Friday, July 01, 2005

Is This Inappropriate?

There must be something in the water lately. I work at a store as a cashier, selling plants mostly, and today, a strange occurence took place. We get a lot of landscapers in the store, buying large quantities of bushes and shrubs, and this guy was no different. He was loaded up with azaleas, a couple of hollies and some other plants that were at least green, in my memory.

As a rule, whenever someone writes a check we have to write down their driver's lisence number and date of birth. I noticed that his birthday was the same as mine. Since I am in customer service and find that I can make my day go by smoother by making small talk with customers, I mentioned this coincidence to him. So there I am, bent over the check, scribbling away, when I feel the faintest of touches on my cheek- he actually kissed my cheek. I froze. He said, "Happy birthday". And I said the only thing I could think to say at that time. 'Thanks'. He wasn't looming over the counter or anything, he had planted it quick and jerked back just as fast to the appropriate distance of a customer-to-salesperson ratio.

Now, I don't know about how company policy deals with this sort of thing, but in hindsight I probably should have slapped him, or at least SAID something that eluded to the fact that this sort of attention is NOT acceptable, etc, etc. But I wasn't in that frame of mind, you know? I ended up joking about virgos ruling, or somesuch nonsense, but realized with horror that I was blushing a little bit. I mean...I was trying to be calm on the outside, but inside I was still rolling it over...did he...did he just...? Why oh WHAT possessed him....? What am I supposed to do?

And I came up with squat. So out he walked with nary a word from me for this infringement upon my person. So strange. I'm not what you would call a meek person by ANY definition. In a customer service position, I try to keep in mind that a lot of people don't get ANY service at all from most customer service associates, and with that in mind, I'm not my usual outspoken, who-gives-a-damn-if-I'm-talking-too-loud kind a gal while I'm on the clock. It's my job to be nice. So my street side wasn't ready and waiting, if that makes any sense at all. He took me off guard.

So, do I beat myself up about this? Am I a weenie for letting him walk out without a smack? Is it possible that it was an innocent oversight on his part? (Let's face it, he's a man and they don't always use the best judgement on a regular basis when it comes to social etiquette) Do I take this as a violation? Or does this happen ALLLL the time in France and I should just shrug it off?

Honestly, I still don't know what I should have done. I think I may have gotten in trouble for striking him, though they should have taken my side on it. Well, it's water under the bridge, no harm done. I just won't lean so far over the counter the next time I'm jotting down numbers, and I'll never ever NEVER mention my birthday again to someone. Apparently it was a bad case of TMI.