AS THEY SAY, YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP...

     My Manager had some good unintentional one-liners last night. We have a man who occasionally comes in and buys much of our overstock for his community. I guess he's the buyer. I don't care what he does with it all. He arranges it all ahead of time with the Head Store Manager and I'm just the foot soldier who rings it all up...usually dozens of orders. He's polite, easy to work with, patient, and well-organized so I don't mind ringing up his orders at all. Oh, and he's an Orthodox Jew: something which normally would not be relevant to the discussion if not for the following.

     First of all, my Manager keeps calling this man "Vinny" even though his name is Ben and he continues addressing him as "Vinny" despite having been corrected several times. It's kinda cartoonish of my Manager, but I know he's not doing this maliciously: he honestly believes this is the customer's name and that is probably why it continues to amuse me so.

      The fun began later. Ben comes in on Saturday night to buy what he's buying and usually taking advantage of sales to boot. The only catch is that the sales end at midnight so I have to work quickly to get as much in as possible. This is where his organization pays off because I can get a lot more done than would normally be possible as a result. Saturday is also one of our busier nights so I'm sure my Manager doesn't like that I'm effectively off-register in order to attend to Ben. My Manager, perhaps a little flustered, asked that, in the future, Ben come in earlier or on another night entirely, suggesting Friday.

     Yeah, he actually suggested to an Orthodox Jew that he come in on a Friday night to do his bulk shopping. Believe me, it's not like you can't tell he's Orthodox. He's in the full, uh...uniform. Oy Gevalt!

     The best (of course) is saved for last. My Manager calls for Security to come to the loading bays so he can witness what's going on. While Ben is pulling his truck to the bay, he explains to Security what is going on. He tells him that "Vinny" arranges all this ahead of time with the head manager and that he buys all this stuff for his community, but that he does it in an unorthodox way. I immediately looked at Security and remarked that I'm pretty sure nothing Ben does is done in an unorthodox way.

     We shared a good laugh over that...and I hope you did too :-)