Adrienne and I went to REI today to get some things, since they were having a sale. We wanted to get a hiking backpack for Adriennne (since I’ve already got one), a hitch-mounted bike rack, and a bike for me (since Adrienne’s already got one). We were successful in our venture, and got lots of good stuff.

There was this one sales guy at the store that was amazingly forgetful…

He came to help us with choosing a bike, and he was okay at that. We found a bike that looked good for me, but it had a “Hold” tag on it. He looked at the tag, it said “hold until end of day” but had no date on it, so he ripped it off. (Remember this, I’ll come back to it.) I wanted to test drive the bike, which involves me giving up my license for a bit, and they lend me a helmet and give me a special baton that allows you to get out the door with the bike. The scene went like this:

Jeremy: Sure, I’d like to try it out…
Salesguy: OK, let me just hang on to your license…
Jeremy gives Salesguy his license.
Salesguy: I’ll be right back with a helmet and a baton!
Salesguy exits right.
10 minutes pass…
Jeremy notices Salesguy is not helping any customers at the moment, and looks slightly bored. Deciding that Salesguy must have forgotten, Jeremy heads that way.
Jeremy: Hi, I was going to test drive this bike…
Salesguy: OK, I’m gonna need to get your license…
Jeremy: Uhhh, I gave it to you already. You said you were going to get a helmet and come back.
Salesguy: How did you like the bike?
Jeremy: I haven’t tried it yet. You said you were coming back, and you haven’t come back.
Salesguy: Ohh, OK. I’ve got your license already?
Jeremy: Uh, yes.
Salesguy: Well go ahead and try it out…
Jeremy: Er, don’t I need a helmet or anything?
Salesguy: Wait, what were we doing again?
Jeremy: I gave you my license, you were supposed to bring me back a helmet and baton so I can test the bike out.
Salesguy: Ohhh, OK. I’ll get that!

Luckily we didn’t have to deal with the same sales guy when I came back. We left the bike with the counter people and went to find the other things we needed, such as a bike rack. After about an hour we came back to get it, and there was a couple standing there, arguing with the sales guy about a bike they had put on hold… Hmm. Yep, that’s my bike. Apparently the very same forgetful salesguy had put the bike on hold for this nice couple earlier in the day, and he had forgotten about it. (Surprising, right?)

We got the bike, the stuff, and high-tailed it out of there.