TL;DR: Some people who buy cigs from me expect me to remember their orders when I don’t, and when they do it repeatedly I remember them because they’re an asshole but I pretend that I don’t. AITA?
I work at a gas station kiosk, and obviously I have a LOT of “regulars”… I remember a lot of them, but some people just walk up to my window and say something like “it’s me again” and stare at me, as if I know who they are or what they want. A lot of them will do this repeatedly, and I end up remembering their order anyways because of how much of an asshole they are. That’s when I pretend not to remember, even if it’s the 100th time.
The newest one doesn’t speak English, but this is the third time where this exact sequence played out:
He walks up to my window and says “one cigarette”, to which I reply “which ones?” He says “lucky” so I grab regular Lucky Strikes, and he says “nonono” and points as if I can accurately judge what he’s pointing to from that far away. After that doesn’t work, he says “gold”, so obviously I grab gold Lucky Strikes, and then he goes “no. no.” again. He starts pointing again, and I still don’t know what he’s pointing at, so he makes a motion to indicate “the one to the right of that one.” …
He wants Lucky gold 100’s, and at this point the only reason I remember his order is because he can’t be fucked to remember how to say “hundreds”. He’ll say “lucky golds” after a lot of prying, so I don’t think he should get a pass because of the language barrier.
This is the third time he’s come up to my window and done this. I remember his cigarettes now, but next time I’m probably going to do the whole song and dance again. Me having your order before you get to the window is for people I remember, not for people who I remember because they can’t be fucked to tell me what they want. AITA?
YTA. You’re being petty. If you remember it, just be accommodating. If you genuinely don’t remember it, then just ask them like you normally would.
Have no expectations for others in the world, the only person you can control is yourself, so you might as well not go out of your way to make the situation more difficult just because you can.
It sounds more like you hate your job so you will be an ass to level the playing field. The customers coming to you and being presumptuous is not “asshole” behavior. It’s just them believing they have more of a relationship with you than they do. Humor them and you might make a genuine human connection.
I agree that it’s petty, but the way I see it is I have to be there either way. Most of the time I don’t have a line, so nobody’s time is really being wasted except their own. I don’t hate my job, though. For a first job it’s pretty sick, I can just listen to podcasts and play chess all day.
I never thought of it this way. I didn’t mean to say they were intentionally being an asshole, but you’re right. It’s more about them being mistaken about having more of a relationship than we really do than about them being inconsiderate.
Thanks for the advice!