Mr. S.

Mrs. S. has been in a lot lately. We hadn't received a certain item in several weeks, and it's the only thing her husband likes. She left her phone number with us and we promised to be on the lookout for it. But another shipment of none of that item. Her husband came in, ranting and raving and telling us to get our act together. He wasn't very nice, but it was obvious that something is not right with him, so we let it slide. They both have strong accents. He, however, seems to be having increasing trouble with English as his mind goes. (They're both at least 60, maybe 70. I don't know where they're from originally.)

When it was obvious that our warehouse has no interest in sending us that particular item, we called another store and had them send us several. When Mrs. S. came in to pick them up, she gave me a big hug and a very sincere "Thank you!" Mr. and Mrs. S. were in once together; he yelled a bit then and she stood and bit her tongue. She asked how bad her husband had been when he came in by himself--she was in the car (because she doesn't let him drive anymore) but she refused to come inside out of embarrassment. I didn't say much, but another employee (Miss Semi-Manager) was very blunt on how bad he was but that she likes old people so doesn't mind. Mrs. S. expressed her frustrations and how he's becoming worse day by day. She asked how we stood him, because some days she can't even stand him. Poor lady.

When she left she said she would hide several of the item from her husband so it takes him longer to go through them. Since we didn't get any of them this shipment, either, I guess I should start calling around to other stores to arrange for another store transfer. I'll be in another, larger, city for a visit soon. Perhaps I should call all of our stores in that city and stop by to collect some of the needed item. Help Mrs. S. out, get ideas for merchandising in my own store, network with other managers, I could get a lot done in just a couple of hours.