Marker Menace

Well, here I am again. I apologize for my extended, unannounced leave of absence, but I do have good reason for it. The past month was and is in a rough patch relationship-wise and I just haven't been up for making these posts. Its all really complicated and not content meant for this blog, but I think I've already thought of a remedy for that. Anyhoo, I might as well get back on track. With this site having been on the back burner in my mind for so long, I don't have as many stories to share as one might think for me not having made a post for over a month, but I do have a few. Enjoy.

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~ Having been scheduled to open the service deck on this one particular morning, I was cleaning up the previous night's mess when a woman approached the counter. She informed me that she was on an errand to purchase some money markers* for a place a business that she worked for. She had already checked in our stationary section, but was not able to find a single one. She queried an associate who had been working nearby, and he had apparently told her that, if she couldn't find any with the rest of the stationary, that there are usually boxes of them kept up front for the cashiers.

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Now, I'm going to stop right here, specifically, to point out that I have no idea where this associate would have gotten that idea about "boxes" of money markers. Yes, we do have money markers up front at the registers for the cashiers' use, but about a third of the time I open up a register, I have to commandeer a marker for myself from a closed register nearby. Not to mention that about a quarter of all of the ones up front are dried up and useless. That being said, allow me continue with the story.

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After the woman had stated her mission and current target (i.e. the store's markers,) I immediately spoke up and stated the fact that the markers provided to, and used by, the store are not for sale. Following that, I also made mention of an office supply store about ten minutes away where she would have better luck finding her quarry. To my surprise, this was unsatisfactory and she asked to speak with a supervisor. I made sure to point out that I was absolutely, 100% positive that my supervisor would give her the same information, but she stood fast in her request and waited patiently for me to find one.

So, I tracked down the opening supervisor and informed her of the situation. I imagine the look that she gave me was the same expression I displayed to the customer when presented with the predicament. We walked back to the waiting would-be customer and, as I'd warned her, my super provided her with the same, exact answer I did - No. Again, to my surprise, this woman would not be swayed. She stood firm and asked for a manager next. At this point, it was very obvious that she was prepared to climb the chain of command until she got what she wanted; i.e. A nonexistent box of money markers that are not, nor will ever be, for sale.

At any rate, upon her request for a manager, that is there my super and I drew the line. In any other case, we'd get right on finding one for her, but we knew this situation would get nowhere fast going that route. She tried to play the "Inconvenient Card" in saying that she didn't want to have to drive to a whole other store to get something we already had in our's, but we really didn't care. No matter how high she wanted to climb, there was no way she was going to get what she wanted, (be it a couple markers or a whole box) and we knew it. We stood our ground and continued to drive home the fact that there was no way she was going to be able to purchase something that isn't for sale.

After about five, long minutes, we were finally able to convince her to leave empty-handed. She might as well have walked in wanting to purchase one of our cash registers. It was a [sarcasm] wonderful [/sarcasm] way to start the day.


*A money marker is marker with a special ink designed to write clear only on non-counterfeit, paper currency.