When I started working at Best Buy, I was placed in the Home Office department. They felt my computer knowledge would be best put to use there. It took time and a lot of effort to work my way into the Geek Squad. My transition wasn’t immediate. I spent days doing sales and then days at the GS counter, back and forth throughout the week.
During a day at the counter, I met a man who was trying to get information recovered from a hard drive that had gone bad. I had to break the news to him that we were unable to get any data retrieved. He was furious over this. I did my best to apologize and explain that there is no guarantee, but we do the best we can. After a certain point, his best option is to send it to a “clean room”, and even then there is no guarantee anything of value can be retrieved.
That man yelled and threw insults at the store, the company, the Geek Squad in general, and myself. He then took his machine and left.
One week later I was working in Home Office. That same man was standing in the aisle, looking at desktop towers. He saw me and the internal cringe was evident. He recognized me instantly. His voice was hesitant.
“Do you remember me?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Are you still willing to help me?”
I shrugged, “That was last week. It doesn’t change my ability to answer your questions.”
“Okay.”
I then spent the next several minutes going over the various options with him, how they compared, and which ones would best suit his needs. He thanked me for my patience and said he needed to think it over, but he would be back. He left the department and I went to the department computer to handle something.
About a minute later, he comes back to me.
“You said the only person you’d wish that one computer on was your ex. Does that mean you’re single?”
“…no.”
“Oh, sorry. Thanks!”
Seriously. The same dude who had just cussed me out the week before thought I might possibly go out with him.