Compliments Are Exhausting

I was at work a long time today and I'm pretty pooped.  Gonna keep it short.  Compliments are exhausting, sometimes.  Two individual ladies, a pair of ladies, and three couples declared with much aplomb that I was "a lifesaver", "the best help ever", "the awesomest person right now" (nice restriction and restraint to that compliment), and "simply amazing".  No kidding.  Another was "so grateful for my help" and the last was "so glad (she) came here so (she) could have (me) help (her)".  I jotted them down to remember.  And I only started jotting them down after a few had come and gone.  One added, "and knowledge is power.  And now I am powerful."  I didn't roll my eyes.  Now that's salesmanship!  

I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think I've gotten that amount and that quality of praise since I was potty training.  And these compliments were from total strangers, not my mother.

During my training on the floor, yes, all 12 minutes of it, I was appalled at the salesmanship I witnessed.  Yeah, it was polished, it flowed smoothly, it was knowledgeable and even somewhat witty.  But something in the back of my head was retching.  "False!" it screamed.  And the one major thing I'm worrying about is if I'm turning into that salesman.  I don't think so.  But the worry is there.  I'd like to think that the compliments I receive means that the customers are seeing me as a force for their good.  Because, when it comes down to it, only half of my customers bought something today.  The other half had more to think about and I let them go.  Batting .500 on sales?  Is that good for a salesman?  I don't know.  But batting about .600 for awesome compliments and 1.000 for compliments in general...  Not bad, I guess.

But back to why compliments are exhausting.  It's because I have other things to do at work.  And that's all my bosses see.  For what I make, I care a literal fuckload about how my department looks and whether any of my coworkers need help or not.  But when it comes to measurable metrics in their eyes, constantly doing projects on ladders and carrying heavy objects that others refuse to move and (yes) escorting coworkers to their cars after dark takes up exactly zero time.  And when I fail to do their specific task set for me, they mention it.  "You're right," I say.  "Too many interruptions."  To which they have little to say.

At the same time, yesterday, a cohort in my department told me with a straight face that I do everything right.  I shrugged it off but he reiterated.  That puffed me up pretty good after that for a while.  I know I've written before about being complimented, but it is still a really novel thing for me coming from the workplace.  I went almost ten years either being complimented by people I didn't like or ignored at best by the rest.  There was a real dearth of thumbs-up through my first decade of work.  And I don't think I'm alone.  There are so many thankless jobs out there.  At least mine isn't thankless this time around.  It may be exhausting, and pitifully underpaid work, but it is in one sense very gratifying.

I may be the only person in the world that will be thankful when it's all said and done for having the chance to experience retail.