Obviously Not Cut From The Same Cloth

Craft Store | Working | December 19, 2012

(It’s Black Friday, and while I normally wouldn’t even venture out of the house, I am a Fashion student desperately needing a few supplies to be able to work on projects over my Thanksgiving Break. It’s about 3 pm, but the store is still very busy, and the line for the fabric cutting counter is huge, even with several employees working it. I only have three items that need cutting: two bolts of fabric and some boning.)

Employee: “Okay, is there anyone with two items or less?”

(I am the only person in line with less than five bolts of fabric. Everyone else is pushing carts laden with several bolts of fabric, so I will clearly have to wait a long time for my few items.)

Me: “I do… oh, and boning. I don’t know if that counts since that’s not—”

Employee: “Well, we’re just trying to cut down the line by taking care of customers who only have two items or less.” *wanders off*

(I clearly have much fewer items than anybody else in line, and am very surprised that one more item, even one that takes less time to cut than fabric, would make such a difference. But there’s nothing I can do, so I simply resign myself to a long wait. At this point, another customer in line gets my attention. Like other customers, she has a cart filled with fabric bolts.)

Other Customer: “Excuse me, what number ticket do you have?”

Me: “25.” (They are currently only on 6.)

Other Customer: “Well, I have number 8, and I just saw another fabric that I think I want to run and get, so, why don’t you take my ticket?”

Me: “Are you sure? You’d have to wait a really long time.”

Other Customer: *smiles* “Oh, it’s fine. I don’t think it was fair that she wouldn’t serve you. You’ve got much less than the rest of us, and if they wanted to cut down the line I don’t see why they wouldn’t take care of the only person not getting a ton of fabric. And this way I get a little more time to look around, too.”

(We swapped tickets, and even though I still had to wait a while, it was nowhere near as long as I would have had to wait. We had a nice talk while waiting in line, and she even spoke up for me when they called the wrong number and almost accidentally skipped me! It’s nice to know some people can stay sane on the craziest shopping day of the year!)

This story is part of the Black Friday 2022 roundup!