Customers...

So last night I worked from 3 til close and it being a friday night, needless to say, the store was busy. And consequently, a mess. I was in my usual department (shoes, if you already forgot) and I was doing my usual thang: faking it aka. looking like I'm busy. About an hour before closing time, I see a woman at the other end of the shoe department going to town with about 50 pairs of socks. Still being new, I didn't know if there was a policy about trying on socks. Personally, I think it's pretty gross to try on socks and then not buy them as someone else will essentially be buying vitiated socks. I think it's bad enough that people try on shoes with reckless abandon, but they're at least supposed to wear those little sock things; of course none of them do. Anyway, I ask a coworker if customers are allowed to try on socks. She immediately contacts our manager via the walkie talkies we all wear (something I could easily have done, but I wanted to ask someone before alerting the whole staff about this customer's indiscretion) and the manager says that as long as the customer is not ripping up the packages, it's fine. Good to know, Marshalls. Another coworker of mine, who happened to be cleaning up an area right next to sock lady, alerts the woman about the package rule and everything seems to be fine. No harm, no foul.

About 20 minutes later, I am organizing the boot section that sits amongst the coats. Sock lady is there and suddenly she turns to me and says that she needs my opinion about the coat that she has discovered. Giving my opinion and talking to customers about products/fashion is my favorite part of the job. I know that may come as a shock as I have a certain anxiety when it comes to approaching workers when I am the customer, but when I'm the worker, it's fine. Anyway, she is wearing a DKNY coat that goes just below the knee and it has a slight A-Line cut to it. She is worried that the coat may be a little unflattering but I reassured her that it's not. And it's not unflattering; in fact it looks really good. I really like the coat; it looks warm and it has a faux fur lined hood. I tell her that it's fashionable and functional. She smiles at this and explains that she always wears trench coats in the winter and freezes because of it. I told her that I have done the same thing; freshman year in college all I wore was a trench from H&M that was super cute but super thin. The conversation goes on a little bit longer and it starts getting to the point where I think she might begin telling me her life story (which I would have absolutely loved to hear); she tells me she worked for DKNY when she lived in California and the first thought that comes to my head is, What are you doing here? But I don't ask. Eventually she thanks me and heads to the back of the store to put the coat on layaway.

I find the whole interaction with sock lady compelling because this woman obviously had a story--as we all do-- but hers seemed like it would be really interesting. She was a little odd, with the hint of a southern twang in her accent. She was young-- probably in her thirties-- attractive, wore bright red lipstick and her reddish hair reminded me of one of my college professors.