communism
In many ex-communist countries, every customer is the customer from hell. Back in the old days, there was either no stock, or if there was it was too expensive for anyone to afford. So the shop assistants treated everyone like shit because they could. The attitude remains.

I went into a kitchenware shop to buy a frying pan. All were arranged prettily on the shelf and I naturally took each one down to examine it carefully. After a few minutes, I'd lookked at each one - hefting it for weight and examining its various properties as you do.

During this process, the shop assistant, a menopausal witch, was becoming angrier and angrier at me messing up her 'display'. As I began to look again at my two favourite pans, she leapt from her stool and screeched at me to leave the pans alone and get out of her shop.

I protested that I wanted to buy one, but this was of no relevance. She bodily barred me from the shelves and ushered me out of the door. Then she started to rearrange the pans again.

Come to think it, a shopkeeper in Greece once called me a wanker when I went in and moved a coffee grinder two millimetres to the right of where it had been positioned (presumably with a theodolite or laser-positioning equipment). I returned later that day and stood at the window opening the box of an expensive grinder I'd bought from one of his competitiors.
(frankspencer, Sun 7 Sep 2008, 14:40, 1 reply)

Final paragraph earns a click all on its own
*CLUNK*

(I've just broken my mouse, hence the strange noise)
( chart cat has an itch, Sun 7 Sep 2008, 16:03, closed)