I’d rather we just teach empathy from the get go.

American culture is one of individualism and that is such a shitty thing for society.

That is not just a north-american thing. And I would think it would work great here too.

But not with a disclosed end. You can endure a lot if you know it ends tomorrow 😁

Is shopping in person still as big a thing these days? I would assume more people prefer to beat the lines and shop at the same store online. My wife went out on black friday a few years ago. When she saw the line to checkout, she pulled out her phones, bought the same stuff at the same price and went home.

While I’ve subscribed to this philosophy for decades at this point, there is a possible issue that was really hammered home by COVID -

there will be a non-zero number of people who will be even shittier because “I had to ensure it, so they should, too!”

For me, the worst part of working retail at Christmas was hearing the exact same record played on repeat for eight hours straight.

It was years before I could listen to any Christmas music.

I mean, at this point, it sort of is for most of us.

However, I expect the refrain would be, “I worked retail, and I never did that thing!” Kinda the equivalent of, “I have black friends!”

And thus, companies get away with shitty anti-customer policies. And now it’s the customer’s fault for being understandably mad about it? These policies sucks for everyone. I think “customers should be nicer to service workers” is the wrong conclusion, because they have nowhere else to go with their complaints, and that’s by design. Why don’t we put the blame with company higher-ups shitting on their own customers every day, hiding behind others to deflect criticism?

I’m not talking about weird entitled assholes. But about customer facing workers with no agency. They’re just robots repeating company policy. It sucks for them and for the customer

I never worked retail (well, once, but it was a very simple one where people could see for themselves all of our inventory and I was a glorified pointer), but did several stints in customer service jobs and several years in social work. I for sure can remember that the person working the job has likely been on their feet for hours, is earning a pittance, and likely has concerns about life that are valid and pressing. BUT! I don’t think it’s even the job that matters for the reaction we want in the last panel. I know several cunts who worked retail and still feel entitled enough to scream at a teenager stammering out the store’s policy.

The real difference is in the folks who had to keep their job or they and/or their family were fucked. When some dumbass complaining about you can get you fired, and all because you wouldn’t search the back for an item that’s not in the inventory or wouldn’t give them their ‘special person who’s a dweebus’ discount… that’s when you see people later in life have empathy, or even just do the bare minimum of introspection and realize that’s another person you’re talking to, not a robot that you have to scream at for it to work.

To me, that’s the real difference between the middle class and the working class. The middle class took that job at the local department store so they could get some spending money in their pocket once the parents stopped giving an allowance. They could curse out a customer, coolly stare the manager in the face and tell them they ain’t working X holiday, and drive back home to fill out an application for somewhere more poshy this time, so they don’t have to deal with all those smelly commons.

Some countries have compulsory military service for all of its citizens.

North America…

While the US hasn’t had a need for peacetime conscription — its war planning has assumed that its peacetime military, especially its navy and air force, could hold off an invader for six months, long enough to train up untrained infantry from scratch – that’s not all countries in North America. I’d guess that Cuba likely has it.

checks Wikipedia

Looks like they have two years of mandatory service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Cuba

Conscription is inscribed in the 1976 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba in article 65, stating that “Defense of the socialist homeland is the greatest honor and the supreme duty of every Cuban citizen.”

Cuban nationals were required to serve under the Obligatory Military Service (SMO) system. Under this structure, it was compulsory to complete three years in military service, the militias of territorial troops, or the brigades of production and defence.[2] The SMO was reinforced by the first Law of Military service which was established in November 1963.

As of August 1991, the SMO changed to the General Military Service Law and the requirements of active military service were reduced to two years, with enlistment being obligatory between the ages of 16 and 28, however most nationals were not called to service until they were 17.

EDIT: Here’s a map:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription

Mexico apparently also has it, though there it’s only a randomly-selected subset that are required to serve.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Mexico

Military Service in Mexico (Spanish: Servicio Militar Nacional, or SMN) currently involves all males reaching the age of eighteen years. Selection is made by a lottery system using the following color scheme: those who draw a black ball must serve as “availability reservists”, that is, they are not required to perform any activities whatsoever and will receive their discharge card at the end of the year. Those who draw a white ball must serve “framed” which means, they must start service immediately from 8am-1pm for one year in total, until they receive the discharge card.

I say we tip the people who work in retail instead of those who bring our food from the restaurant kitchen to our table.