Unfiltered Story #238370

When I was in high school I had a weekend job at a local electronics store. It was a small mom-and-pop store but we had everything from video games and car stereos to parts and components, so we’d also get hobbyists in to buy specialist stuff for their projects. After about one year of working there the owner was confident enough in my shopkeeping abilities and product knowledge that he frequently left me to run the shop by myself. Mind you, I was still young (about 17) and looked even younger; so we’d sometimes have customers assuming I knew nothing about all the small parts in the hundreds of bins behind the counter.

*elderly man comes in the shop, approaches the counter*

Me: “Hello, how can I help you?”

Man: “I’d like to see the boss.”

Me, already knowing where this is going: “Ok. Can you tell me what it is you need? Maybe I can be of assistance.”

Man: “No, just get me your boss.”

(I go to the backoffice)

Me: “Hey (boss’s name), there’s a customer who insists that you help him.”

Slightly annoyed boss: “Ok, whatever for?”

Me: “Beats me, he didn’t want to tell me.”

(we emerge from the backoffice)

Boss: “Hello sir, what can we do for you?”

Man: “The battery in my wristwatch needs changing.” (shows ordinary watch)

Boss: “Sure. (My name), will you take care of that?”

My boss quickly disappears again in the back before the customer can voice any concern. In no time I opened the watch, checked the battery to make sure there was no other issue, selected a replacement, popped it in and adjusted the watch to the correct time.

Me: “There you go sir. That will be (amount).”

The customer paid and left without saying much. I could tell he was thinking I didn’t do it right, but the moving second hand on his watch said otherwise.