Nowhere Is Safe From Customers

I always walk to work, and I used to wear my uniform when I did so. One day, I had my iPods in and was just walking along when this woman came out of her house waving and stopped me.

Woman: “Do you have [item #1] and [item #2] in stock?”

Me: “Um… I haven’t gotten to work yet, so I can’t tell you what we have in stock.”

Woman: “You have an app on your phone that can tell you, don’t you?”

Me: “No, I don’t.”

Woman: “You’re just being lazy and don’t want to help me! I don’t want to waste petrol driving over there if you don’t have what I want!”

Me: “Ma’am, I really can’t help you. You’ll just have to go to the store.”

And I walked off.

About an hour after I started my shift, my manager called me upstairs.

Manager: “We’ve gotten a serious complaint about you. A customer says you refused to help her this morning?”

I couldn’t believe it. I explained what had happened with the woman on my walk to work. Luckily, my manager saw the funny side and threw out the complaint, but he advised me in future to not wear my uniform walking to work.

To this day, I still walk past that woman’s house and smile. I often think I can feel her watching me from inside.