Rude Girl

I have nothing against a good shop-girl, I myself was once a shop-girl (that is, when I was employed- note: past tense here).  However one cannot help but notice a growing trend among the shop-girls of Auckland who seem to be under some delusion that they are in fact members of the royal family. 

Now I am a reasonable person.  I understand that certain stores warrant a certain level of dress from their clientele, I am unlikely, for example, to go waltzing into a Paris Couturier dressed in my gym gear (NOT Stella McCartney adidas incase you were wondering).  I must however point out that stores in New Zealand don't generally have the same level of sophistication, shall we say, of our Parisian counterparts.  I don't want you to think that i casually stroll about in my gym gear everyday either... but I do think in my local neighbourhood I should be able to go to a shop without feeling as though the assistants are about to break their whippet thin necks as they turn their heads so rapidly so as to avoid (gasp!) having to look at me and (gasp!) actually talk to me.  While one could easily get into a discussion here about their actual capability to hold a conversation I won't, let us say it is generally accepted that fake smiles and inserts of "yeah", "uh huh" and "i knoooow!" are about all the average Noo Zuland shop girl can muster.  I might not look like your dj-wannabe-skinny-legged-jeans dream guy, but I sometimes (ok rarely) I have money that you might want me to spend in your shop, so if you could just jump off that invisible high horse for just a sec to help me find my size (yes, bigger than the mannequin) it would be just dandy.

While I don't want to give the appearance of being overly bitter and hateful, their behaviour begs the question of whether these occasionally pretty (lighting dependent) and generally obnoxious girls know they are getting paid a measly 14 dollars an hour to serve me and you.  More than that, given that my most recent experience has been in my own neighbourhood (which i must concede has a reputation for attracting the poseur possie of the city) could these girls not find jobs in whatever suburban hovel it is that they originated from and go and get their parents to teach them some manners.  Whatever it is that you are wearing bucko, manners are always fashionable!!! You work in a shop, you're not a model and your already so-so face could really use some happiness to make me ever want to spend money in this store and to make you look less... ugh.
 

Shopgirls, I'm not asking for your life story here- I don't care, pinky swear, I don't.  However- a smile never goes amiss and a casual hello even makes the average customer a little more inclined to buy something.  Scowling, stare-downs á la 'Mean Girls' and thinking you're Andre Leon Talley cum Princess Anne doesn't work for you.  YOU ACTUALLY ARE NOT FAMOUS or COOL or Remotely Memorable (this here, is a lesson which should be taught not only to shopgirls but also pseudo socialites, some musicians and people on Shortland St).  Once again this is not directed at the lovely shopgirls (of which there are a decent minority). 

With all that ranting I think I'll sleep most soundly tonight!

x.

p.s. I'm addicted to this, slightly embarrassing perhaps but lovin' it and it's kinda along the thematic lines of the post...though I am not in any way condoning the wearage of those tassled spanky pants!