In the true quirky nature of all things me, it happened while I was clothes shopping.
For quite some time, I've had an irrational fear of salespeople.
Every time I walked into a retail store, I waited for the inevitable "Hey, how's it going?", "Are you alright there?" or (my personal favourite) "Can I help you?"
I can't honestly say what caused me to have such unfounded fear - but I can take a guess.
As a child I had problems fitting in socially (some would say I still do), and I suppose I've always seen clothes and fashion as a means of conforming or fitting in; in a sense, being accepted.
I suppose I always thought these people who worked in clothes stores were 'cool' or 'trendy', since they knew how to fit into the social scheme of things. I felt they would inevitably be judging me as the social outcast who didn't know how to properly dress himself.
Some would argue today that I still don't know to dress myself, but I like to think I've picked up a tip or two about modern fashion.
Yet until today, I thought I still harboured the anxiety that was unleashed by friendly, over-enthusiastic salespeople.
Today, in a retail outlet whose name I shall not disclose, I was shopping for jeans.
Shopping for jeans is like choosing subjects for an Arts degree; the abundance of choice becomes almost overwhelming. I soon realised that, despite my terror of being approached by an employee, I actually did need help.
Ironically enough, not one of the salespeople in the store batted an eyelid my direction, let alone ask if I needed anything.
After standing awkwardly for a few minutes, next to the piles of jeans stacked high to the ceiling, I found myself approaching one of the staff to ask if I could use a changing room.
Tell me, what's wrong with this picture?
To my surprise, the woman simply replied "Sure", and continued with her business as though I'd asked her "Would you like fries with that?".
Too bad for her, I'm migrating out of the hospitality industry.
And I suppose my aim of getting into retail, somehow, has made me assess the role of a retail salesperson.
They should have the ability to recognise a customer who obviously has no idea what they're doing, and be able to offer them the required assistance.
The fact I was barely acknowledged as a person at all made me very irritated. I felt I could have done a better job at attended to a customer, even with my lack of retail experience (which is making it quite difficult to obtain employment in the area).
And with that realisation, it hit me.
I'd become what I had been terrified of for the better part of my adolescence.
Just the ambition of working in retail was enough to change me.
It was enough to change my entire outlook on those people and their abilities of empathy. And just people in general too, I suppose.
But then, a lot of people would probably say to me: "It's the perfect job for you; acting like you're friends with people in order to get their money".
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