Dear reticent customer,
I am not a mind reader. When you come up to the counter, hand over a piece of paper with two book titles on it, and say a name, I assume you want me to look up the books and have given me the author’s last name. I assume this based on dozens of other customers who seem to have a daily word limit.
They come in with a title and author written on a scrap of paper, hand it to me, and look at me expectantly. As if I have every book in the store behind the counter. I’m lucky if everything is spelled correctly and the title belongs to that author. These people usually say nothing more than an author name. Wouldn’t want to waste too much of their daily word quota on the woman helping them find a book. While I struggle with their terrible handwriting, they tap their fingers on the counter. No need for them to speak up or answer my questions with more than grunts.
Back to you. I asked if the name you had given me was the author’s last name.
“No.” You said and glared at me, clearly I was an idiot.
“Okay, did you want me to look up these books for you?”
“No.” You said again and glared again. You stared at me. Why do you think I’m a mind reader? Clearly you are not a mind reader or you would see that I have no idea what you want. Why should I have the ability you don’t even have? Of course, I can speak in full sentences which you can’t seem to do. So maybe mind reading isn’t too far from that in your opinion.
You looked down at the paper again and up at me. I asked if you had ordered these books? That got me an angry yes. Victory! I had to ask your last name again which you reluctantly gave to me. Then I got you your books and you grunted and hustled off. If you had used a full sentence, or even a well worded sentence fragment, I would have gladly gotten you the books much more quickly.
Sincerely,
Kelly
