The public is an institution just like the government, big business, and major league sports. It is a mass of people who demand everything but concede nothing. They are sometimes cruel, unjust, overbearing, and just downright antisocial.

The public watches how it spends its money and justifiably so. We want good service at a fair price with little or preferably no hassle. Competition, however, is so great that it isnt always possible to get ones desires of a Garden of Eden or paradise of retail ecstasy.

Some retailers buy low and can afford to sell low and make it up in volume and excellent customer service. Prices are reduced on some items and increased on others. They keep the costs low by using Third World labor while making huge profits with Our World prices. This is not to say that all companies utilize the servitude of two-headed children and no-brain executives.

Weve all heard the ramifications of shoplifting and how it increases the cost so the retailer can increase security and offset the losses from these people.

Here are some actual remarks from shoplifters to authorities and store personnel, which shows they arent very high on the intellectual ladder:

I was going to pay for it but I dont have time to wait in line. I was going to bring you the money later.

I forgot about it and just stuck it in my purse.

I just wanted to take it home to see if it would fit before I bought it.

Please dont call the police, Im already on parole.

Yeah, you caught me.

What can I say?

When did you get security?

Let me go get my receipt out of the car.

Cant I just go ahead and pay for it?

There have been stores that have had a trail from the back of the store all the way to the restrooms. This is not only unsightly but also unsanitary not to mention the waste of a wax job. Please remember that the person who takes your money at the checkout may also have cleaned up your mess.

Women are more verbal than men, however when men do go into the verbal mode, they use much more colorful language. Not that women are above profanity but men use it much more eloquently. Its a guy thing.

Most salespeople have thick skins and have heard it all before but yet somehow never get used to personal attacks. No matter what the problem is no one should be subjected to personal abuse, it should be kept at the business level.

Perhaps the most cruelest and insensitive shopper is the one with a chip on their shoulder. These are the ones who hate everybody and everything around them. Why these people are this way is a mystery. Its disturbing to know that these people go through their entire life unhappy and set their mission at making others miserable. Maybe they were done wrong in another life or perhaps its just too much inbreeding, whatever motivates these people is well hidden in their dark personality.

Now managers are a strange creature who must walk a fine line between company indoctrination and the real world. They will tell anyone anything that they want to hear whether its a customer, employee, or the powers that be.

There are some customers who can never really accept modern day prices or gadgets. These tend to be from the generation that saved the world from tyranny and want a much simpler way of life.

Many retail stores suffer the same problems and one of them is lack of trained personnel or just plain lack of personnel. Some managers will be content just to have a warm body on their premises.

Leave attitude at the door. An employee will pick up on it right away and from then on your service might just be less than adequate.

Never threaten physical violence to an employee, they just might take you up on the offer.

If you do threaten physical violence, remember there are more of us than you.

Dont come into the store intoxicated, unless you have a drink for everyone.

Watch your kids!

We arent babysitters.

One should not go into a store and find a place to have sex. Home or a motel would be better.

DONT CLIMB SHELVES means that is not a ladder.

HANDICAPPED PARKING means you cant park there if you have the flu.

Another classic sign NO SHIRT, NO SHOES, NO SERVICE often goes ignored. No one wants to shop while they have to see and smell your filthy feet and dripping armpits.

Never have the attitude of the customer is always right because there just might be some poor retail clerk out there that proves you wrong.