Not Open To The Idea At All

A store I frequent opens at 10 AM. I’m usually early, grab a snack from the shop next door, and eat it while waiting for them to open. Around 9:55, a man walks up to the door, gets nose-to-glass close with the open-hours signs, snaps his fingers, turns, and leaves. Out comes the store clerk.

Clerk: “Hello? May I help you?”

Customer: “No, no, you’re not open.”

Clerk: “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll just open. What do you need?”

Customer: “No! You’re not open. I’ll stop by on my way back.”

Clerk: “I’ll just open five minutes earlier, no big deal, what can I—”

Customer: *Now actually angry.* “You! Are! Not! Open!”

He huffs and leaves. The clerk and I look at each other, and I’m fairly sure neither of us ever saw someone get mad at a worker for opening the shop just for them.

Clerk: *To me.* “Well, now that I’m open anyway, anything I can get you?”

Customer: *Turning around, shouting.* “YOU! ARE! NOT! OPEN!”

Me: “I think I’ll better wait four minutes, I’m kinda worried what he’ll do if I go in now.”

And yes, that guy stood there for four minutes, watching the store like a hawk, and at 10:00 precisely, he finally turned to leave. Part of me wonders what he would have done had I dared to go buy something before I “should” be allowed to.

And part of me still wonders why he didn’t just come back and buy what he wanted when the store finally opened “properly.”