Tips

I was given a tip today, which is just about unheard-of in retail. Can't say I was very comfortable with it, but this customer was insistent - again, someone who was very impressed by the amount of work I put into his query, nothing beyond searching through the catalogue and ordering the CDs. Waiting staff in restaurants being tipped is one thing, but someone working in a shop?

There was actually one previous occasion when a customer brought me a little gift, sometime last autumn. A very polite middle-aged woman came in looking for a present for a friend, who'd been going on about a CD recently issued called "The ultimate" something-or-other - not very much information, to put it mildly. However, once we'd established it was very likely an easy listening release, I told her I'd see what the computer could come up with, warning her that it'd take a while.

It did, absolutely ages. Luckily the shop wasn't very busy at the time, but after leaving with a couple of CDs she thought might do the trick she returned with a bottle of wine for me - quite unexpected, a lovely surprise. Unfortunately I never did find out her name (I make a point of addressing customers who pay by card by their name, but she paid cash), so some time later Peter, Rob and I were toasting the health of Mrs Ultimate.