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this is from some old post I made in a A/T customers thread Some middle aged lady, maybe mid 40s, comes in. Fair skinned woman with a blonde pixie cut. I'm in copy center because the usual worker called in. In fact, the store has been attempting to run with as few people as possible. So we're real busy, everyone's tied up with customers or whatever. Anyway, the lady comes up to me and asks to buy individual sheets of cardstock. Normally, this isn't a problem. We have all sorts of loose sheets for sale. But shes requesting a single sheet of a type that is pretty expensive and is sold in packs of 25. So I tell her no. "Well cant you make an exception?" she asks. "Sorry, we don't use that paper enough in the print center, and its pretty expensive" I reply. While im telling her this, I notice her hand is rested upon her upper chest. She becomes real quiet, and just stares at me. She removes her hand, and you can see the imprint because now her skin has flushed red. She lets out some sort of low wail that grows louder into a shrill scream. I look around; everyone's still busy. The store is loud with activity and no-one seemed to hear it. I look back at her. She lets go of some documents that she was holding, and uses her now free hands to pull hair from her head. The worst part is, she's actually pulling hair out. I notice little bits of hair falling to the counter. When she tires of pulling her hair out, she makes a fist with one of her hands and starts beating her own head. I'm dead silent and motionless because: a) this doesn't feel real b) this counter that separates us isnt high enough to prevent her from leaping over to me c)it seems dangerous to interrupt this episode as its happening, especially for 8 dollars an hour. Now that shes properly exhausted from pulling her hair and beating her head, the waterworks start and she begins sobbing. I quickly tell her that she can use the entire 25 page ream if she wants, no charge. With this sort of display, it's probably best to let the store lose 10 dollars or so instead of getting more people involved. We stay busy for a few more hours. When it slows down, I tell the managers what happened. They're initially upset that I let a customer walk out with a free ream of paper. But once I tell them the story, they become upset because they didn't get to witness it. (I had only worked there for a few months at that point, and still hadn't been jaded enough to enjoy customer suffering). I have more stories of random crazies, but they were mostly dudes and gals who were innocuous and made their rounds without bothering customers or staff. I was 20 at the time, and that was my first real experience with adult mental breakdowns. To be fair(ish) to her, she explained afterwards that her ex-husband was trying to sue her, and she was on the verge of losing everything if she didn't get some paperwork handed in that day. Doesn't justify the meltdown, but I can sort of sympathize with the weight of the situation.
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Jun 13, 2017 07:45
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| # ¿ May 7, 2024 01:49 |
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