The Caste System

 I had a chance encounter the other day with a customer that grew up in money. Not that I don't meet a lot of people that never had to worry about whether their clothes were in good enough repair to wear to school that day or not, it's just that some times you learn which ones truly never had a clue about the rest of the world. I mean, I thought[blindly so] that those kinds of barriers had been dissolved long about 1968. Anyway, she decided to voice her opposition to having to pay for one of our catalogs instead of getting one for free because of the amount of money she had already spent with us. She didn't like it very much when she was told that because of a change in data bases, the ability for customers to print our catalog from our web page was temporarily suspended, adding that we[the company for which I work] "always have to have some way to milk more money out of us[the customer] I imagine that she assumed that the statement alone would net her the free publication that she obviously so richly deserved. I tried to be pleasant about the situation but, it being my 12th day in a row with no break and two more left to complete, I failed miserably. I let her know by way of my less than gracious demeanor, that I felt that she was way out of line. She ended by leaving and saying that she hoped that I had a better day. I replied that I would have a better day if I didn't have to come back for a few[there was, of course, very little chance of that happening]. I imagine that she is currently very upset with me. We've known each other for a number of years. Familiarity breeds contempt. I would never have spoken that way to a new customer ..... But then, a new customer would never have acted so much like unto a spoiled child.