Borders Zone - 6

#6 Those Crazy Customers

Warning! If you already think I am too bitter you shouldn't read the following post.

Here are a few funny tidbits from my interactions with our crazy customers.

Tonight I was pulling books from some really tall bookshelves. I was using a stool to help me reach the top two shelves. A customer interrupted me and asked if she could borrow my stool. Assuming she needed my stool to reach a book I gladly surrendered my stool. I kept working, pulling books from the lower shelves that I could reach, but soon I needed to work on the upper shelves again. I looked around for the lady but she was nowhere to be found. It was about time for my lunch break anyways so I headed back to the warehouse to put my books away. On my way to the back I happened upon my stool. The stool requisitioner was sitting on it while she leisurely perused the mystery thriller section (whose shelves are only about 5' tall). I guess she needed to sit down while she browsed.

A couple of days ago I helped a customer find a couple of books. This involved walking her to two different sections, finding the books, and placing them in her hands. Pretty much standard procedure. The customer was extremely grateful and gushed, "Wow! What great service! You should really be tipped for giving such great service." I briefly considered holding out my palm and giving her the chance to put the money where her mouth was, but instead I just smiled. The lady awkwardly thanked me again and walked away. I don't think she realized what she was saying.

And finally, there is the mystery of customer-employee identification. For some reason our customers have a really hard time telling who the employees at our store are. Granted, we don't wear uniforms so that makes it a little hard to tell who the employees are. But we do wear large name tags hanging on Borders lanyards around our necks. We also all wear radios at our waists with a cord leading from the radio up to an earpiece. This hardware really stands out. But still I get asked several times a day, "Do you work here?" I've been asked this while carrying boxes, pushing a dolly, pushing a library cart full of books, and while on the phone at the customer service desk. Why in the world would I be doing any of these things if I wasn't an employee? Do they think I might be a rogue customer on the run with a cart full of books? A girl I work with named Janeen thinks that customers might just be using the question as an icebreaker before asking for help. But that theory doesn't hold water for me. Or at least I don't ask employees at other stores if they are employees before asking for help. It has become a standing joke at our store.
A couple of weeks ago I had the following shocking experience. I was working in the music area when a lady approached me and asked, "Do you work here?" She then laughed and said, "Well of course you do, you're wearing a nametag and you're moving all those CDs around." I wanted to hug her. I thought that might have scared her so instead I just helped her find her book. I guess we need to get some uniforms at our store.