Does Not Get Your Teal Of Approval

(I work in a store that sells home furnishings, and we have several different kinds of stools. Late one evening, a woman walks in, and I greet her as I’m straightening a display at the front.)

Customer: “You’re holding a stool for me.”

(While we do have a designated area for hold items, if the item is larger, we’ll leave it on the floor due to limited space in the stockroom, and to prevent employees from having to carry big or heavy pieces back and forth in case the customer doesn’t show after the hold expires.)

Me: “Sure! What’s the name?”

Customer: “It’s either under [Customer] or [Other Name].”

Me: “All right, let me check for you.”

(Sometimes if we have an item of furniture in the stockroom in a box, we can hold the box for them. I go back to check the stockroom in the event that this is the case, but I see nothing, so I walk around the floor checking the stool displays for a hold tag. I still find nothing, so I return to the customer.)

Me: “Ma’am, I seem to be having trouble finding it; could you describe it to me?”

Customer: “It’s teal.”

Me: “Let me look again.”

(I check the few stools we have matching her description. Still nothing. The customer tells me she called us ten minutes before close the night before to have us hold the stool for her, so I wonder if perhaps the closers didn’t have the time or forgot to make the hold tag.)

Customer: “Have you found it yet?”

Me: “No, it seems like there was a bit of a mix-up. Could you tell me anything else about it? How tall is it? Is it made of wood or metal?”

Customer: “I don’t remember. It’s teal!”

(I check one more time, but there’s no teal stool on hold. The customer is getting annoyed and complaining about how we need a holding area.)

Me: “Was it tall or short? We have this bar stool up here, or these counter stools?”

Customer: “No, it was shorter than that. It was a small stool for a vanity or something.”

(Thinking perhaps she was looking for one of our ottomans to use as a footstool, I go to look, but find nothing. Eventually, I notice a small silver and white footstool with a hold tag in the customer’s name.)

Me: “Ma’am, is this it?”

Customer: “Yes, that’s it!”

(She purchases the stool and walks out, satisfied. My manager, who was helping another customer, watches her leave.)

Manager: “So… that wasn’t even remotely teal.”

Me: “I have no idea anymore.”