I love my job, don’t get me wrong, but if there’s anything more frustrating than playing Uno with preschoolers, it’s having a 3-year-old with a toy cash register.
They hold all the power, and they know it. (fist shake) They can play the game and make it go on forehver.
A typical scenario will go like this. We’ll use Hunter, since you’re familiar with his work.
Hunter (plunks down the cash register across the table from me): You wanna buy someting?
Me: Sure. What do you have? (I always ask this because I’m never sure what kind of store I’m in. Plus, I know what’s coming.)
Hunter: We have food, toys or Legos.
Me: Legos, please.
Hunter: We’re out of Legos.
See what he did there? They all do that. If I just ask for something, they’re out. If I ask ‘What do you have’, whatever it is on the list that I want – they are out of it. They outgrow this by 4, but the 3’s are positively drunk with the power of making me wait for my goods and/or services. Let’s try Evie at her restaurant:
Evie: What do you want to drink?
Me: What do you have?
Evie: We have coffee, milk, pop and juice.
Me: I’ll have some coffee, please.
Evie: We don’t have any coffee.
Me: Ok, milk then.
Evie: We’re out of milk.
Me: What do you have again?
Evie: pop, milk, juice, coffee
Me: I’d love some juice.
Evie: We’re out.
Me: …..Can I speak to a manager?
I do eventually get to buy something, but the price is astronomical. My Legos, when I eventually got them, were five money. Hmmmph. I remember when you could get them for one money.