When you think about it, reality is a scary thing to grasp. The idea that things happen and can’t be avoided, nothing can be done, and you must trust other people sometimes.
Unfortunately, some people don’t have a grip on reality.
I’m talking about the self-absorbed people who put blinders on and assume everything should work out in their favour. Who assume that if something goes wrong then someone is clearly out to get them; there is no other explanation. As a retail worker I deal with this often. Let me name an example.
Self-scan machines are actually pretty simple to use. All you have to do is scan an item, place it in the bagging area, and do not disturb it otherwise. 99 percent of the time a self scan machine will glitch out on a customer because of something they did, and that remaining 1 percent of the time it is a fixable issue with the machine, so why get mad at the attendant for an error that is out of their hands?
I could go on for a few thousand words about misplaced customer anger, but I have been humbled by a recent experience at the airport. My flight got horribly delayed, and I, unlike some people, knew the employees on duty were not the ones to blame. If what the engineers were telling us was true, it would have been unsafe to use that particular plane on our trip. How can passengers be mad when there are professional engineers telling us there is a problem? This was literally life or death, so I’m sorry but if you are not an engineer, you have no right to shout, “That makes no sense! How is that a problem?!” at the flight attendant who is not an engineer as well.
If the type of person I am ranting about here is reading, my advice is to take a damn step back. Put yourself and others in perspective. Will raising your voice actually speed up the process? No, all you are doing is making things more stressful. Everyone else is just as human as you; workers have no desire to intentionally screw you over.
Alex Riehl
High School Intern
