Please pity my nerves

Boy I really wish I didn't have to work today. Like a colleaque said this morning,
"Don't you just wish you have a friend like Doraemon? Then you can make him duplicate you so that she will go to work and you stay home."
"Yeah that would be really nice. Then you wake up and realized it was all a dream and it's time to go to work hehe."

What makes today even more difficult was that I didn't get that much sleep. I tried to go back to sleep after sahur but I just can't. The egg caramel must have got to me. I finally dozed off about 15 minutes before I have to get up for work .

Warning: The following is for the sole purpose of me laying off some steam. My job really stressful you know!

This week is the week when my section has to do returns. Returns is an activity where you check your stocks for books from certain supplier that's been there for quite some time. You gather them, pack them in boxes and return to the respective supplier. It's a very tedious task especially if you work at the children section. You have to cover a very big area and it would usually take you a few days to cover the whole area. And it didn't help that one of the staff took 2 days annual leave and a part-timer was on mc. She really couldn't pick a better time to be sick .

To make it worst, it is also during this particular week that the backoffice rolled out trolley after trolley of new books to put up on the shelf. And guess which section has the most books to shelve . So I have to postpone doing the returns until I finished putting up all the books.

However, before I can even start someone came up to me and say,

Hi. Are you in charge of this section?
Yes .
I have a 7 1/2 month old boy. Can you recommend any good books suitable for his age?
You can try one of these story boardbooks .
I have this already. I have all this. (showing some of the ABC/123 books we have on the shelf)
What about lift-the-flaps?
I have that too. I also have those plastic books. (indicating the bathbooks)
Then maybe you want to try touch-and-feel?
Oh yes I bought those already. I got a lot from China.
Well, does your (deeply rotten spoiled) son enjoys all those things that you have?
Yes. He liked to see the colors. I like to come here because I know you have wider range of products compared to ***.
Maybe you should try reading him a story once in a while (you lazy parent!) .
Yes I do read to him. He likes to see the colors.
What about sound books?
Okay. Can I see those?
I showed her a few...
This is nice. But I think this is too complicated for him. He's just 7 months.
(Oh really now? He's just 7 months, I thought he's 70 years old already for you to buy him all these stuffs)
What about these then? It's soft so your baby can play with it. It has all these pieces that he can take out and put back like a jigsaw puzzle. It's soft so you won't worry that it will get damaged. And you can even bring it to the bath.
Yes I know this publisher. They make very good books. Hmm... made in China. All of them made in China nowadays.
They manufacture in China but the design still comes from the west.
This is good. But is it colorful? Do you think it's colorful?
I don't know ma'am... talking to you has made me color blind .

Of course I didn't say that to her face. But I wonder why she asked me for recommendations in the first place? It's obvious that she already have everything under the sun. She's just short of buying her 7-month old son the Encyclopedia Brittanica. I didn't know what the hell she wanted. What do you think? Is this colorful? I'm still color blind .


This is one type of customer that could really annoy me and believe it or not I meet them all the time. After a while, she started to wander off looking at other stuff and I ran away immediately.

The time was 12:30, still a long way away to my lunch break. I finally managed to get some work down. I went on with my work, happy that no more customers are bothering me with stupid requests. I looked at the watch again, must be time for my lunch break about now, 12:35.
This is going to be a long day...

I know we, the retail workers, are paid to attend to all the whims and fancies of the customers. The customers always right! But sometimes they can really get on your nerves.

Once, I was asked if we have a book that teaches kids how to tie your shoe. This is what I said,
"Sorry we don't have any"
This is what I would really love to say...
What the %&^$? You buy a shoe and then you teach them la! No need to buy a book for that. What? So now you want to know if we have a book on how to teach a child to tie a shoe? Go to hell!

And why do ppl keep coming to this bookstore to look for jigsaw puzzles? I mean, where do they get the idea that a bookstore must have jigsaw puzzles. This mall have two departmental stores. Why didn't it occur to them that they have a toy section, therefore the possibility of them having jigsaw puzzles are higher than a bookstore? I don't understand. Please help me understand. Did I miss a day in school when they teach bookstores must have jigsaw puzzles?

I hated it when they come up to the information counter and say...
"I'm looking for a book" long pause
Oh really? I thought you were looking for underwear . Just give me the damn title la... what are you waiting for? An applause?
"Can you help me find this book? I don't know the title, I don't know the author, but it has a picture of a baby on the cover."
Thank you for that detailed description. There's like a gazillion books in here with a baby on the cover. Where do you want to start? Oh wait, let me google that for you... book with baby on cover.... Yes, you're in luck, there's 40,600,000 hits for 'book with baby on cover'. Let me see one by one if one of it is what you're looking for .

I could have finish everything if I don't have to constantly tidy the same shelf over and over again and picking up books/magazines that are left lying around. Please la... if you have the energy to go round picking out all those books/magazines all the way from the other side of the store, why can't you at least bring the books/magazines to the nearest counter? It's just 3 freakin' steps away. You're not the only one fasting you know.

We have a section of self-help books for teenagers. You know, Chicken Soup, how to handle stress, drug issues, sex issues, bullies, those kind of books. Everytime I pass the shelf I will see books taken out and just left there. They didn't even bother to put it back properly. Books about prom la, flirtology la. I got something to say to you girls... if you can't even put one damn book back properly, why are you so busy reading books about flirting? Go back and study lagi bagus.

And customers nowadays are so quick to complain.
Why is it so difficult to find a book?
Why are your books so damaged one?
Why the books are not arranged properly?
Why is your system so slow?
I've waited so long for someone to attend to me!
Your books are so expensive!


Please believe me when I say this, we're doing the very best we can. If we're not so busy picking up after you or attending to your stupid questions and requests, I swear we would spend more time to improve our services.

Like I said, sometimes these 'paying' customers can really get on my nerves...

Please la pity my nerves...