Borders Sagas 8 - Crazy people, different kinds of pain, and free food.

Just a heads up... this is a long post because I've got quite a few work stories!

CRAZY PEOPLE

1. A man came in saying that he was a teacher and that his students were debating gay marriage. He wanted to know if we had books that would be helpful and provide info on the topic. But it was weird the way he was talking to me: whispering, leaning in, shielding his body away from other customers, like he was ashamed of talking about this in public and didn't want others to see/hear him. I wasn't able to find such books on our computer, so I led him to the "Gay/Lesbian" section to see if we could find anything. With one look at some of the titles in this area, (Sex and Erotica sections are here too), he turned his back on the shelf, as if the books were Gorgons and he would be turned to stone if he made eye contact. Then he came clean with me... he's a church minister and wants to teach his youth group how sinful homosexuality and gay marriage are. He was appalled at some of the stuff he found on the internet and was worried at what the kids might come across if they did a Google search for "gay". He was hoping to find "clean" books that demonstrated how "wrong and unnatural" homosexuality is, and how these people can be saved if they "let in the light of Jesus into their souls" (As soon as the guy left, I wrote down his quotes bc they were just crazy!) I didn't like the way he was telling me these things, as if I agreed with what he was saying. I was actually getting upset with the guy.

2. A phone call:

Me: Thanks for calling Borders in Gainesville. This is Nicole. How can I help you? (No response...) Hello?
Bitch: HELLO! WHO IS THIS!
Me: This is Nicole from Borders.
Bitch: Well you should have said that when you answered the phone! How am I supposed to know I called the right number!
Me: I'm sorry ma'am. I guess you didn't hear me what I first answered the phone. Is there anything I can help you with?
Bitch: Whatever. I'm looking for a CD. Check and see if you have it.
Me: Sure. Do you know the artist or the name of the CD?
Bitch: My god, I'm giving it to you! It's by _____ and it's called _______.
Me: Ok. Hold on while I look for it.

I'm already really pissed off with this lady, so I'm hoping we don't have it. And as luck would have it, we don't! It's some crazy bluegrass box-set special edition CD thing. Our music section is lame to begin with, so I don't know why she thought we would have something that specialized, but whatev. I keep her on hold for a little longer so I can mentally prepare for her response, which I know if going to be pretty hostile, when I give her the bad news.

Me: Hi, that's for holding. I'm sorry to say that we don't have the CD you're looking for.
Bitch: That's just great. Where else can I look.
Me: There's a Best Buy on Archer. And you can always check on Borders.com. If you find it there, you can purchase it and have it shipped to the store free of shipping cost.
Bitch: You think I have't tried Best Buy before calling you! And why would I go online if I want the CD now! (Cue the angry rant: Borders never has anything she wants, she always wastes her time and money coming in the store and leaving empty handed, how we can't order things in to the store for her) Well you just lost yourself a customer!!
Me: I'm really sorry to hear that. (I said this really mean-ly, which wasn't very professional, but I was so fed up with this lady)
Bitch: Yeah, whatever. Bitch.

Yeah, she called me a bitch.


DIFFERENT KINDS OF PAIN

1. Worst pain in the world. A papercut. Under your finger nail. On your index finger that you use for everything, so the pain can't be ignored.

2. Elderly man comes to the info desk to ask about gift certificates. What if I bought one for a friend. Does he have to spend it all at once? Can he only use it once? What if he can't spend it all? Does the left over money get thrown away? What if he spends more than what the certificate allows? I show him how we have gift cards that work like credit cards. He could put as much money on them, and they can be used as tender in transactions until the balance reaches $0. If the purchase goes over what the gift card has, then his friend would just have to pay the remaining balance. He appologized for all his questions, and told me that his wife just died and that she was the one in charge of buying presents. His eyes started to tear up as he told me this, which mad me almost start to cry! I can only imagine his pain and sadness of losing his wife, best friend, soul mate.

3. Father and son. Son, who looked to be in his 30's, was mentally handicapped and couldn't walk. He asked if I could show him WWII books, Linda Ronstadt and Pat Benatar CDs, and cheap movies. I learned somewhere that some disabled people take offense if they're treated different and given special attention because of their disability, while others actually do need the extra care and concern. I didn't want to disrespect the father, so I wasn't sure if I should help his son as if he was an average customer, or be more considerate of his disability and alter my way of doing things. It's hard to put into words what I was thinking in my head! Erg! Anyways, I decided to just act normal and be my silly, giggly self. As the son got more comfortable with me, he started flirting! He told me all these horrible jokes, and I laughed as if they were awesome! And I got all these compliments! Apparently, I have the laugh of an angel! The dad kept giving me apologetic looks, but I just smiled and went along with it. It must be terrible to know that your son will never be the son you dreamed of. No playing catch in the backyard. No high school varsity teams. No college graduation. But I didn't see any disappointment or pain or sadness. Love is unconditional.


FREE FOOD

This past week was Border's special Educations Appreciation Week (EAW). Teachers got extra discounts, and educator-centric events were to be hosted in all Borders stores. One such event was a teacher town hall seminar. Corporate designed this event to kinda be like a forum for teacher to come to the store, talk about teaching, share ideas, network with others, have some coffee, dessert, and buy things. In preparation, the cafe prepared mochas, raspberry crumb bars, blondies, and muffins. Being the "Children Specialist" and in charge of corporate sales (which mainly come from schools who want us to order books for media centers and English classes), I was stationed in the back of the store as the event host. No one showed up. One retired teacher just so happened to be shopping, so she stopped by for a mocha and a pocketful of crumb bars. The upside was that all the dessert was brought back into the breakroom for us to eat!

We had another corporate-mandated EAW event this past Friday night at 6:00, a Where the Wild Things Are kids party. Our store was given supplies... paper crowns to wear (which I wore for the whole night!!), coloring sheets, mazes, puzzles, party game ideas, and a $50 to spend on whatever we wanted, which turned out to be a whole sheetcake from Publix! And the cake was on top off the crumb bars, blondies, and M&M, oatmeal, and chocolate chip cookies the cafe prepared. Once again, no one showed up. So for an hour, I sat in the kids section, listened to the WTWTA audiobook, colored, and ate cookies. The party was "shut-down" at 7:00 and the cake was cut in the breakroom at 7:15. As we're all eating the cake, it eventually occurs to someone that no one is on the floor. After a head count, we realize that all three sellers, two managers, and two inventory shelvers were in the back. Only Courtney, the new girl cashier, was on the floor. It was actually quite funny. Maybe a "you had to be there" joke. The cake lasted until yesterday. It was really yummy. Publix has the best cakes!