Bratty Behavior

I work in the meat department at a local grocery store. I hear my name called from out front, and it’s my store manager. A customer is looking for something and he’s unable to help, so I head out and approach the customer.

Me: “Hi there! What is it you’re looking for?”

Customer: “I’m looking for some brats but with cheese.”

Me: “We’re unfortunately out of a lot of stuff, but we have quite a few different brat options.”

I show her everything we do have, which isn’t a heck of a lot due to it being the morning of the fourth of July. After I show her all her options, she thanks me, and I go back to stocking the shelves from getting weird it the night before. Maybe ninety seconds later, the same customer approaches me.

Customer: “So, what are bratwurst?”

Y’all, it takes every ounce of over a decade of retail work’s worth of learning how to deal with customers to not make a face. 

Me: “Uh, well, ‘brat’ is just short for ‘bratwurst.’”

Customer: “…?”

Me: “The word ‘brat’ is just short for the word ‘bratwurst.’”

Customer: “…?”

Me: *Internal sigh* “They’re the same thing.”

Customer: “Oooh… Okay?”

I’m still not convinced she understood.