Camera Store - The Hell of Retail

Aww, Aren't Little Kids Cute? NO!!!

Well, I do think little kids are cute. During walks with my girlfriend, or walking around my town's downtown area or in the nearby parks and trails, it's so cool to see little kids interacting with their families and friends, saying cute and often insightful things, just playing. It makes the world seem like a happier place. And I already think the world is pretty happy, despite what this blog may suggest. (Remember, this is where I dump all the bad stuff, so I can have pleasant dreams, and smile as I walk down the street or drive around listening to music, so these thoughts of this job don't stay rattling around in my head).

Little kids in the store, though, are such a pain. We do get the occasional well-behaved kid, but for most of them, the time mom takes to drop off a roll of film or (especially) to ask me about digital cameras FAR excedes their attention span. Babies crawl all over the place (like behind the counter), and pick up stacks of film and batteries from the lower racks and throw them all over the place in glee. Young sisters play tag around the display stands, knocking over stuff, breaking glass frames, all while screeching merrily. While waiting for some passport pictures to come out of the printer, a 6-year-old played with the printer tray so much he broke it into 3 pieces, so passport pictures were being dumped onto the floor for two weeks until we got a new tray. One little boy, while his mom talked to us about her developed pictures for the ridiculously long duration of 5-7 minutes or so, took a bunch of big boxes off the wall and made a wall (no, a CASTLE) with them, putting our telescopes around it like cannons. When the family left, my manager came to me with a smile and said "I have a gift for you..." Ooh, what? (I thought she was at least semi-serious). "You get to clean that up!" That what? Oh...

One friend of mine (or, rather, one guy who sadly hangs out with a lot of my friends) tries very hard to be cool, acts like a clown, is an asshole a lot of the time, makes fun of people (and all kinds of comments) in inappropriate ways at inappropriate times... One of my friends nicknamed him "Mr Unfit For Social Interaction". That's the best phrase to describe these wild, animalistic little kids.

Until my kids have grown up enough to know how they ought to behave in public, I think I'll keep them locked in the cupboard under the stairs.

What worries me is that I know how much of a lie that is, and that I have it coming big-time as I was far from a little angel when I was a kid, throwing tantrums in public on a regular basis.

I guess being a parent is even harder than being a camera salesman, huh?

posted by Remus