Regulars

We are such regulars at our favourite Japanese restaurant on St. Clair. So much so that when we phone in an order, the waitress says, "Boy? Boy? Is that you? Don't forget the ginger ale, you usually have that."

We are also regulars at Mars, the greasy spoon on College. We walk in, the waitress automatically say, "The usual?" We nod. She brings The Man and me coffee, a strawberry milkshake for The Boy. Then The Man gets two toasted Westerns on rye, I get corned beef hash, The Boy gets a banquet burger with fries. Once, when we walked in, the waitress looked at us and called out our order to the cook before even seating us.

At our other favourite Japanese restaurant on Bloor, J Time, we order different things, more or less. An assortment of sushi for The Boy, an assortment of maki rolls for me, a bento box for The Man. But the staff is so comfortable with us that I can phone them, ask them to charge The Boy's meal to my credit card, then The Boy goes in for lunch without money and gets fed.

So you can understand how annoyed I get when I go shopping at Canadian Tire and I can't find anyone to serve me, nevermind reading my thoughts. I was cleaning out my junk today and needed storage bins. So off I trotted to Canadian Tire. I found the bins I wanted, on sale, at 50% off. Only, the bins were way up on a top shelf, stacked into each other.

I looked for someone to help me bring them down. It's like the staff saw me coming and ran off. I found a ladder near some stock. So I picked that up and carried that to the bins section. I got up on it, tugged at the bins, and looked around. From up there, you can see where the staff is hiding. One woman saw me and asked, "Do you need some help?"

"Yes, I would like that."

"Then please come down from the ladder."

I debated whether I should annoyed and blast her for the store's invisible staff. But I decided I just wanted to get my bins and go. So she climbed up on the ladder, verified some things, and tried to get the bins down. She called out to someone to help. No one came.

I said, "I can bring them down with you."

She handed me some boxes to get out of the way. Then she pulled the bins off the shelf and I helped her lower them to the floor. She muttered, "Those men are never around when you need them."

"I know what you mean."

She inspected a bin to make sure it was not cracked and gave it to me. Her tone had completely changed by this time. She was much friendlier. I thanked her. She said, "You are most welcome. See you next time."

Next time? Am I going to be a regular at this store?