Be kind to interviewers, they're only trying to do their work

I was interviewing people in Helsinki last Tuesday. It's a part-time job alongside of studies.

People do not think highly of such job, and I can see why. Bothering people with dozens of questions on their spare time in a chaotic shopping mall, just as they have got out from work to do their grocery purchases.

That Tuesday was the worst slump so far. Recalling the event makes my blood still boil, but I can only blame my self.

The idea was to interview anyone who came out of the store, and basically figure out why one chooses to shop in this store and not the other.

The day was almost ending, and I was just checking my phone for messages. On the same moment one quite chubby man who had packed his week's food made an eye contact. He was about to walk away so quickly I put the phone into my pocket, and asked him "How are you doing?" He turned his face away saying, "Why do you ask? You're not interested anyway how am I doing."

Nice start. This guy wasn't obviously in a mood to answer, but I went on replying "I thought asking that would be a nice way to begin a conversation." The guy frowned at me and said, "Well, I'm not interested to have a conversation with you." That made two of us, but as my duty is to get the questionnaire forms filled, I asked him whether he'd be interested to participate anyway.

This man abruptly refused and was about to turn away, but then suddenly he bent down to pick up something from the floor. After a brief moment he got up holding up a 5 euro bill in his hand. "Look at this!" he yelled squeezing the note firmly. "Maybe I can answer your questionnaire after all."

Half of the form was complete, but then he started to get hostile. He was criticizing almost every question. "What is this question, 'is the store socially responsible'? Isn't every store in a way contributing to the welfare?" Who the hell has invented these god damn questions? You? I think this questionnaire is ridiculous!"

All I could do was to explain, "I'm only interviewing, and that's my poor job. If you help me out on this I'd be very pleased." He softened a little and continued to answer. Then as I turned to next page his fury exploded at once. "With how many questions you dare to bother me? I need much more than 5 euro to answer your foolish questionnaire! I've done a marketing research once, and I know how they should be. The hell with it! This is enough!"

His shouts echoed in the mall as he was marching away. You can imagine I felt down, and the fact that interviewer's wage is counted per completed form made the situation even more annoying. Half an hour wasted only to get irritated. Splendid.

I put my hands into my pockets and gathered my wits. A 5 euro note had been in my pocket, but where was it now? Oh dear, it had dropped...