What came first?

Instead of the age old chicken or egg question, a recent trip to our local Target struck this question in a different way to me. The customer in front of me clearly had a problem with other people. No one in particular, more of a general dislike of all people mixed with the anger of needing basic items to maintain life from a public place. The sneers he was giving the cashier alone was enough to make me want to start sneezing on him, just to watch the immediate freak out that would surely follow. Then the rude comments he uttered in response to the credit/debit inquiry spun me into my 24 hour rule to avoid opening my mouth and saying what we all were thinking. He finished up and the cashier gave a small sigh of relief. My turn. I tried, as many of us do, to give him some acknowledgement to how well he handled himself to a clearly difficult customer. I said, "Wow. Sorry you have to deal with people like that. I'm sure that makes for a long day."  He sneered back at me and said that there are other lines open. I was taken back at this and just stared at him blankly, paid for my stuff and left. While I contemplated calling the store manager to let them know the attendant on aisle 3 needed a break, I wondered how I would act if I had 6 customers like that in a row. Would I be able to still be polite to the next person? What starts the bad customer service experience? Is it just bad service or is it like the last flight of the day that has become 5 more minutes late at every stop, adding up to three hours when it's time for you to fly? What came first, the rude customer or rude associate?

For those of you that are so lost in the internet that you have found your way here, you have just stumbled upon the completely random gripe pad for me.  My name is Aubrey Power.  I am a parent of seven kids along with my lovely wife Alison in DFW. 

Second to my family, two of the things I find joy in are sweepstakes and standing up for consumer rights.  The latter is a trait that I picked up from my mother but I think it has moved its way up in importance the older I get and the more I see it moving the other direction.  What you can expect to find here is a sounding board for both.  The sweepstakes stuff because I don't like to be negative on the sweepstakes sites I go to when I don't win stuff.  It brings a cloud with it that brings down the mood for some of the fine folks that are much more dedicated to sweeping than I am and I won't be that guy.  The consumer gripes will be more of a place where I can say what I'm thinking and read it when I'm further detached so I can work out what the next course would be.  I'm sure that it will also include me bookmarking good deals I find on random stuff.

If you got here because you lost peripheral vision while typing in a website because of a migraine, take a couple of Excedrine and my apology for making it worse.  You can direct your browser to google and search for a blog that isn't random and will be more interesting than listening to the Police scanner.  If you found your way here because you wanted to see what I have to say, direct your browser to the same location but, this time, make the search be for mental help.

Enjoy

Aubrey