Demolishing Any Hope You Had Left For Humanity
I’m a contractor who’s working at a big-box retail store undergoing major renovations. The front doors are left unlocked for other crew and contractors. I’m in a hi-vis vest, clipboard in hand, talking with two electricians. The store has huge chunks demolished and cleared out, all the shelves empty, wires hanging everywhere, the works.
Suddenly, a woman marches past us, wheeling an empty cart.
Customer: “You! Where’s the shampoo aisle? I’ve been looking everywhere!”
I work for the contracting company, not the store, so I don’t have to be nice to store customers, but I try because this woman must be seriously confused!
Me: “Ma’am, the store’s closed for renovations. It’s not open to the public right now.”
Customer: “Well, the door wasn’t locked. That’s misleading. And you’ve got no signs!”
I point behind her to a three-meter-wide banner hanging above the entrance:
Sign: “TEMPORARILY CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS. REOPENING AUGUST!”
The customer, instead of acknowledging her mistake, doubles down to try to reclaim some dignity.
Customer: “Still. You should at least keep some shelves stocked!”
Me: “The store isn’t selling shampoo right now, but we’ve got plenty of exposed wiring if you’d like a new hairstyle.”
We escorted her out and told her to come back in August. Not only was it crazy that she’d found her way into the partially demolished store, but all the carts were locked up on the other side of the parking lot. We had to send a guy over there to take it back to find out that someone must have used something like a bolt-cutter to release the shopping carts!
