I have always wondered what it was like to be at the opposite side of the counter, to be the salesman instead of being the customer. And this summer, I was very fortunate (and unfortunate) to be given the opportunity to know.

Thanks to a friend, I managed to land a job as a customer sales attendant in an Apple store in Greenhills, San Juan City. I never expected the job to be an easy one, but nothing prepared me for what happened last June 7. Sure, I had heard stories about unreasonable customers berating salesmen for trivial reasons. But I can tell you being in that predicament was one of the worst experiences I have had in my entire 17 years of existence.

It started when I came back from my 15-minute snack break. The moment I entered the store, I was greeted by the familiar face of a woman who had purchased a laptop a couple of weeks earlier. She told me she wanted to buy two more laptops, and under the same terms. I told her the owner of the store was out of town, but suggested that she call him to arrange the deal, since I could not give discounts without his approval. She got in touch with the owner, and got what she wanted: a discount, plus a free case and keyboard protector.

The problem was, I did not know what kind of case to give her. Worried that I might give her the wrong case and that I would be made to pay for it, I asked her to call the owner again. But before I could finish, her husband butted in. He started calling me a “stiff ass.” He accused me of making their lives difficult, insisting I should know what kind of case the owner was talking about.

The truth was, I really didn’t know. I told him I had no authority to offer any discount or freebies since I did not own the place. And he told me, “You will never be the owner if you act like a stiff ass.”

I turned to his wife to try to reason with her. He cut me off and accused me of “pointing” at his wife.

The situation had become too scary for me, and so I retreated into the technician’s room until they left.

As soon as they were gone, I left my work seething. I was mad at the man who had cursed and insulted me over such a small thing. I was frustrated at myself for not standing up to him. I felt sad that there were people like him living in a “civilized” society.

This was my first ever summer job. And it was a truly “memorable” one. But I have few regrets. The experience gave me an insight I would never have learned inside a classroom. And as I prepare to enter college, it helped to harden me for travel on the rugged road ahead.

(Neil Chan, 17, is an incoming chemistry/materials science engineering freshman at the Ateneo de Manila University.)