Service With a Smile

Yesterday we went to Walmart (blech, we hate Walmart) to return a couch we thought we could afford. We didn't actually have the couch because we ordered it online and were supposed to pick it up. Instead we brought in a return slip. First we went to customer service, (I type that term loosely), where customers are to go when making a return, and because we didn't know if it should be treated the same as a regular return item. We were waiting patiently in line and Ian says to me,

"Just be prepared, in case the lady tells us that we need to go to the pick up station to make the return."

I said "Okay."

(silence)

"Are you telling me this in advance so that I don't get angry at the lady?"

(silence)

"Yes."

Just to clarify. I never act angry towards the clerk. I just continue to be mad in the parking lot, in the car, to the next destination and then later in the evening when I've had more time to stew over the events of the day.
But, I think Ian knows me well enough to anticipate my reactions to those who forget what the term "customer service" really means.

So we're almost to the register and the lazy, I mean lady yells, "You pickin' up an order?"

I said, "yes, but we have decided not to actually purchase it, so I have a return slip."

Sometimes, I'm not sure people know what their faces look like when they contort it in such a way that is not only rude, but makes them look like a blind elephant eating a samurai sword.

"Then you need to go to the back of the store where they handle those things."

Deep breath. "Okay....."

"Ian!!!!"

"I know, but you have to"

"I have to WHAT!? I hate it when"

Deep breath. "I know...."

I'm not showing a lot of grace in my writing tonight. After almost 8 years of a relationship with Ian, I can attest to the fact that I don't possess the amount of grace that I obviously need to receive on a daily basis.