Epically Schizoid Moments

i have a story kind of similar to yours, noelle... only i'm the cashier this time.

so, i have the unfortunate fate of being a schizoid cashier. anyway, one day, i got this weird customer. he must have had some kind of mental problem, and he didn't seem to understand the process of buying things, i guess. he comes up to me with a two-liter bottle of soda. i tell him the price, and he says he hasn't got any money. so i'm like, "um..... sorry sir, but you have to pay to get anything in here....do you maybe have a dollar on you?"
him: "no. why do you need a dollar? can't i just have it?"
me: "um... i mean... you have to give me money in exchange for what you want to buy. you can't just take things out of a store."
him: "well, where can i get some money?"
me: "uh... um... maybe you could ask someone for some? maybe if you have any friends or family with you..."

i just have no idea what to say, it was so weird. so then he comes back with a penny and tries to buy the soda again. i tell him that he'd need a dollar if he wanted to get it. "well, why can't you just give me one of the dollars you have in there?" he asks, pointing to my cash register.

"well, it's not exactly my money. they're just paying me to look after it, i guess." and he looks at me all confused. "um, long story short, i could get into a lot of trouble if i did that!"

then this guy gets told off by the security guard for begging for money in the store. he did all kinds of weird things, having similar conversations with me. and he was in the store for a long time, he kept coming back and trying to buy things without money, and i'm trying to explain to him in great detail the process of buying things. my evil manager is just off to the side laughing at this whole thing, and i just have no idea what to say to him.

so finally, after a while, someone buys the soda for him (he returned it and tried to get some expensive stuff with the dollar later, but that's another story). then when he's gone, the person behind him says, "man, you have the patience of a SAINT! how could you not get annoyed with that guy?"

everyone but me was getting angry at him. the other customers were giving him dirty looks for hogging the register, my manager (with a few jokes about him being my new friend lol) got me to be the one to help him cuz he didn't want to deal with that guy... i'm the only one who wasn't angry at all, just a little nervous and confused. he was in there for quite a while too, maybe half an hour. O_O

yeah, that was one of my weirder days.

Viinasu wrote:i have a story kind of similar to yours, noelle... only i'm the cashier this time.


....everyone but me was getting angry at him. the other customers were giving him dirty looks for hogging the register, my manager (with a few jokes about him being my new friend lol) got me to be the one to help him cuz he didn't want to deal with that guy... i'm the only one who wasn't angry at all, just a little nervous and confused. he was in there for quite a while too, maybe half an hour. O_O

yeah, that was one of my weirder days.

I think this is why Schizoids have a better capacity to deal with people's oddities. I would have done exactly what you did and in hindsight I would have probably thought he was trying to rob the place, but I would have nervously just continued the pointless conversation and allowed him to talk his non-sense until he chose to leave or it escalated to an aggressive or belligerent episode and then I would call someone else to handle it. I think that's also why my psych patients like me the best.

MsAnthropy wrote:

Viinasu wrote:i have a story kind of similar to yours, noelle... only i'm the cashier this time.


....everyone but me was getting angry at him. the other customers were giving him dirty looks for hogging the register, my manager (with a few jokes about him being my new friend lol) got me to be the one to help him cuz he didn't want to deal with that guy... i'm the only one who wasn't angry at all, just a little nervous and confused. he was in there for quite a while too, maybe half an hour. O_O

yeah, that was one of my weirder days.

I think this is why Schizoids have a better capacity to deal with people's oddities. I would have done exactly what you did and in hindsight I would have probably thought he was trying to rob the place, but I would have nervously just continued the pointless conversation and allowed him to talk his non-sense until he chose to leave or it escalated to an aggressive or belligerent episode and then I would call someone else to handle it. I think that's also why my psych patients like me the best.

Me too. And quite frankly - I don't get it - how people can get angry with someone who is obviously mentally impaired. It's not that person's fault. What is there to be angry about?
It's the same with people with Down syndrome. They tend to come to me, no idea why. So once this child comes and hugs me, I hug him. And my ex-bf (he was such a d!ck!) gets angry with that child. Sometimes I really dislike people

I don't have as many stories, but I was always assigned to sit near the weird kids and freaks in school. A social worker would monitor the kids that I sat next to in science, and one day out of the blue, she starts complimenting me on my patience and courtesy when all I did was sit there being indifferent for several months.

My freshman year in highschool, my math teacher put me next to this oddball, and openly said you're the only one that can tolerate it.

slither wrote:I don't have as many stories, but I was always assigned to sit near the weird kids and freaks in school. A social worker would monitor the kids that I sat next to in science, and one day out of the blue, she starts complimenting me on my patience and courtesy when all I did was sit there being indifferent for several months.

My freshman year in highschool, my math teacher put me next to this oddball, and openly said you're the only one that can tolerate it.

This happened a lot to me too- and I would always end up teaming up with them in partner projects- They wouldn't be able to find anyone else to group with and I wouldn't bother to try. I've got a lot of patience too, and I'm awesome at keeping a straight face when someone does something incredibly stupid/funny.

Viinasu wrote:so finally, after a while, someone buys the soda for him (he returned it and tried to get some expensive stuff with the dollar later, but that's another story). then when he's gone, the person behind him says, "man, you have the patience of a SAINT! how could you not get annoyed with that guy?"

everyone but me was getting angry at him. the other customers were giving him dirty looks for hogging the register, my manager (with a few jokes about him being my new friend lol) got me to be the one to help him cuz he didn't want to deal with that guy... i'm the only one who wasn't angry at all, just a little nervous and confused. he was in there for quite a while too, maybe half an hour. O_O

Well isn't that because you're the one getting paid? I mean, if I was at work, and I had the choice of doing more cashiering or talking to a crazy guy for another half hour, I'd actually be sad when he finally left- as long as I was still being paid for my time.

Magic wrote:Well isn't that because you're the one getting paid? I mean, if I was at work, and I had the choice of doing more cashiering or talking to a crazy guy for another half hour, I'd actually be sad when he finally left- as long as I was still being paid for my time.

well, it was both. he'd come up and talk to me just long enough to hold up the line and drive everyone behind him crazy, then run off to find something to buy or try to acquire money. he repeated it over and over again. i guess i'd rather talk to a crazy person for half an hour than do cashier work too though, so maybe you're right. but what he was talking to me about was so basic, i wondered how he didn't get it. i guess most nons get annoyed after trying to talk to someone for so long about such a simple concept and they don't get it.

i've had other similar experiences to your guys' when i'm the one asked to tolerate what the nons think is untolerable.

Since being on meds and getting a lot better i was determined to do things i hadnt done before due to being ill, my outlook is still different from the "normal" folk.

Me and my ex girlfriend recently went to a museum in newcastle, we came across a mummy, she still had her hair, fingernails and you could still see her facial features clearly.
There was kids and adults alike, pointing and ooohing and aaahing at the mummy.

I had bit of a moment where i very loudly and clearly shouted "WTF, if i shoot someone and stick there carcass in the street and people see it they'd be traumatised and need counselling, yet stick a corpse in a glass case and it becomes entertainment!
She once lived, laughed, loved, cried, she probably even brushed the hair you can see the day she died. She had a family.....YOU'RE ALL TWISTED!"
Everyone in the museum stopped and stared at me, my girlfriend stood looking at the mummy then burst out crying because she had only just "clicked" that it was the corpse of a person who once lived.

My shrink actually thinks my argument has merit too, although she did laugh a lot when i told her.

I was buying a dvd yesterday, i got to the cash out. It was like that:

Cashier: "Hello."
Me : "Hello."
Cashier: "What is your zip code, if I may ask?"
Me: "It´s blabla.

I paid, then half jokingly I said: "What are you trying to find out with that?"
She looked scared and said:" No, that is just a formality. We want to find out about blabla (she talked for a minute or so)
She went on and on.
I was just like: "OK, ok, I understand no problem. Bye."

Either she was just a really angsty person or I looked like a mad men, though I thought I smiled at her. I probably just looked at her like that

Enter the void wrote:I was buying a dvd yesterday, i got to the cash out. It was like that:

Cashier: "Hello."
Me : "Hello."
Cashier: "What is your zip code, if I may ask?"
Me: "It´s blabla.

I paid, then half jokingly I said: "What are you trying to find out with that?"
She looked scared and said:" No, that is just a formality. We want to find out about blabla (she talked for a minute or so)
She went on and on.
I was just like: "OK, ok, I understand no problem. Bye."

Either she was just a really angsty person or I looked like a mad men, though I thought I smiled at her. I probably just looked at her like that

If they collect the zip/postal codes of their customers and they can determine where the best locations are to put new stores using computer databases / Geographic Information Systems. These codes can be used to determine your approximate location on a street map, down to a neighbourhood or a few streets depending on your country's mail system.

I'm actually OK with that, it's when they ask for my name/address that I'm a bit hesitant.

I used to turn down party invitations because Doctor Who was on - I honestly loved that show more than anyone in my life and it would make me angry when someone arranged something for Saturday night because they knew that was DW night so I thought they were intentionally trying the 'hurt' me.

Then I just realised they were stupid human beings who valued interaction more than telly and couldn't possibly acknowledge that not everyone feels this way.