For three days this week, I have been assigned a very humbling job at my workplace. I feel like I have been a really good sport in doing it, wearing my game face, but when my store manager asked me yesterday if I was having fun, I said 'no'. He looked surprised, and I said I did not want to lie to him. It has not been terrible, just not something I would volunteer for. And truth be told - really not all that awful, as I have seen some regular shoppers I have enjoyed greeting, speaking with that I rarely encounter.
I 've been walking around the store with a platter full of strawberries, offering customers a taste. I slice them up, put them in little plastic cups, squirt on a dab of whipped topping and poke in a toothpick. About fifteen cups fit on the plastic platter. I fill my platter and walk around asking: 'Would you like to sample our fresh Florida strawberries?' Most do, though there are a surprising number of shoppers who say "I'm fine", which I take to mean 'no thank you'. And an occasional one who will say: "I'm allergic to strawberries", which is, of course possible, but something I have never encountered before. And one who said "I'm allergic to dairy", so I gave her a sample without the squirt of whipped topping.
In addition to being humbling, it has also be remarkably productive: my new produce manager told me our sales of boxes of berries were extraordinary. I don't know if it's because they are on sale, or in season, meaning very tasty, or my giving them away really made a difference. But the day after I did that 'sampling' for three hours, he said the sales of berries in our store were the best of any in the area. And that is a whole lotta strawberries.
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