A woman wanders through the store for some time. She’s beautiful, quiet and alone. As the end of the day approaches, and it’s time for us to make the announcement that Rocket Video is closing soon, she finally makes her way to the counter. It’s crowded. there are a number of people grabbing videos at the last minute.
“I don’t have an account yet,” she says.
“No problem,” I tell her, pointing towards our giant gumball machine. “Just fill out one of the forms over there and bring it back up. We’ll get you started.”
I help a few more customers. Then I become aware of an exchange between my coworker Sean and this same woman. She complains about having to fill out a form. Glen H., a regular customer, defends us a little by saying, “They’ve got to look out for themselves.”
This is true. We need to know who you are before we let you rifle through our vast movie collection.
Sean explains our membership policy as best he can while he works the crowd of customers.
She says, “I don’t understand why I have to fill out a form if all I want to do is rent a movie.”
Sean says, “Because you have to.”
Clearly growing upset, she says, “Wish me happy birthday.”
“Happy birthday,” says Sean.
She pushes her way out the front door. “I don’t like your attitude,” she snaps.
Sean calls after her, “I like yours!”
And all I can think is…
…happy birthday??
