I've been a lazy butt as of late, I blame this on Christmas and work stressing me out. I've noticed that customers get weird this time of year, and due to my lack of sleep I also tend to do things that leave me thinking "why the hell did I just do that?" while customers give me odd looks.
I don't have any shoes to share tonight, although in light of the fact it's almost New Years, I've decided that Friday is the perfect time for me to buy a new pair of shoes because really, my outfit won't be complete without a pair of hot peep toes (winter be damned, my tootsies will go nakey). So I'll post about that Friday night, I have New Years off so there's really no excuse for me to be a lazy blogger that night.
Today I was bombarded with customers because techically this was our first official snow fall of the season and everyone was in CRAPIDON'THAVEBOOTS mode. I have stories to share so this post is all about stupid things I did today and things my customers did that made me go "what the hell?"..
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Before I start this story, let me preface this by telling you how absolutely mortified I was after this happened..
A man walked into the store with a child of about 12. His kid was wearing all boys clothes and a navy blue/orange stocking cap that covered their entire head so I couldn't even see their hair. He walked into my section and every other month I have to deal with the possibility of a mystery shopper every day and I have to run through my entire (annoying) spiel I normally don't bother with. So I greeted him and asked him if he would like me to measure his son's feet before they got started.
He stared at me with his face completely blank, then slowly pulled off the kid's stocking cap and it was a GIRL. My first thought was really just "OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT" and I apologized profusely for my mistake. But thank god this customer had a sense of humor, he laughed and told me it was ok because he thought it was funny. This leads me to believe that that has happened before.. but really I didn't feel like any less of an ass.
Also his wife came in not much longer after that whole thing happened with the girls' sister, who was also dressed like a boy (but I was fooled once so that wasn't happening again). From now on I will never address a child as a boy or a girl, I will say "would you like your child/children's' feet measured" instead. Lesson learned.
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A little while later a family came in with a son of about 8 years old, I asked if they wanted his feet measured and they said yes. The boy was taking forever to remove his shoes so his mom said "please hurry up and take your shoes off" to which he replied:
"Ok my sexy, sexy mom."
Awkward pause in which we all stare at each other ensued.
I really wasn't sure what to do so I measured his feet quickly and got the hell out, his parents seemed relieved that I left.
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A woman came in with her two sons, they were a size 7 which is the highest my boy's boots go up to (which makes it one of the sizes that sells out first since people don't want to go to men's and pay a higher price). I told her I had two styles of boots left in that size but she wanted something without a removable insert and so I only showed her one style since the other one had an insert. I left them for a couple minutes to allow them to try on the boots.
When I came back they were in the clearance section and one of the boys was trying on the boot with the insert. I approached them and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't show you that style because I didn't think you wanted a removable insert". She replied, "It's ok, we removed the insert and he says it fits just fine without it!"
I looked at her and said, "Ma'am, you can't wear them without the insert, the insert is what gives the boot warmth. If you take it out, the boots no longer have a cold rating." She just stared at me and said, "Really? I've been doing that for years.."
She didn't buy the boots but it took a hell of a lot of convincing on my part that wearing the boots without the insert is a bad idea. I'm surprised he has feet left if he's been going out previous winters in insertless boots. It left me wondering if she thought the inserts were ornamental or something.. really, why would a company put an insert in for no reason? Wouldn't you think they have some sort of purpose, and that's it probably important? It's LOGIC.
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There was a woman in my girl's boot section, she had a size 1 Sorel boot and a size 2 Arctic Tracks boot. The way Sorels are made, they look a bit larger on the outside than most boots, but if you put your hand into one you can feel that they are smaller inside than they look. The Arctic Tracks she was looking at have a sleek design and look a lot smaller. She was doing the whole heel-to-heel measurement of the soles of the boots to see if the sizes matched up.
As soon as she saw me she went, "THESE SAME SIZE?" I checked the sizes on the boots and said no, the Sorel is a size 1, the Arctic Tracks is a size 2. She shoved the boots in my face and did the heel-to-heel thing again.
"NO THEY MATCH UP, THEY SAME SIZE."
I explained to her about the different makes and designs, and how you can't accurately measure a shoe using the method she was using. She shook her head at me and insisted,
"NO, SAME SIZE. I SEE SAME SIZE. SOREL IS CHEAPER, I BUY THAT, IT WILL FIT."
At this point there was nothing I could do, but I did wonder why on earth anyone would think that a size 1 in anything was the same as a size 2. THEY'RE DIFFERENT NUMBERS. My co-worker said she'll be back tomorrow, which is my day off, and her story will probably be "THE LADY TOLD ME THEY WERE SAME SIZE". Knowing my customers, I don't doubt this.
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There was a woman in my boy's dress shoe section with her young son and teenage daughter, I greeted them and asked if they needed assistance and the woman asked me what the European sizes translated into. I asked what size she was specifically interested in and she said she didn't know so I offered to measure her son's feet. I measured him at a size 13 and told her that unfortunately the shoe she was looking at started at a European 31 which is a US 13.5/1 and with that style of shoe you have to get the exact right size or they flop right off.
At this point her daughter interjected and said "But how can that be? He is wearing a size 2 right now." At this point I looked down at his feet, he had put his running shoes back on and I hadn't noticed them before. They were HUGE on him, they looked like clown feet. I said, "those are much too big for him, they're not the right size". The mother shrugged and said "he's fine with them, I'll take the larger size in the dress shoe.. it will work". I told her that children's feet are easily damaged and if he wears shoes that are too big for him he will most likely have problems later on.
She shrugged and bought the shoes.
[Granted he's not my child, but it bothers me to no end when a parent knowingly buys the incorrect size even though I warn them their child will be in pain from it.. I get twitchy and it's difficult for me to keep my mouth shut.]
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And this happened a few days ago when I was REALLY tired:
*customer walks into the store*
Me: Hi, how are you doing this morning?
Customer: Oh I'm good! How are you?
Me: Oh, noooooooo problem! *smiles like an idiot*
*pause*
Me (thinking): Oh my god, why the hell did I just say that?
*customer slowly backs away and leaves*
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And that's the end of my long over due post. I normally don't have days like this, once in a while someone will do/or saying something that is odd but I never get this all at once. It made for an interesting shift, I'll give you that.
