Hi. I’m sure you remember me. It was your first day at the brand new store. You were so proud of your children’s book section. In fact the smile that you greeted me with and the sincerity in your voice when you told me to let you know if I had any questions was quite impressive. You seemed like such a nice girl. I can tell that doing your job well is important to you and I respect that immensly. You were so nice to show me the new book section and you laughed out loud when I commented on Walter the farting dog as if it was the best joke ever. I was really beginning to like you.

Which is why I am so sorry for spilling hot chocolate all over your pretty new books.

I am not usually a clumsy person. I can’t explain how it happened. All I know is that one minute we’re laughing about Walter farting and the next minute we’re frantically looking for something to wipe up hot chocolate from all those nice, new, neatly stacked books.

I know I kept saying sorry over and over again. And even after I ran through Personal Computing to the Starbucks to get napkins and some water and helped you clean up all the splatter marks, I still felt awful. And through it all you had the best spirit! You were so sweet to tell me, “This is the children’s section! At least the books aren’t covered in boogers.” And you even laughed when I told you I’d tote my kids on over this weekend and we’d take care of that one too.

And to top it all off, I really love the book you finally recommended. I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track is so much fun. I can’t wait to read it to Swee’Pea and TheMonk.

So, once again, I just wanted to say how sorry I am. And I also wanted to commend you on your excellent customer service. Because of you, I know I’ll be back.

I’ll just leave my hot chocolate behind.

Sincerely,

Matthew.

Note: This post was inspired by Idea #21 in No One Cares What You Had For Lunch: 100 Ideas for your Blog by Margaret Mason. Which Barnes and Noble carries, by the way. I know because I made the new staff find it for me. Have you bought your copy yet? Did I mention that I’m in it?