Sprucing Up His Christmas Tree Knowledge

(The hardware chain I work for sets up a Christmas tree lot every year and sells fresh cut trees. One evening, a customer comes into the lot ahead of his family, who are still getting out of the car.)

Me: “Good evening! Tree hunting tonight? Are you after anything in particular?”

Customer: “Oh, I don’t know anything about them. I’m just looking for a tree.”

(I launch into a quick explanation of the three types of tree we carry; Noble firs, Douglas firs, and Grand firs.)

Me: “…and so Noble firs are pretty popular, since they hold their needles a bit better than the Douglases, as well as having stronger branches.”

(A few moments later, the customer’s wife and children catch up and walk into the lot. The customer, beaming with his new-found understanding of Christmas tree nuance points a tree out to his wife.)

Customer: “This is the kind of tree that we want. It has better needles than the others, because it has what you call, noble fur!”