THE LOSS OF A FREE THINKER!

Whether or not this is a story worth sharing, I don't know (you decide) but there's a lot of frustration that I need to vent and this ought to be cathartic. For the past 20 minutes I have been dealing with a woman who means well but really needs to reevaluate how she operates. Whenever she comes into the store she seeks our advice and recommendations. As a general rule we love to interact with people and we're happy to offer advice but most people also know that our opinion should be taken with a grain of salt and the fact remains that all opinions are subjective and personal. I've written about this countless times before. What floats my boat might sink yours and vise versa. 

And so choosing the busiest time of the day to visit, this lady wanted my help. She never actually bothers to look for films on her own and only ever hires what we choose for her. Because I was busy and had a store full of customers I politely told her that I would absolutely help her choose some movies for the kids but when it came to films for her and her husband, she would have to spend some time browsing. She looked at me like a deer in headlights and I apologised and explained that I was super busy and that there's a world of cinema out there to discover and just because I like something doesn't mean she will. 

Of course I am paraphrasing and probably sound like an asshole right now, but I assure you that the conversation was sympathetic and kind. She had trouble grasping the idea of taste being subjective and so I caved in and said "alright. how about you have a look and when I've served these other people I will come and discuss and help you some more". She was happy that I said that. 

After five minutes of processing other transactions I gave her my time and continued the conversation. For some reason out of the blue she asked me what I thought about 22 JUMP STREET. She had seen it with her husband at the cinemas and hated it. "I would give it zero stars" she declared. My response was "Ah, you see. I would personally rate it a lot higher. I loved it". My opinion bothered her. "But it was stupid" she replied. I explained to her that I thought it was also actually quite intelligent and that it was a self-referential movie that parodied the concept of sequels... yadda yadda yadda. "I didn't get that" she replied. LOL. And so I asked her what she thought of the first movie to which she told me she didn't know that there was another one. Oh dear. I replied "Ah well there's another reason why you didn't like it. You had no point of reference". 

Anyhow It was a long, painful and frustrating discussion and, while it was eventually demonstrated that opinions are different, she will still continue to insist that we make ALL of her selections for her. Perhaps I will start to choose shit movies for her instead. Maybe she could do with a spate of terrible films to convince her to think for herself. I cannot imagine walking into a store and asking the clerk to do my shopping for me. I am here to provide good service, advice and opinions but I am not here to make decisions for people. 

Rant over. Was it worth it? Meh.