Well, today there was an interesting little incident at work.
First off, I'd like to say that I'm like, six-foot-two. I'm a big guy. I'm not super skinny, and I'm not particularly heavy. While I cannot grow any facial hair that looks good, I do have a light gotee type thing on my chin that is very hard to see because it is very, very blonde. I also currently have a ponytail. Just try to keep these facts in mind while I relay my story.
I was talking to my coworker Damon this afternoon when an elderly man rolled up in a Mart Cart. He asked for artichokes in an Italian accent. I pointed behind him and showed him what little we had left. He told me "you've got to be kidding. Go get more." I kindly explained to him that our truck hadn't shown up yet, and that was all we had. He told me that I must be joking and that I had to go get him better ones. I told him that our truck would be showing up any minute, but until then we wouldn't have any other artichokes. He then started demanding to see the manager. I looked around and where there had been three managers, suddenly there were none. I managed to track down Jamie, the new Team Leader, and told him that an angry customer wanted to see a manager. While Jamie headed over to talk to the customer, I bolted to the back because I had a few other things I needed to do. When I came back out, the customer was gone, but Damon called me over.
"You'll never believe what that guy said after you went over there."
"What?"
"He asked me if you were a man or a woman."
"You're kidding me."
"No. I told him that you're obviously a guy, but he said that he didn't believe me because you had long hair."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. He tried arguing with me about it."
". . . . You're joking, right?"
"No."
"That's the first person above the age of three who needed to be told that I'm a guy."
"Well, he was acting like he was three, so I guess it fits."
So, yes . . . I was either confused for a girl by a cranky old Italian man, or he was desperately trying to insult me because I didn't have any more artichokes. What a day.
On the bright side, there's a new STL (Night Manager) who was being trained by one of the current STLs. The current STL, Dan, introduced me as a "backup." I'm not a backup, I'm just a clerk, but I do a lot of backup work, and I guess it shows. That was nice.