by Cody Hodge

Created on: April 30, 2009

Working in retail sure comes with a lot of bizarre behavior. I don't think that a day goes by that I can't quote a customer, or a co-worker who has said something so ridiculous that I can't help but laugh. I could have an entire book written by now of stupid comments, questions, and other remarks made by customers. Unfortunately there are so many people, and so many dumb remarks that I have forgotten the older ones.

I was 18 or so at the time, and I was working outside pushing carts. I was having a pretty average day, just pushing carts, and enjoying the nice spring weather we were having at the time. Now the store I work at has so many old people shop at it, and it almost feels like a retirement home. Not only that but we get a lot of mentally handicapped customers who come in on buses from the various homes that they live in.

So I was struggling with a couple of carts, because the parking lot was at a severe slope. I goes from higher elevation near the road to a lower elevation at the front of the store. So I'm sitting there with these carts, trying to bring them back to the store as customers keep bringing me new carts to deal with.

As I get these carts under control, I see a middle-aged woman also struggling with her cart, and trying to put her groceries in the car. As she sees me she motions for me to come help her put her groceries away. She was sitting in one of the those motorized scooters, so I helped her put her groceries in the trunk so that she can get into her car, and go home.

When I finish putting her groceries away, I see another customer struggling with her cart as well. Now it isn't really that hard to keep the carts from rolling away as long as you can keep your hand on your cart or keep it by your car. However, this old lady was having a hard time with it. I come over to help her, and she asks me straight faced "Is this parking lot slanted, my cart keeps rolling away from me." I kid you not, she said this without a hint of sarcasm.

Needless to say that I can't imagine how some of these people are allowed to leave the home, and come to the store unsupervised. How can you not tell if something is slanted? I just thought it was funny, and I hope others do too, because if you were there you would think the story was funny too. To this day it is still talked about, and whenever the new kids ask me if I have ever heard any dumb questions from customers, I can relay that story to them.

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