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(Hardware Store, cutting keys. Around 2:30 PM.) Long thread. D:
There's a major sale going on, so I have lots more people in the store than usual. I have a very long line for keys, (Well, not so much a line, as a gathering around the front of the desk, wondering who will go next.) and I have whittled the line down to this one really awesome customer who gave me three Schlage Keys and three Masterlock keys, .. and wanted three of each. That's 18 keys. It's not necessarily a small amount of keys!
So I'm making keys, and about a fourth of the way through them, this old woman (OW) walks up to the desk, bypassing other customers.
OW: "Do you make keys?"
Me: (While cutting a key, standing in front of a key machine in front of a wall of keys, below a gigantic Key picture with a car key on it, well below an utterly gigantic "Key Desk" sign.) "No, sorry."
Other customers: *snickering and looking at me, each other, and her*
OW: "Oh, I'm sorry."
Me: "Oh, I'm just kidding, my dear. I do make keys. I'm making one right now!"
OW: "Okay, you were just joking with me. Very good. Now do you make Car Keys?"
Me: "Depends on which one."
Ow: "This one."
Me: "Oh um, I'll look in a few minutes when I'm done with these keys, okay?" *Turns key machine back on and doesn't stop grinding away...*
OW: "My car key wouldn't start my car this morning! I had to use my spare key. That key worked. Then I tried my original key and it worked too! So I thought I should better make a spare key."
Me: *While grinding* ... O.o' (Thinking) .. what ..
OW: "Can you make me a key?"
Me: "Tell you in a minute, hon."
I eventually finish up the keys, and the minute I turn back to the customer, she's already talking again, (Telling the same story.) but I interrupt her to talk to my original awesome customer, asking him if I should/could tape up his originals with their respective copies so they wouldn't get confused. I'm dumping twenty four keys into a bag, while OW comments "Oh, that is a lot of keys!" *amazed gasp*
Awesome customer leaves. ... ... ... Drat. I miss them already.
OW begins by telling her entire story again. Mid-way through her tale I take her key and start matching it up. It feels kinda rough to the touch, like it was never ground properly in the first place. She immediately tells me that she wants me to grind her new key, as if I wasn't going to do it. (
) I pick out her key, and she asks me if I'm going to grind it right. I reason with her,
Me: "Well, would I do any less than my best?"
OW: "Why wouldn't you?!"
Me: "Because I don't want to do any less than my best? ..."
OW: "Then don't!"
Me: "Anything for you, hon. ;-3 " (I have no idea where I picked up the habit of saying "hon." I could just as easily say "Mongol.")
OW: "Okay, but do a good job! I don't want to have to come back." ( I HATE when they say either part of this!!)
So I start to cut the key, hoping to the seven frosty layers of hell that it works and she doesn't have to come back. I've picked out (AND SHOWED HER!!!!) the key that it'd be made of; a regular car key with no plastic top, implying that she approved of it. Alas, were it only that simple...
When I'm done with the key, I show her the teeth, indicating that they align nicely and I "did a good job," and after some key identification blunders on her part, thinking the key I made her was her original, (WTF?) she takes her key, aaaand:
OW: "Why does my key feel so rough?" (She was indeed feeling her original, with her plastic top that we don't carry.)
Me: "That's the way it felt when you handed it to me."
OW: "It wasn't like this before..."
Me: "Felt quite rough when you passed it to me. It's what I do. I feel keys." ( )
OW: "And why doesn't this key (Her new key) have a plastic top? When I bought this (Her original) from Lincoln MX (something) dealer, which has gone out of business, they gave me a plastic top!"
Do note that this isn't some attachment. It's just the plastic head of the key that comes built in. Nothing was "given." It simply came that way.
Me: "Oh, they always come that way from that dealer, if I recall correctly. It's how the key is made."
OW: "Well can you add a plastic top to it?"
Me: "Oh, they have these neat little plastic tops you can slide on for half a dollar. Want one?"
OW: "Well I don't want to pay extra for something I could have gotten for free. I need something to grip the key with! I can't grip this with my hands, it's too small."
Me: "Actually, the keys with the plastic heads are half a dollar more expensive than the non-plastic ones anyway. If given a choice between this and the plastic headed key, this rubber one gives better traction for your hand."
OW: "But the old dealer gave me a plastic head key for free!"
Me: "... You got a key for free over there?"
OW: "No! That's not what I said! They gave me a plastic head for free for a few dollars more."
Me: "Oh, good, I'm relieved. It's only half a dollar more here, not a few dollars more."
OW: "That's much better. I'll take one."
So I pick out a little green thing for her and slide it on. Fits quite nicely, thankfully. She leaves.
It's not how the tale actually goes. I wish I could remember all the connecting details, but that's the basic gist of it. It was far more annoying in person than what you've just read. But .. Good grief, she was constantly complaining and reminiscing about things that are long gone. Just because the dealer that's out of business did it, doesn't mean we do it. Two different stores. Just saying "But they did it!" doesn't do a thing.
There's a major sale going on, so I have lots more people in the store than usual. I have a very long line for keys, (Well, not so much a line, as a gathering around the front of the desk, wondering who will go next.) and I have whittled the line down to this one really awesome customer who gave me three Schlage Keys and three Masterlock keys, .. and wanted three of each. That's 18 keys. It's not necessarily a small amount of keys!
So I'm making keys, and about a fourth of the way through them, this old woman (OW) walks up to the desk, bypassing other customers.
OW: "Do you make keys?"
Me: (While cutting a key, standing in front of a key machine in front of a wall of keys, below a gigantic Key picture with a car key on it, well below an utterly gigantic "Key Desk" sign.) "No, sorry."
Other customers: *snickering and looking at me, each other, and her*
OW: "Oh, I'm sorry."
Me: "Oh, I'm just kidding, my dear. I do make keys. I'm making one right now!"
OW: "Okay, you were just joking with me. Very good. Now do you make Car Keys?"
Me: "Depends on which one."
Ow: "This one."
Me: "Oh um, I'll look in a few minutes when I'm done with these keys, okay?" *Turns key machine back on and doesn't stop grinding away...*
OW: "My car key wouldn't start my car this morning! I had to use my spare key. That key worked. Then I tried my original key and it worked too! So I thought I should better make a spare key."
Me: *While grinding* ... O.o' (Thinking) .. what ..
OW: "Can you make me a key?"
Me: "Tell you in a minute, hon."
I eventually finish up the keys, and the minute I turn back to the customer, she's already talking again, (Telling the same story.) but I interrupt her to talk to my original awesome customer, asking him if I should/could tape up his originals with their respective copies so they wouldn't get confused. I'm dumping twenty four keys into a bag, while OW comments "Oh, that is a lot of keys!" *amazed gasp*
Awesome customer leaves. ... ... ... Drat. I miss them already.
OW begins by telling her entire story again. Mid-way through her tale I take her key and start matching it up. It feels kinda rough to the touch, like it was never ground properly in the first place. She immediately tells me that she wants me to grind her new key, as if I wasn't going to do it. (
) I pick out her key, and she asks me if I'm going to grind it right. I reason with her, Me: "Well, would I do any less than my best?"
OW: "Why wouldn't you?!"
Me: "Because I don't want to do any less than my best? ..."
OW: "Then don't!"
Me: "Anything for you, hon. ;-3 " (I have no idea where I picked up the habit of saying "hon." I could just as easily say "Mongol.")
OW: "Okay, but do a good job! I don't want to have to come back." ( I HATE when they say either part of this!!)
So I start to cut the key, hoping to the seven frosty layers of hell that it works and she doesn't have to come back. I've picked out (AND SHOWED HER!!!!) the key that it'd be made of; a regular car key with no plastic top, implying that she approved of it. Alas, were it only that simple...
When I'm done with the key, I show her the teeth, indicating that they align nicely and I "did a good job," and after some key identification blunders on her part, thinking the key I made her was her original, (WTF?) she takes her key, aaaand:
OW: "Why does my key feel so rough?" (She was indeed feeling her original, with her plastic top that we don't carry.)
Me: "That's the way it felt when you handed it to me."
OW: "It wasn't like this before..."
Me: "Felt quite rough when you passed it to me. It's what I do. I feel keys." (
) OW: "And why doesn't this key (Her new key) have a plastic top? When I bought this (Her original) from Lincoln MX (something) dealer, which has gone out of business, they gave me a plastic top!"
Do note that this isn't some attachment. It's just the plastic head of the key that comes built in. Nothing was "given." It simply came that way.
Me: "Oh, they always come that way from that dealer, if I recall correctly. It's how the key is made."
OW: "Well can you add a plastic top to it?"
Me: "Oh, they have these neat little plastic tops you can slide on for half a dollar. Want one?"
OW: "Well I don't want to pay extra for something I could have gotten for free. I need something to grip the key with! I can't grip this with my hands, it's too small."
Me: "Actually, the keys with the plastic heads are half a dollar more expensive than the non-plastic ones anyway. If given a choice between this and the plastic headed key, this rubber one gives better traction for your hand."
OW: "But the old dealer gave me a plastic head key for free!"
Me: "... You got a key for free over there?"
OW: "No! That's not what I said! They gave me a plastic head for free for a few dollars more."
Me: "Oh, good, I'm relieved. It's only half a dollar more here, not a few dollars more."
OW: "That's much better. I'll take one."
So I pick out a little green thing for her and slide it on. Fits quite nicely, thankfully. She leaves.
It's not how the tale actually goes. I wish I could remember all the connecting details, but that's the basic gist of it. It was far more annoying in person than what you've just read. But .. Good grief, she was constantly complaining and reminiscing about things that are long gone. Just because the dealer that's out of business did it, doesn't mean we do it. Two different stores. Just saying "But they did it!" doesn't do a thing.
) I'd be somewhat more annoyed.
thanks. I am all too happy to admit my faults and even more to laugh at them. It makes me wonder sometimes how I don't overdraw my bank account.
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