Monday 8 November 2010

Tales from behind the till - yes really!

OK, last one for a while, but I had to share this. It's Friday. My last day of looking after the shop, Cappuccino Gal had arrived with cookies and erm, cappuccino and we were doing the job - chatting, selling, oohing and ahhing over people's ideas and purchases and erm, drinking cappuccinos. A tall and rather untidy bloke came in...dressed in filthy jeans, muddy steel toe capped boots and a high-vis jacket that was so grubby it wasn't. Hig- vis that is - it was still a jacket! He threw himself into one of the chairs and chatted to us as if we'd known him all of our lives. Turned out he owned a recovery vehicle - picks up and tows damaged and broken cars - you know. He has the orange flashing light on top of his van thing - again, you know - it's the one that blinds you from the other side of the carriageway when all you wanna do is pass safely without appearing to gawp. Anyway - the orange lens had been broken and he needed to replace it. Different colour lights mean different things and different people on scene and of course, you aren't allowed to flash the wrong colour lights. After all, you don't want to be mistaken for a doctor if you're the tow guy - I'm guessing the two sets of skills aren't overly inter-change-able. First, he wanted orange acetate to glue inside his new, but clear lens. Julia and Cappuccino gal hunt around. Sorry, can't do that. He isn't going. Indeed, he isn't leaving the chair. He tells us of the vendetta that has resulted in this broken light problem, and how he's going to sort it out and save the police the trouble. Ohhhh Emmm Geee! Me and Cappuccino Gal have our fingers in our ears and are singing 'tra la la' so as not to hear. He suggest orange acrylic paint. Now we do have that, but surely, it's opaque? Cappuccino Gal suggests a visit to the garage (lovely, old fashioned place up the road, - with an attendant that wears a brown overall type place). He doesn't seem to hear. Instead he goes on impressing us with his plans to 'even the score'. Eventually, I cave in and tell him that there's nothing in the shop we can suggest will help - we wvewn considered three bottles of orange Alcohol Ink! Cappuccino gal sagely advises the garage again, indeed, suggests a coloured bulb inside the clear lens. Genius huh! Hmm. Totally ignores it. I think when he finally realises that we've lost the will to live and he isn't going to get a coffee, he leaves. He wasn't scarey or offensive, just out of the ordinary for the environment. The scarey bit came twenty minues later when he popped back in and waved an orange indicator bulb at us. Should've thought of that, he advised us. Thanks Cappucino Gal, for being there!

18 comments:

Jan Hennings said...

LOL! Alwyas nice to meet new people :)

Elizabeth said...

Oh, the joys of working with the public - I'm still chuckling:) Elizabeth

donnalouiserodgers said...

love the random christmas card image, and the story is good too...

Dx

voodoo vixen said...

LOL Julia, you really did get a good mix of people in the shop!! Love that Christmas tree, would be great for using up lots of offcuts!!

Sue said...

Hi Julia
fab card, oh but your story is so funny, you really should think of writting a book hun, you have such a way of telling a story, just what i needed on this grotty morn a giggle b4 work, sue,x

Jennie -The Artistic Stamper said...

LOl.. sometimes you just get them!
xx

Annie said...

It takes all sorts eh? Thanks for the early morning smile :-)
A x

Lynne said...

Always enjoy your stories, they make me smile. Love Lynne xx

Stressed Stamper said...

Made me giggle thanks - why is it blokes can be soooo thick at times...or is it women have all the common sense....was it raining and he just wanted to get out of the cold...I know - prob his lunch break...thanks for the smile hun...
Sarah x

Ciara said...

Now that's a random story!

Neet said...

Brilliant! I so enjoyed that read. Thanks.

Ann said...

'Tales From Behind The Till' is just waiting to be written Julia. And it would definitely be a best-seller!

Lyn said...

Now see, just as well you weren't on your own. But I am impressed with the man - a man that was confident that one, and more importantly, two women would be able to do anything. Well, okay, you didn't actually, but did point him in the right direction after all. A man. Confident in Woman's Ability. And he popped back to prove it. I like him.

Carola Bartz said...

Love those kind of stories. During my five years in the scrapbook store we had very weird encounters as well... but very funny afterwards.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I can't believe I missed this post. It is one of the funniest ones I have read in a long time. The reason it's so funny is that you really need to be British to appreciate this. We don't have carriageways, and we have tow trucks, contracted by either our city or county that come pick up ticketed vehicles, or ones that have been in wrecks and are too totaled to drive away. Other than that, we are responsible for getting our own vehicles off the road. But I loved that, in the end, all he wanted was coffee. Poor guy (tee hee).

Unknown said...

love the card! Got to love meeting new people, lol xx

Lothian Crafts said...

Great fun meeting new people.
Elaine

Ohhh Snap said...

Great story :D. I love the thoughts of Orange Alcohol Inks being used though lol. It might start a trend of decorating service vehicles.