Clerk Patrol!

A test.
To work at the thrift store.
She was taking a test as a prerequisite to working there. Carl overheard a few questions.

"An item costs $9.50 and the customer gives you $20.50. How much change should you give back?"
You with me so far? They'll be making change on the job so let's see if some basic math skills are in place. Proceed.

"Now this next one's going to get tricky, so tune in. The customer gives you $11.25 and the purchase totals $21.30. How much change will you make? Careful. This is a tricky one."

You know, I have a solid education and I make responsible decisions most of the time. No, I'm not a candidate for Mensa but I'm no Chrissy Snow either. And I'm pretty sure my six year old would know the customer doesn't have enough money. Still, it comforts me to know our local thrift store hires only the best. ;)

Our local gas station, on the other hand, hires only the boldest. If I may...
Carl was paying for gas a few days ago. After sashaying back to the van with a dazed look on his face, he began.

"I never witnessed anything like that before."

I was already wondering what brought on such an expression, and now I was even more curious to know. He set it up for me.

"There's a young African American girl working the counter in there. A customer came in who appeared to be Mexican, spoke little English and with a very broken accent. He wanted to buy cigarettes and milk, and handed her a paper thin ID card."

Their conversation.

"I can't accept that. You need a valid state ID that shows you to be at least 35 years old."
"I have card."
"That's not a valid ID. I can't accept it. Do you have a state ID or driver license?"
"No. I buy smokes. I have card."
"Sir, I can't take that. It's,...what is that anyway? It's paper thin. It's definitely not a valid state ID or driver license."
"What you need?"
"I just told you. I need a state ID or driver license. They're much thicker, like this." (she whipped out a plastic card of some sort).
At this point, the customer said a few things in Spanish and a few things in English under his breath. The clerk responded by saying, "I'm not trying to be an %*&@% but I can't take that ID and I'm not about to lose my job over this."

The customer then used a tone and some foreign words that were clearly not nice, and accused the clerk of discriminating against him. This clearly made her very angry, because she shot back, "I. Don't. Care. If. You're. Black. Brown. Green. Or Yellow." And under her breath, "Don't make me come over this counter."

Oh no she dih-en't.

The customer then tossed a few expletives toward her and what happened next freaked Carl out.

She was no small girl.
She stood up, reached her hand over the counter with a big half circle motion, grabbed the customer's gallon of milk and barked,

"Okay, you need to get out of my store!"

Carl said she was very intimidating in her demeanor and the customer just basically put his tail between his legs and walked out. Carl has often dealt with some seriously irate customers of his own in the airline industry. Part of him (the sinful side he must surrender daily, lol) would love to get away with responding like that. I can totally see it.

"You need to step out of my ticket line. Don't make me come over this counter after you."

No, it will never happen because 1) he'd get fired and 2) he tends to avoid confrontation. I'm just saying. Btw, I could have easily told this story without mentioning nationality or race. However, it seemed relative to the story that the clerk was accused of discriminating. Her heated response told me she didn't appreciate the accusation at all.

And now, overheard in the H home recently.
-6yo Reece wants to go on a date with me to Joe's Crab Shack (please note there is a playground there and I'm sure that has NOTHING to do with his restaurant choice.) The two of us are seafood connoisseurs, while the rest of the family only tolerates it at best. So, he again mentioned today that sometime he's taking me on a date to JCS,..."but will you do the driving, Mommy?"

-Reece also acted up recently in a store, so I put back a spelling book he wanted and he pouted for the next 15 minutes (such a letter lover, lol). Anyway, he had a Wilson football in his hands this time. Again, he began his impish antics, so I warned him about his behavior. He answered, "I'll behave, Mommy." Determined not to lose his bounty again, he quickly added, "But this is coming home with us," as he laid down over the football.

-While praying for the Quechua Indian people this past week in homeschool, Reece wanted to lead the prayer. He gave us his requisite, "Bow heads," and began.
"Dear Lord, we lift up the....Mommy who are doze Indians again?"
"The Quechua, honey."
"Oh yeah....the Quechua Indian people. (pause, pause). Are they Indians, Momma?"
"Yes, Reece. They are Indian."
"Okay. They are Indians, Lord."
No doubt, God was glad Reece clarified that for Him, lol.

-Reece solved the following math equation with great disappointment.
7-2=5
He built it with manipulatives (math blocks), thinking the answer was going to be 6, but realizing it was 5. His response? A disappointed, "Oh man! I thought it was going to be my birthday on that one." He just turned 6 a few weeks ago.

-Cierah, age 4½ was playing on the floor with the baby, who was crawling all over her. "He's cute mom. And fun. He's cute and fun, but,...we can't dog pile on him, can we???"

-And finally, as you know, my kids were elfed this week. Well, we elfed my parents as well and emailed it to them. Olivia was not happy about it. "Mom, that might have not been a very nice thing to do. You made my Nana into an elf and she's already short. It might hurt her feelings."

Toni