if someone ever asks to summarize 2010 up in one picture, just show them this
I moved into a new place and as soon as the weather got nice out a rather annoying thumping started up against one side of my house. Oh great, the twin tweenage boys like to wail soccer balls against our adjoining fence.
The ball kicking continued daily and would go on until it ended up flying into our yard, and then instead of coming to get it or asking for it they continued until rest of the soccer balls they owned made it into our yard (they have a lot of soccer balls.) Then if we didn’t throw them back, which I stopped doing after a few months because I had other things to do with my time, their mother would come and ask for their balls back after a few days.
We asked if there was anything they could do to maybe avoid kicking so many balls over the fence, or ya know just come fetch them on their own so it wasn’t my job. Nope. Apparently the old neighbours were okay with it so we should be too.
Eventually, after waking up my toddler several times, almost hitting him in the head and the last straw waking me up when I was super pregnant from a nap I had enough. I went and dug through our sports equipment, found the air pump, went and got the balls, emptied them of all their air while giggling with childish delight and threw their empty ball carcasses over the fence onto their trampoline for them to discover when they came back out.
That was the last time a ball ever came over our fence. My husband tells me it was a childish thing to do, sure was, and it was god damn satisfying.
BACKGROUND: I own and operate my own retail store. It’s actually a seasonal fireworks tent, but not like any fireworks tent you’ve seen before. It’s 2400 square foot of fireworks heaven.
STORY: A guy came in to pick up some fireworks. He was having a party and wanted to put on an impressive show for his friends. I spent about 20 minutes walking him through the store, explaining the different items to him, and showing him videos of the stuff to help him pick out exactly what he wanted. He mentioned a couple of times how he usually goes to <other store> and how their prices were cheaper. Each time, I’d apologized, but I let him know that our prices were usually less than theirs, and that I thought that we had beat them on each of the items in question.
The third time it happened, I walked to our counter and grabbed the new catalog from <other store>. I found the stuff he had mentioned, and showed him how we were in fact cheaper on every item that he had selected (and that’s why I keep catalogs from my competitors on the counter). In fact, on a couple of items, we were about half of <other store> price. Amazingly, he didn’t seem happy about it, but he kept shopping.
By the time he was ready to check out, he had a rolling flat cart full of stuff. It was mostly large assortment packages, finale cakes, and big mortar kits, with a few smaller items here and there. To speed things up, and prevent us from having to unload all the big kits onto the counter, I started calling out the prices for the bigger items to the cashier (my dad). About halfway through, I got to one of the largest items, a massive mortar kit, and called out the price of $199.95. When my dad was ringing it in, the register display looked like it had screwed up, so I stopped him and went to check it out. Sure enough, the item had rung in at $19.95.
While I’m talking to my dad about it, the customer walks over and demands to see the mistake. I show him that the last entry was for $19.95 instead of $199.95. He immediately tells me that I have to sell the item to him at the price that rang up. I showed him that the item itself had the correct price tag on it, and that the cashier had just miss-keyed it when he had rung it in. The guy gets agitated and repeatedly starts telling me that I have to legally sell the thing to him at that price since the cashier had rung it in like that. I calmly explained that if the item had been priced wrong, I would sell it to him at the incorrect price, but since it was just a miss-key, we would just void the last item rung in and do it again. Now armchair lawyer guy (ALG) starts yelling that he knows his rights and that I’m breaking the law if I have the cashier change the price and I don’t sell it to him at the wrong price.
Now I’ve had the staff screw up before when doing pricing, and if we put the wrong LOWER price tag on something, that’s what I’m going to sell it to you for. I also know that unless it’s an ADVERTISED price, I don’t LEGALLY have to do it, but if I screwed up, I’m going to eat that mistake and re-price the item after we’re done. (Side note to Josh C. - Happy birthday today! And next time, pay attention to the damn price list when you’re using the price gun, because I know most of these screw-ups have your name on them. Also, go back to school and don’t do drugs).
ME: Are you telling me that legally, even if we screwed up, I can’t have the cashier fix a mistake and that I have to sell you the item at whatever price was keyed into the register?!?
ALG: Yes!
ME: (looking at my dad) I guess we’re going to have to charge him whatever you keyed in.
I calmly walked back around the counter and picked up another item from his cart, a small fountain with a price tag of $9.95, and continued calling out the prices. When we were all done, my dad gave him the total.
ALG: That can’t be right! That’s way too much! There’s no way I got that much stuff!
DAD: Oops! Looks like the fountain rang in for $995.95. Did you want to pay that in cash or with a credit card?
ALG just glared at my dad for a few seconds then quietly asked if we could fix it.
We happily fixed both mistakes, boxed up his items, and sent him on his way with a smile
things that don't break white male gamer's immersion: dragons, magic, made up metals, impossibly large weapons, eating 50 potatoes while in combat, riding a horse up a 90 degree cliff
things that break white male gamer's immersion: realistic armor for women, black people
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