They’re Behaving Radio Ga Ga

(I work in a clothing store. We have radios with earpieces that we wear to communicate with other employees in our large store. I approach a customer and ask if she is finding everything okay.)

Customer: “I need this shirt in a size medium.”

Me: “Let me check if there is any in stock in the back.” *pushes the button on my earpiece* “Stockroom? Could you check if you have the gray button-up with green embroidery, item code [number], in size medium?” *turns back to the customer* “I will know in just a minute.”

Customer: “Wait… What did you do?”

Me: “I radioed my coworker to check stock for the item.”

Customer: “I asked you to check it! You can’t just stand here and babble and get out of doing work.”

(At that moment, my radio cracks back on in my ear.)

Coworker: “I have two back here; I will bring them out.”

Me: *to radio* “Thanks. I’m in area two.”

Customer: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Me: “I just heard back from my coworker. They have the size medium and they are bringing it out.”

Customer: “No. How? You’re just lying. How?”

Me: “This is a radio, a walkie-talkie. I was just talking to my coworker in the back room. We have your size; they will bring it in a minute.”

Customer: “That’s not a walkie-talkie! You’re just listening to music! Stop lying to me!”

(My coworker comes over with the shirt and hands it to me. I hand it to the customer.)

Customer: “He is listening to music, too!”

Me: “No, that’s his radio. We talk to each other. Here: if you hold it up to your ear, I’ll show you.”

Customer: “I want to speak to a manager. Go get a manager.”

(My confused coworker pages the manager over the radio, and the customer screams “UNBELIEVABLE!” at him. As the manager comes over, another customer waves me over. I am helping her when the manager pages me back. I come around the corner, and find the customer screaming at the manager because he paged me, then storming out.)

Manager: “Okay, I give up. What was that all about?”