Before and during college I used to love working Saturdays in retail, and have S

Before and during college I used to love working Saturdays in retail, and have Sunday and Monday off.

On Saturday I would only have to think about customers – not corporate stuff. Customers are not in ‘work mode’ when they talk to you. There is less general ‘noise’ from the street traffic and bustle.

I worked in commercial art and printing supplies. So it’s not like I was selling clothes or pizza. People were either hobbyists or professional artists or designers, or architects or engineers, or students. So I was dealing with an interesting class of people. And at that time, it was a manual rather than software craft. It took quite a bit of work to do the most basic thing.

People are much less well behaved in public today. We have far more underclass participating in retail. So it’s not the same experience. Amercians are more selfish and feel more privileged, so it is a less pleasant one.

I am not one of those people who gets tired of customers. I like solving their problems. I have never had a problem firing bad customers – even in my teens. “I want to help you. It makes me happy to help you. But I can’t help you if you are unkind to me.” This has always worked in every industry. I don’t talk about duty or respect. I talk about care and kindness.

( And if you have ever been opposite me in hostile negotiations you know that I am not pleased by them but I have a ‘talent’ for them. I hold the moral high ground. And win or lose that is the right action for me. )

I have always found greater comfort in the presence of calm crowds, whether in the campus union reading, or in the shopping mall, or in the open desk area working, or in the coffee shop designing software or writing.

Cause I love my fellow humans.

Every lunatic one of them.

(Even those that need paternalism so that they don’t hurt mankind).