(I am shopping with my girlfriend. As we head to the quick check-out, a woman with her cart full of goods slowly passes over the sign “15 items or less” and continues. My girlfriend and I are the next in line as nobody else is waiting, and an automated system calls for someone to come to the next available register. Suddenly, my girlfriend turns to me and says, pointing behind me:)

Girlfriend: “She has way more than fifteen items.”

(I turn around, and that woman is there. I gently point to the sign:)

Me: “It’s fifteen items or less only, ma’am.”

Woman: “Oh? Really? I didn’t see the sign. Sorry.”

(She turned around; and kept saying, way too many times, that she was sorry and she never saw the sign. We turned around to face the area of the registers. The guy operating the first one looked at us and raised both thumbs, mouthing, “Thank you.”)

(I’m a rough looking guy with a a full beard and not really athletic, but quite built and sturdy looking. I also was quite troubled when I was a kid and teenager. I fought through it along with coming out as a young adult so I ended up with high self-esteem/confidence in later years as a result. This is important to the story as you’ll see.

I worked at a small electronic store outlet a couple of years ago. One day, I’m standing at a register/computer, doing a task I can’t remember, when my Manager comes over to me. He was helping two clients in the MP3 players section, a woman and a young teenage kid. We’re the only four people in the store at the time.)

Manager: [my name], do you know these people?

Me : *looks over* No, never seen them before.

Manager : Weird. The kid has a question he wants to ask you.

Me : There’s something you don’t know about a product?

Manager : You misunderstood… he wants to ask YOU.

Me. Me? What?

Manager : Yeah, erm… well, her mother was asking all the right questions and I was making a sale, which was for the kid. The kid was looking at your direction for almost the whole exchanche. Out of nowhere he said to her mother that he had a question for you… and only for you, before she could buy the iPod for him.

Me : What? Why?

Manager : We don’t know. Her mom tried to prod him further, but he’s adamant and only wants to ask you personally.

Me : Really?

Manager : *shrugs* Can you… ?

Me : Yeah, sure. No problem…

I approach them and the Mother is looking at me like a statue, not knowing what her son is cooking up, who’s standing in front of her.

Me : Hi, you had a question or wanted to talk to me?

Boy : Can we speak in private?

Me : Huh, it’s not a big store, maybe we could lower our voice?

Boy : *looking shy, he speaks quietly barely looking higher than my shoulders* It’s… I don’t know if I should ask.

Me : *quickly glancing at her mother I gather from her I’m allowed to prod further* Well, you’re lucky because we’re alone in the store. Even if it’s personal or silly, I promise I won’t make fun of you and I will take your question seriously. Do you want us or your mom to walk on the other side of the store?

Boy : No it’s okay. I want… Well I… *sigh* Do you think if I take a white iPod over a black iPod, it would make me look less manly? Is white for girls?

I look at the mother and her gaping mouth matches my surprise. As a gather my thoughts, I figured he jugded me on appearance.

Me : Uhm, I think I get it… You saw me over there, looked at how I stood and my apperance and thought you want to look a little like me, meaning you think I look manly. Am I right?

Boy : *looks at me in the eyes for the first time and nods*

Me : Okay. Then this might shock you but it’s not your judgment that’s off, you simply judged a book by it’s cover… but would you guess me as a bisexual?

Boy : *lower jaw drops to floor*

Me : I’ll take that as a no, but I am. I get that my orientation doesn’t affect my looks I you couldn’t really tell but let me tell you something I’ve been told when I was bit older than you are : “If what you wear defines your virility, then you weren’t very manly to begin with.” It’s not because I wear a black uniform that I look manly, it’s because of my attitude and stance standing up. So I’d be saying the same yo you. If the color of your iPod defines how manly you are, you weren’t very virile to begin with. You could wear a pink dress a still be the manliest thing in the room if you acted like it… That’s good for you?

Boy : *popping a smile* Hehe. Okay.

Mother : *stabbing at the boy’s sides with her finger* What do we say for the awesome personal advice FROM A STRANGER?

Boy : Ow, heh. Thanks.

I didn’t feel that comfortable finishing the sale with them so I left it to my manager who sold a white iPod. The next week the boy came back on its own to exchange some accessories… with a huge smile in a bright pink t-shirt.

(I work in a store in a new department that they just opened. The store is now bigger with this new department, but the storage area is not, so we put the merchandise that we can’t place on the racks in shelves just on top. A woman has an item in her hand and is looking at our shelves with determination…)

Me: “Hi there. How may I help you?”

Customer: “Yes, I need this item—” *pointing to the one in her hand* “—do you have more up there?”

Me: *looking on the rack, there are about five of them right in front of her* “Well, I know that there are those ones, and maybe two or three more up there. How many do you need?”

Customer: “Only one.”

Me: *confused* “Do you need another color than that?”

Customer: “No! Only one just like that!“

Me: “Okay? Is this one broken?”

Customer: *yelling* “Oh, you don’t understand!”

(She then left without the item… I still don’t understand.)

(I am working as a copier service rep, doing regular maintenance and service calls. Sometimes, the maintenance, or repair requires the machine to be taken apart. On occasion, a customer will enter the room where I have dismantled the copier, with parts and tools every where and would say:)

Customer: “Oh, my dear Lord!”

Me: “Wow, thank you but, just call me [My Name]. It’s sufficient.”

(The customer just laughs it off. The situation happened once while one of my supervisors, a joker himself, is with me. He cracks up, saying:)

Supervisor: “I have to remember that one!”

(That helped deal with “not so great” customers, like that one, calling non stop for the same reason:

[customer] “The copier states that it’s out of toner.”

[me] “Well… did you add some?”

[customer] “No. You think it will fix the problem?”

(I am a service representative for a large copier company. I’m at an office doing maintenance on their copier. It’s a large, ten-foot-long machine with a sorter and stapler module. I have covers removed, new and old parts here and there, my toolbox wide open, and tools scattered over the floor and on the machine. The machine is turned on, but the display shows, “Diagnostics,” instead of, “Enter number of copies,” with interlock cheaters to compensate for the open panels. I’ve just finished the main maintenance and the copier is ready to be put back in normal mode, but I have to go back to my car to get some more parts to finish the job properly and clean everything up. I’m gone five minutes. When I come back, I hear the copier cycling down as I enter the room and find a secretary about to make copies.)

Secretary: “Oh, sorry… Were you working on it?”

Me: “Er… Yes… Didn’t you see the display with ‘diagnostics’ instead of ‘ready to copy?'”

Secretary: “Yes, but I simply turned the copier off, then on, and it cleared. You should put a sign not to use it when you do this.”

Me: *politely* “You mean to tell me that the open doors, the missing panels, the open tool box, the tools on top of the copiers and on the floor, old parts, rags everywhere on and around the copier, and the diagnostic display… all of those were not enough of a sign?”

(She grunted, took her papers, and stormed out.)