The Absurdities I Face
I have found that, like all people, I deal with moronic and unbelievable behavior on a daily basis. Here is an example from each of my jobs in the last four days.
A woman called into the office, said she was interested in starting a gym in midtown. I asked her what she was looking for. She replied, "I'll need about 5000 square feet for the gym. I want a place with good visibility. I'll also need 75 parking spaces." I asked her to repeat the last part. She did, without hesitation. I dumbly replied, "You need 75 parking spaces?" To which she replied "Yes. For all my clients." I was a bit speechless. We have a boxing gym on Spring and 14th street. They have 4 parking spaces. And they only have four if you park in front of the dumpster. "Ma'am," I said "You are going to have trouble finding that many parking spaces anywhere in midtown." Her reply "Oh." Like she was surprised by my revelation.
At the restaurant, I was waiting on a couple. I delivered them their check. The man comes up to me and shows me the bill. He says "This check is for $30.50. But the subtotal plus the tax only comes to $30. I don't know why the extra 50 cents is on there, but I'm not paying it." He said it just like that, abruptly and rudely. Let alone the fact that he was right, and a mysterious extra half-dollar was added to his bill (which it turns out was a computer glitch which failed to show the 50 cent up-charge to make his margarita on the rocks), he was a total dick over FIFTY CENTS. I spent years living below the poverty line and I was willing to let things go if they involved coinage. But that's not the best part. I returned the check to him, with a 50 cent comp on the check. I explained to him what happened. He took the check. He looked at it. He pulled out his credit card. He looked at the check again. Then he looked up at me and said. "I don't think it reduced the tax." The tax. He was complaining about not getting a credit on our 7% sales tax, for half a dollar. He complained about 3 and a half pennies. If I had the presence of mind to do it, I would have dug into my pocket and given him a refund. But I was so dumbfounded that I looked at the check and I said. "They don't count comps toward sales tax." I thought I was lying to him when I said that, but now I'm not too sure. I refuse to find out for sure. After all, it's over 50 cents. In the end, he left me $3.95 as a tip, which leads me to believe that he was subtracting the tax we charged him for from my tip.
I keep wondering how people can act like this, and why no one shoots them dead.
A woman called into the office, said she was interested in starting a gym in midtown. I asked her what she was looking for. She replied, "I'll need about 5000 square feet for the gym. I want a place with good visibility. I'll also need 75 parking spaces." I asked her to repeat the last part. She did, without hesitation. I dumbly replied, "You need 75 parking spaces?" To which she replied "Yes. For all my clients." I was a bit speechless. We have a boxing gym on Spring and 14th street. They have 4 parking spaces. And they only have four if you park in front of the dumpster. "Ma'am," I said "You are going to have trouble finding that many parking spaces anywhere in midtown." Her reply "Oh." Like she was surprised by my revelation.
At the restaurant, I was waiting on a couple. I delivered them their check. The man comes up to me and shows me the bill. He says "This check is for $30.50. But the subtotal plus the tax only comes to $30. I don't know why the extra 50 cents is on there, but I'm not paying it." He said it just like that, abruptly and rudely. Let alone the fact that he was right, and a mysterious extra half-dollar was added to his bill (which it turns out was a computer glitch which failed to show the 50 cent up-charge to make his margarita on the rocks), he was a total dick over FIFTY CENTS. I spent years living below the poverty line and I was willing to let things go if they involved coinage. But that's not the best part. I returned the check to him, with a 50 cent comp on the check. I explained to him what happened. He took the check. He looked at it. He pulled out his credit card. He looked at the check again. Then he looked up at me and said. "I don't think it reduced the tax." The tax. He was complaining about not getting a credit on our 7% sales tax, for half a dollar. He complained about 3 and a half pennies. If I had the presence of mind to do it, I would have dug into my pocket and given him a refund. But I was so dumbfounded that I looked at the check and I said. "They don't count comps toward sales tax." I thought I was lying to him when I said that, but now I'm not too sure. I refuse to find out for sure. After all, it's over 50 cents. In the end, he left me $3.95 as a tip, which leads me to believe that he was subtracting the tax we charged him for from my tip.
I keep wondering how people can act like this, and why no one shoots them dead.