Retail Is A Messy Business

(Two adult women come into the store. Their elderly mother waits outside until she finishes her cigarette, and then joins them. I am migraine-prone, which cigarette smoke can trigger, so when she passes me I start feeling nauseated because the smell is so strong. My coworker lets me go off the floor to the bathroom until the dizzy spell passes. When I return, the customers are gone and my coworker is untangling garlands.)

Me: “What happened?”

Coworker: “The woman whose smoke made you feel sick? She was picking these up and throwing them around in the corner over there. And when her daughter tried to clean up the mess, she pointed at me and said, ‘Leave it! She doesn’t have anything better to do!’”