Customers Need To Be More Open About This

(I’m about to go on a long car trip and will have to do a lot of typing on my phone, so I’m going to buy a Bluetooth keyboard. It’s a model my friend already bought and enjoys, but he doesn’t remember if the keys are mechanical or membrane. I really can’t stand membrane keys, so I plan to ask if I can see the item before buying it. When I reach the back, there is only one on the hook, already torn open by somebody else, but I take it to the counter anyway to ask if I can see it, for fear they’d think I did it.)

Me: “Hi. Can I open this to see what type of keys it has?” 

Cashier: “Sure, it’s already been opened, anyway.”

(I play it off that I didn’t know, and luckily, it has the kind of keys I like.)

Me: “Awesome. Can I pay for this here?”

(She stares at me for a few seconds.)

Cashier: “Yeah, sure!” *rings me up* “You know, you’re the first person since I’ve worked here to buy an open product, even if they opened it.”

Me: “Well, I don’t like germs but a wet wipe will cure that. But I know enough about technology to know that a fingerprint won’t make my new keyboard not work; heaven forbid they breathed on it, though.” 

(I got a laugh for that one.)