Working for the discount

Rockler is a very expensive place to work. Employees are always buying something and using their employee discount.

When I retired, I got a part time job at Rockler. Also a never ending source of entertainment.

A woman came in looking for a black lacquer to match some screens that she had. After some searching and me getting can contents on my fingers she found the color she wanted. (I would smear the stain/lacquer/paint on a scrap of wood to view the color.) Then she said to me, "How do you think that color will look?" I said, "I'm a guy. When it comes to color choices my taste is like an old army boot." She just looked at me and said, "Yeah, right."

A guy came in on Saturday trying to match a stain color. He did not have a sample with him. Again fingers in the stain on scrap wood. We finally got what he thought was a good match. Fast forward to Sunday. A woman comes in with the guy from Saturday. She is visibly irritated. She slams the can of stain down on the counter saying that it is the wrong color. I explain that it is not a problem. I took the stain with the receipt and set them aside. I told the woman to get what ever she wanted. About 10 minutes later, I'm ringing up another customer, the woman comes back with another can of stain. I handed the original can and receipt to the assistant manager who was working the other register saying that it is an even exchange. The conversation went like this:
AM: What is wrong?
W: It is wrong!
AM: I have to be able to tell the manufacturer what is wrong with the stain to get credit.
W: It is the wrong color!
AM: But you are exchanging it for the same color.
The woman picks up the original can of stain and receipt and storms out of the store. The guy, assumed husband, turns and mouthed without making a sound, "Thank You".

It is Father's Day Sunday. I told my coworkers that when kids are buying gift cards be sure to give them a catalog too.
A girl in her late teens or early twenties comes in. She says, "Sell me some wood." I ask, "What kind, how many board feet? Why?" She says that, "It's Father's Day and I need something for my Dad." I looked at her and said, "For Mother's Day you wouldn't go to Joann (A chain of fabric and notions stores.) and buy some fabric, give him a gift card." She said that she wanted to give him something more personal. I encouraged her with, "Give him a gift card and a catalog. He'll spend a few hours looking through the catalog trying to decide how to spend the gift card." She chose a book and a $200 gift card. As she left the store she said something to me that was big time news. "You really understand women."