A Day in the Life...at the Booth

So today marks the 4th day in a row, and 3 out of 4, at the booth in Copley Square; needless to say, I'm having a little nutter today. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I did not have my usual morning oatmeal -- and if you know me at all, you know that I eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast (barring dire circumstances) -- so, that's thrown me off my (soccer, et al) games, literally and figuratively.

Last night, I showed up for my soccer game at 8:40, which I thought was perfect -- I get there 20 minutes early to socialize and lumber about (as a 30-year old now, I need more time than ever to warm up). I walk into the field and notice that my team is already on the field playing! My 9PM game time actually was an hour late -- arghh! I hate it when that happens; actually, I can't recall ever doing that before but that's mostly owing to my personal secretary, TW.

So today I'm here at the booth (again), and I've already had a few doozies...but right off the bat, I had a real winner. The biggest show in town these days is a pre-Broadway run of "Dirty Dancing" or as the non-English speakers like to call it, "Dirty Dance." It's been here 8 weeks, and will stick around for 2 more, so all the late-for-lifers are coming out of the woodwork these days trying to get tickets before it leaves town.

My first customers this morning were a group of 5, and they didn't speak a lick of English. So, I muddle through the transaction by writing out the cost of each ticket ($52.25!!) and then down beneath that the total ($261.25). The ringleader plunks down a hundred and three fifties, so far so good; another one drops down a single and finally a ten-dollar bill appears...at this point, a crowd is starting to form because it's the first transaction and people are fiending for their half-price tickets.

Now, here's where it gets good: I hand them their tickets and try to tell them that we're all set, despite the fact that they're .25 short! I was trying to be hospitable, but also trying to speed up the line by forgetting about the extra .25 cents. Suddenly this group of 5 customers, which previously couldn't speak a lick of English, starts demanding their change!!

"Change, change?" they clamored.
"Oh god, is this really happening?" I think to myself.

Finally, another customer convinced them that I had paid the .25 cents and that they were all set...ugh, got to love our customers!

You've also got to love our co-workers. I'm working today with quite the little peach! I returned to the booth, after running the morning errands, to find my her wildly swiping a credit card into the computer over and over again.

Now at this point, you'd have to think to yourself, "Self, why doesn't this card seem to work?" I immediately point out that the show she's trying to buy is in Florida, which we can't access here at the outlet. Problem solved, or at least the problem at hand!