Moan-y And Lace-y

With “Back To School” season, my shoe store gets a LOT of stressed moms, but this lady is great. She enters with her two daughters, and my coworker offers to measure their feet and help her.

After finding a few shoes, they’re trying on a pair of skate shoes with two sets of laces, so you can wear both or one pair. The woman asks for my coworker’s help, and she tightens and ties the laces. Then, the woman starts arguing with her kids, halfway down an aisle, so my friend walks away after standing around for a few minutes awkwardly.

Customer: “Excuse me! Excuse me! I’d like some help!”

Me: “Yes, can I help you?”

Customer: “Yeah, there was another girl who was helping me but she just left.”

Me: “She probably thought you were done talking with her and were talking with your daughters.”

Customer: “Well, obviously not!”

Me: “All right, well, what can I help you with?”

Customer: “The laces!”

Me: “Yes…? There are two pairs, so you can see how they look with the shoes. You can wear one or both.”

Customer: “Well, obviously!”

Me: “What would you like me to do?”

Customer: “Help me! The laces!”

Me: “Do you want them tightened? Or removed? I can take the other ones out—”

Customer: “I thought this was a customer service store, but obviously not!”

Me: “If you tell me what you want, I can help you.”

Customer: “The laces! Obviously, I have to do everything myself here! Self-service, apparently!”

I walked away when she started violently tying/fixing/messing with the laces. She called back to complain to my manager that we were “giving attitude” and the like.