Weird things that happen to you at work...

[bluecuracao]

A one or two-time customer of ours came in to the store one afternoon, Stoned Out Of His Gourd, and after a little gibberish, proclaimed that he was really hungry. He said that I should give him a dollar, because he wanted purchase a hotdog from the cart across the street.

Now, we get the occasional street person coming in and asking for money, but this one threw me for a loop...not just because I'd never seen him blotto before, but also here was a guy who I thought would come in and start shopping, and instead he quite firmly requests hotdog money! It was a little bizarre, and in the moment, slightly frightening. I decided to follow my instincts and replied, man, I have no money for you.

Well, geez, his shoulders just dropped, and his puffy eyes welled up with tears ("But I'm really hungry!"). For chrissakes. Then it dawned on me that one can say things to stoned people that don't make sense, and they may believe you, and also that the hotdog cart vendor was a big guy who could probably handle this weirdo more efficiently than I. So I suggested to UltraStoned Man that maybe the vendor would give him a FREE hotdog. It worked, thank god--he perked up and said Yeah, free hotdog! and wandered out the door. Never saw him again.