Service, or not?

It was imperative that I venture to the mall on Saturday. My chocolate frost eyeliner had been whittled down to the teeniest, tiniest pencil ever. As of Thursday, it had become non-existent. I was forced to use black eye liner.

This is tragic in my world. My efforts to rim my eyes with brown eye shadow weren’t futile, but I had to hit the mall before work.

It had been a busy week, and I was a little stressed that this had to be a quick power shop, instead of my usual browse, shop, coffee break, shop, repeat. The clock was ticking.

I met my mom at Macy’s. The place was mobbed with pre-holiday shoppers. Recession? Not here. At the counter an attractive, terse woman greeted me coolly. I took my cues from there and did my best to be precise and clear about what I needed. She checked for the precious chocolate frost eyeliner, coming back empty-handed to say they are out of that color. Without another word, she walks away and proceeds to service another waiting customer.

HUH?
Is this thing on?

I stood there bewildered and I started to get angry. I looked at my mother and asked her, “Did that really just happen?!?!?”

So, I’m standing there with my mouth hanging open, contemplating leaving, when another sales lady named Cassandra asks if I am being helped. “Uh, well… there was a woman helping me, but after she told me the one item I was looking for was sold out, she left. So I am not sure if I am being helped anymore.” Cassandra immediately took over and started our interaction by exclaiming how pretty I was, and telling me that I look like I could work. My anger level subsided and I smiled in relief. Flattery doesn’t get you everywhere with me, but it is a start.

A light bulb goes on over her head, and she goes off and digs around in the cabinets behind the display cases. She brings over a gift set that consists of eye makeup remover, mascara and, drum roll, please the chocolate eyeliner I can’t do without! It covered all of my bases since I also needed the mascara. Plus, it comes in a cute little clear purple-striped cosmetic bag. Major bonus! Show me more!

So, without being pushy, and in very little time, my new best friend Cassandra was able to “up-sell” me into a fairly hefty Clinique purchase, and my mom and I still had time to grab a quick latte.

We could all use a little more Cassandra in our lives, both the being and receiving.