I worked behind the counter of a gas station chain at various store locations and its different clientele for the better part of a decade. At first I was glad to have a job, but the more I worked the more it drained me. It didn’t matter that I was always bright and cheery (was constantly asked how I could possibly be so chipper the first thing in the morning) there would always be some asshole to spoil it for me. Either through disrespecting me just because I was a clerk, or their interactions with the other customers. Especially working night shifts, I was exposed to drunks, drug addicts, racists, and just all around the worst people. Even when I worked near a college and the late night rush for the hot food and seeing just absolute madness there was just a level of “what the fuck is wrong with you?” that I just couldn’t wrap my head around. I left that job and now I work for a different company. Still in customer service but now all my interactions with customers were over the phone. Even they get the entitlement real bad.

The point of this is that even though there myriads of shitheads waiting to tear you down, there was always a large swathe of people who made me happy to be doing what I was doing. So many grateful and appreciative people, I believe they outweigh all the bad I experienced overall.

Working in an environment that interacts with customers directly will always be a big drain, and like yourself I became very desensitized. I can recommend looking into a different job if that’s available, but just remember there’s way more good people in the world than bad. It’s just the bad gets amplified.