School Didn’t Teach You Manners

(My store is located in a mall, and our front tables extend into the public area. The store has a rule that if a customer in the public area walks close enough, you have to greet them in hopes that it’ll lure them into the store. It’s about 6 pm on a Tuesday and I’m in my 20s, so it’s clear to customers that this is my full time job. I’m cleaning the table when a woman – who is a complete stranger to me – passes close enough.)

Me: “Hi, there!”

(The woman stops, looks at me, and walks up.)

Woman: “Working hard there?”

Me: *laughs* “Yeah, I guess.”

Woman: “Because you dropped out and didn’t finish school?”

(My jaw drops. As it happens, I did drop out of school, but I ended up better off than if I had stayed. I’m so shocked that this woman would go up to a stranger and say something so hurtful. My shock and knowledge that going off on her would get me fired makes me panic and lie.)

Me: “Actually, I’m in school at the moment.”

Woman: “Well, then you won’t have to be here much longer.”

(The woman winks and walks away. She looked at nothing in my store, which means she literally just came up to demean me for no reason whatsoever. I later tell my manager what happened.)

Manager: “For the record, you are my best employee. Anyone does that to you again and you have my full blessing to go off on them.”