Venting is Good for You!

Dear Customer, this is how I vent after dealing with you on a daily 8 hour basis.
I've been doing my job since 1976 and in this entire time, I've never lost it to a customer (yet). I've had a bag of urine tossed at me, dirty syringes thrown in my direction, taken verbal abuse and had accusations galore but still remained calm or redirected you to someone else.
Yesterday our interact machine kept screwing up and the customer was getting obviously annoyed. When I looked up at the cash register screen I noticed that there was no cursor flashing. I called over a collegue and we both saw that it seemed to be frozen. After a few moments it worked and all was well. I reassured you that machines can do that and it wasn't his fault at all. The next person was starting to experience the same thing. I kindly asked him to go to the front cash and assured him it would be much quicker.  
The next day when I came into work I was called into the managers office and she said she overhead me telling off the customer that he was screwing up the machine! This is totally a lie and so not true! I said to the customer that the machine was messing up. She clearly misunderstood but she doesn't know me as I've only been working there a month. I've never once told a customer off and I'm so hurt by the fact that she believes that I did. She also explained to me how to treat customers. This is something I love to do is interact with people and anyone who knows me or has worked with me for a long time will justify that. When you transfer your job these are scary risks. You can lose your whole career in a matter of moments if someone above you doesn't believe you or like you.


During critical moments in my career, I've performed CPR twice and that was just recently. I've received letters from clients thanking me for being so calm and helpful in these stressful moments. I'm able to stay calm when people go off and start screaming etc.


Because I've been doing this so long with the Customer is Always Right drilled into my head, I've been a victim all too many times. 
As a customer I've never stood up for myself when cashiers are nasty to me. I just stay calm and quiet. 


I've served drug addicts demanding their Oxycodones. I've served people who forge prescriptions, aim loaded syringes at me, push me, throw things at me, but still I don't raise my voice. I walk away from the situation and ask for help.


So please before you judge me. Like you, I am human. I work hard. I've worked as a single parent for 20 years, valuing my job, studying hard and always updating myself to be on top of things. 


Respect is a small thing to ask for but it's a big thing. I offer it to you.