Unusual.

Today *I* was the Customer of the Day.

Usually I get along great with the Iranians who run the Greek diner in our shopping area. Usually I'm the one my co-workers tag to call in our orders, because they claim they can't understand their accents.

So it wasn't unusual that I called in the order or that I was the one who left the store to run over and pick it up. When I got back we were busy, so I left our lunch in the bag in our lunch area.

About fifteen minutes later, I opened the bag and found both orders had french fries when we both ordered the Greek potatoes, and instead of a gyro, my order had some sort of a sandwich wrap.

Darn!

So I ran it back across the street.

Mr. Iranian who is usually an absolute sweetheart--always has a smile & we always visit a bit--scolded me! He said "I give you order and you didn't bring it back! I had customers waiting and you took my order!"

I felt terrible. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at me. How could I?

Um, how could I know that whatever was inside the styrofoam clamshells WASN'T my lunch? I was sorry that I didn't check it earlier, but we were busy . . .

Anyhow, he tells me it will be twenty minutes before my lunch will be ready, I will need to come back.

I spent fifteen minutes feeling pretty lousy--although I knew it wasn't my fault--HE had handed ME the bag. . . . but still, I hate to make him lose the sale for his other customers. This little restaurant has really good food, but they're slow, and business does not seem to be brisk. I suspect many customers are like my co-workers--they can't understand his accent and so they're reluctant to deal with him.

When I returned, he was very apologetic. So. All's well that ends well. But I can only imagine what they had to say about me while they were waiting for me to figure out I had the wrong meal.

In my little world, I often end up the point man who gets to deal with the unusual people; are they hard to deal with? Curmudgeonly? Speak a different language? Deaf? Blind? Rude? Otherwise not cut out with THE cookie cutter? Those are my peeps.