5 Reasons I'm Grateful For My Sister

In my opinion, family is the most important thing there is. They're the ones that shape you into who you're going to be, they help structure your morals and your outlook on life. Family are the people that look out for you and support you when you need it most. Sometimes, the people that you consider family aren't blood related, they're just the people that love you unconditionally.
I consider myself very lucky to have the family that I do. Even though we've grown apart over the years we're still fairly close-knit. I'm also fortunate enough to have a fantastic relationship with my parents, we talk often, for hours and about everything that you can think of. My parents are some of the first to find out exciting things about my life and also some of the first that I ask for advice. I regularly talk to most of my first cousins and I'm confident that if I ever need help in anything, my family will be there for me.
But the one person I probably have the strongest relationship with is my older sister. She's been with me my whole life and we've managed to remain close after 20 years! Through all of our ups and downs, these are some of the things I'm most grateful for.

#5. We can laugh together.
It makes a lot of sense that we have a lot of history together, we've been together my whole life. We have so many stories from our history together that we could probably write an entire book of anecdotes. Some of my favourite memories involve my sister. Every now and then, a memory will randomly pop into my head and I'll burst out laughing, those are the best kind. 
We also have a certain number of memories that we will laugh about every single time. We even laugh when remembering a time that we laughed at memories! Remember that time, sister in the car with the look the guy gave us when we were talking about dad and the wall, and Peter and the tomato?
Even better are the memories we share that only people of a similar frame of mind will find funny. Stories that normal people would find morbid or disgusting that we find both fascinating and hilarious. Like that time I used a fox as a puppet, or the heart that was... Well I'll leave the details of those stories for a better time and save you all from deciding you hate us :P
I am so incredibly grateful to have someone that I can count on being silly with me whenever we see each other. I love being able to share a lifetime of memories with someone that is filled with laughter.

#4. We can cry together.
We've had our share of misfortune in our family, divorces, deaths and other assorted sadness. When we were young our parents split up and eventually got divorced. My sister was someone that I could complain to and express my concerns and fears without being in some way biased towards the situation. She was, after all, going through the same thing. I can remember crying together when our first dog was put down, although I vaguely remember not fully understanding at the time. When our second dog got really sick and was facing being put down, I cried to her completely judgement free. When we've had family die we've cried together and comforted each other.
I can still remember one time when I was in high school and I'd just broken up with a boyfriend and, naturally, was feeling rather upset. I sent my sister a text message telling her what had happened and she came into my room to chat. It turned out that she'd also broken up with her boyfriend about a week before so we cried together again! And then we ended up laughing after saying how terrible boys were and that we were clearly just too awesome to handle.
I'm grateful to have someone that I know will always be there for me. No matter who dies, no matter how many relationships start or end, no matter what the issue is, she will always be there. As she's also older than me, there's a good chance she's been there too! My sister is one of a handful of people that I'm comfortable crying in front of and I'm truly thankful for that.

#3. We can criticise each other.
Chances are, someone that's known you your whole life knows you fairly well. Siblings have seen most of both the smart and the dumb things you've done in your life. They've watched you deal with simple problems and more difficult ones. They've seen you at your happiest and your saddest. They've probably also guided you through all of those things. So when you're being a dickhead or on a dangerous path they have the ability to recognise what you're doing and confront you about it. If I ever go to my sister with a problem she'll tell me exactly what she thinks I should do. If that means telling me that what I'm doing is only making things worse then that's what she'll tell me. Sure, that means that we've had our fair share of fights and arguments throughout our time but we've turned out pretty well so it's really all for the best.
I'm grateful to have someone who will confront me on an issue, even if she's half way across the world. I'm also grateful that I can tell her exactly what I think and even if she hates me at the time she'll always get over it sooner or later.

#2. We can trust and support each other.
Every female needs someone to talk to at one time or another. It could just to be feel like someone is there for her. It could be that something has happened and she needs reassuring that she's not going to die. It could be about every day life or it might be something incredibly personal that she can't seek advice from the general public about. My sister is someone that I can tell all my personal problems to without ever fearing being mocked or judged. I can tell her everything from the one thing that annoyed me that particular day to the detailed horrific ways that my body has decided to fail me this week. I can trust her with personal details about my life without worrying that she'll tell anyone.
When I go to my sister with a problem, I can trust the advice that she gives me. If she tells me what she would do if she were in the same place, I know that that's the honest truth. I am truly grateful that she is one of the handful of people that I can go to about anything, no matter what and no matter when.

#1. We love each other unconditionally.
My sister and I have, at times, had a very rocky relationship. But no matter how many times we've hated, hurt, lied to, insulted, left out, teased, mocked or otherwise been generally horrible to each other we will always be sisters and we will always love each other. I'm confident that if we ever go years without talking (Ha! Like that'll ever happen!) when we see each other again we'll start right where we left off. There's not a lot that I wouldn't do to protect my sister. I would happily take all her pains on myself so that she could live a day free of and stresses or pains. I'd even help her set her ex boyfriend on fire if she ever asked :P
I'm confident that I could call my sister any time of night or day and she would be there for me. I know that she will put aside her own problems to help me with mine, even if they seem pathetic in relation to her own. I know that if I ask something of her and it is in her power to help me, she will. I'm grateful that my sister will judge me for all of the things that I've done and especially the things that I tell her but love me anyway. I can only hope that she knows and thinks the same for me. :)
Love you sis, stay awesome <3

5 Annoying Groups of Customers

Anyone that works in any job involving human interaction will have certain things that annoy them about customers. Be it individuals, personalities, specific behaviours or any number of things, I'm sure any of you that have worked in these types of positions can easily think of something that gets to you.
I work at a store called Dan Murphy's. For those of you that don't know, it's basically a liquor warehouse. My store is huge and has hundreds of spirits, wines, beers, pre mixed drinks and a number of other things to choose from. We consider it a moderate to high risk environment and it's not all that hard to break bottles and result in injury from glass shards. We also tend to be fairly fast paced. It's not about rushing to get people out the door, rather to avoid people holding 7-20kg cartons waiting in line forever.
We pride ourselves on excellent customer service, going well out of our way to be kind, helpful and polite. It's for these reasons we hold our tongues when annoying customers reveal themselves. People that disrupt the store environment both for customers and staff.
People that...

Use phrases you've already heard a hundred times and still think they're hilarious.

I'm putting this first because it's rather subjective. I'm sure there are people who forget they've already heard it a dozen times the last hour, and genuinely believe it's funny.
I am not one of those people.
There are only so many times I can ask someone if they would like their receipt and hear "No, you can't get tax back on alcohol!" or "No, just my change," or even "No thanks, save a tree!"before I want to start facepalm. The most common one is possibly "No thanks, I won't be bringing it back!" Yet we have to smile and laugh like it's the first time it's ever been said.
I have a red headed cousin who worked at Red Rooster where their uniforms, unsurprisingly, are red. She consistently would get comments of "Did you know your hair matches your shirt?" As if this was the biggest news in the world.
Another one that we hear constantly is when PayPass doesn't work for someone and they have to insert their card's chip. "Oh, well I guess I have to do it the old fashioned way." I'm twenty and I can remember when chips first came out on cards. It's really not old fashioned at all!

Don't know how to use EFTPOS machines.

This one applies to young and old alike. It's not people with cards that won't read properly that are the issue. It's people that don't know which way to swipe or insert their card. It's people that don't wait for the machines to be ready to read their cards and then wonder why they don't work. PayPass was supposed to make life easier, you could just tap and it would be done. But it doesn't always read the first time and people will stand there for five minutes trying to tap it before attempting to insert their card's chip. I should mention this is five minutes after you first suggested it.
Then there are those that don't know how to use either the touchscreen half or the pinpad and get grumpy when it doesn't work.

There is a little picture on most EFTPOS machines that show you how to hold the card. It also helps to know which account your money needs to come out of and know which PIN belongs to which care. If this is still too much trouble, take someone else with you that DOES know!

Make absolutely no effort to communicate with you/flat out ignore you.

I know, some of you might think "Maybe they just didn't hear you?" Almost everyone in my store has an indoor voice the same volume as most people's outdoor voices. We almost shout at everyone that comes within out visual range. 

These are the people that will hear you, look at you and then say nothing. When a person approaches the register there are a series of questions that we ask. These include the basics such as whether or not they would like a receipt. or a bag, or a box, or even just asking how their day has been. Some customers just can't talk enough yet others refuse to say a word.

I have legitimately served deaf people that have made more of an effort to communicate than some perfectly capable of talking and hearing. How do I know this? They often come into the store talking on the phone. Which brings me to another group...

Won't hang up the phone.

Some phone calls are important, some have to be answered. Others, really don't. I don't really want to listen to you talking to your friend about what you plan to do on the weekend, or how annoying your boyfriend is being. If I then have to ask you something, I'm the one who's seen as rude!

It becomes slightly less annoying when people apologise for being on the phone, or for having to answer it. Part of my job involves human interaction, in fact, it's a rather important part. We're told right from the word go to be polite and enthusiastic, it's very hard to do that when it seems like you are actively avoiding talking to us. 

People on the phone will also hold up lines as they are more distracted and take longer paying, sorting their things out and then taking their purchases away from the registers.

One amusing thing that comes out of people on the phone is how often the person waiting behind them will start to complain about how rude or inconsiderate the talkers are. Just shows, it's not just the people that work there!

Bring in young or misbehaved children.

This is not only annoying, but dangerous. In liquor stores there is the added risk of children knocking off bottles onto themselves or stepping on broken glass. Thankfully, that's not happened while I've been working, so far at least. I have, however, had children get their finger stuck in trolleys, seen them smacked in the face by the automatic closing gates, had them trip and fall or slide along the floor and fall. There have been children that throw or fling things, get run over by trolleys and all manner of other injuries. 

Then there are those that just yell. So their parents are yelling back trying to get them to stop and holding up other customers. These children disrupt the atmosphere for both customers and staff and make it more challenging to assist customers over the din.

We frequently have children coming in that climb over things and run around all over the place. Not only do they hurt themselves but they run into other customers. The day that a child runs into an elderly customer and knocks them over in our store will definitely not be a surprising one.

To those parents that bring in well behaved, lovely mannered children into stores, we all sincerely thank you.