Saturday, September 3, 2011

Do you have any plants? (Scene II)

Scene II:  This is so special that I have to share it with you.  The setting is the same, but the time is much later.  It's almost fall, and the front of the store is bursting with mums and millet.  I am so sick of mums already, and the season has barely begun.  Inside, the greenhouse looks naked without its bounty of annuals, stripped down to a small pile of pottery and a few tables of houseplants.  The register sits just in front of the main houseplant table, so it's easy for the cashiers to tend to houseplants, and more likely for customers to make impulse buys on the plants nearest the register.  It's a slow day today, so I have a moment to converse with our cashier, Bobbie.  A customer approaches.
He enters the greenhouse and approaches the register.  He makes eye contact with Bobbie, so directs his question toward her.
"Do you have any plants?"
I watch Bobbie's face with amusement.  I can read the thoughts going through her head, just as I had them earlier with my own plant-seeking customer.  Her mouth moves up and down a few times, like a fish breathing in water.  She makes brief eye contact with me, and almost loses it.  Finally, she speaks.
"What kind are you looking for?" she says, in the same slow, unsure tone I had used myself.
This seems to throw the gentleman off guard.  There are kinds of plants?  He has to think about this one.
"House plants," he decides.
Bobbie twirls her finger, motioning for him to turn around.  "Right behind you," she says, relieved that she has cracked the code this easily.
The man frowns.  "These?" he says skeptically.  The look on his face clearly indicates that he does not believe he is looking at houseplants.  Perhaps he thinks we are trying to pull a fast one on him, like we're going to show him just the plants that will die if he even thinks of bringing them inside.
"Yes," says Bobbie, trying to be perky.  "Both of these tables are houseplants."
By this point I'm just glad the gentleman chose to talk to Bobbie and not me.
"Do you have any snake plants?" he tries.
"Yes!" says Bobbie, again relieved that she may understand what the customer wants.  She leads the customer to the proper section, and I take the opportunity to vacate the premises, sure that Bobbie can handle any snake plant questions the customer may have.
So my question to you is:  What's your most creative response to the question,
"Do you have any plants?"
Because it's becoming a common thing around here.

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