Manners cost nothing
I used to work in the aptly named off licence chain "Bargain Booze" in Liverpool.

AS with any shop job you get used to your regulars, some of whom are a nice and others who are just the opposite. Anyway there was one lady who used to come into the shop most nights with her hyperactive progeny at around nine ish. Each night she would order her booze and get some sweeties for the kids. It should be explained at this point that Bargain Booze shops are like huge human manned vending machines in which the staff are "protected" by an aquarium like structure of bullet proof glass and the customers can peruse the stock through the glass before asking at the counter for their order which the assitant gets off the shelf for them etc etc.

Back to the story, each night this woman would come in and ask for her order thus: "giz 8 carling" to which I would answer "Please?" she would studiously ignore the request to be treated like a human with a scowl before inviting her kids to ask for thier chosen sweets of the night i.e.: "giz a kinder egg", "please?" the kids would usually say please (to more scwls from the mum) and I would get the stuff, take payment, thank the lady profusely for her business and that would be it.

Usually the kids would take their sugary quarry with them to munch at home however one night they were allowed to eat their sweets straight away, in the shop. Now I hate litter, on the street is bad enough but to drop your crap on the floor of a shop with the poor sod who will have to clean it up watching is, in my opinion, the height of rudeness. So the kids have been awarded thier kinder eggs and are eagerly unwrapping them dropping the litter on the floor as they go. I politely bang on the glass and ask them if they could please pass the wrappers through the hatch as I have a bin in the back. The mum who was on the phone sees me asking her litle ones to do this and comes over to me and shouts through the hatch "PLEASE!" with a smug grin on her face, to which her youngest cub replies "she did say please mummy!"

On another occasion one of the pissed up drunks came in to demand a 1 litre Zepplin cider, through a shower of abuse aimed at me, I duly gave him the drink and started to add that it had fallen on the floor in the back of the shop and may need to be left a while before opening, I was told to go, and fuck myself. and he left the shop, I meandered over to the window to see the bloke open the cider followed by a display that would not have looked out of place a the end of the Grand Prix. I shouldn't laugh, he wasn't.
(superkitty is neither super nor a kitty, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 13:22, 12 replies)

..he wasn't what?
Oh I see he wasn't laugh

Seriously, isn't it illegal to sell a pissed up drunk 1 litre of Zepplin cider?


This shirley deserves a click - I've seen some small victories over this last week, but acting all superior over a parade of hopeless alkies and their unfortunate offspring whilst hiding in a metal cage behind bullet proof glass is the smallest by far.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 15:01, closed)

You're Right
It was a small victory, out of 5 years working there "Making Life Richer for the Pourer" as the slogan says, to have a 5 year old (or thereabouts) point out that the person "hiding" in the metal and glass box was able to treat everyone the same despite the fact that a simple request for manners had gone unnoticed by his mum for months.

Acting all superior doesn't come into it, it's not as if I berated the alco for choosing a crap brind of cider now! And i did try to warn him of his impending cider shower.
(superkitty is neither super nor a kitty, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 16:24, closed)

didn't realise liverpool was that rough
all the bargain booze's i've been in haven't had bulletproof glass
(sanguine badger spirits in the room tickle you like a sneaky prawn, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 16:01, closed)

Most of the ones in Liverpool do have the glass, but to be fair not all of them are in the fishtank style of the one I was working in at that time, the bulletproof part of it may be an exaggeration, thankfully I never had put it to the test.
(superkitty is neither super nor a kitty, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 16:07, closed)

I used to hate going in to the shops in Liverpool while visiting family there in the 90's, due to the staff being housed behind bulletproof protection. It always made me feel slightly depressed.
( Evil Bastardo, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 16:31, closed)

Yeah
how do they expect anyone to pull a knife and threaten the staff, FFS? I had to give up armed robbery and get a job. Bastards.
(Rsoles, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 16:56, closed)

Indeed.
I knew I was going to be coming back with less money than I went with!
( Evil Bastardo, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 17:20, closed)

liverpool, Manchester,, Sheffield, Brum, London.
Theyre all the same. Plus I dont think its bulletproof, its just to stop halve inching.

It is a bit weird though - especially when you know your not going to steal, to have to exchange through a small shole at the bottom of the plexiglass.
(Dan dan dan They tik urh jerbs!!!, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 17:49, closed)

It may be "bullet proof" in the accepted sense.
I've been to a couple of these in Greater Manchester and they seemed to use a barrier of about 5mm thickness. I'd not rate it's chances against a point-blank .22, but I bet a shotgun at 20 yards wouldn't be fatal.
So, no, not actually bullet proof but google Oakley's magical Plutonite(R) and it could be not far off.
(Edit: I'd say that even slightly irritating people who treat you badly is a victory -- you get a click from me OP)
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 18:03, closed)

When a student in Manchester
there used to be two offies next to each other. One had the glass and the other was like a normal shop.
I often wondered if the management of the normal one just didn't rate their staff as much.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Wed 16 Feb 2011, 22:32, closed)

Oh me oh my
Thank you for making me finally laugh today (click)
(mymilkshakebringsallthemongstotheyard poison hearts, poison minds - joining hate, Wed 16 Feb 2011, 21:14, closed)

Was it the one at the bottom of Hardman Street by any chance?
I used to go in there every night for can of Faxe (1 litre of beer! In a can!)

Saw some lovely sorts.
( Wet-chinned bag shanker Cannot parse Wogan, Thu 17 Feb 2011, 11:49, closed)