Mike, Who Was Not Greek, But Italian

[charity_whore]

Waldenbooks has Secret Shoppers; professional staff who dress as if they were customers and walk into stores to test their clerks. The standard Secret Shopper M.O. is to ask for a book that is in stock (the clerk should lead you to the book), ask for a book that is out of stock (the clerk should offer to special order it), and buy the book that is

Comments

[das_hydra]

Excellent story!

So I've got 2 years left before I'm seen as "psychologically marred"? ;) I thought I was just incredibly picky and not willing to give it to just anyone. ;)

[charity_whore]

Eventually, you just gotta break the seal, darlin'.

Or so sayeth I. Your mileage may vary.

[das_hydra]

Oh I totally want to, and will.

I just gotta find the key master... I mean, seal breaker.

[batshua]

Heh. Only if I can managed to get married by then. You know how I am about those old beliefs. I only bend so much when it comes to the old rules.

[call_me_harmony]

This was hilarious.

In our circle "But I'm not Greek - I'm Italian!"
would have become the insult of the month.

[charity_whore]

Oh, it did in ours, believe you me.

[kathrynrose]

Funny story!

I had an ex who worked at Waldenbooks. She would always complain about customers coming in and saying, "I'm loking for a book. I think it was on that wall."

"Do you know the title?"

"No."

"Do you know the author?"

"No, but it was red, and It was about half way back on the left."

[charity_whore]

A book that I found as a clerk:

"Do you have the green book?"

"Pardon me?"

"That book. With the ugly green cover."

I led her to it. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME.

In her defense, it was a startlingly ugly color. But I almost didn't lead her to the book, lest she think this was a normal occurence.

[kathrynrose]

You totally rock.

[barryr]

I had a call like that recently at Walmart, maybe 3 weeks ago.

"Hello, Stationery department, Barry speaking."

"Hi, I'm looking for a book... it has a green cover"

"Do you have the title or author?"

"No..."

"Is it one of the top 10 books?"

"I don't know"

"Er.. one moment."

I went over to the books, looked through the top ten... sure enough, a green book was number 2 or 3. I brought it back.

"I found a green book called *name*, is that it?"

"Yes, that's the one! Thanks, I'll be right over."

I was all too happy to note at the end of the day that I'd missed actually running into that customer. Probably because I took my lunch break right after that call.

[tevriel]

Heh.

Americans are silly. In my dialect, that story couldn't happen, because "cretin" is pronounced with a short e (like "deck", say).

[ravenblack]

It still might - if you have an idiot looking in a dictionary, there's no way (short of understanding the pronunciation keys, and few enough smart people do that) for him to tell that 'Cretan' has a long E.

His brother got ALL the looks in that family.

[katthemad]

Not that David was all that much to look at. Mike was actually easier to stomach if you'd know him since childhood. He only seemed weird to me after I hit my teens and hadn't been around him for a while.

Didn't he marry a girl named Jenny? I THINK I remember that. And if it's true then I find this story twice as hysterical (and I think you will too) since Jenny was an A+ slut. Heart of gold, mind you, and for all the right reasons (personal pleasure versus winning acceptance and allowing others to use her), but for Jenny to end up with Mike.....

And I seem to remember there being a VERY peculiar system of Mike-Economics. Do you remember that? Monetary units such as "a lunch", "a tank" and "a rent"?

Re: His brother got ALL the looks in that family.

[elfwench]

Hey! I do that, too. Only it's "a bag of groceries", or "a new computer."