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Now, I know I've never posted about this guy (at least, since my inglorious return to CS. I might've posted about him when Mr Slugger was around...)
So, Chesterfield Mall, one balmy night. In walks a guy, he comes right up to me at my empty register, and asks "Where your batteries?"
I reach over the counter and point down. "There."
Guy bends down, grabs a package, and shouts (SHOUTS! I say.) "$3.99 for batteries!? That's absurd."
I rub my eardrums and reply "You do realize we deal in movies, yes? We don't make many sales on batteries, as we don't deal in electronic crap that buzzes, usually, it requires a direct link to a wall socket for our electronic stuff. And, in fact, it will be $4.25 after tax."
Guy forks over a wad of bills, I unfold it and put it in the till, give him his change, and watch as he starts to tear into the cardboard and plastic packaging. "Just to let you know, we can't throw away garbage that came from items we sell in the store."
Guy looks at me, and immediately holds out the packaging for the batteries, as if to get me to take it from him.
I just stare at him, as he drops the cardboard on the counter. "I repeat, I cannot throw that away. Take it with you."
Guy gives up, takes his trash, and leaves.
Fast forward a few weeks.
Guy wanders into the store again. I meanwhile am busily talking to a friend and away from the counter. Guy walks right up to us and butts his unwanted self into our conversation. Somehow, I forget precisely how, he gets her email address. I just glare at him, he eventually pipes up "Here, take this trash for me!" in my direction, then leaves. My friend, before she left the store, told me that was an email address she never used, and here's the one she uses most often.
Fast forward again.
Guy wanders into the store, and catches me standing idly by the catalogue, starts asking me video game questions. I mention I'm busy playing Xenogears for the umpteenth time. He unslings a duffel bag from his shoulder, sets it on one of the counters, pulls out a laptop (a piece of crap laptop that could only possibly be useful in typing papers, and even that looked debatable) and mentions he has a walkthrough for Xenogears on his laptop right at that very moment.
"Congrats? I bought a strategy guide for it a few days after I bought the game, not to mention I'm using a Game Shark this time through cause I got all the way to Deus and lost my save."
Meanwhile, there is a line forming to use the counter he's occupying.
I found out from that friend at some point that he attempted to visit her at her store on the other side of the mall. He also worked at a cell phone kiosk in front of Hot Topic... right on my way to wander down to Sam Goody. Every time I wandered by... "Hey, Juwl!" (or rather, Des, as he'd heard my friend and I talking, and at the time, I went by Des.) Now, I know I never told him my nick to his face. And I never actively talked to him. Ever. He had to struggle to keep the conversation alive, usually.
He would also stop in front of our closed store and rattle the gate when I was busy vaccuuming after close, and if Nice AM was closing with me, he'd get a kick out of this guy's obsession over gaining my attention.
One day, I found out that he was moving to Minnesota. I looked Nice AM square in the face and told him "Please tell me you're not joking. I'll have to remember how to do the Dance of Joy for that day."
So, Chesterfield Mall, one balmy night. In walks a guy, he comes right up to me at my empty register, and asks "Where your batteries?"
I reach over the counter and point down. "There."
Guy bends down, grabs a package, and shouts (SHOUTS! I say.) "$3.99 for batteries!? That's absurd."
I rub my eardrums and reply "You do realize we deal in movies, yes? We don't make many sales on batteries, as we don't deal in electronic crap that buzzes, usually, it requires a direct link to a wall socket for our electronic stuff. And, in fact, it will be $4.25 after tax."
Guy forks over a wad of bills, I unfold it and put it in the till, give him his change, and watch as he starts to tear into the cardboard and plastic packaging. "Just to let you know, we can't throw away garbage that came from items we sell in the store."
Guy looks at me, and immediately holds out the packaging for the batteries, as if to get me to take it from him.
I just stare at him, as he drops the cardboard on the counter. "I repeat, I cannot throw that away. Take it with you."
Guy gives up, takes his trash, and leaves.
Fast forward a few weeks.
Guy wanders into the store again. I meanwhile am busily talking to a friend and away from the counter. Guy walks right up to us and butts his unwanted self into our conversation. Somehow, I forget precisely how, he gets her email address. I just glare at him, he eventually pipes up "Here, take this trash for me!" in my direction, then leaves. My friend, before she left the store, told me that was an email address she never used, and here's the one she uses most often.
Fast forward again.
Guy wanders into the store, and catches me standing idly by the catalogue, starts asking me video game questions. I mention I'm busy playing Xenogears for the umpteenth time. He unslings a duffel bag from his shoulder, sets it on one of the counters, pulls out a laptop (a piece of crap laptop that could only possibly be useful in typing papers, and even that looked debatable) and mentions he has a walkthrough for Xenogears on his laptop right at that very moment.
"Congrats? I bought a strategy guide for it a few days after I bought the game, not to mention I'm using a Game Shark this time through cause I got all the way to Deus and lost my save."
Meanwhile, there is a line forming to use the counter he's occupying.
I found out from that friend at some point that he attempted to visit her at her store on the other side of the mall. He also worked at a cell phone kiosk in front of Hot Topic... right on my way to wander down to Sam Goody. Every time I wandered by... "Hey, Juwl!" (or rather, Des, as he'd heard my friend and I talking, and at the time, I went by Des.) Now, I know I never told him my nick to his face. And I never actively talked to him. Ever. He had to struggle to keep the conversation alive, usually.
He would also stop in front of our closed store and rattle the gate when I was busy vaccuuming after close, and if Nice AM was closing with me, he'd get a kick out of this guy's obsession over gaining my attention.
One day, I found out that he was moving to Minnesota. I looked Nice AM square in the face and told him "Please tell me you're not joking. I'll have to remember how to do the Dance of Joy for that day."
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