In the Wrong Place on the Shelf

I spent most of a gorgeous, sunny President's Day at work. Work was off-and-on busy until the usual 4PM-6PM rush hour, when people who normally would have been working came in with huge orders. We had long lines and not nearly enough help. A lot of employees wouldn't work on a holiday.

The lack of help wasn't the only problem. The store is in the midst of remodeling the men's bathroom. Trouble is, they have to keep it locked while it's being done. That means everyone, male and female, had to use the women's bathroom. The Acme dealt with this by putting a lock on the bathroom door. A sign on the door said that people  had to lock the door while they were in the bathroom. Around mid-day, they started assigning people to stand next to the bathroom door to make sure no one of the opposite sex went in.

Yes, I was one of the people who got stuck doing this. I spent a boring, embarrassing hour and a half standing around, staring at the clearance racks that looked like a disaster area and trying to avoid being seen. No one really paid attention to the sign, and everyone I talked to, employee and customer alike, though the whole thing was just plain silly. There are four stalls in the women's bathroom, and they do lock. Thank heavens I was finally able to go on my half-hour break. When I came back, they'd assigned a bagger to guard duty, and he stayed there the rest of the evening.

Thank goodness it slowed down enough that I was able to leave with no relief by 7:30. I was tired and ready to tear out my hair. I'm not used to working 8 1/2 hours.