I worked until closing tonight and a woman that was given the nickname “Smiley” came in to shop.  I’m not sure why, but she is showing up at the store several hours before we close now and she used to be the one that liked to show up a few minutes before closing time and insist on shopping for nearly an hour.  This change in her time of arrival is exciting.  She drives a lot of our employees bananas because she never smiles and she’s a bit demanding but I sort of like her.  She’s unique and outspoken and those two qualities combined make for some very interesting conversations.   There’s no way of knowing what she is going to say next and I’ve learned that I need to practice keeping a straight face so that when she catches me off guard and my brain tells me to laugh I won’t have to bite my lip as hard.

Tonight while I was measuring her fabric I almost called her Smiley.  I’m not sure why my filter decided to save me, but it did.  It’s usually 100% in favor of me sticking my foot in my mouth but tonight was different.  It heard my brain preparing a question for the customer in front of me and it quickly slipped in and grabbed that question and replaced it with “You’ve never told me your name.  I see you quite a bit so I think it’s time for me to know.” Whew!   That was a close one!  She divulged a nickname first and after telling me it was a nickname I simply had to ask what her given name was.  I told her they were both pretty names and it was then I received a tiny but noticeable smile.  Progress.

It wasn’t long before the conversation revealed the projects she planned to work on next.  She was buying fleece to make her two cats blankets and one for herself.  I told her I loved cats and before long I was looking at pictures of her beautiful babies.  I learned quite a bit about them from her in a very short time.  She stated the fact that her female is very prissy and feminine and loves to have her picture taken.  I saw at least 43 shots of her taken with Smiley’s phone and she does, indeed, look prissy and feminine.  I also heard the story about how she acquired her male cat.  I asked what his name was and when she announced it, I refused to make eye contact and my lip still hurts.  This woman loves music and buys any fabric we have that features anything to do with music, be it radios, music notes, instruments….anything music related which explains why her cat’s name is Mojo 107.5!  Why not name your cat after your favorite radio station?  I’m not sure why that tickled me but it did.

I guess it’s safe to say I enjoyed my visit with Smiley tonight.  She did absolutely nothing to ruffle any feathers.  She didn’t attempt to keep us open after closing time and she smiled….tonight, she actually smiled!