I propose a culling of the social herd.

For every person that comes into this store who deserves the consideration and respect I prefer to extend to my customers, it seems like there has to be another who deserves a brutally efficient curb-stomping. Objectively, I know the ratio is not so dire regardless of how draconian the old saw "no good deed goes unpunished" may appear subjectively. What annoys me most is how utterly senseless most of it is. Ninety-nine point nine nine percent of the time, the people who incite my ire do so without any discernable reason.

To illustrate, earlier today I had to eject two men from the arcade section of the store.

What was the issue I had with them? They were just standing around in the hallway. They were not engaged in a conversation. At that moment, none of the booths were in use so they weren't waiting for a friend to finish his viewing nor were they waiting for a booth to open up. They were just hanging out back there.

I let them be for a good five minutes before I wandered down to where they were and politely informed them that they really needed to be watching movies if they were going to be in the arcade area. Everything was nice and easy at this point and I meandered back to the counter area.

Except five bloody minutes later, they hadn't moved an inch. We don't allow people to loiter in the store. It's a simple rule. It's an easy to understand rule. When comes to the arcade, it's an especially important rule; people lurking in the arcade area cause problems. So when I've been generous in the window of opportunity I have provided, even after I have issued a tactful warning, I figure they've fashioned quite a striking noose from the rope I've provided.

This time when I made my way back to where they were, it was a less warm, "Alright, you guys are out of here." As you could probably guess, both lads were taken completely by surprise at this decree. In fact, the second one even felt the need to ask, "Me too?" Why yes. You do need to leave. When I've spelled out store policy, you do not get to ignore it with impunity.

The whole episode was tediously inane. I should not have had to tell them point-blank to get the fuck out of my store. Perhaps if I shot one of them in the knee-cap they would have paid attention.