America through the eyes of a low level retail employee.

I enjoy my job at Best Buy. I deal with all sorts of people, and once in a while I even get the thrill of catching someone stealing or doing other malevolent acts which require me to deal with them.
But a lot of the time, people are unfriendly.
I work right inside the front door as loss prevention. I prevent, among other things, loss. I stare at a camera all day and try to catch little bastards stealing. I've caught quite a few in the act, someone times even preempting them and kicking them out before they can say 'I need discipline sir!'.
Down here in Yuma there is nothing for these kids to do. Girls get pregnant in their teens, and boys go to jail for shoplifting, grand theft auto and gang related activity. We have a list of over 30 people who are banned from the mall here, and only one of them is over the age of 18.
Last week I caught some guy in his 20's stealing a cd. It was in the middle of the afternoon and he was standing right under the camera tearing the wrapper off in the open. We apprehended him. Turns out he was illegal. On his way out in handcuffs he looked at me with a grin that said 'i may be deported today, I will be back in a week.' Sadly, this is probably true. Not a day goes by I see people on their way back to Mexico, unwillingly.
Also last week I watched a 10 year old tear open a dvd, Girl Next Door. Something spooked him and he put the dvd down and peaced. I found him, and asked me to take him to his parents. He found his dad. I explained to the dad he was trying to steal and that he needed to leave. We had it on camera and several employees witnessed it. An hour later his dad came back, demanding to see the tape. I showed it to him. He said to me 'my son is not stealing', while in fact on the tape he was. Blatantly and obviously. He ends up going to the aisle his bastard kid was stealing in, and starts dropping dvds on the floor looking for the one. I tell him to get lost amid his shouts that his kids was not stealing. Make more excuses for the little bastard why don't you.
There are also a lot of old people down here, snow birds we call them. They swarm the area in winter, escaping the icy grasp of the northern regions. They flock to Best Buy every day in massive droves. A lot of them are nice and patient and are willing to listen to you and learn how what they bought works.
A lot of them are from different countries. I've had to speak German to people who don't speak very good English, which is fun because I never thought I'd use German outside of high school. They also come from Britain, Canada, Holland, Australia and Japan.
Some old people though, are plain morons. They come in, scream at me, go scream at someone else and on the way out scream some more. I would like to one of these days inform them that I have several years ahead of me, while they will probably die in the next few months. I have had products thrown at me, sworn at in several different languages and threatened over sale prices or the lack thereof. I work security, I say, I have no idea how the sales floor works. This does not placate them. How I would love to snap their necks...
We do not have the Wii. No one does, and there is nothing I can do. I had one old lady tell me that I should 'burn in hell for ruining her kids Christmas.' It should be noted that this was preceded by 'Have a great holiday! Thanks for coming to Best Buy!'
Then there are the Mexicans who come in and speak Spanish to me like I understand it. I do not, and am currently learning. Even after I say 'no comprende, no habla espanol' they continue to talk and sometimes yell in this strange language at which I smile and think to myself 'I have a social security number, and you do not.'
The one thing that sticks in my mind is the old guy who tried to return his TV. We could not because we didn't sell that brand, and never have. He yelled, called names and, hiliariously, sat on the ground and refused to move, even upon the threat of having security. He called me 'little boy' among other things, to which I replied 'Sir, when I was four years old I too threw fits when I didn't get what I wanted.'
So, I could go on and on about the things i see and deal with everyday, but I might need it for when I have no content for a blog somewhere on down the road. All I say to all of you impatient and volatile shoppers: Fine. Go to Circuit City.