The change in seasons from summer to fall often brings about allergic reactions and even worse - sickness. This fall, I came down with a wretched case of bronchitis. Not one to sit on my laurels, I was determined to not call out from work. The tightness in my chest was bearable but quite uncomfortable. We often talk about the elephant in the room. Well, it felt as though that elephant had taken a seat upon my chest.
And the cough?! That sounded much like a dying jackass. The domesticated equine, not the person. For the record, I have no clue as to how a dying jackass sounds. If I were to imagine it, I sounded pretty close.
Struggling through a recent Sunday at Food Lion, I worked backstock on aisle 2. Backstock is the product that is left over from a delivery and will not fit on the shelf shortly after the delivery to the store. Aisle 2 in this store is the aisle with soups and broths, canned vegetables and dried beans, ramen, prepared dinners, canned pasta, pasta sauces, and pasta noodles. In our store, it is one of our busiest aisles. I stayed busy on that aisle for a few a hours.
An older gentleman, perhaps just a few years my senior, approached me. "Hey, where's the rice?"
I stopped what I was doing and motioned for him to come with me. "I'll show you where it is at, sir." This is standard for most retail companies. It is one of the layers of customer service and shows customers that employees are not too busy to be of assistance. We rounded the back corner of aisle 2 and stepped into aisle 1. Just a few feet in, we stood at the rice section.
"Do y'all have any wild rice?" the older gentleman asked.
To which I quickly responded, "Nah, all of our rice is tame." After my comment, I offered a light chuckle.
The older gentleman did not appear amused. He stood there with a blank stare and no rebuttal.
I lightly smacked him across the back and offered, "I'm kidding, bud." I then informed him that we did not carry wild rice in a bag, just the preseasoned wild rice mixes. He thanked me and walked away empty-handed.
I'm the one with bronchitis! Shouldn't I have been the one with a more serious attitude? Maybe he was having a bad day. Maybe he doesn't appreciate my humor. I'm a funny guy. I laugh at myself quite often. Maybe he was just cranky. Oh well.
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