There is a lot of tension on shoppers during the Christmas season and sometimes people will just snap under the pressure.
It happened to me this year.
Believe it or not, I actually punched-out a salesman at Best Buy.
This is how it happened…
I asked my brother what he wanted for Christmas.
He told me that his alarm clock broke recently and he really needed a new one.
I said, “Perfect. That’s what I’ll get you for Christmas, a new alarm clock.”
The very next day I was reading the morning newspaper and I saw an ad for an alarm clock that they had on sale at Best Buy so, as soon as I finished my breakfast, I immediately got into my car; drove about ten miles to get to the store; got stuck in ridiculously heavy, bumper-to-bumper traffic around the mall; drove around the crowded mall parking lot for about twenty annoying minutes, looking for a damn parking space; finally got a parking space that had to be at least a half a mile from the store; walked across the huge parking lot to the store; fought through throngs of aggressive shoppers to get to the section of the store where the alarm clocks would be; and then spent another fifteen frustrating minutes trying to get the attention of a salesman.
I was already in a bad mood when the salesman said, “Can I help you with something?”
I said, “Yes, you can,” and I pointed to the ad in the newspaper that I brought with me.
“I would like to buy one of these alarm clocks that you’re advertising in today’s paper.”
He said, “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t have any of those alarm clocks in stock.”
I said, “How is that possible? The ad was just in this morning’s paper and I came down here as soon as I could.”
He said, “Well I’m sorry, but we’re all out of them.”
I was getting angry.
I said, “Then that’s false advertising. I came all the way down here and wasted half the day based on your advertisement. How can you advertise this alarm clock when you don’t have any of them in your inventory?”
He said, “Hey pal, it is what it is.”
I didn’t like his lousy attitude and I raised my voice.
“You know what? I came here to buy an alarm clock and you clock-blocked me!… I’ve been clock-blocked!”
He said, “Calm down, sir.”
That just got me angrier.
I said, “No! Your store advertised alarm clocks and there are no alarm clocks. Do you know what that makes you? You’re a clock-tease! That’s it. You’re all just a bunch of clock-teasers!”
The salesman gave me a smug look and said sarcastically…
“Well, you’re the one who was stupid enough to believe the ad, sir… so I suppose that would make you a clock-sucker.”
… and that’s when I clocked him.