Dear Hormonal Teenage Shop Assistant,
A few short weeks ago, I was buying a present in a shop in my local town. The shop sells designer birthday cards with witty jokes on the front, and suitable potential gift-items like soap in the shape of a strawberry cake, or intricate jewellery, so I buy from this shop often. So with my gift, I reached the front desk and lay down my item on the gleaming mahogany surface.
The desk was being manned by three older-teenage girls, only a few years older than me. The necessity for all three of them to be there with only me in the queue, I am not quite sure of. There were all good-looking and dressed in nicely-chosen outfits. They were having what appeared to be a “closed” conversation – the type you see in human psychology books, where two people turn their heads towards you but their bodies towards each other rather than you, so they create an invisible circle that no one else can enter.
As I was rummaging through my (in)elegant bag to find my purse, one of the girls deigned to notice me and, slowly but surely, swivelled herself towards me. I produced a twenty-pound note, as I did not have enough small change. Regrettably, the gift only cost seven pounds, so I was asking for thirteen pounds change, an astronomical number. She regarded the note with no outward resentment, but I knew I had made her pot of emotions start to ominously bubble, together with a hint of extreme annoyance. Anyway, she gave me the change without verbal protest. The item was a bar of scented soap, so the shock of all shockers, she had to wrap it up. This, I thought, was what really caught on to me. She wrapped it up, yes, but her face resembled the look of a cat drinking sour milk, or a child sucking lemons in a contest. Her earlier resentment at having inconveniencing me? Perhaps. She flung the item into a paper bag and thrust it into my arms. She quickly resumed the conversation with the other two girls, and I vaguely heard someone say “Bye”, as quiet as a piece of cotton thread. Not genuine or anything.
My protest here is not against all teenage shop assistants – as a teenager myself, I have my ups and downs and I would also like to have a part-time job in a year or two. It was just the blatant curtness of those three girls, the once-over I received before I had even bought the item. Not prejudice, but close. Maybe not so overrated. Perhaps it was the fact that I was a younger teenager, and they were older. If no one has ever had the exchange described, I profusely apologise. I was infuriated as I did not understand what was wrong with me. Perhaps the twenty-pound note, my choice of outfit was inappropriate, I have no idea. Any similar shop assistants out there (hopefully there are none), please watch the attitude.
Yours sincerely, Humiliated Buyer.