Barking Up The Wrong Christmas Tree

Clothing Store | Working | December 26, 2014

(The shops on our street all have little fake trees put above their doors for the festive season. This happens in about the third week of November. I am scheduled to be in the shop alone for a couple of hours, as the only other person available to work then is the owner, who hardly ever comes in. The guy who usually puts up the Christmas trees every year comes through the door.)

Christmas Tree Guy: “Hi there!”

Me: “Oh, hi!”

Christmas Tree Guy: “Is your tree all put together and ready to go?”

Me: “Er, no, I’m really sorry. Nobody told me you’d be coming today!”

Christmas Tree Guy: “That’s okay; not your fault! I’ll come back in a while when you’ve got it ready.”

(I give the owner a couple of calls to ask her where the tree is, but she doesn’t pick up. So, I go down into our extremely full stock room and spend about ten minutes looking for the tree, and then another ten minutes moving heavy boxes around so that I can actually get the tree out of the stock room. Luckily it’s quite a slow morning, and no customers come in while I’m attempting to put together the tree. It’s really a two person job, so I’m having quite a bit of trouble. After about half an hour, I get to the top section of the tree, only to discover the part that attaches the top section to the bottom section is actually broken. I spend about another fifteen minutes trying to fix the part with duct tape, before the owner finally calls me back. I explain the situation with the tree.)

Owner: “Oh, don’t worry. I’ve ordered a new tree to go above the shop this year, so we don’t have to use the old one. Sorry.”

(I look at the broken tree, at the counter and floor, which are now covered with fake plastic pine needles, at the bunch of heavy boxes I had to move to get the tree out of the stock room, and my now ruined nails.)

Me: *grits teeth* “Fine. Thanks for letting me know.”

This story is part of the Christmas In The Workplace roundup!