photo shop customers.
years ago i worked for a cheap photofinishing house. there were a family of chee-a-fats who came in all the time (does anyone know where the name chee-a-fat comes from?), but my favourite name belonged to someone else.

one day a middle-aged woman wandered in to drop off a roll of film. i asked for her name and phone number for the tag. she gave me the number, looking slightly determined, then spelled her last name out for me. spelling difficult names is common, but she didn't even say it first, and it was, in fact, an easy name to spell. looking me directly in the eye, out of her mouth came the letters "m-o-n-s-t-e-r".

i didn't smirk, but i did call her mrs. monster while thanking her. she became a regular customer, bringing in lots of pictures of her husband and kids, and every time she was in the shop, i had to hold back from asking her the questions burning in my head: "how are you today? how's your husband? and how are all the little monsters?"
( postbear has metal knees, Fri 27 Aug 2004, 5:16, Reply)