Okay, so I work in retail. Marshalls to be specific, which sells department store wares (mostly clothing) for closeout prices. I've been there for over a month now and it's working out okay. My best friend works there with me, I've made a bunch of new friends, and gotten my first paid commission of the summer from my bosses. I have a 10% employee discount (soon to be 20% for three days yay!) which my mom LOVES because Marshalls is her most favorite place in the world to shop. And I've gotten some pretty sweet shirts with it (and yet, no pants, which is fault on my part because I only have one non-blue-denim pair of pants to wear and I've been wearing them every day that I've worked there. Why can't I bring myself to buy a new pair of pants instead of all these shirts I have to put in my pants drawer because I'm running out of room?)

But anyway, I want to pass this sagely message of wisdom on to you:

Don't be mean to the people who stand behind a counter for hours on end to provide service to you, be it fast-food, groceries, department stores, or the frame shop. If the line is long and there aren't enough cashiers at the front of the store, that is not the fault of the cashiers already there. Nor is it their fault for making a little small talk with the customers in front of you so that they feel like the store is a nice place to be and they're welcome to come back, nor if the register runs out of small bills because everyone has been paying in $20's all morning. These are people just like you, and every day they come in to put up with these jobs because they are looking to earn a little extra cash for the summer so they can buy TV dinners when they go back to their one-room dorms in the fall, not to mention the adults working extra jobs to put food on the table for their families. They come in on weekends, late hours, even work overnights. They put up with more nasty customers than they care to deal with, and just turn the other cheek and continue providing service. So the next time you feel like yelling at the employee in front of you because they're calling a price check on an item that has a price but you think it's on clearance and you really should've asked someone who was working in that department before you got in line, you rotten old bat, put yourself in their place. Feel their swollen feet and cheek muscles sore from smiling admist a rude tone of voice. Imagine the pain their fingers feel from being stabbed by censor pins, paper cuts, burns from the deep-fryer, and smashing numbers on the cash register. Imagine the hours they are waking up at and the single 15 minute break they get in a six-hour shift. And imagine that the only thing stopping them from spitting on your burger or leaving the ink tag on your new suit by "accident" is being even remotely pleasent right back to them. Trust me, they'll appreciate it.

In all fairness though I have to say that for every obnoxious customer I get, there are at least five friendly people to make up for that. I really do like chatting with them, finding out where they're from and admiring their selections and so on. It makes the day a lot more endurable. It really sucks that one mean person stands out the most out of a majority of nice people, but I have a fine way of dealing with them, as my best friend and I are preparing a comic about our adventures in retail. Don't even get me started on the vulgar tree woman... XP

And then it was MONSOONING. I hadn't seen rain this hard since it intruded on our last trip to Disneyland (it always rains when we go to Disneyland! Always!). Buckets and hoses and trenches and sheets of rain pouring down like Nature had just finished a ten-gallon Squishie to cool off from the heat wave and just couldn't hold it in any longer.

Speaking of water, here's some more art. Some people may have already seen it but I'm proud of how it turned out. Also practice for this posterthing:

Hooray for Hahli! She always was so cool. ^^

Onward toward tomorrow!