Touching the life of a sales assistant
It's been a crazily busy fortnight for me. I was hoping to make weekly posts to this site, but I missed it last week (already). A lot of time was spent preparing an outfit for the Racing Carnival, but there were also other social engagements. Most of it is behind me now, thank gosh for that.
My outfit is ready, with dress, shoes, hat, bag and a few accessories to round it off. Took me a while to bring it all together, but I'm so glad it has. Now I can only hope it works its wonders on the big day itself.
And I have a little tale to tell. I put a department store sales assistant through a most unusual experience over the weekend, it was not planned, but it turned out that way. I shall name her Bree, but it's not her real name. Anyway, I went down to the department store on Friday night to look for a choker and bracelets.
This was as a boy, since I was tired from the working week, and was planning it to be a quick look-around trip. While I was there, I spotted this beautiful necklace comprised of many beaded strands which happened to match the colour of my dress. I had some doubts about whether it would match the rest of my dress, so I only ended up buying it after much to-and-fro. It was definitely on impulse. Bree made the sale for me, nothing unusual there.
I got home, tried on my dress, and the necklace, and unfortunately, it didn't quite work. The necklace was way too long, and it was very busy when I really should have gone for something clean and simple.
So, the next day, I went out shopping as a girl (which was already planned since I needed to get several accessories), and took the necklace back to return. As it turned out, Bree was there again, at the same counter. Here were some snippets of conversation, paraphrased ...
Cassie: "I bought this last night, if you remember"
Bree: "Oh yes, it was near the end of the night"
- some other conversation -
Cassie: "Yeah, I asked if it was on special too, but it wasn't"
Bree: "Yes, that's right"
I don't know when, but quite early on, she connected the two together. Her responses implied as much. I must say, she took it very well, though I may have imagined her saying something to another assistant with the words "boy" and "last night" in it. Hehehe, I am such a mischievous girl.
Anyway, she did the return for me no problem and was very friendly all the way through. We even had a bit of a conversation above the usual buyer/seller exchange. She was, really, just wonderful to deal with. And after that, I left to go elsewhere for shopping.
Reflecting back on the experience, I probably gave her her biggest shock in a long time. It certainly couldn't have been scripted better. And while it was a routine transaction, I cannot help but feel that I have touched her life in a subtle yet profound way, like a faerie creature coming out of the unknown and, upon being glimpsed, nothing is quite the same as before again.
Or maybe I'm just dreaming about my own self-importance.