Thursday, October 14, Orem, UT: Carly, 26, walked into Barnes and Noble to exchange a CD for a book: "You see, I bought the latest Coldplay CD only to end up getting it for my birthday," she explained, "I decided to exchange it for a David Sedaris book. My sister's been raving about David Sedaris." But her seemingly simple and innocent exchange took a turn for the worse when she met Barnes and Noble employee, Walter S, 30, new trainee at the Orem store, and his manager, Bob.
"Walter tried to be helpful, but I had to explain several times that I did like the CD, but had two of them. Who needs two of the same CD?" When Walter finally "got it," he called assistant manager, Bob, over to the counter. Several eye witnesses said they saw Bob coming from the area of the bathrooms and breakroom. "About two minutes after he was called, I saw him sashaying out of the breakroom, with his nose in the air," explained Jan, 40, career Barnes and Noble loiterer. Other witnesses used words like "sauntered," "ambled," and "strolled" to describe the snobby man's walk. "His nose was totally in the air, and he looked like he had a bug up his back end," said Chris, 17, who was reading a Seventeen Magazine near the bathroom.
When Bob got to the counter to help Walter with Carly's transaction, his mood had not improved. "As far as I can tell, he just opened the drawer that held the gift cards," Carly mused, "how hard is that?" When Walter thanked him, Bob said "I'm on break." Later, Carly explained how chilly Bob's comment was: "It was like we had asked him to vaccum and dust the entire store. I couldn't believe how snobby he was." Bob then told Walter, the trainee, "You need to call Wendy instead." "Wendy doesn't work until 8:00 tonight," was Walter's reply. "BUT I'M ON BREAK," Bob said, in a really snobby way, while walking away, apparently with his head in the air again.
"Well, I couldn't believe how snobby Bob was to Walter," Carly said, "so I totally had to say something after he left. I was like, 'whoa, that wasn't very nice,' and Walter said 'well, that's just Bob for you.'" The entire experience left Carly a little disillusioned: "I always thought the people at Barnes and Noble were sophisticated," she said, "but this guy was just plain snobby."
I applaud the innovative and experimental format of this blog. I want to copy it. What do I applaud more? STICKING IT TO BOB! Ooh ya. That must feel good. (Detailed comments on the David Sedaris book forthcoming, I hope.)
ReplyDelete1 thing I'm not ashamed that I cry over: this post.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I'm monitoring my students as they work in the computer lab [otherwise known as: readin' me some blogs], and one of them actually grew concerned over me as I attempted to wipe tears.
PS- Sedarises rule.
So far, nothing to do with England. I bought "Me Talk Pretty One Day" because "Dress Your Family in Denim and Corduroy" was still in hard back and I am too cheap to buy a hard back book. What I have read so far, is really good. He is gay, but not English.
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