Story Sunday: Uhhh maybe you need more crystals

Hello and welcome to story Sunday. This week it's a short story because... it's been a while since this happened and I want to be a little vague because it's a customer story.

So I was working at a place and it was a little after the world started to open up again. I believe it was summer 2020... I was working in the jewelry and beauty section of this store... that isn't where I usually worked at the time so I have a feeling I wasn't even supposed to be at work then? I think maybe I stayed because someone else called out... either way. This wasn't an area I had worked in a while... and I knew a lot about the section but this wasn't where I always worked... also there was a global pandemic so... that kind of confused things too I would say.

ANYWAY so... this lovely customer was looking at the jewelry we had and she was specifically looking for "Crystal wands." I was thinking like a Harry Potter wand... I was wondering if she thought this was a magic shop... and she kept saying "You know! Crystal wands! Crystal Wands!!!" Like that was a way to make things better? But now I know what a crystal wand is- and we did actually have some.

I was nicer to this lady than I had to be I think... again my memories are vague- but there was something I technically could have denied for her and I checked with the manager and she said I was able to not deny her. And I'm going to be vague about this part because it might give away where I work- but I had to see something that was hers... and I touched it how I always do and she freaked out. And said "NO ARE YOU CRAZY TOUCH IT FROM THE SIDES!" So... like... yeah then she said she freaks out about stuff like that and she was a germaphobe. Who was out- at a store you didn't need to be in... during a global pandemic. I don't think she was even wearing her mask properly... She definitely didn't have the highest safety mask and I'm pretty sure I saw her nose- or she might not have worn one at all... I can't quite remember if this was when the mask mandate was removed. But I had a mask on- I was covid free... I wash my hands and I'm very clean and this woman was acting like I was the most disgusting person she'd ever seen.

The fact that this woman was looking to buy crystals and she had this terrible terrible energy to her just made me laugh. Maybe she'd have better energy if she actually had the crystals. But no... I think she just bought something small... and then seemed a little more pleasant after the interaction. She's not the worst customer I've seen or heard but like... you gotta treat retail workers and service workers like humans. I'm a human, I have an English degree and I've worked full time at this store for 5 years now (it was less at the time) but yeah... I know what I'm doing I do this a hundred times a day.

Alright so that is everything. I hope you enjoyed this story. I just saw an ad on Etsy for Crystal Wands and that made me think of this. Also just watched a lot of TikTok's today about service workers being treated badly.

Bye!

-Shannon