Repeated, forced small talk

Get another job.

  On 6/19/2010 at 8:53 PM, encey said:

 

I go back and forth -- some days, I'm a chatterbox and love talking it up with whomever I come across in my societal intercourse (hehe), but other days I'm just like "FUCK THIS GAME, GET OUT OF MY FACE!!"

I'm a cashier at a gas station just outside Kansas City, and fuck... I do the same thing. We have several regular customers who will seriously stand there for an hour or two and try to talk with us, which is cool when the manager isn't there hounding me or when I'm not wayyy behind on my work as I like most of them, but GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY AND LET ME DO MY GOD DAMNED JOB! I actually got yelled at for being 'too chatty' with customers once... but if I'm rude, or if they think I'm rude (aka, politely saying 'i need to get back to work' to end a conversation) they WILL/DO complain. Fml.

you will always have this problem until you can fart/wet yourself on command

  On 6/20/2010 at 12:32 AM, Sprigg said:

  On 6/19/2010 at 8:53 PM, encey said:

 

I go back and forth -- some days, I'm a chatterbox and love talking it up with whomever I come across in my societal intercourse (hehe), but other days I'm just like "FUCK THIS GAME, GET OUT OF MY FACE!!"

 

I'm a cashier at a gas station just outside Kansas City, and fuck... I do the same thing. We have several regular customers who will seriously stand there for an hour or two and try to talk with us, which is cool when the manager isn't there hounding me or when I'm not wayyy behind on my work as I like most of them, but GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY AND LET ME DO MY GOD DAMNED JOB! I actually got yelled at for being 'too chatty' with customers once... but if I'm rude, or if they think I'm rude (aka, politely saying 'i need to get back to work' to end a conversation) they WILL/DO complain. Fml.

uhg, that sounds hellish!

plus, anyone who still wants a chat after you have pissed yourself is probably a keeper anyway

just answer in non-sequiters. or racist slurs. choose a different persona for each day of the week.

you guys are giving me a lot to jot down here

  On 6/20/2010 at 3:54 AM, Kcinsu said:

  On 6/20/2010 at 12:32 AM, Sprigg said:

  On 6/19/2010 at 8:53 PM, encey said:

 

I go back and forth -- some days, I'm a chatterbox and love talking it up with whomever I come across in my societal intercourse (hehe), but other days I'm just like "FUCK THIS GAME, GET OUT OF MY FACE!!"

 

I'm a cashier at a gas station just outside Kansas City, and fuck... I do the same thing. We have several regular customers who will seriously stand there for an hour or two and try to talk with us, which is cool when the manager isn't there hounding me or when I'm not wayyy behind on my work as I like most of them, but GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY AND LET ME DO MY GOD DAMNED JOB! I actually got yelled at for being 'too chatty' with customers once... but if I'm rude, or if they think I'm rude (aka, politely saying 'i need to get back to work' to end a conversation) they WILL/DO complain. Fml.

 

uhg, that sounds hellish!

It is... screwed either way. Thankfully it's a Casey's (a shit gas station that has a pizza kitchen... LOL!) and my main job is cook, so I can go hide in the kitchen... which I do as frequently as humanly possible. I'm a very social person... just not at work. I'm there to make money and perform my menial task, not chat it up with John McShitterson about his truck that got stuck in the mudpit he and his drunken friends dug after a rainstorm (true story, except for the name... but he smelled like shit).

i'll take small talk over awkward silence or political/religious discussion any day.

just start throwing curveballs. something subtly weird, so they don't even realize something's off until they start to give an automatic reply.

"So how was your weekned?"

"Crazy water out today"

The best method is to make the first move into more interesting territory.

I dont know how bartenders do it. Plus, they are excellent at remembering names. Must be in the training

I've been a barman before, the worst was this woman who came in and kept pestering me to listen to her cassette of her singing show tunes.

  On 6/20/2010 at 7:48 AM, hahathhat said:

just start throwing curveballs. something subtly weird, so they don't even realize something's off until they start to give an automatic reply.

 

"So how was your weekned?"

 

"Crazy water out today"

I think, with these type of people, in these public situations, replying "Crazy water out today" would result in an hour long [in front of other customers] dissection of what exactly you meant when you used the phrase "crazy water" out that day, ?

So what exactly was Crazy about this water?

  On 6/20/2010 at 7:05 AM, Sprigg said:

a shit gas station that has a pizza kitchen...

  On 6/20/2010 at 11:53 AM, chenGOD said:

I've been a barman before, the worst was this woman who came in and kept pestering me to listen to her cassette of her singing show tunes.

hahahaha

My favorite are the people that go to the AA meetings across the street who feel the need to inform me that they are indeed going to AA and then give me their entire backstory as to why.

people are so crazy. they scare me. i hate unpredictable people. i'm staying home.

also 2 hours on a bus to a coffee shop job? wtf?

  On 6/20/2010 at 12:29 PM, fenton said:

  On 6/20/2010 at 7:48 AM, hahathhat said:

just start throwing curveballs. something subtly weird, so they don't even realize something's off until they start to give an automatic reply.

 

"So how was your weekned?"

 

"Crazy water out today"

 

I think, with these type of people, in these public situations, replying "Crazy water out today" would result in an hour long [in front of other customers] dissection of what exactly you meant when you used the phrase "crazy water" out that day, ?

 

So what exactly was Crazy about this water?

That would absolutely delight me. I'd say something like "it sounds different" and then try and make a case for it. Get people to go outside, get rained on, and be like, you see?

p.s. -- I would not do that if I were tending bar. They'd know where to find me the next night, and no quick escape in the event of a bad reaction (e.g. they figure out i'm screwing with them).

p.p.s. -- I think the people bad at names/smalltalk just don't take bartending jobs.

  On 6/20/2010 at 11:08 AM, marf said:

I dont know how bartenders do it. Plus, they are excellent at remembering names. Must be in the training

a shot here and there helps, im sure.

  On 6/20/2010 at 12:44 PM, Obel said:

  On 6/20/2010 at 7:05 AM, Sprigg said:

a shit gas station that has a pizza kitchen...

 

Exactly.