My run in with the crazies (and the nice)
Is it because it's spring? I mean, the climate changes have been severe. I'm talking 6℃ jumping to 20℃ kind of severe. Whether weather was what wrought it around, I do not know, but yes lately, it seems the crazies and weird have been on the rise. Some of them have been cause to both alertness and awareness of self, for me.
Yesterday at work, this young Russian guy comes in, interested in a backpack you can put your laptop in. I show him a model, he's liking it, but it's blue and he doesn't like blue. The model also comes in black, and I check the system, it says we're supposed to have 2 but it's nowhere to be seen. He's like "Oh that's terrible. It says you should have it, right? Well where is it!"
Yeah it did sound pretty arrogant and "you all know nothing Jon Snow". I had looked for that backpack everywhere in the storing room, my co-worker rummaged through all the boxes we had that were still unpacked, and we didn't find it. Like, we did our best, and he was still being snobbish about it.
He didn't want the blue, but said he'd take a little walk and possibly come back later, in case he didn't find anything better.
Two minutes after he'd left, I'd found the black ones. Hah.
Okay, so about half an hour later, he comes back, and I'm like "Good you came back, see, it paid off. We got the black one for you now."
"Oh, that's amazing!!!"
Good. He also wanted a jacket. So I take him over to the jackets. I guessed he might like the black ones, I was right. We chat a bit, he's actually quite nice (the snobbishness seems a thing with Russians though. When I told this story my best friend, she says that all the Russians she knows, are pretty bleeping arrogant haha. Not saying they aren't nice. But arrogant, yes. We're guessing that those that actually get the chance? to leave their country are probably all well educated, then add a lot of cultural facts that might make the result a, in our eyes, snobbish person). He's totally blown away by my English, doesn't believe me when I say it's not my mother tongue and that I've been born here and all that. He's like "No no, that's impossssible. Your English is so great! I love it! I don't meet many people here who are so comfortable with joking in English! They all speak a little and all that..."
Me "Yeah, a little bit"
He *looks at me all D:* "Yeah! Wow! No accent at all! It's so perfect!"
Me, being polite, asked him where he was from, despite it being very audible *laughs* He then told me this story of him talking to this girl a while back who was all like "Oh man you can like totally hear like that ur from Russia duh" (I'm interpreting her character and speech pattern based on what he told me about her), and he said that, as their conversation had progressed, it was "clearly noticeable that she... ... had no education..."
Nice way of putting it.
Anyway, despite being snobbish, he also was nice, and fun to talk to (because he is, yes, well educated), and in the end he was so happy, he actually approached me like "Hey, I think you're really cool, can we be friends?" and when I probably made a face, he was very quick to add a "no romance attached!!!" and I was like "yeah ok, why not, sounds cool"
So we exchanged email addresses. At which he told me about the first time he'd exchanged email addresses with a girl he thought she'd dumped him, because she'd not given him her phone number. Now he knows it's the "usual way" here.
That was quite astonishing. I don't exactly get a lot of people walking up to me saying "Hey I want to be your friend", although isn't that exactly what you'd want to happen? So I shall see whether we can be friends :D Him being male and all I am a little cautious obviously, but as long as they don't come onto me I like guys. [Until that moment. Then it all goes downhill.]
Also I am a little cautious, because while he did say the "no romance" thing, before all that when we'd been to the jackets, there'd also been this:
Him: You know maybe I should get a girlfriend before I get a backpack and a jacket...
Me: *dryly* Yeah well I don't know, maybe there's a girlfriend shop in the mall?
Him: *surprised* What? Hahah nooo... what, a brothel??
Me: *even drier* There actually is one close by.
He seemed clearly flustered, yet amused, by the whole idea of "girlfriend shop", and told me how unusual it is in Russia to talk? about these things? openly? Many questionmarks here. I am not sure about you, but when I think of Russia, the image of prostitutes doesn't take long to pop up, and he's saying they're basically not trying to speak of it? Possible. I know very little of Russia and its culture.
Before he left, he told me his name, and that was pretty funny too, that name exchange. He didn't get mine the first time around (as usual xD), and before he said his, he was like "Ok, now, listen up *says name very clearly*"
Me: *repeats name as she's heard it*
Him: O___O Woah. Wow. Yes. Very good. Good.
Kehehehe. We'd also talked a little about Japan, and he's very interested, and I can talk a lot about Japan and Japanese, so I guess this is the topic for our coffee-meet up or something soon :D
Today, besides all the moody and odd people coming, business was going slow and it was pretty much meh. Then this old man comes in, he raises his hand in a greeting, and I immediately recognise him as the one customer I'd spent quite a while with a few weeks back. He's very much into bright colours, and I had ordered a few brightly coloured shirts for him. (Which he didn't buy, none of them, OTL)
I had made some impression on him back then, so he'd already established with himself that I am "smart" and "amiable". He immediately approached me, we shook hands, and were back in the friendly talking thing. This time, he'd brought his wife, too. They wanted to try said shirts and maybe look for some more.
So the thing with him is, he's very nice, but doesn't really know, or care, about personal space. Quite tall, white hair, one lazy eye, cigarette fingers, soft voice.
During our conversations and consulting today, he started to repeatedly call me his "little darling", also as we looked for shirts that would work even better for him. All good so far, cute really, my co-workers found it nice too. Just a little wacky, you know, an oddball, but amiable.
After a while he came to the conclusion he'd rather have that one shirt in the catalogue, the one we definitely did not have in the store, and whether I could please order it for him. Of course I would, but a part of my patience was running thin. That moment I thought, if he's just going to order another shirt that he won't buy, and we'll have it in the store for the whole season because no one's going to buy it... yeah, not really my problem, but I do have a certain sense of responsibility for the store, so I didn't like the idea. Besides, we had already looked through the catalogue the last time, and he was only interested in those I had ordered for him, which he didn't like in the end.
Anyway, so the following happened more or less like this:
Me leafing through the catalogue.
Him coming up beside me to look into the catalogue, actually on the staff side of the table, but I let him be.
Him pointing out the shirt he likes, his wife also likes it.
Me: So you are sure you want this white one?
Him: Yes yes my little darling, exactly that one.
Me: And not in the green tone either? [he loved the bright greens and blues before]
Him: No no, little darling *puts hand lightly around me as he explains idek* you see, ... [I have mentioned the part about the personal space. It didn't bother me in his case. Wacky, harmless.]
Me: Alright, so I'll order the white one.
Him: *moving to the other side of the table, all happy I'll make the order* Yes, and then just call me again when it's here, but you know, just like laaaast time, it probably will take a few weeks before I can come get it.
Me: That's not a problem at all, we'll just call you, and you come whenever you want to :)
Him: That sounds great darling, but you know, if you call me on thursday, mayybe I'll already be able to pick it up on Saturday, you know? Maybe not!
Me: That is entirely fine! [I still have his data from last time so I don't ask for it]
Him: Great! Then I'll see you--
Me: Hold up a moment there, let me check whether it's available first. [he stays, I check it. Of course, the white one isn't available. As if I'd known.] Ah, I'm sorry to say that, but the shirt you want isn't available.
Him: Whatever do you mean?
Me: It's sold out, I can't order it.
Him: Can you get it from another store?
The thing is, we used to do that all the time, order from another store, but since the management changed it only happened once or twice. Plus, the only store in Munich that had it, was one that doesn't really ~like~ us, or any of the other stores, for that matter. So I'm like "dammit" on the inside.
Me: I'm not sure, we don't really send to other stores anymore...
Now this is where things turned a little... off.
Him: Now, come on, show me what you can do. You must surely be capable of that, show me you're worth it. [WHAT THE ACTUAL WHAT]
Me: That store usually doesn't send things...
I'm looking to my co-worker, she shrugs and says, maybe if they're having a good day, so go on and try. She leaves at this point I think.
Him: Impress me. Show me you're worth it. [IS HE A FUCKING DOM]
Me: I'll try, but I can't promise anything.
Him: If you don't, you know, I might just [he said something before that which I can't recall right now], and bend you over my knee and give you a good spanking. [. . .]
Me: No, you definitely won't do that. That's guaranteed. [it kind of sounded like a joke, so I was thinking more like "before you get to spank someone like me, someone like me will spank you till you're purple", but anyway]
Him: Oh no, I really enjoy doing those things.
I think I retorted something similarly cool and dry about how that's definitely not going to happen. I call the store, they take the phone (WOAH, that's a rarity in itself) and as I ask for the article, it takes a while etc etc, the guy on the line tells me he'll put it away for us. That doesn't mean they're actually going to send it lmao, but at least I made the impossible possible.
Him: So it worked out?
Me: Yes, I believe so.
The rest was an entirely normal goodbye/see you thing.
So. It was all done in a manner that I didn't feel threatened or anything, and while he said it he still had this amiable air, but all my fucking neon signal lamps had gone off on the inside. I don't think he was joking. Now I also don't think he was serious about spanking me, it didn't feel like it, but it did feel like he'd definitely be into spanking women. Which is entirely fine if you're in a dom/sub relationship, or even if you don't give it a title, at least if the woman is into it. Now, you can never know for sure of course, but his generation isn't exactly the "we are all aware of BDSM and practice it responsibly" kind of generation, it's closer to the "my
wife is my property and if she doesn't behave I will beat her" way of mind. There didn't seem to be fear between the two of them, and yet I got that air of possible abuse.
It did affect me a little. It really made me a little moody after. The 'thinking too deeply' kind of moody.
However, someone else today brought that all back around, evened out the scales so to speak, with uncalled for niceness.
After work - I left earlier than originally planned, since I'd taken over someone's shift yesterday, a girl who'd reported in sick - I went to that French bakery to get myself a chocolate macaron. Because I felt I totally deserved that. I was famished, too.
So as I arrive at their place, I see the one staff in the back of the store on his phone with a huge grin, seemingly chatting with someone online. I grin and go like "Hii~~♪" as I go up to the bakery goods. He jumps up "Hi!"
"A chocolate macaron please."
He's still smiling, and wraps up the macaron.
"Anything else?"
No, nothing else, WAIT I'M FAMISHED AND NOT IN CONTROL THOSE THINGS LOOK GOOD
"Uh actually, one of these...", I point at triangles made of flaky pastry, with almonds and powdered sugar on top.
He grabs another bag, and puts it in. Then grabs the second one, and puts it in, too.
"Uhm, one...", I stress again.
He looks up, smiles. "I'm giving you one extra. That's from me."
I'm puzzled, but smile across my whole face. "... Thank you! Wow. Thank you, haha!" I don't know what else to say.
He says "For your breakfast, tomorrow", smiles, takes my money and gives me the change. I walk away with another couple of thank yous, and such a HUGE GRIN on my face oh my gods.
That was so fucking nice.
And it wasn't even like they'd been on the not-so-good side anymore. They had a vanilla filling on the inside and OH GODS it was so good.
And yes, I saved one for tomorrow morning 83
So much about this weekend so far.
Yesterday at work, this young Russian guy comes in, interested in a backpack you can put your laptop in. I show him a model, he's liking it, but it's blue and he doesn't like blue. The model also comes in black, and I check the system, it says we're supposed to have 2 but it's nowhere to be seen. He's like "Oh that's terrible. It says you should have it, right? Well where is it!"
Yeah it did sound pretty arrogant and "you all know nothing Jon Snow". I had looked for that backpack everywhere in the storing room, my co-worker rummaged through all the boxes we had that were still unpacked, and we didn't find it. Like, we did our best, and he was still being snobbish about it.
He didn't want the blue, but said he'd take a little walk and possibly come back later, in case he didn't find anything better.
Two minutes after he'd left, I'd found the black ones. Hah.
Okay, so about half an hour later, he comes back, and I'm like "Good you came back, see, it paid off. We got the black one for you now."
"Oh, that's amazing!!!"
Good. He also wanted a jacket. So I take him over to the jackets. I guessed he might like the black ones, I was right. We chat a bit, he's actually quite nice (the snobbishness seems a thing with Russians though. When I told this story my best friend, she says that all the Russians she knows, are pretty bleeping arrogant haha. Not saying they aren't nice. But arrogant, yes. We're guessing that those that actually get the chance? to leave their country are probably all well educated, then add a lot of cultural facts that might make the result a, in our eyes, snobbish person). He's totally blown away by my English, doesn't believe me when I say it's not my mother tongue and that I've been born here and all that. He's like "No no, that's impossssible. Your English is so great! I love it! I don't meet many people here who are so comfortable with joking in English! They all speak a little and all that..."
Me "Yeah, a little bit"
He *looks at me all D:* "Yeah! Wow! No accent at all! It's so perfect!"
Me, being polite, asked him where he was from, despite it being very audible *laughs* He then told me this story of him talking to this girl a while back who was all like "Oh man you can like totally hear like that ur from Russia duh" (I'm interpreting her character and speech pattern based on what he told me about her), and he said that, as their conversation had progressed, it was "clearly noticeable that she... ... had no education..."
Nice way of putting it.
Anyway, despite being snobbish, he also was nice, and fun to talk to (because he is, yes, well educated), and in the end he was so happy, he actually approached me like "Hey, I think you're really cool, can we be friends?" and when I probably made a face, he was very quick to add a "no romance attached!!!" and I was like "yeah ok, why not, sounds cool"
So we exchanged email addresses. At which he told me about the first time he'd exchanged email addresses with a girl he thought she'd dumped him, because she'd not given him her phone number. Now he knows it's the "usual way" here.
That was quite astonishing. I don't exactly get a lot of people walking up to me saying "Hey I want to be your friend", although isn't that exactly what you'd want to happen? So I shall see whether we can be friends :D Him being male and all I am a little cautious obviously, but as long as they don't come onto me I like guys. [Until that moment. Then it all goes downhill.]
Also I am a little cautious, because while he did say the "no romance" thing, before all that when we'd been to the jackets, there'd also been this:
Him: You know maybe I should get a girlfriend before I get a backpack and a jacket...
Me: *dryly* Yeah well I don't know, maybe there's a girlfriend shop in the mall?
Him: *surprised* What? Hahah nooo... what, a brothel??
Me: *even drier* There actually is one close by.
He seemed clearly flustered, yet amused, by the whole idea of "girlfriend shop", and told me how unusual it is in Russia to talk? about these things? openly? Many questionmarks here. I am not sure about you, but when I think of Russia, the image of prostitutes doesn't take long to pop up, and he's saying they're basically not trying to speak of it? Possible. I know very little of Russia and its culture.
Before he left, he told me his name, and that was pretty funny too, that name exchange. He didn't get mine the first time around (as usual xD), and before he said his, he was like "Ok, now, listen up *says name very clearly*"
Me: *repeats name as she's heard it*
Him: O___O Woah. Wow. Yes. Very good. Good.
Kehehehe. We'd also talked a little about Japan, and he's very interested, and I can talk a lot about Japan and Japanese, so I guess this is the topic for our coffee-meet up or something soon :D
Today, besides all the moody and odd people coming, business was going slow and it was pretty much meh. Then this old man comes in, he raises his hand in a greeting, and I immediately recognise him as the one customer I'd spent quite a while with a few weeks back. He's very much into bright colours, and I had ordered a few brightly coloured shirts for him. (Which he didn't buy, none of them, OTL)
I had made some impression on him back then, so he'd already established with himself that I am "smart" and "amiable". He immediately approached me, we shook hands, and were back in the friendly talking thing. This time, he'd brought his wife, too. They wanted to try said shirts and maybe look for some more.
So the thing with him is, he's very nice, but doesn't really know, or care, about personal space. Quite tall, white hair, one lazy eye, cigarette fingers, soft voice.
During our conversations and consulting today, he started to repeatedly call me his "little darling", also as we looked for shirts that would work even better for him. All good so far, cute really, my co-workers found it nice too. Just a little wacky, you know, an oddball, but amiable.
After a while he came to the conclusion he'd rather have that one shirt in the catalogue, the one we definitely did not have in the store, and whether I could please order it for him. Of course I would, but a part of my patience was running thin. That moment I thought, if he's just going to order another shirt that he won't buy, and we'll have it in the store for the whole season because no one's going to buy it... yeah, not really my problem, but I do have a certain sense of responsibility for the store, so I didn't like the idea. Besides, we had already looked through the catalogue the last time, and he was only interested in those I had ordered for him, which he didn't like in the end.
Anyway, so the following happened more or less like this:
Me leafing through the catalogue.
Him coming up beside me to look into the catalogue, actually on the staff side of the table, but I let him be.
Him pointing out the shirt he likes, his wife also likes it.
Me: So you are sure you want this white one?
Him: Yes yes my little darling, exactly that one.
Me: And not in the green tone either? [he loved the bright greens and blues before]
Him: No no, little darling *puts hand lightly around me as he explains idek* you see, ... [I have mentioned the part about the personal space. It didn't bother me in his case. Wacky, harmless.]
Me: Alright, so I'll order the white one.
Him: *moving to the other side of the table, all happy I'll make the order* Yes, and then just call me again when it's here, but you know, just like laaaast time, it probably will take a few weeks before I can come get it.
Me: That's not a problem at all, we'll just call you, and you come whenever you want to :)
Him: That sounds great darling, but you know, if you call me on thursday, mayybe I'll already be able to pick it up on Saturday, you know? Maybe not!
Me: That is entirely fine! [I still have his data from last time so I don't ask for it]
Him: Great! Then I'll see you--
Me: Hold up a moment there, let me check whether it's available first. [he stays, I check it. Of course, the white one isn't available. As if I'd known.] Ah, I'm sorry to say that, but the shirt you want isn't available.
Him: Whatever do you mean?
Me: It's sold out, I can't order it.
Him: Can you get it from another store?
The thing is, we used to do that all the time, order from another store, but since the management changed it only happened once or twice. Plus, the only store in Munich that had it, was one that doesn't really ~like~ us, or any of the other stores, for that matter. So I'm like "dammit" on the inside.
Me: I'm not sure, we don't really send to other stores anymore...
Now this is where things turned a little... off.
Him: Now, come on, show me what you can do. You must surely be capable of that, show me you're worth it. [WHAT THE ACTUAL WHAT]
Me: That store usually doesn't send things...
I'm looking to my co-worker, she shrugs and says, maybe if they're having a good day, so go on and try. She leaves at this point I think.
Him: Impress me. Show me you're worth it. [IS HE A FUCKING DOM]
Me: I'll try, but I can't promise anything.
Him: If you don't, you know, I might just [he said something before that which I can't recall right now], and bend you over my knee and give you a good spanking. [. . .]
Me: No, you definitely won't do that. That's guaranteed. [it kind of sounded like a joke, so I was thinking more like "before you get to spank someone like me, someone like me will spank you till you're purple", but anyway]
Him: Oh no, I really enjoy doing those things.
I think I retorted something similarly cool and dry about how that's definitely not going to happen. I call the store, they take the phone (WOAH, that's a rarity in itself) and as I ask for the article, it takes a while etc etc, the guy on the line tells me he'll put it away for us. That doesn't mean they're actually going to send it lmao, but at least I made the impossible possible.
Him: So it worked out?
Me: Yes, I believe so.
The rest was an entirely normal goodbye/see you thing.
So. It was all done in a manner that I didn't feel threatened or anything, and while he said it he still had this amiable air, but all my fucking neon signal lamps had gone off on the inside. I don't think he was joking. Now I also don't think he was serious about spanking me, it didn't feel like it, but it did feel like he'd definitely be into spanking women. Which is entirely fine if you're in a dom/sub relationship, or even if you don't give it a title, at least if the woman is into it. Now, you can never know for sure of course, but his generation isn't exactly the "we are all aware of BDSM and practice it responsibly" kind of generation, it's closer to the "my
wife is my property and if she doesn't behave I will beat her" way of mind. There didn't seem to be fear between the two of them, and yet I got that air of possible abuse.
It did affect me a little. It really made me a little moody after. The 'thinking too deeply' kind of moody.
However, someone else today brought that all back around, evened out the scales so to speak, with uncalled for niceness.
After work - I left earlier than originally planned, since I'd taken over someone's shift yesterday, a girl who'd reported in sick - I went to that French bakery to get myself a chocolate macaron. Because I felt I totally deserved that. I was famished, too.
So as I arrive at their place, I see the one staff in the back of the store on his phone with a huge grin, seemingly chatting with someone online. I grin and go like "Hii~~♪" as I go up to the bakery goods. He jumps up "Hi!"
"A chocolate macaron please."
He's still smiling, and wraps up the macaron.
"Anything else?"
No, nothing else, WAIT I'M FAMISHED AND NOT IN CONTROL THOSE THINGS LOOK GOOD
"Uh actually, one of these...", I point at triangles made of flaky pastry, with almonds and powdered sugar on top.
He grabs another bag, and puts it in. Then grabs the second one, and puts it in, too.
"Uhm, one...", I stress again.
He looks up, smiles. "I'm giving you one extra. That's from me."
I'm puzzled, but smile across my whole face. "... Thank you! Wow. Thank you, haha!" I don't know what else to say.
He says "For your breakfast, tomorrow", smiles, takes my money and gives me the change. I walk away with another couple of thank yous, and such a HUGE GRIN on my face oh my gods.
That was so fucking nice.
And it wasn't even like they'd been on the not-so-good side anymore. They had a vanilla filling on the inside and OH GODS it was so good.
And yes, I saved one for tomorrow morning 83
So much about this weekend so far.