sympathy for the manager at parashades

I have no idea if there is a chain of optometry shops called "parashades" or not; I am calling the place that lost Ellen's order that because I think it would be a cool name for a glasses store -- in case you know of one, that's coincidental, and I'll be happy to give them a link out from this blog entry

Anyway, the manager of our local Parashades outlet appears unhappy. His store lost Ellen's order at the factory, and last week they put a rush on it and it was supposed to be here a couple days ago, so I went with her -- all big looming
hulking three hundred pounds of freaky muscle me -- and leaned on his desk and
insisted that we get some attention since he was ignoring us in favor of new customers who were there to wait for eye examinations -- there was a two hour wait for those, too

The guy needs a vacation. Maybe a whole change of pace. It looks like his thrill at running a parashades outlet has gone like B.B. King's broken and discarded guitar pick buried in a landfill.

So this manager -- I'm going to call him Sergei because he looks like that might be his name, I have no idea if it is or not -- looks Ellen up in his computer and then roots through a hundred glasses wrapped in paper and rubber bands that apparently arrived today.

Ellen is not thrilled.

he found nothing, merely reinforcing E's idea that he has been giving us run-around delaying tactics. Why would he do such a thing? Far better for
all involved to own up to not having them -- "Not in yet, but we're expecting
another box this afternoon, might be in that one" than having us sit and wait like we've got nothing better to do than enjoy his lobby while our toddler cries.

He could have remembered us from last week and known if they were in or not. How much business can a parashades store do? There are only a few hundred thousand people living in the immediate area, and they each only need glasses every few years if that.

We did not need to wait; we needed to know if our glasses were in or not, and if not, we needed to know that IMMEDIATELY. In case they were in, we would not have minded waiting for a session with glasses-fitter, but if they were not in, we had no reason to be there, at all. Sergei could have remembered Ellen as soon
as he saw us, and told us that our order was not in yet. I was under the impression that he had recognized us and did not tell us that the glasses weren't in yet, implying that the glasses were in.

Furthermore, I hadn't had my cigarette yet by then...

Sergei, after looking through his boxes, went to the back of the store, while
the lobby filled up with people arriving for eye exams, and I hogged the counter.

We asked the other customers, "if he ever comes back, would you mind telling
him that we left and would like a refund?" and at least two of them laughed and
said they would. They weren't really impressed by the sight of the store manager on his hands and knees rooting through toilet-paper-roll-looking newly arrived glasses orders either.

So we left and had breakfast and I made it to work.

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