I’m a librarian.
Customer: “I need a book with a blue cover.”
Me: “Okay. Do you know the author or the title?”
Customer: “I forgot. My daughter read it, and she said that I should.”
Me: “Would it happen to be Daughter Of Smoke And Bone, by Laini Taylor? That’s really popular right now.”
Customer: “That’s it! That’s the one!”
I found it in the system and directed the patron to the right section.
I work in a retail store that sells mostly clothing so, naturally, we have multiple fitting rooms. A couple of weeks ago, we closed our smallest fitting room to expand our online pickup storage area. This fitting room had three stalls and was really barely used. It also has a maintenance closet in it already, so it made the most sense to get rid of.
There is now a big door with both an electronic padlock and a sign stating that is for associates only. I go to the now-storage room to store some fixtures I had broken down and find two ladies standing outside it.
Customer: *Demanding* “Let us in!”
Me: “Ma’am, this is no longer a fitting room and is for employees only.”
This conversation goes on for a couple of minutes; they don’t understand what I mean when I say that it’s no longer a fitting room. I’m standing there trying to think how else I can word, “No, you can’t go in because it isn’t a fitting room; it has a sign and lock and it’s pretty d*** obvious.”
Eventually, it clicks.
Customer: “Well, where is the fitting room?”
Me: “The big women’s fitting room is still open in the middle of the women’s department.”
Customer: “It’s inconvenient for us to go to that fitting room!”
That is the bigger and better fitting room in the middle of the department, versus this old one which is tiny and shoved in a corner. Seriously, how else do you explain something that is labeled as “employees only”? Do you want to get into our break room and stockroom, too?
I’m working at a big box store during the global health crisis. We are not allowed to say anything to customers that are not wearing masks, but even if we were, I don’t like confrontation. I had been trying to be careful before, but now I have a family member who has a weakened immune system, so I try to be extra careful.
When customers aren’t wearing masks, I just try to stay at least six feet away from them. If they start to come closer to me, I position my cart between them and me. This usually works. One day, I am at the fitting room when a maskless customer comes to try on some items. I move to get behind my cart, but he starts to follow me. I move the cart trying to position it between him and myself. As I move it, he maneuvers himself around it. He keeps doing this.
Me: “I’m trying to social distance!”
Customer: *Mumbles* “Sorry.”
He backed up begrudgingly.
Dad: “Do you have a flashlight?”
I start to hand him my phone.
Dad: “Right. Phones have flashlights.”
He pulls his phone out and wanders off. A few days later:
Dad: “Do you have a flashlight? I can’t find mine.”
Me: “I use my phone.”
Dad: “Oh! Yes, right.”
He pulls his phone out and wanders off again. The next day:
Dad: “I need a flashlight.”
Wordlessly, I hold my phone up. He rolls his eyes, pulls his out, and walks away. The next day:
Dad: “I can’t tell if the sump pump is working and I don’t have a flashlight in the house, do you—”
I just looked at him. He shrieked in annoyance, pulled his phone out, and stalked off downstairs.
I’m at the library, carrying a lot of books.
Random Woman: “Wow! That’s a lot of books! You must want to escape life a lot!”
