Penultimatum

I'd talked it through with my family and my supervisors at the fun, voluntary, second job; and I'd given my notice.  I'd truly enjoyed most of my time there, but the Reward:Effort was getting too low.  Looking ahead at my personal and work schedules, it was just going to get too difficult to continue,  especially with limited flexibility on their part.  I've gotten a lot out of my experiences there, and I'm proud to have done this; but it was clear (last of all, to me?) that it was time to move ahead, and so a few weeks ago I agreed to simply finishing out my scheduled shifts.  We'd all move on from there.

***

With about 30 minutes left in my last shift, I engaged with a customer who turned out to be my Penultimate.  Not only was he my next to last one, after nearly two thousand hours on the floor, he proved to be memorable.    Here's why:

• He was intensely interested in a specific fish at a specific time/place.
• This fishery is a couple of hundred miles away, and it has only a local reputation.
• He knew there was a secret bait that people there used with great success.
• He knew that nobody could find it in stores and that the locals ordered it on-line.
• Since it was Captain's Day at the store I tapped into the available expertise and found a professional tackle rep who was from the specific area in question; whose father still lived there; and who was wired into this fishery.
• My customer couldn't describe the bait in question (other than it was intensely purple), but after considerable discussion, quizzing and a phone call to the Captain's father, we confirmed that it was likely a soft jerk bait.
• We scoured the store's on-line catalog and eliminated every jerk bait option.
• We went on-line to various manufacturers' sites and eliminated a few of those.
• We finally identified the bait as a Lunker City Fin-S Minnow, and I provided information on how to order these baits.
• Somehow, the customer was still enthusiastically frustrated and generally difficult.

Lunker City Fin-S Minnows; from the web!

In a moment of quiet, the tackle rep involved whispered to me, "That's why (I) would never work in retail!"  I left the customer with the info and his options, and thankfully, disengaged.  

With 3.5 minutes left in my work time, another customer engaged me.  He was looking for a specific sale item.  I led him directly to the proper location, and the item was in stock right where it was supposed to be.  We talked about the product for a moment while he examined it.  He decided to keep it.  He thanked me for my time and my help.  He walked away, happy and satisfied.  I did, too, but I walked off the floor for the last time; this is how it's supposed to be!