I had an incident a week ago while I was working that has just frustrated and infuriated me to no end. Even a week later I am still furious about this little occurrence.
The general question I have is why do people who strongly believe in some sort of organized religion feel the need to push their beliefs on those that either believe in some other form of religion, or heaven forbid, do not support religious beliefs altogether?
I am not a person that follows any sort of religious path, and in fact I tend to avoid any sort of religious discussions in general. Honestly, in the past I have had no interest in even paying attention to the various religions. However, I firmly believe that there is absolutely no problem with people believing in a specific religion. As long as they aren't sacrificing virgins (there just aren't enough of those left in this world) or small animals, then why would I even care what a person believes in.
Monday of last week I had a customer come in who crossed every line. I sell cell phones (happy celling everyone *rolls eyes*) and PDA's in a store located in a mall. It allows me to get to all my doctor appointments and is actually not that bad for the moment... it keeps me busy and not too stressed out anymore. So, this older guy comes in to buy a new PDA (retail $1000) and have it activated to use as a phone and data device. This was the first one of these brand new units that I've sold, or even seen (we're having our introduction to them tonight as a matter of fact). He has a fairly heavy English accent, so it made it very tough for me to understand what he was initially talking about. After having to politely ask him to repeat his question a few times, he comments "Maybe I should be back there answering your questions instead of this current arrangement". Retail kicks ass somedays. I finally figure out what he's looking for and bring it out for him and start the activation/programming of this new toy. It's a fantastic piece of equipment, but the activation process takes a little bit of time, as anyone who's purchased a new cell phone will undoubtedly understand.
So, while I'm doing up the paper work, I engage in some chit-chat and ask him what he does for a living that he would need a toy like this. He comments that I wouldn't believe him if he told me... to which I said "try me". When I look back on things, I regret that moment more than anything else in the past week. He tells me he's a priest (or pastor... I forget at this time because I was programming things) and then tells me that (and I quote) "He can immediately tell that I'm not a religious person".
This kind of interrupts my programming and I look up at him and ask exactly how he can make that assumption after being in my store for 10 minutes. His response... my appearance gives it away. I stopped everything completely, and looked straight at him and said that in fact he was correct in that assumption, but that judging it based on my appearance was a somewhat prejudiced thing to do, and also that my appearance in no way should represent my beliefs towards organized religion.
He then wants to know why I've chosen the path that I have. I told him quickly that 28 years on this earth had allowed me to equip myself with enough knowledge to develop my own beliefs and that they were not important at this point in time. I went back to programming the PDA, only to hear the following ignorant statement come out of his mouth. "Well... when you hit rock bottom and you figure out that your family and friends are not there for you, you will realize that the church is the the place that will help you to pick yourself back up again". I WAS STUNNED. Then he mutters something about tennis player Boris Becker reaching a pinnacle in his carreer and finding out that it left him hollow inside because he hadn't pursued any form of organized religion. I AM STILL STUNNED FROM THE EARLIER COMMENT. So stunned that I actually made a mistake with the programming and could not get the voice features of the PDA working properly. I also bit my tongue so as not to start some sort of argument with this customer.
If this had been a typical cell phone, I would have asked him to leave the store. However, upper management would not be too happy if I took that course of action towards a customer that was purchasing a PDA. So, I continued to bite my tongue and diagnose the problem I was having. About 5 minutes passed and he was continuing to babble and I was growing frustrated with the PDA, and with this customer. I then hear him say that he will say a prayer in order to get the PDA to work. My eyes roll as I'm looking downwards, and then the unthinkable happens. He PRAYED. He prayed out loud in my store. He prayed out loud in my store to GOD to help solve the problem with the PDA.
Then he takes it one step further, and comments that GOD will help fix the problem because the PDA is for him. He reiterated that the prayer was not for me because of my lack of religious affiliation, but in fact for him and only him. This was too much to take. I put down the PDA and asked if he had a cell number that I could contact him on and that I was going to make some calls in order to get the problem solved, but if he'd like to go have a coffee with his wife and do some more shopping in the mall I would be happy to contact them as soon as I got the PDA working properly. He actually told me that he would much rather wait while I worked on it. My frustration grows. I call someone to get some ideas, and she mentions something that reminded me exactly where my problem was. I get the problem solved and have this PDA working. I hand it to him, and proceed to quickly invoice him so he can get out of my store.
He took my business card. I didn't want him to, but he did. I also have to do a follow up with this customer, because that's good customer service. The good news, is that tonight I should be getting one of these PDA's to test for a few months in order to be able to provide much better service to future customers. The regional manager can't stop laughing at the thought that I have to call this customer back. She's enjoying this just a little too much.
There is a time and a place for people to discuss their beliefs and any sort of a work environment is not an acceptable place. If you are having a church related gathering, then by all means. But entering another person's place of business and forcing your beliefs on them is not a the correct time and place for that. In my experience, I have found that the majority of Atheists and general non-religious people seem to have a level of tolerance and acceptance for the various types of religions, but more importantly do not seem to partake in the kind of behaviour that this customer did. I can honestly say that I have never had an Atheist approach me and criticize me about my beliefs. And whatever I have formed as my own beliefs are just that... my own, and they shouldn't be important to anyone else.
Afterall, I am not causing harm to any small animals. Virgins... well, they probably aren't safe around me.
Happy Celling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
