JanetteK
Grumbler
Over the past few weeks, a loud-spoken young man has stopped in my store several times, asking about framing prices for items he describes. He tells me that he's starting a business down the street, a kite store. The first time he came in, I wondered if he was developmentally disabled, and so I tried to be as polite and understanding as possible. Once I referred him to the Chamber of Commerce to regisister his business there, and since that time, the lady who runs our Chamber told me that he is not starting a business and that he is apparently manic depressive and (she told me) not taking his medication. She also indicated that the police are familiar with his name.
He was just in again and told me things like: when he was 16, he fell in love with a 24-year-old Chinese woman, that he had been to China, that he owned 10 houses around the country because he was a surfer, that he was a doctor but lost his license because he stole a Hollywood actor's car, that he was homeless at that time, that he drinks rice milk from the food bank, that he's the most educated member of his family, but they're all rich, that his own income is $460 a month, but his brother makes $2500 a month, (upon asking me if I was a Christian any my saying yes) that he was proud to be a Christian and it was the only way, that he was also "part Catholic," and that he also accepted Buddhism and Daoism, that he hated materialistic people, and that he himeself was all about making money, and was I an Aries? Was I married? How old was I?
He left when my dog started to bark, and I told him the dog was jealous because I was talking so long at the front of the store.
From time to time, people of varying levels of oddness come into my store and engage me in conversations about themselves and their problems. I generally don't worry much about my safety in my store because I'm in the retail area of a small town, with other business around me and lots of people walking by. On the other hand, I am a woman alone in a shop with a 16-pound pug-bichon mix as her only guardian.
Two questions: How does one gracefully end conversations with people whose rationality you start to doubt? I strive to be a kind and understanding person, but I also have work to do. And. . . if I become nervous about my own safety due to someone's presence in the store, are there any recommended ways to deal with the situation? This manic depressive fellow may be harmless; he hasn't seemed threatening in any way, but he makes me nervous.
I'm sure this can't be a unique situation. What do you other storekeepers do?
He was just in again and told me things like: when he was 16, he fell in love with a 24-year-old Chinese woman, that he had been to China, that he owned 10 houses around the country because he was a surfer, that he was a doctor but lost his license because he stole a Hollywood actor's car, that he was homeless at that time, that he drinks rice milk from the food bank, that he's the most educated member of his family, but they're all rich, that his own income is $460 a month, but his brother makes $2500 a month, (upon asking me if I was a Christian any my saying yes) that he was proud to be a Christian and it was the only way, that he was also "part Catholic," and that he also accepted Buddhism and Daoism, that he hated materialistic people, and that he himeself was all about making money, and was I an Aries? Was I married? How old was I?
He left when my dog started to bark, and I told him the dog was jealous because I was talking so long at the front of the store.
From time to time, people of varying levels of oddness come into my store and engage me in conversations about themselves and their problems. I generally don't worry much about my safety in my store because I'm in the retail area of a small town, with other business around me and lots of people walking by. On the other hand, I am a woman alone in a shop with a 16-pound pug-bichon mix as her only guardian.
Two questions: How does one gracefully end conversations with people whose rationality you start to doubt? I strive to be a kind and understanding person, but I also have work to do. And. . . if I become nervous about my own safety due to someone's presence in the store, are there any recommended ways to deal with the situation? This manic depressive fellow may be harmless; he hasn't seemed threatening in any way, but he makes me nervous.
I'm sure this can't be a unique situation. What do you other storekeepers do?
