I was reminded of the acrylic-cutters and the likely oft repeated, “Enjoy your acrylic,” comment last week while buying shorts and a t-shirt at Nordstrom Rack. (Or as I once heard it called in the elevator of an office building where I worked, The Rack. As in, “The Rack is getting a new shipment on Wednesday.”)
The line at The Rack‘s checkout was beginning to pile up. A middle-aged man wearing a suit and a nametag that said “Store Manager” dodged his way through his young employees to open another cash register.
A couple of minutes later, he finished the transaction with his first customer and a woman came up beside him offering to take his place behind the register.
“Oh no,” the manager bellowed while I walked over and set my purchases down in front of him, “Open up another cash register. We need to get these people out the door.” And, more to me than to his employee, he added, “Unlike us, they don’t have to hang out inside on a nice day like this.”
For his benefit, I carefully showed the appropriate level of bemusement on my face.
We finished our transaction and he passed the bag of clothes to me. With a huge smile on his face and no hint of irony in his voice this time, he said, “Enjoy.”
I walked out trying to figure out if I would enjoy my shorts as much as the store manager seemed to hope.