Out and about last Sunday I stopped by a few stores to see if there was anything worthy of purchase. First to the Gap, which has been reeling from some serious drops in business--which just means sales. Picked up a jacket for 20 bones, flirted with the sales gal...cool.
Then to Marathon Sports. I didn't have anything specific in mind, just wanted to see what they had. I noticed a decent Itech hockey helmet for about 50 bucks--a good price for such an item. The helmet is adjustable by screws on the side, but it was adjusted all the way "up" and therefore I couldn't tell if it would fit on my gargantuan noggin or not. At about that time a clerk-type person approached:
CTP:Help you find anything?
[This means "If you have any obvious questions like 'Where are the tennis shoes' I can point, but otherwise you're on your own."]
Me: Well actually, I was interested in this helmet, but I need a screwdriver to see if it will fit. Can you help me?
[Clearly she had not expected an actual request for help and mere pointing was not going to suffice. She was flummoxed.]
CTP: Well, umm maybe you can go up to the front desk and ask the manager, they might be able to get a screwdriver.
Me: That's not something YOU can do?
CTP: Well are you going to BUY this helmet?
[She was getting testy that her simple transference of her work responsibilities to the CUSTOMER was not going to fly.]
Me: That's the thing, I don't know, I need a screwdriver to find out.
CTP: You'll have to go ask the manager
At this point I simply put the helmet back and said I didn't want to bother with all that if she didn't want to help me and walked out.
