hell are you allowed to sell it?

Meanwhile, the command from the Store Nazis had an air of superiority that let us know to comply or no groceries for you!  Then, just to make things worse, while our original cashier was busy cleaning up the cleaning solution mess, the manager could not find another cashier.  And to think; all we wanted to do was pay for our groceries!   After a lengthy delay that left us standing, listening to this manger berate those who had answered the call to clean the mess made by a cleaning solution (seems ironic), a cashier finally showed up.  But, as if our wait hadn’t been long enough, during our check-out process the computer crashed, the screen went black and we had to wait even longer.

Is it so hard to just use some kindness, maybe use some kind words to apologize for the inconvenience, maybe just something that makes you feel appreciated as a customer?  This manager was having a bad day I am sure, but I wonder if she has seen recent images of Syria, Iraq or maybe Yemen, those people are having a bad day (every day!).  For those of us living in the US, it is “Just Another Tricky Day”, I am just saying.  It seems like kindness in our society today has become rare and the stress of living life is spilling on all of us.  So, for those of you who think the Soup Nazi is gone, he is not, he is living all around us in the form frustrated managers and employees who are continuously treated like shit by their employer, who then pass it on to us—the customers.

Talk to Ya Later

The Grumpy Old Fart Customer @2019 All Rights Reserved