Run in with the feds...

Today was an interesting first day back to work after my two day-off stretch. It started off incredibly eventful.

My morning began like most other mornings. My alarm went off at seven and I re-set it like I always do to 8:30. I carefully and deliriously crawled off of my bed (which is lofted four feet off of the ground) and headed to the bathroom to wash my face. I finished getting ready and began my 10 minute walk toward the subway station. Lady luck was with me this morn because the trains were running back to back and I made it to Manhattan surprisingly early. I decided to treat myself to a mushroom and cheese omelet from Green Cafe (they've got this amazing $3.99 special. Two eggs any style, toast and a cup of joe) and got it to go so I could mangia and play around on the computer before I had to open the store. I walked up the street to the boutique, set my deliciously warm meal on the stoop and unlocked the gates. However, to my dismay, when I went to pull the chain to lift the gates to the storefront, it appeared to be stuck. The girls had accidentally forgotten to call me the night prior to let me know that the gate had broken when they were lowering it. There I stood, my steamy vanilla flavored coffee rapidly cooling in the crisp morning air, helpless. After repeated attempts to call our little handyman Louie (who was I kidding? it was 10am on a Tuesday), I decided to call a 24 hour locksmith. Two shoddy guys showed up and were able to get the gate working again in about 30 minutes. To be honest, if I had a ladder available, I could have probably fixed the gate too, and for FAR less money than these jerks charged us. They wanted almost $400 for resetting the chain on the track. I used my newly-gained New York "go-get'em" attitude and tried my hardest to talk the price down. Ultimately, they won the battle and I had to call corporate to cut them a check. UHG. To make matters worse, my omelet was cold by the time I was able to eat it.

One of my sales associates showed up a little while later and we got to work. We were really busy pretty early on for a Tuesday. P had some great sales in the morning and helped a little girl pick out an outfit for her 13th birthday. Holy $900 dollars later, the little curly blonde teen pranced out of our store with two pink shopping bags filled with a blue poofy dress, gold purse and a sparkly cardigan. Her parents looked proud. After talking with a long-winded 80's era fan of Betsey's for far longer than I politely should have, I found a moment to scurry out of the store so that I could run our deposits to the bank. I stood in line for a few moments and approached one of the tellers with three deposit envelopes. They usually scowl when they see me because they know I have a ton of pesky change and slips to turn in. Sandra, who had barely looked at me the entire time I was standing there, was down to my last deposit when she froze for a second, held up a $100 bill to the light and said, "This, my dear, is a counterfeit!" Everyone grew silent and two other tellers looked to her direction. "What?" I asked. "It's a counterfeit...a fake! Boy is it a good one, I almost missed it myself." The woman next to her jumped out of her rolling chair and leaned over the cubicle wall to get a glance at Mr. Ben Fake-lin. "Wait...how do you know? I mean, we marked it...the pen says it's real!" I exclaimed through the glass barrier. "The pens lie. This one is a good one," Sandra assured me. From that moment on, the bill was passed from teller to teller. Even the man standing to my right asked to hold it so he could see what a fake bill looked like! I couldn't believe it, I felt completely embarassed even though I had nothing to do with the mishap. I stood there desperately trying to avoid the stares of the many eyes standing in line behind me. Sandra confiscated the bill, filled out a ton of documentation and had me sign forms that were going to be sent to the federal reserve. She gave me the paperwork to send to our corporate office, and with that, I slumped away from the counter and hurried out of the building back to the store.

For the rest of the day, I became an ID super-freak! I was checking people's ID's like a madwoman and was getting everyone's information during each transaction for tracking records. I had found out where the counterfeit money had come from and simultaneously began a frivolous cleaning frenzy throughout the store. During one transaction, a woman from Brazil FREAKED out on me when I asked for identification. She started shouting at me that she would never shop at our store again and that it was against the law for me to ask to see her license. I was so frustrated from the prior events of the day that I looked at her directly and said something to the effect of, "I had to deal with someone using counterfeit money all morning ma'am, so this is for your own protection and it is part of our company policy!" I was proud of myself for backing up our policy but also frustrated that someone would yell at me for trying to protect them.

SO...That was my day. I told you that I'd promise you an interesting post...and there you go! I am SO happy this day is over. Hopefully I will awake tomorrow with a more positive work-day and find that my obsessive compulsive laundry-spree has disposed of all microscopic insects from my bedroom.

I hope everyone is doing well. Goodnight.