Being my first real job, other than working for my dad at the computer store, this is what taught me a lot of customer service skills that I still use today. That smiling and nodding gets you much further, and that no matter how you present it, dumbass people are dumbass people, and it’s best to ignore them best you can.
the study group
the collection of customers who bring in their notebooks and textbooks for a session of study while still being able to eat lunch/dinner and drink coffee and pop. for the most part this so far sounds alright. they’re quiet, studying and doing homework, they brought their own textbooks and workbooks and are only using the tables and chairs. the only big problem would be crumbs and spills of sticky substances all over tables and carpets and themselves and the piles of magazines other people have left. but THEN we get into research, they take out all the books they need to research their projects and make their pointform notes to do a research paper, risking spilling food and drink all over sometimes $80-200 books. and of course they must leave them right there on the tables and floors for us to pick up. but even more amazing are the people who bring in laptops! yes. they will bring in laptops and power them using CHAPTERS electricty, then WRITE THE ENTIRE paper here. people making pointform notes is almost excuseable when i see FRICKING LAPTOPS there! although i must admit, the people with laptops ARE more careful about their food and drink! (after all what’s a few hundred dollars worth of books if you have a few thousand dollar laptop!)