Before I get into the story, I wanted to apologize for missing a blog. I feel bad that the first gap in my posts had to happen while I still have saved stories in my phone. Work yesterday was a short, easy shift, but afterward was pretty bumpy, and I didn't get the chance to update. My work schedule has been rather wonky, as well, so I didn't have time to type it up in advance like I have been, either. Oh well, c'est la vie.
There's also a reason why the title for this one isn't a date. After the situation you will soon be reading about occurred, I did type it up and text it like usual. Unfortunately, I realized later that I never saved the original message. So not only will today be my first post after missing a blog, it will also be my first post completely from memory and without my little, condensed rough draft to keep my train of thought from derailing. This is going to be fun...
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~The store that I work in not only has everything from shaving cream to ice cream, it also has a sandwich shop conveniently located inside of it. I'll make a point of it now to mention that my store has no affiliation with the sandwich shop other than the fact that they are under the same roof. They both have separate employees, owners, dress codes, phone lines, store names, and hours of operation. Be sure to keep this in mind, because it will be important information later.
On this day, after I clocked out for lunch, I decided that I wanted some of that yummy, sandwich-y goodness. I walked through the entrance to the sandwich shop, absently took note of a woman and her son, who were off to the side, and stood in line to wait my turn. There were still a couple more people in line in front of me when I inevitably fell victim to another ignorant shopper. The woman had I made note of had a couple, full shopping bags from my store and looked as if she was waiting for someone in line to get their food before leaving the premises. I was just lucky enough to have gone on lunch while she and her son were in there because he ended up tapping me on the elbow.
I had heard something going on behind me, but I was ready and willing to ignore it. Regrettably, after he got my attention, I turned around to see the little boy staring at me and pointing to something on the floor. When I paused for a second try to make sense of what was going on, the mother instructed her child to show me what was in his hand. It was an empty Push-Pop tube. Upon seeing this, the little light in my head sparked to life and I realized what the boy had been pointing to: a piece of shattered candy.
From what I gathered at this point, the woman must have purchased the candy for her son while they were checking out in my store. While they were waiting for whoever was in line to get a sandwich made, the kid had opened his Push-Pop only to have the unknowingly broken candy inside of it fall out. It didn't surprise me that something like this would happen. Little children grab and drop candy all the time before their parents tell them no and put it back on the shelf. The boy could have even dropped it, himself, prior to opening it. Whatever the case, I now had the task of finding out why I about being bother about this.
Once I recognized the candy, all I could do to react was shrug my shoulders and give the mother a quizzical look. Her response was, "Don't you work here?" as if to imply that I either needed to do something about replacing the candy or at least clean it up. The first thing that popped into my head was, "Oh hell no," but I'm pretty sure what came out of my mouth was something along the lines of, "Um, not in here, and I'm not even clocked in." To my overwhelming glee, she gave me a disgusted look, gathered up her groceries and her son, and left. I even made a point of not mentioning that she could have simply swapped the treat out at the service desk in my superstore where she had obviously bought it. After I'd gotten my food and sat down, I found that they had even left the broken candy on the floor and its empty container on the table.
I don't know how it could have been any more obvious that bugging me about that shattered, sugary treat was going to be futile. I had been quietly standing in line to get something to eat and I didn't even have my name tag on. That usually, to most people with more than a handful of braincells, means that I was on a lunch break. If she expected me to walk out into the superstore and get her boy a new Push-Pop, she was sorely mistaken. There is no way that I was going to take time out of my hour to replace a $.98 piece of sugar.
On this day, after I clocked out for lunch, I decided that I wanted some of that yummy, sandwich-y goodness. I walked through the entrance to the sandwich shop, absently took note of a woman and her son, who were off to the side, and stood in line to wait my turn. There were still a couple more people in line in front of me when I inevitably fell victim to another ignorant shopper. The woman had I made note of had a couple, full shopping bags from my store and looked as if she was waiting for someone in line to get their food before leaving the premises. I was just lucky enough to have gone on lunch while she and her son were in there because he ended up tapping me on the elbow.
I had heard something going on behind me, but I was ready and willing to ignore it. Regrettably, after he got my attention, I turned around to see the little boy staring at me and pointing to something on the floor. When I paused for a second try to make sense of what was going on, the mother instructed her child to show me what was in his hand. It was an empty Push-Pop tube. Upon seeing this, the little light in my head sparked to life and I realized what the boy had been pointing to: a piece of shattered candy.
From what I gathered at this point, the woman must have purchased the candy for her son while they were checking out in my store. While they were waiting for whoever was in line to get a sandwich made, the kid had opened his Push-Pop only to have the unknowingly broken candy inside of it fall out. It didn't surprise me that something like this would happen. Little children grab and drop candy all the time before their parents tell them no and put it back on the shelf. The boy could have even dropped it, himself, prior to opening it. Whatever the case, I now had the task of finding out why I about being bother about this.
Once I recognized the candy, all I could do to react was shrug my shoulders and give the mother a quizzical look. Her response was, "Don't you work here?" as if to imply that I either needed to do something about replacing the candy or at least clean it up. The first thing that popped into my head was, "Oh hell no," but I'm pretty sure what came out of my mouth was something along the lines of, "Um, not in here, and I'm not even clocked in." To my overwhelming glee, she gave me a disgusted look, gathered up her groceries and her son, and left. I even made a point of not mentioning that she could have simply swapped the treat out at the service desk in my superstore where she had obviously bought it. After I'd gotten my food and sat down, I found that they had even left the broken candy on the floor and its empty container on the table.
I don't know how it could have been any more obvious that bugging me about that shattered, sugary treat was going to be futile. I had been quietly standing in line to get something to eat and I didn't even have my name tag on. That usually, to most people with more than a handful of braincells, means that I was on a lunch break. If she expected me to walk out into the superstore and get her boy a new Push-Pop, she was sorely mistaken. There is no way that I was going to take time out of my hour to replace a $.98 piece of sugar.
3 comments:
good Lord, what a bitch. i can relate. i had a lady tell me i was "rude and argumentative" at Starbucks the other day because i told her we didn't carry a kind of coffee. um,sorry?! sigh. people.
Nice, isn't it, how some mother raise their kids? You did the right thing, Sally!! I hope your lunchbreak was nice and relax after that incident.
Oh man, Christina, you should have -known- to her her coffee in stock. Sheesh. :p
And thank you, Ellen. I don't recall having anymore problems after the lady left. ^_^
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