Some Funny News For Everyone At The Bottom Of The Ladder

I am a firm believer that at some point in everyone's life, he or she should work in either retail or food service. Typically I advocate this career during those teenage years where everyone has that "hot stuff" attitude and needs a job where they are the lowest of the low for some perspective. For those who have worked in these fields (and Jaxx knows what I mean) I think you can identify with a few of the following posts.

I have worked in retail before, and not high end retail. Let me tell you, everyone who has ever worked in a retail store has wanted to do this to a customer.

A customer tried to return a product at a Radio Shack in Eau Claire, WI. The 52-year-old employee wouldn't let him return the item. When the customer asked to speak to the manager, the employee began punching the customer.

I'm trying to picture how this all went down. Was the customer trying to return something he/she really couldn't return? "Sir/Ma'am, that's a clearance item. No returns. No, I don't care if you spilled beer on it and now it won't work. You can't return the item."

Or perhaps had this employee just had enough? Those of you who have worked in retail (or food service for that matter) know what it's like. People get a real power trip from yelling at you. You are the bottom of the ladder. Everyone, no matter what their pathetic job is, feels superior to you. You are there to serve them, and so they take advantage.

I'm guessing a guy who is 52 and working at Radio Shack (and is not the manager I might add) is one of three things.

Possibility A) He has a bad temper.
Possibility B) He has worked this job or kind of job his whole life. He finally has had it. That was the last customer to be rude to him.
Possibility C) He used to have an office job and in the recession lost it. He has been put back into the kind of job he worked in college or high school, and is deeply in debt. He has been working for the last 30 years of his life, and this is the only job he could get. Now he's got someone whining at him. That's the last straw, buddy.

Of course, it is more likely Possibility A or B, but I don't rule out C.

In fact, C is probably what led a man in Pittsfield to take his anger out on some Wal-Mart TVs.

26-year-old Nicholas Adornetto walked into a Wal-Mart one Thursday afternoon, took a bat from the sporting goods section, and smashed 16 flat-screen televisions.

When the police arrived, Adornetto calmly explained that he was angry with the government and was unemployed. He was just trying to relieve a little stress. He is charged with 16 counts vandalized property and one count of disorderly conduct.

Not to justify what he did (or the thousands of dollars of damage) but how good must it have felt at the time to just break all these things? How often have you wanted to just hit something when you're mad? That's exactly what these men did, although not without great consequence.

In times like these, don't you want to do the same thing sometimes?