Boxed In By Boomers

I am a merchandiser for a popular card company. This means I go by myself to each store and set up our card display. The day after Valentine’s, I am doing a changeover from said holiday’s cards to the next holiday. It’s a six-hour job, so my boss sends me someone else to help out so we can do it in three.

I arrive at the second store first and, per my boss’ suggestion, box off the area we will be working in. I also tell the store manager — whom I do not work for — what my boss suggested, and he tells me to do what I need to do. I am missing something, so I call my boss to see if I’m looking in the right place.

An older lady walks up and sees my barrier. I have already started taking cards down and have about eight open boxes to look for what I’m missing.

Old Lady: “Can you move some boxes so I can get through?”

I tell my boss to hold on and turn to the old lady.

Me: “So sorry, I’ve had to block off this area to reset it. There are lots of boxes and trash so it could be dangerous. Would you mind going around?”

Old Lady: “I have a f****** cane! This is ridiculous!”

My Boss: “What?”

While the lady is walking down the other aisle, so she’s probably within earshot:

Me: “Sorry, [Boss], I was getting sworn at.”

Each section of cards is four feet, meaning the aisle is sixteen feet. One side of the aisle I was working on was eight feet and the other six, so I had a cart slanted in the middle of the aisle for customers to shop on the other side. Basically, I got sworn at because this lady didn’t want to walk not even twenty-five feet. And they say my generation is lazy!