That line was spoken by an actor named Peter Finch in the movie Network. I've never seen the film, and you may not have either, but I am sure you have seen that clip of the speech. That, my friends, is the way I feel this evening. I am sick and tired of rolling over and saying nothing when I or someone in my family is treated unfairly.
If you know me, you know that I am, to put it mildly, straight forward. I jokingly say that one day I'm going to get shot because I am the one who will speak up in a movie theater if people are talking. I am the one who will say in my booming stage projection voice what everyone in the dark theater is wishing they could say, but they're afraid of what might happen next. I will be the one to yell, "BE QUIET!" I have been known to call someone behind the counter on their attitude questioning, "Is there any need for you to be so rude?" But let's face it, most of us put up with poor customer service, rude behavior and bad attitudes on a daily basis without saying a word. After all, if we said something, there would be a confrontation, that person might get mad at me. I ask you, why are you concerned that some rude retail clerk or cashier that you will probably never see again is mad at you? Yet, whatever the reason may be, we say NOTHING! That causes a problem. It allows the person to continue to act in a way that is unacceptable. They get away with it, and, in playground terms, that's not fair!
Yesterday evening something happened that made me as "mad as hell." My daughter was in Yankee Candle at Regency Square. A friend of hers from school works there. She walked into the store and spoke to her friend. She was actually talking to her about the candles, a product I assume they want to sell at Yankee Candle. In the 15 minutes that she was in the store, 3 different customers came in. My daughter's friend greeted each customer and asked if she could help them. All said they were just looking. The store manager obviously had a problem with the fact that my daughter was talking to one of her store clerks, even though she did not stop doing her job in any way because my daughter was there, and, in fact, my daughter was actually asking about the product. The manager asked my daughter to leave the store. My daughter asked her why. She said that the clerk was not allowed to talk to her friends. My daughter said she was asking about the candles to which the manager responded that she still couldn't talk to her and she needed to leave the store. My daughter left.
Fortunately for the manager, my daughter did not tell me about this until we were out of the mall and in the car, because, believe me, if we had still been in the mall she would have heard an earful. In fact, security probably would have been called. Yes, I was that mad. If she had a problem with her employee talking to a friend, albeit about the product, she should have called the employee over to speak to her. She had no right to ask my daughter to leave the store. My daughter had done nothing wrong. She wasn't shoplifting or causing a disturbance or trashing the store. She was just asking the clerk about her opinion on the products. Correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't that what a clerk is supposed to do?
Needless to say, I will never buy another Yankee Candle product, and their corporate office will know why. I'm sure they won't care, but at least I will have stood up for myself and my family and said, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
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