In fact I have never worked at ANY Walgreens…So this was some 10 years ago and while the conversation IS paraphrased but I remember it like it was yesterday.

So, background. At the time I was working grave and swing as a casino player’s host in Reno NV. For those who don’t know what this job is, we take care of the high rollers. Make sure they get comps, dining and hotel reservations, get invites to tournaments, limo rides, you name it. I wore a nice black blazer with a name tag, slacks, comfortable but professional shoes, hair and make up done.

The days I worked swing I was off at 3am, but after waiting for bus and the ride home I would make it to my place at about 5am. Directly across the street from my home was a Walgreens. I stopped in a lot of mornings to grab a protein shake, pick up prescriptions, etc. But on Wednesday mornings they put out a LOT of clearance items.

You could snag small appliances dirt cheap! So I was always there on Wednesdays stocking up on Christmas and birthday presents etc. The employees and manager knew me by sight, and some by name.

I was usually a zombie after work, I think like most people lol. And this Wednesday was no different. I was looking over the latest selection, trying to decide if I NEEDED a new coffee maker or just wanted one because it was clearanced for like $5.

A woman was next to me, speaking Tagalog into her phone. I don’t speak it, but Reno has a pretty large Filipino community, so I could at least recognize it. Her language is not important to the story. It just struck me how odd the little things we remember are.

She finished her conversation and looked at me. ‘Can I get a discount on this?’ I don’t remember what ‘this’ was. Some small appliance. ‘The box is smashed up.’

‘No idea,’ I told her. ‘But I would ask to plug it in to test it before I bought it if the box is damaged.’

I have no idea if anyone can actually do that, but it seemed reasonable to me.

‘Why would you sell something that doesn’t work?!’ She demanded.

I had no idea at this point she thought I worked there. I thought she was making conversation. In my defense, I was half asleep and just wanted a good deal on a damned stick blender!!

‘Oh,’ I told her, ‘I absolutely wouldn’t sell it. But I’m not in the business of selling things anyway.’

‘Oh, so you are too good and important to sell things, that is just for the low employees?’

I finally looked at her. Until then, I was pretty focused on staying awake. I could see she was getting angry. It dawned on me that I still had my name tag on. I slipped it off. They are the kinds with magnets, not pins, and stuck it in my pocket.

‘Oh, sorry, I forgot to take this off, I don’t actually…’ I started to say I don’t work here.

But she was having NONE of that! ‘Oh, you think you are too good to help me? Just because I am Filipina?’ She may have said Filipino, I confess I don’t know which is correct and going only off memory. ‘My money is good you…’ she said something in Tagalog that did NOT sound flattering. ‘You think you can trick me taking off your name tag?!’

I just sighed. ‘I don’t want your money. I don’t work here. I am shopping. Please leave me alone.’

She ignored everything I just said except for ‘Oh, you won’t be getting my money because you need to give this to me for free for not helping me.’

‘Ma’am,’ I tried to reason with her. ‘I CAN’T give you that. I REALLY don’t work here. If you take it without paying, that is stealing.’

‘Oh, now you think I am poor AND a thief?’ WTF? Where did ‘poor’ come from? ‘I want to talk to the manager of the whole store!!’

‘Lady,’ I turned back to the shelf. ‘ I wish you would f*cking talk to anyone but me.’ I didn’t swear because I was angry. I just have a potty mouth.

She stomped off her heals making little ‘tick tick tick tick’ sounds on the linoleum.

I decided I DID need another coffee maker. AND that stick blender. As I was putting both in my cart I hear tick tick tick tick. Great, she’s back.

But she is not alone. Tom, the store manager was with her.

‘There she is’ the woman shrieked ‘she called me a poor thief and said a swear at me! I want you to fire her and make her poor!!’

Weird obsession with poverty…

Tom looked at me confused. ‘What is happening?’

I grinned and held up my coffee maker. ‘SHOPPING!!’

Tom was even more confused ‘ But why are you insulting her and swearing?’

‘She thinks I work here and wanted me to let her steal an appliance.’ Ok, I know a bit of an exaggeration, but she started it!!

This was the moment that her medication stopped working. In a very loud mix of English and Tagalog she shrieked out our entire interaction. Surprisingly she told it correctly, too. Except that I didn’t put my name tag away to trick her. Tom was done at this point. He just looked at me and said ‘You’re fired.’

The woman grinned maliciously at me, grabbed her smashed up box and stormed off with Tom as I shrugged and made my way over to the allergy medication. Or some other area of the store. I don’t 100% remember but I have terrible allergies so that seems likely.

At the register Tom asked me what REALLY happened. I told him everything, including how I told her I wished she’d fucking talk to anyone but me.

Tom laughed and told me I was still fired.

‘Yay!!’ I grinned ‘do I get a severance package?’

Tom laughed harder. ‘To be fair, you DID swear at her. Plus… you don’t actually work here so… no severance package.’

That’s it. I shopped there for many years before I moved. I never saw her again, so I am sure she went on content with getting me fired and making me poor.