I was working at the thrift store again today. It turns out, a certain woman has decided that Sunday is her day to come in and make her purchases.
Well. What this woman does is, she sorts through the bargain bin. Piece by piece. Item by item. She holds each item of clothing up to the light from the window and gives it a good going-over. And there are a LOT of items.
Meanwhile, her little girl is roaming the store, largely unnoticed by her mother. Last week, I found her handling some KNIVES. Not butter knives, but the kind you usually see in horror movies. Yes, those kinds of knives. She also tries to carry on long, involved conversations with me, as if I have nothing else to do than to stand there and talk to her.
Now, I can sort of understand what's going on with her, because she's only about seven years old, and it looks like her mother isn't overly involved in keeping an eye on her, or in doing other sorts of parenting. This doesn't change the fact that she's a royal pain in the butt; the constant chatter, the getting into things, the messes she leaves, the sauntering behind the counter to check everything out.
Today really took the cake. I swear, they were in the store for at least two hours. As far as I could tell, the mother checked every single item in the bargain bin, then took her selections and looked over them again, then went over them a THIRD time. The little girl opened the display of antique/fragile items, and when I called out "Careful!" her mother actually told her to knock it off. She found a pair of in-line skates, put them on, and moved slowly through the store. She talked to other customers, who may or may not have been interested in talking to her. She got in the way almost constantly.
Her mother admitted to me that her husband takes the bargain items she buys so he can sell them in their home country. Oh, and this woman got a special deal from the owner, so that she can buy these already deeply discounted items for half-price, which doesn't endear her to me at all, and then tries to get me to give her even more discounts. She asked if she could USE MY PHONE TO CALL HER HUSBAND, and I lied and said I didn't have any more credit on it. She was going to leave her daughter in the store while she went grocery shopping, and I told her I couldn't be responsible for her.
When she came back to get her stuff (three bags' worth, by the way), she saw that her little girl was absorbed in a picture book.
"How much?" she asked.
I gave her a very low price.
She looked at the book, flipped through it, and said, "Maybe some other time. I spent all my money on food."
Then she gave me a poor-pitiful-me look.
I told the owner that this woman is truly unbearable, and she said...
... you won't believe this....
..."Just say what you want to say to her."
Oh, the TEMPTATION!
Well. What this woman does is, she sorts through the bargain bin. Piece by piece. Item by item. She holds each item of clothing up to the light from the window and gives it a good going-over. And there are a LOT of items.
Meanwhile, her little girl is roaming the store, largely unnoticed by her mother. Last week, I found her handling some KNIVES. Not butter knives, but the kind you usually see in horror movies. Yes, those kinds of knives. She also tries to carry on long, involved conversations with me, as if I have nothing else to do than to stand there and talk to her.
Now, I can sort of understand what's going on with her, because she's only about seven years old, and it looks like her mother isn't overly involved in keeping an eye on her, or in doing other sorts of parenting. This doesn't change the fact that she's a royal pain in the butt; the constant chatter, the getting into things, the messes she leaves, the sauntering behind the counter to check everything out.
Today really took the cake. I swear, they were in the store for at least two hours. As far as I could tell, the mother checked every single item in the bargain bin, then took her selections and looked over them again, then went over them a THIRD time. The little girl opened the display of antique/fragile items, and when I called out "Careful!" her mother actually told her to knock it off. She found a pair of in-line skates, put them on, and moved slowly through the store. She talked to other customers, who may or may not have been interested in talking to her. She got in the way almost constantly.
Her mother admitted to me that her husband takes the bargain items she buys so he can sell them in their home country. Oh, and this woman got a special deal from the owner, so that she can buy these already deeply discounted items for half-price, which doesn't endear her to me at all, and then tries to get me to give her even more discounts. She asked if she could USE MY PHONE TO CALL HER HUSBAND, and I lied and said I didn't have any more credit on it. She was going to leave her daughter in the store while she went grocery shopping, and I told her I couldn't be responsible for her.
When she came back to get her stuff (three bags' worth, by the way), she saw that her little girl was absorbed in a picture book.
"How much?" she asked.
I gave her a very low price.
She looked at the book, flipped through it, and said, "Maybe some other time. I spent all my money on food."
Then she gave me a poor-pitiful-me look.
I told the owner that this woman is truly unbearable, and she said...
... you won't believe this....
..."Just say what you want to say to her."
Oh, the TEMPTATION!
Comment