kerrylaughs

This week at my retail gig I had a young man come up to my counter asking if I could ring up his purchases even though he didn’t have shoes. I explained that, because of my advanced age, there is very little I couldn’t do. I rang up his purchases which included some socks, a couple of shirts and a pair of underwear. When I gave him the total, he told me it was more than he had planned to spend. We reviewed the cost of each item together and he stopped me at the underwear which were $40. He said he couldn’t understand why they were so expensive. Because of my lack of filter it has always been dangerous for me to discuss my customer’s underwear choices; however, I decided this was a matter of service. I explained that the underwear he had chosen had been designed and engineered for young single people. They were not just designed to look good (dare I say it, even sexy); they had also been engineered to create the visual illusion of larger junk. They were rarely on sale because the target customers have hormones urging them to pay full price. He was on the fence trying to decide if the underwear was worth the money so I tried to help him out. I put the underwear, which were white, in front of me and put my hand inside them. I explained that I learned this trick for evaluating white clothing from my mother. I told him that if he could see my hand through the white fabric (my hand was VERY visible), then anything he put into the underwear would be clearly visible. I further pointed out that because of his darker complexion (he was a young black man) his junk would be much more visible than my hand. I asked if he wanted his body parts to be visible through the underwear which he did not. I told him that answered his question and saved him $40. I don’t understand why my employer doesn’t have me teaching classes about customer service.  A happy customer is a returning customer.  He will spend much more with me over time than the $40 he saved.