Ayatsuri Sakon

Ayatsuri Sakon is an anime about a shy boy named Sakon, and his loudmouth puppet Ukon. Sakon travels around to train and enhance his skills of puppetry. But everywhere he goes, mysteries appear, and people get murdered! Sakon likes to solve mysteries on the side, and is often very good at them. On occasion, his detective aunt Kaoroku, or his photographer friend Zenkichi, join up with him to help.

 Sakon goes around solving murders, and making new friends along the way.

 Ayatsuri Sakon was a nice anime, I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't call it a favorite, but the anime really allows you to get attached to some of the characters (Most notably, the characters Sakon befriends.) I was really looking for a murder mystery, where you could actually figure out who was the killer.

(I had previously watched Neuro, and as much as I enjoyed it, I really wanted to watch an anime where you had a chance to figure out who the killer was. Where as in Neuro, the killer is like the only new character introduced, and they don't show what happened.)

 The anime has a nice calm feeling to it, the mysteries get very interesting, and some of the characters are very fun, and interesting! Overall I really liked it, and it's exactly what I was looking for.
 Slight spoiler, but it's not a spoiler kind of spoiler. But I was really glad to see all of the friends Sakon made in each mystery, come to see him perform in one of his plays!

Note: I have also posted this review on Anime Planet.

Retail Stories: Why are people like this?

I've had some pretty gross customers when I was in retail, here is three stories about it. 

I do caution you, as these stories are pretty gross. So if you are the faint of heart, you may not want to read the following stories!

Crappy Clothing!

One time, an associate in the men's department found a pair of underwear. The underwear had feces on it, and this pair was hung up on the rack to put out on the floor. Apparently a customer decided to put on a new pair of underwear that he did not buy, and replaced it with his old poo stained undies!

On few occasions, similar stories like this seem to happen. Including a recent time, where an associate was going to buy a shirt and realized a brown spot on it. He decided against buying it for that reason, (Imagine the gif of Raven Simone from "That's so Raven" going "Ya nasty!".)

It's not CRAP, it's ART!!! No seriously, that's crap...

One of my previous supervisors, who was like another mother to me. Told me of a time, when she went to go to the bathroom. She noticed an elderly woman decided to intentionally smear feces all over the bathroom walls and floor. The supervisor told the woman that she can't do that, and she has to clean it up. The woman remarked that she was elderly! (Well then, you shouldn't have done that in the first place!) The woman cleaned it up, and my supervisor told the manager if that happens again she was walking out of the store!

Is this Lemonade??

Once upon a time in the land of the Home Department, it was the midst of August. (That would be a great beginning of a novel!) It was pretty hot outside that day. I was walking around the department, as per usual, and I spotted a mug! I was like, well Jiminy crickets, It's a mug in the wrong place! I picked it up to put it away. Little did I know, or realize, that someone (or something..) decided to pee in it. When I picked it up, and started turning around. The glorious smelly yellow liquid went everywhere, including the floor, my arm and my vest! (Keep in mind, I'm a big germaphobe...).
I threw paper towels everywhere on the floor, I put up wet floor signs and basically the area became a do not enter zone! (Which wasn't a problem for customers considering it was like the middle of the beginning of each aisle, so they just had to go the other way to enter that aisle.)
At the time, we had this rude security guard. For some reason, the manager got in trouble by the security for having the wet floor signs and the paper towels everywhere. As I was discussing with the security guard and the manager, a customer overheard me say that I thought it was pee. The security told the lady, that we didn't know for sure what it was. (I don't know why that was relevant or anything.). Later on, the lady in my department told me about how the smell was really Poignant, and very noticeable after a while. I did a quick fix, and took some of the air fresheners we were selling, and sprayed some of it in the area, and any scented sachets we had, I left around to kill the smell a bit.
Because I'm a germaphobe, I did not walk down that aisle for WEEKS. Even though it made no sense, since shoes are always going to be really dirty anyways....

Once I got home, I took a boiling hot shower for 20 minutes, remember this was a hot summers day in the midst August!

Keywords: Why retail is the worst job, Who are retail customers?, Why retail jobs are bad, Retail is hard, Retail Experience, Retail Examples, Retail Industry, Retail Sector, Retail Times, Retail Workers.

Retail Stories: She almost got arrested for this!

This is a few stories of people I worked with in Retail, who all got fired for stealing.

Side note: I have a draft page for all of my retail stories. I have so much written down, but I want to put them into groups and post them separately. This way, I have more posts, and so I don't bore someone with a long post. This is literally a part of what I categorized them as...

 (Names are changed for privacy reasons)

Mars Omar

¤ Omar was this nice older guy, who was probably around 50-60. He was the janitor at my store. Everyone liked him, he was friendly, cheery and an overall nice guy. I remember one time on my lunch break, he said he had grandchildren. Another time someone was reading a report about a child in the news, I don't remember if they were missing, kidnapped, killed.. .etc.. but he made a remark that he hates that had happened, and that he just loves kids! Years later, when I spoke to an associate about what happened with Omar. She mentioned that maybe he loved kids in a different way, however this is all to the unknown, and up for interpretation.

So one day I was asked to clean up a spill. The supervisor said that Omar wasn't around anymore, and that we'd have to clean up messes on our own from now on. I had no idea what had happened to him until some time later. Apparently they caught Omar, eating gummy bears that we sold out of a container, without actually buying them. The store manager didn't have a problem with this, until they found out that he was also stealing items from the warehouse sector in the back! He was stealing belts, I don't know if he stole anything else, but to steal belts is pretty strange! I remembered thinking, If I saw him again, I wouldn't talk to him, I have no sympathy for thieves!
According to someone else, he actually had a record of stealing things at previous jobs, but they hired him anyways!

What's funny is, they never hired another janitor again, they only had cleaning crews come in before the store opened.

Devon

¤ Devon was a nice dude that worked in the back room processing items (Putting tickets on items, hanging things up.. etc..) and I didn't really know him. But one day he came in the store to shop, and an associate asked him a question, he said that he didn't work there anymore. Much later, I heard that he was one of the various people that was fired for stealing!
My friend Latifah mentioned that on her orientation for the job, most of the people that were there, all got fired for stealing!

Evil Zurie

This is a gross dramatization of what she looked like.

¤  Evil Zurie, was this little old lady who was an accountant, and a cashier. She had to be at-least 70, maybe even 80. She was this yippy little jerk, who would complain about stupid things, like "folding the receipt paper the wrong way", because the ink might fade. Instead of being nice about it, she would be annoying, and rude about it, and lecture you for all eternity. She was like a rude, yappy dog that never shut up.

Turns out, she was fired and almost arrested. Apparently, in the 5 years she was there, she stole 5000 dollars from the safe! She blamed the other accountant, and one of the managers for money missing in the safe. Once again, they already knew she had a record of stealing things, but still hired this psycho anyways!!
One day, the manager was driving me home. This manager is the same one Zurie accused of stealing from the safe. I told her that I was glad Zurie was gone, as she wasn't very nice.  I remember the manager saying I wouldn't have to worry about her anymore! "You ain't never lie!".

Keywords: Why retail is the worst job, Who are retail customers?, Why retail jobs are bad, Retail is hard, Retail Experience, Retail Examples, Retail Industry, Retail Sector, Retail Times, Retail Workers.

Retail Stories: This is why I don't like people...

Today's post will be about rude customers back when I first started retail! This was the beginning of my customer service experience, where I started to realize that people are nothing but a bag of dicks, and that humans are garbage, and belong in the dumpster.

What can I say, retail changes you!
 I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not.

¤ These people can never shine bright like a diamond, but they can be as dark as a black hole instead! (Aren't black holes actually orange? idk, not the point!) ¤

"Some People Are Just Stupid!"

○ (My store was opening in a new location, so I was hired alongside a bunch of newbies to open the store)
Back when the store first opened, we had a return line and purchase line that were right next to each other. (Eventually, they just made everything for one line). I was on register, and a woman asked me where the purchase line was. I pointed to where the line was, and so she went AROUND the entire line, instead of walking a few steps over. She proceeded to get mad at me, because she wound up in the same place, but on the other side.  She decided she would go to the cashier next to me and say to the cashier, "Some people are just stupid!". I merely showed her where the line was, she could have went the easy way, and walked a few steps over to the correct line. Like I didn't tell her where to go, I just showed her where the line was. But somehow that was my fault, and I was stupid for it. I always remember this jerk, and it aggravates me. How can people be so dumb, and rude at the same time.
The other cashier rung the lady up rather quickly, so she could get this miserable bag of sticks out of the store.

Terrible Personalities

 When the store I work at first opened, I was a greeter for three weeks. Below are two short stories that happened to me.

○ Customer: *Looks around* This is a s#itty store! I feel bad for you!
I said: I like it?

("I wanted to say, at-least it doesn't have a s#itty personality like you!" Not like they were ever coming back!)

Lazy People!!!!!!1!!!!!]!!!!111

When the store first opened, the carts would lock up at the doors. (They keep changing the rules, sometimes they want them to lock up, sometimes they don't. Corporate can be fickle.)

○ A customer was angry that the carts don't go out made a rude comment saying that they don't go out because we "The associates" are lazy!

Which was not true, in fact. There was a shopping cart that caused a car accident, and the store got sued for lot's of money (I believe it was 30,000 dollars, but I'm not 100% sure.). That's why the carts didn't go out. I once told this to another person complaining about the carts, and she still thought the carts should go out...
Eventually corporate changed the idea and let the carts go out. Which is funny because that means they wasted their money on buying the devices to lock the carts.

The thing is, there is no cart person, so someone from whichever department will be asked to take time from what they're doing, to wrangle up all of the carts. The carts not going outside was great because we just didn't have to worry about the carts being littered in the parking lot. Also, now the carts disappear, and get damaged, they aren't cheap, that's for sure. One shopping cart sells for about 150$ USD. For ONE.

As of 2019, they have since brought back the carts locking up!

Keywords: Why retail is the worst job, Who are retail customers?, Why retail jobs are bad, Retail is hard, Retail Experience, Retail Examples, Retail Industry, Retail Sector, Retail Times, Retail Workers.

Retail Stories: This is how she threatened me!

I met some interesting people when I was in retail, the following are three very unique people that I worked with for a very short amount of time.

(Due to privacy reasons, I've changed the people's real names, to something goofy.)

Picture by me

  Theresa

Like mother Theresa, but if she was crazy! Theresa had a very lonely vibe to her, and so I felt bad for her. Everyone said she was crazy, but I didn't think so as I hadn't seen it for myself.

Eventually, I found out that hard way that she was as crazy as a pack of crazy glue!

The following are some incidents that occurred.

• My first time of realizing she a bag of  nuts, was when I was walking behind the registers. The registers at my particular store are all connected, and have a small space between them and the wall. She was crouched down getting hangers (There was a pole under the register, so you could put empty hangers from customers that didn't want them).
As I was walking past her, my foot accidentally grazed her back. All of a sudden she gets up and she goes "OW! YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE LIGHT ON YOUR FEET OR I'D PUNCH YOU!".

I was shocked! She pretty much threatened me! Here I was feeling sorry for her because she seemed lonely, but clearly she was cuckoo bird. After that, I stayed far far away from her.

• Another time, I was on the floor, and a customer approached me. The customer said that the lady in the home department had been gone for a while, and wanted to know what happened. She asked Theresa if we had any more of a certain kind of pillow in stock. I go to the back room, and I find Theresa staring at the pillows, just starting at them like she was trying to solve the worlds greatest puzzle! I instantly found the pillow the customer was looking for, Theresa turns to me and goes "Am I an idiot". I didn't say a word, and walked away!

• Another time, was not my experience. A supervisor told me that one time a customer wanted to know where the return line was, so the supervisor asked Theresa to show the customer where the return line was. Theresa walks over to the return line, and just waits on line. She doesn't show the customer where it is, she just stood there instead...

• The most obnoxious time was when it was Christmas Eve, we were closing early at 8pm and my friends were picking me up so we could hang out. I was a cashier at the time, and Theresa decided to buy like 100 different items at 7:59pm. By the time I was done ringing all of the stuff she wanted, or didn't want. It was like 10-20 minutes later. The manager said, she would have had no problem if Theresa made a purchase earlier right before we closed. By the time I got into my friends car, they just drove me home. My friend's boyfriend at the time was "Tired", and so we couldn't hang out anymore because I got out so late because of Theresa taking her time.
Fortunately my friend is not with him anymore, he was a jerk, and a homophobe.

Thankfully, crazy Theresa was let go with the rest of the seasonal people. 

An interesting thing though. I worked in a social service center voluntarily, before retail. One of the ladies I worked with, frequented the store at the time, and was always talking to Theresa. I wonder if Theresa was on public assistance, she was clearly not all there in the head.

Cooky Bookie

Cooky was an eccentric guy, one time the manager (Same manager that made the comment about Theresa deciding to buy the whole store right before we closed.), said that he was harmless, but wouldn't trust his driving skills, and why anyone would give him a license...
 Here's why I'm giving him the name, Cooky Bookie. 

• Cooky enjoyed stealing other people's food from the refrigerator!

• For some reason, while in the break room with another woman "Cathy". He would throw chairs at her!

• He claimed to be this guy "Mikes", uncle. But he wasn't Mikes uncle, and it would freak Mike out!

Lazy Dazy

Was a tomboy-ish girl that worked in the womens department. The first day or so was fine, and she worked great. Afterwards, she would disappear for hours, and just wouldn't do any work.

• A cashier called her to the front to get returns, but she never showed up. She was called for hours upon hours, the manager searched the store but could not find her! Apparently she was "asleep" in the fitting room! The manager said, who knows what she was doing in there, she could have had a guy in there! My at the time Co-worker, Kelly said, I think she's a lesbian! The Manager said, Guy, Girl whoever!! (lol)
Later on, she disappeared again, in the bathroom for a HALF AN HOUR!

Eventually they made her a cashier, which she liked better. But she eventually stopped showing up (Or She quit, I don't remember.) Months after she left, Dazy, at one point tried to get her job back, but the managers were not going to let someone like her work there again.

Keywords: Why retail is the worst job, Who are retail customers?, Why retail jobs are bad, Retail is hard, Retail Experience, Retail Examples, Retail Industry, Retail Sector, Retail Times, Retail Workers.