So yes, I work at a retail job. It’s a store I love to shop at and, well, working there is cool, it’s just, really repetative and boring and seriously? I’m just not cut out for retail (on the level I’m at now).

However, I work in the children’s and men’s departments about once a week and love it. It’s messy and kids run about unsupervised, but hey, it’s a job, and at least it’s entertaining.

Tonight I had to put out about 20 picture books, and in order to fit them in I had to completely reorganize the books, as they were simply tossed over shelves, in their usual state of semi-disarray. (Okay, so I probably didn’t have to, but uh, this is OCD girl, right?)

So, I’m trying to pick out whether I want to shelve the Princess & Me! Collection next to the ever so lovely Goosebumps horror novels or not, when this four-year old hispanic girl stomps up to me.

You know what I love about kids the most? They don’t know how to talk: THEY YELL. I’m really not being sarcastic when I say that I love it–I’m sure that if I ever have a wee one of my own it’ll drive me crazy (”B’Nargin Arcadia Bon-bon you will be quiet now!“), but at the moment I just find it hilarious. This little girl nearly shrieks at me, she yelled so loud.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Most kids are terrified of me in the section. I am ( dramatic pause ) The Store Lady. I accept their fear mostly because I totally remember hiding behind racks of clothing and playing fake-marbles with the Silica gel packets (Don’t worry, I didn’t eat any!) and scurrying away in fear of being discovered by Mom, or worse… The Store Lady.

This little girl had no such fear. Indeed, I think she might have some Super Retail Woman making in her, because she decided to help! Only now she’s used up all the english words she knows, and so the rest of our exchanges were her yelling something at me “DA DA DA DA DA?” , me going, “…What?” and her yelling it louder: “DA DA DA DA DA?“, gesturing from a book she’d found to my stacked piles of Princess volumes.

It worked out nicely. After a few turns and probably her frustration at my lack of understanding what she was OBVIOUSLY asking, she scampered of to find her Mom. Something about shoes? I’ll probably never know.

So yeah, I’m my retail job kind of drives me crazy, but there are parts of it I’m crazy about.

Besides, I should tell you about the time I had that kid who learned how to play “Merrily We Roll Along” on the electric keyboard. For five hours straight. Yeah. That was a ball.