Dear forgetful customer,
You asked me what I thought would be a simple question regarding a book you wanted to purchase. You said it was The Rest of the Story by Paul Harvey, so I typed in that title and we waited for the computer to complete its search. Nothing came up. I tried “rest” and “story”, still nothing. Trying just the word “story” would yield more results than I was willing to sift through especially since I was already starting to not like you.
See, when you came to the counter another customer was being helped by my co-worker. You stood behind that customer until I came up and asked if I could help. Since they were using the computer on the right side of the counter, I walked over to the left side. You didn’t. So the rest of our little chat got to be shouted across two other people who were trying to have their own conversation. And I had to ask you a lot of questions.
Were you sure about the title? Yes, you were. Is Harvey spelled H-a-r-v-e-y? Yes, it was. I tried typing in the author’s name and got a few books, but not the one you were looking for. All while describing my efforts to you, standing 30 feet away from me. You gestured toward the center of the store and said, ”She sent me over here”, which made me think you were looking for a book we carried. So why couldn’t I find it? I asked if you wanted to order the book, because we didn’t seem to have it in the store. You told me we did have it, you just couldn’t find it. Were you sure we had it? Yes, the other lady sent you over here for it. Ah, we had come full circle.
Your friend came to join the Great Book Search and told me, ”It’s Paul Harvey! You remember his radio show.” No, I don’t. I didn’t know we were talking about a radio personality until just this moment. I asked if you had looked with the media books. You gave me a blank stare. I guess not. I turned to your friend who was standing on my end of the counter, so she was already making a better impression than you. I started looking up the title you wanted on our distributor’s site, in case you did want to order it.
“Paul Harvey,” your friend repeated, rapidly losing the good credit she had built up, “The book is from his sign-off. You know his sign-off.” No, I don’t. I don’t know Paul Harvey and I don’t know his sign-off! I gave her an inquiring look. “It’s what he said at the end of every show.” Damn it lady, I know what a sign-off is, I just don’t know what his sign-off is. “He would say ‘Good day’ at the end of every show, as a way of signing off.” Okay, definition of sign-off? Check. Helpful information? Check. Finally.
You perked up at that phrase and said that was the title. I typed it in and indeed Good Day!: The Paul Harvey Story by Paul Batura is a book we carry. I walked you right over to the shelf and handed it to you. Good thing too, because the first title you said, the one we don’t currently have, is a book written by Paul Harvey and I might have ordered it for you just to get you to leave.
You paid and left, then I went to the middle information desk for my next shift. On the computer screen? Good Day!: The Paul Harvey Story by Paul Batura. Did you really forget the title in the 3 minutes it took you to walk to the other end of the store? Holy shit lady, you can start buying books online. We won’t mind. Trust me.
Sincerely,
Kelly
