Refraction

Oops, I missed one yesterday (and I still havne’t posted any stories of my own!)

IV: The reluctant regular. According to him/her, the staff messes up too often, so you wonder why they still bother coming in.

V: The biggest mistake people can make in your eyes. More as a warning to us all, what do customers often do that have you rolling your eyes in exasperation?

What’s the weirdest request you’ve ever had?

Something that, despite your impeccable professionalism, made you do a double take and think, “Uh, is this person serious?”

As suggested by Bobby: The customer who just talks too much.

I’ve realized that stupid customers are actually a lot more funny than bad ones, so I’ll chuck in a few of those, too.

Okay, a quick post before I head off to work here:

Today’s theme: The customer who is always, always, always right. But not.

Have fun, kiddies! I’ll be posting my own story later.

And psst: If you have any ideas for themes, leave a comment or send an email.

Does anyone else feel it would be cathartic to have a blogging ‘marathon’ (I hesitate to call it that) sharing your stories of the worst customers you’ve had to deal with? I figure this could be a weeklong thing with a different theme for each day. (For example; Worst conversationalist, most ‘creepy’, weirdest order, etc)

If you’re interested, leave a comment on this entry 🙂 And yes, the entries will be posted on your own blogs, not in the comments here!

(Inspired by the awesome blog at waiterrant.net—you should really check it out if you haven’t before.)

I’ve been a bad CORE OF SOUL fan lately; I even forgot that their new single was released last week! T_T Anyway, once I was reminded, I went on a torrent hunt for it, and I found one, so you can bet a mini-review will be coming later.

I went back to the tracker later, and on a lark, typed in “Maki Yano.” This is another singer I love to bits, but it’s so hard to find any music by her online. Of course, I could just buy all the albums, but at seven albums at import prices, that works out to well over two hundred dollars. Ouch. SO when I found this torrent with six of the seven albums… I had to grab it. And I am content, although it took 11 hours to finish. I am content.

Also, in completely unrelated news, I have invitations for a new blogging service, philosophy.nu. If you want one, leave a comment. (Three guesses on the username there, and the first two don’t count.)

Lazy.

Yup, all it means is that I can’t be bothered to put my thoughts in any order, so here you go!

People are stupid. How much sense does it make to call one business requesting information about their competitors because you can’t remember the number? Not much. Likewise, what makes people think that shoe stores have every style available in every size, especially if they’re on sale? Finally, why head to the concession counter for your drinks when all the people working behind it look underage?

Pizza is not a healthy food, no matter what you put it on/on it. Perhaps some pizza chains out there offer a whole-wheat crust; I wouldn’t know. All I know is that take-out pizza is not exactly the most healthy thing out there. Putting it on a whole wheat curst doesn’t change all that much.

The Internet is weird. Why am I hardly ever able to discern the gender of fellow Asian music lovers online? I seem to default to “female” for some reason.

Shoes hurt. Despite working at a shoe store, I am still too lazy to buy a proper pair of flats (some Mary Janes couldn’t hurt) so that I don’t have to hobble home after working a paltry six hours. Then again, I really could use the extra two inches or so that these (high-heeled) loafers give me…

Shoes are also weird. Also, can someone explain the difference between a mocassin and a loafer to me? Thanks.

Also, I need more shoes *_* and socks. I wonder if I will still be saying this a week from now.

My aunt is coming back for a visit tomorrow; I have no idea how long it’ll be.

Business casual makes no sense. While it’s nice not to have to wear a uniform to work, the messy guideline of “business casual” doesn’t really help. I bought a three-quarter length Oxford shirt (I’ve always wanted one of those *_*) and a pair of slacks (which are actually a bit too big–more on this later) and I’m rotating this with about three or four different tops and another pair of slacks. I’m scared that everything I have is too casual. Or too… not business casual-y. Whatever that means. They did specifically say “NO DENIM,” so I guess that’s out, but I guess a shiny fabric isn’t really appropriate either, huh? Eh, why don’t I just ask the assistant manager?

Vanity sizing is annoying. I am very sure that Old Navy practices vanity sizing, unless I was shopping in the plus-size department. The girls will remember that during our one shopping trip (ONE!! shopping trip in all the years we’ve known each other. This is sad!) I estimated my size at an eight. This was based, of course, on the professional opinion of a swimsuit salesperson. Eh heh heh. Anyway, my arms loaded with slacks and various other things I thought were cute, I trundled off to the dressing room. It also doesn’t help that Old Navy pants come in regular and short (which I assume is for short people, like me) and I kept grabbing TWO of everything. Vanity sizing might make women feel better about themselves, but in the end, it just becomes a hassle when I have to try on sizes I never thought I’d be able to squeeze into. I mean, there’s a reason why I’ll never try a pair of double-zero pants: They will be way too small. As stores play around with the scales, the customers are forced to spend more time comparing and trying on and comparing and… ergh.

At least they don’t do that with shoes. Generally it’s within a size of whatever you “usually” wear.

Chinese sizes aren’t quite in sync with North American ones, either. A medium in Chinese terms is closer to the small here than the medium.

One last thing: it’s so worth it to speak French to the tourists just so they can go “OMG THE CHINESE GIRL SPEAKS FRENCH!” Although I’ve figured out that it’s not really worth much to be able to speak French and Cantonese; usually people who speak those languages can also speak English. Not always well, granted, but well enough to convey what they want. It’s the Spanish ones you have to watch out for. Luckily, the other new girl speaks Spanish, so it’s all good 🙂

Tee hee hee.

Okay, so my father is listening to the radio while he’s cooking, and what do I hear but the familiar strains of CORE OF SOUL’s “Flying People!” Naturally, I am amazed by this @_@;; I run to the kitchen to get a better listen, and it turns out that it’s just a Mandarin cover of the song. I would give anything to find out who sang it (it was a woman, FYI) and when it was released, and if someone could secure me an mp3, I’d be eternally grateful. @_@;;

I would give some lyrics here, but my Mandarin is absolute crap. However, I think the last two words are “?��^(1)e`?S(.” I know I’m being uber-helpful here 😛

Didn’t help that the announcer (Cantonese) said afterwards, “So that was (NAME’S) Mandarin version of that song that gets better and better as it goes on… now for the weather.” x_x;;

When I’m not working, I’m volunteering; when I’m not volunteering, I’m commuting; when I’m not commuting, I’m sleeping.

When I’m not sleeping, I’m coughing.

The end.