I have my bookstore back temporarily. It was time to get the boxes and boxes of inventory out of our garage and into the hands of my customers. So, from now until Christmas, I get to see a lot of old acquaintances – people and books! For the most part, I have wonderfully loyal customers who have stayed in touch, continued to make their purchases from me, and have become friends in the process. But there are some others that I must admit I wasn’t overly thrilled to see again. And why are those people always the ones who find you even when you try to hide?
For instance, there was a woman who used to come into my store on a fairly regular basis. We were located near her bus stop and she would pass the store twice a day on her way to drop off or pick up her daughter from school. She was demanding, rude, and highly annoying. I never had anything in stock that she wanted, so I was lectured repeatedly about how the other Christian store had greater variety. Fine, I would say, then shop at the other store. But I silently prayed she would not, since the other Christian store was owned by friends of mine and I wouldn’t wish this customer on them.
Before I reopened the store last week, I made sure that I’d removed this lady’s name from the email distribution list before I notified the rest of my customers of my sale. And since I am not in the same location, I thought I was safe.
Wrong.
Someone told her I was back in business. On day two, she showed up. Still demanding. Still rude. Still highly annoying. And she’s been in three times this week.
I wonder what lesson I didn’t learn the first time around.
Inside the Writer 
Wendy, I could be wrong, but it seems to me this particular customer might need things shaken up a bit. Tell her that if she can’t come into your store and be pleasant, she’s not welcome there. Plain and simple. Why put up with it. I bet the folks who know her think she’s the same–demanding, rude, and annoying. So, if she tells them what you said to her, I doubt you’ll lose any customers.
When it’s your own store, do you need to put up with that kind of energy around you? No reason to be rude back to her, just up front that she needs an attitude adjustment, or she can go somewhere else.
I agree in principle, Rick, but it’s a long complicated story I will tell you about someday!
Poor you… There will always be someone like that, if there isn’t then there’s something wrong going on.
Try not to think about it once she leaves… she does leave eventually, right?
True, there will always be someone like my “friend”. And yes, she does leave . . . eventually!
Maybe there’s a message God wants you to tell her. She seems to be a seeker. There’s something about you that attracts her. I had that in school and later on in my jobs….there was always that one person who loved to “pick” on me (and not nicely)….now that time has passed, I look back and realize that I was the only person that “associated” with him/her at work. I guess there was some kind of “need” that I met by being there for that person to rail on…or maybe it’s God that the person needs and they hang around us because they know there’s something missing in their life and they feel we’ve got it, and they don’t know how to ask us about how to get it, so they just “nag” us about everything. It sounds like that lady has a need that she feels you can fill….maybe everyone in her life nags on her, and you’re the only person that she can “nag” on (my mom is that person—I can tell everytime she’s having a fight with my siblings or my dad—-I get an earful about everything I’m doing wrong…..used to bother me like crazy, but now, I start asking her what my dad or brothers are doing, and it changes the conversation).
I bet that if you start asking her about God and what you can pray for her about, either she’ll stop coming to you altogether or her attitude might change and the next time you see her, you can say—“Hey, I’ve been praying for you…how’s that situation of ____________ _____________ going??”
Lock the door and pull down the shades when you see her coming? 🙂
I love how you think!