Day 18- We Had An Emergency

Ok, so the Holiday fun is kicked into high gear which is why I haven't had a new post in 4 days. It has been a crazy weekend even though I only worked a half a day on Saturday. I have to say that two of the funniest things happened this weekend.

Funny 1- Saturday I got called up to the second floor, they needed me to be there immediately. I ran up the escalator and went to the information desk to find out what the problem was. I was greeted by a bookseller saying, "A woman is locked in the bathroom and she is upset and can't get out." Well I ran through the options of what I could do without breaking down the door but when none of those worked I ran down the escalator into the basement and grabbed some tools. Not having ever broken down a metal bathroom door before I grabbed what I thought I would need- a hammer, a drill, a crowbar, a wrench, a screwdriver and a power saw. By the time I returned to the second floor a crowd is gathering, now I have to break down a door with an audience. One of the people in the crowd was the cafe supervisor and he offered to help. We start by trying to pry the lock opened with the crowbar. Not working, then we try to remove the lock, also not working. Option 3, we decided to removing the door off of the hinges with a hammer, screwdriver and crowbar. I have sweat dripping down my face at this point. We thought that the hardest part would be removing the pins from the hinges that had been painted over at least 18 times. This was not the hard part, removing the door with a crowbar in the opposite direction from the way it usually goes was difficult. We finally manage to pry open the door and reveal a poor woman, slightly shaken sitting frailly on the toilet seat. She gets up walks out and leaves the store in a huff.

She seemed upset at her rescuers, apparently she thought that this catastrophic bathroom door malfunction was our fault. Now the funniest thing is once we got the door back on its hinges we tried to figure out the problem, but there was no malfunction in the lock, it worked perfectly. Apparently she didn't know how to use a door! Well, at least I didn't have to use the saw.

Funny 2- It was friends and family day on Sunday at the store so we all invited people we have worked with over the year in for a reception and an extra discount. This always goes over well because they are saving 35% on most items in the store. It was hectic and fun. I saw lots of friends and family as well as the friends and family of my employees. We sold a lot of books and that always makes me happy. Some good sellers this year appear to be- Inheritance of Loss (it won the Booker Prize), Audacity of Hope (Obama is doing well), Running with Scissors (at least the crappy movie didn't kill the book sales) and perennial holiday favorite Holidays on Ice. This isn't what is funny, the funny thing is that as one of my best friends S got a coupon for this sale and he came into the store and he got to witness Bible Lady in person. He stood in the drive aisle of the store and was amazed at how she nonchalantly popped pieces of bible into her mouth between gulps of coffee like it was candy. I got great enjoyment out of watching his face, I guess it is a sight, we are just used to her.

One last "funny" thing- I have thirteen more days of work until I get a day off. Ok maybe not so funny!

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