Customers:
At Target, however, we like to call them "guests". It's all a marketing ploy, really. We call them guests so they feel more welcome, relaxed, and comfortable. AND THEN...we get you to buy a lot of useless, stupid Target junk.Before I started working, the only insight into what consumers spend their money on I had was to what my family bought, so when they brought about the whole idea of an "economical recession" I didn't think that it was because people were stupid, just the government's fault.
Well, after working at Target I realize that people seriously have no idea how to employ the concept of "saving money" into their lives. I mean, really, ma'am do you need to buy your dog a $30 dollar hot dog costume even when I had to tell you that your credit card's not been approved?
Let me share a story with you. I bet you've heard of the dollar section at Target. As long as you haven't been living under a rock for the better part of your life, you've deffffff. heard of it. Well, sometimes you really can find some pretty good deals, there. However, most of the time a majority of the stuff you'll find is cheap, easily breakable, very small in quantity, lacking quality and not worth a quarter, much less a dollar. Well, people, thinking that they're geniuses for buying 25 packets of stationery paper, instead of just buying the regular pack you'd find in the office supplies section for like, 8 bucks, waste a TON of money. They trick you into thinknig you're actually saving money, when in reality, they've got you wrapped around their twisted little corporate finger.
ANYWAYS...I was working a grueling 8 hour shift, the other day (yesterday), when a lady came through my lane. I do what I always do, and I greeted her with a smile and a "How are you doing today?" and "Did you find everything you needed okay?"
She laughed and told me that she'd found everything she needed and a lot more she didn't. I politely chuckled and told her that it was hard to come to Target and buy only what you need, pretending to sympathize. She agreed, and I asked a little bit about their plans for Halloween. We then ceased conversation so I could focus on my mindless task of checking out items.
Her grocery list included:
-Expensive frozen dinners that would have just been cheaper had she just bought the ingredients needed to make "Stouffer's Gravy Dinner"/"Kashi Cultural Rice Entree"
-Apples
-Toilet Paper
-Costumes
-Coloring Books
-Candy
-Markers
-Toys
-Lots of crap from the dollar section
-Lots of other crappy crap
Her bill came up to about 125 bucks. She first tried using a credit card. This is what flashed on my screen and her card reader:
"Card not approved. Use another payment."
We went through this process a couple more times with a couple more cards. Until finally, she split up the payment amongst:
-Some cash
-Her debit Card
-2 credit cards
Wow, I thought. Really? Why are you SO STUPID? You are obviously in no situation to buy all this extra junk that (I'm pretty sure) you don't need.
I don't know what kind of crazy spending I'm going to witness when Christmas comes around...when people instist on buying their friends the latest, newest, and (most of the time), most expensive stuff they can possibly get their hands on. Just the thought of the amount of customers who are going to get pissed AT ME because I'm the one who breaks the news to them that they don't have enough money for the Wii console they want to get their nephew, makes me want to barf up some of the Halloween candy I had today.
Whatever, none of my business, I guess. I'm just saying, I feel like if people weren't so dumb about how they manage their money, the world would be a whole lot better of a place.
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