"Peripherals. How may I help you?"
"Hi. Is this Katie?"
"Uh, yeah. What can I help you with, sir?"
"Hi there. I just left the store, you helped me a few minutes ago with a couple of drives."
"Oh, ok, yeah."
"I just wanted to let you know that I saw your...." [mumbling and cell phone static I can't understand]
Long pause...
"Uh, sir, I didn't quite understand you, could you say that again please?"
A little louder, "I just wanted to let you know that I saw your eyes. Your eyes, it looks like you have black eyes."
"Black eyes, sir? I don't understand."
"Yes, black eyes. I saw your eyes and they look like they're black. And I saw your ring, I wanted to make sure you were ok."
Another long pause as I try figure out what the hell this means and then....
"Oh!" I start laughing nervously. "No, everything is ok. I just don't get enough sleep and I have pretty big bags under my eyes!"
"Are you sure? I mean I saw your eyes and they look pretty dark, like you have black eyes."
Still trying to laugh it off, "Yes, I'm fine, everything is ok. I just don't get enough sleep before work. But I appreciate your concern. Thank you."
"Ok, just thought I'd check. I didn't want to say anything to you in the store, I didn't want to embarrass you in front of anyone else."
"No, really, its fine. I appreicate your concern."
"Well, then...I guess I'll let you get back to work. Thanks for your help earlier."
"Thank you, sir."
Yes, the above conversation really did happen today at work. After dealing with a very well groomed cowboy (no, seriously, he was wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat) who seemed to know a lot about computers, 10 minutes later I received the phone call. And, I've been thinking about it ever since. Talking about it to my co-workers made me wonder if the guy genuinely was that nice, or if he was slighty beyond creepy. I'm not quite sure. Although, I am hoping that there is at least one guinely nice person like that left out there. Today, how many people do you run into that have absolutely no regard for any of the other human beings surrounding them? I may be slightly jaded about people in general, but come on...I work in retail. I have to work with assholes all day, every day. It was strangely odd to deal with someone who didn't fit in that category.
And I think thats why he stuck with me. Can't stop thinking about the cowboy...
Almost two weeks later, my co-workers are still asking me when my birthday is/was. When I tell them it was almost two weeks ago, they stare at me for a few seconds, apologize for not knowing, and then wish me a happy belated birthday. They ask why I never said anything, and I always tell them that I shouldn't have to announce my birthday to anyone...I'm not that kind of person to openly ask for attention, whether its my birthday or not. While it is slightly depressing that I've worked with some of these people the entire time I've worked at MC and they still don't know my birthday, I can't say it bothers me all that much.
What did bug me was when one of them came up to me and asked why we didn't go out for my birthday. Usually, for certain peoples birthdays, we try to get a group of people to go out and celebrate at a bar or something. Guess who's usually in charge of getting everyone together and planning the events? That would be me. And I told the guy as much. I plan everyone elses birthday outings, I shouldn't have to be responsible for my own, but I guess no one cares enough. To that, the guy glared at me and walked away....