We Think Her Brain Might Be Frozen

About ten years ago, I am walking down the food aisle of my place of employment: a pharmacy with a corner store attached.

I see this lady leaning forward into the shelves. She is looking behind soup cans and then behind boxed goods. Having worked retail for many years, I recognize this search pattern: the “I had my keys in my hand and put them down to grab an item” maneuver.

I saunter over and hit her with my prerecorded:

Me: “Can I help you?”

Unexpectedly, she looks up at me and then stands up.

Customer: “Yes! Where are your bags of ice?”

I’m dumbstruck for a moment, but then my brain hops back on track. I walk her over to the freezer and open the glass door that has cruelly hidden the bags of ice beyond it.

She stands there for a second, blank-faced and looking at me, not the freezer. I then glide my hand through space as if she has just won a new car on a game show, gesturing down to the ice bags.

Then, her bulb flickers on.

Customer: “Oh! Thank you! I would have never found them.”

Well… at least she admits it.