A Tiny Problem With Your Request

(I’m at my college bookstore.)

Me: “Do you have the book The Many Masks of Modern Art?”

Clerk #1: “I don’t think we have that title.”

Me: “Are you sure? My professor assigned it and said the bookstore would have it.”

Clerk #1: “I’m not seeing it.” *calls a second clerk over* “Can you find this title?”

Clerk #2: “I don’t see it. Are you sure that’s the exact title?”

Me: “I think so.”

(This is before cell phones, so I can’t look it up.)

Me: “The Many Masks of Modern Art.”

Clerk #2: “Wait a minute… Yes, here it is.”

(It turns out the first clerk had typed in “The Mini Masks of Modern Art.” I guess she thought we were studying tiny masks.)