Work Life at Macy's

The last couple of weeks at Macy's have been, well, strange. Its also been interesting. If I wrote a book about my experiences at Macy's, I wonder if it would be a best seller. Or Macy's may sue me. Time enough to figure that out later.

In any event, here we go.

As you all know, I love to play with the babies and children that come into the store. It's the high point of my day. One day I was doing just that - a little boy in his stroller was flirting with me and I was playing back. Mama and Grandma were nearby and approved. Somehow, another customer standing nearby thought she would get in on the fun and asked the baby if he could say Grandma. She asked this several times. Mama and I looked at the woman wondering what she was thinking. Then the woman looked up at me, surprised, and said to me, "Oh, you work here!" Needless to say, Mama and (the real) Grandma were irked at the woman. I simply stated, "No, ma'am, he's not mine."

The next day, while I was at Walgreens, a woman came up to me and commented on my smile. She said she thought my teeth were beautiful and wanted to know if they were my own.

Last week, at Macy's, a woman literally left her 3-month old baby in his carrier at my feet while she went to the dressing room to try on some bras. Macy's requires all its employees to take care of the customer, however, I don't think babysitting is part of the job description. After speaking to management and our security department about it, neither one gave me a good answer on the best way to handle that situation. Great. Oh, and the woman came back to claim her child after about ten minutes.

This week, I have had a customer go into a narcoleptic seizure at my register, and another customer almost pass out from Heaven only knows what.

As you can imagine, I started my shift yesterday with a quick prayer to God asking for just a "normal" day. No weirdness, please. He answered me.

Yesterday I met half the world. My customers included a woman from Turkey, another woman from Columbia, South America, a couple from Belgium on a business trip, an American woman now living in Switzerland, a business woman from Nigeria (her name would sprain my tongue if I tried to pronounce it), and an American couple celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary by traveling from Ohio to St. Louis for the first time. Okay, that last one was domestic - don't get so picky.

I have written about international customers before. It's truly amazing how global we are. I've met people from Ireland, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, most of Asia, Bulgaria, South Africa, Ghana, South America, Saudi Arabia, and Italy.

Happy Memorial Day readers!