Peanuts by Charles Schulz for August 10, 2017

Where are you manners, Linus? Weren’t you supposed to ask for help rather than wait to see if you needed help?

Linus needs his blanket.

Back in those days, parents did send their kids into stores to run errands. Part of that was teaching them to count change, etc. And yes we did get ignored, or even told to “run along and play” by some employees/managers. Once I was even told to “get out of here—these darn kids!!” only the man didn’t use the word “darn.”

“Well, there’s a little boy waiting at the counter of the corner shop—” Moving Pictures.

We need to take a stand against ageism and sexism.

This is where Linus’ blanket comes into action…

It’s not just kids. One time I got a gift card for Macy’s. I went into the store wearing a “broomstick” skirt and blouse, with my hair pretty much like in my avi. I was trying to find the price of a pair of earrings I had found, but clerk after clerk ignored me. I finally got one to notice me, and she implied that I couldn’t afford to shop there! Even showing her my gift card didn’t change her attitude towards me. Having been treated similarly in that store, that was the LAST time I ever went. Oh, I DID get the earrings.

They only focus on the ones with money to spend.

Thank god for the age of Walmart and Target.

Something like this happened to me the other week. Mom and I had a rare day off together from our respective jobs so we went out to lunch after getting her car checked. Things were find at first, we got appetizers and drinks, but then we noticed after a while…our waitress never came back to ask us for an entree our to remove our menus from the table (it was getting crowded with the appetizer plates and our drinks). So this went on for about thirty minutes. When the waitress finally came over, we just asked for the check (which took about another 15 minutes), paid and we left. We will never go back to that restaurant. Especially because she had other tables that had their food delivered to them in a timely matter and hot.

My mom sent me to the butcher shop several times in the 70’s. I remember wondering why the butcher ignored me and being to shy to ask why.

Glad those are just words.

That’s awful. What if he was lost and the staff just ignored him?

Jerks.

xxx

Good for you, Linus. There’s no excuse for ignoring customers, especially out of any kind of prejudice. But there are worse things than being ignored. In the past, I’ve been to a few stores (mostly in Asia, where I live, but I’m sure it happens elsewhere) where an employee followed me around everywhere, watching me like a hawk. Even if the store has problems with shoplifting, openly treating your customers like potential thieves is no way to deal with it. It certainly doesn’t make them want to give you any business. Fortunately, I’ve only encountered that sort of thing on a few occasions. I’d imagine that members of less privileged minority groups (I’m a minority in Asia, but a relatively privileged one) get that sort of treatment more often.

I remember being in a bagel shop once and there was a child there. The clerk was ignoring him. I finally told her that the kid had been waiting for quite a while and was in front of me. He really didn’t come up to the level of the counter, but his money was as good as mine!