On November 15, one of my dearest friends, Amanda, celebrated her birthday. Initially on that morning I started typing out a long Instagram post beneath an adorable picture of the two of us, however, I soon realized the story I wanted to share ran too long. I sat there for a moment after typing out all I could, wishing I had a better medium to convey my message when the obvious clicked for me. I do have that medium! I have my blog!
I met Amanda when we worked together at Macy’s in Mission Viejo, California. She was a part of the Men’s Suits and Shoes selling team on the second level while I managed the Men’s Sportswear team down on the first. I arrived at that store in May of 2014, but had little to no interaction with Amanda until the holiday season kicked into high gear and we found ourselves intertwined in a customer service debacle that resulted in one of the greatest friendships I have ever known.
Macy’s ran a promotion that holiday season where customers earned various dollar amounts of Macy’s Money during a certain time period that could later be applied towards future purchases in an alternate time period. Both the earning and redeeming periods of this promotion had concluded at the time of our story.
Our Assistant Store Manager had informed us that we were not to accept any expired Macy’s Money after the conclusion of the promotion because the new sale prices were lower than they were during the Macy’s Money campaign and with the combination of both we might as well just give our merchandise away. So one mid-December evening when I was the Executive-In-Charge, Amanda called me up to her department because a customer was attempting to use her expired Macy’s Money.
Upon my arrival, the lady was fuming that she had been told by Amanda that she couldn’t use her week-long expired Macy’s Money and she had the warped anticipation that I was going to override the system for her and reprimand Amanda. Suffice it to say, she was quite shocked when I echoed the exact words Amanda had already spoken to her.
The customer lady began screaming and hollering at us as if doing so was going to change the outcome of this story, don’t worry, it didn’t. Amanda and I just stood there while she ranted and raved about how terrible we were and how she was unable to get into our store during the eligible dates to use the Macy’s Money and all these other excuses. As she was screaming at us over this she kept asking us where our holiday spirit was, but um… HELLO! Where the Hell was hers!?! She was being a complete and total monster. I always feel that if you want good customer service you should be a good customer and she was most certainly being anything but.
I of course let her finish speaking, but once she did, I merely reiterated what I already had. This set her off all over again, but I wasn’t about to waste anymore of our time discussing an issue that wasn’t up for debate. I informed her we would not be accepting her expired Macy’s Money and that was final. She said she wasn’t going to buy the items she had picked out and I told her that was fine, we would be happy to put them back for her. She stormed off into the mall leaving Amanda and I to stand there and talk mad shit on her like ANYONE in ANY store does ANYTIME a customer is being a complete and total bitch. Naturally, several other associates came over and we shared the story with them and after a few minutes of gossiping, we all returned to our regular routines thinking this storm had weathered its course. Well, turns out, it hadn’t.
A mere hour or so later, that same lady returned to Amanda’s area demanding to speak to me again, so Amanda called the manager phone like she did the first time, and I returned to where we all met earlier. The lady started screaming and hollering at me and demanding that I allow her to use the Macy’s Money and just like I did earlier I told her that was not going to happen. She told me she was going to call corporate on me and complain I told her I would be happy to provide her with the number she needed to make such a call. She stormed out of the store leaving all of us to stand there and do exactly what we did the last time she stormed off. It was an unnecessary ordeal that I couldn’t have been more thankful for. Had that woman not of had her insane bitch moment, Amanda and I might not ever of become friends. We often talk about how thankful we are for that lady’s terrible behavior and her expired Macy’s Money, the combination of which resulted in one of the best things ever: our friendship.
Long after that woman walked out the store, Amanda and I stood there talking about how we were both Disneyland Annual Passholders and how we should go together sometime and within a few months we did just that. We have easily been to Disneyland Resort well over fifty times together since creating a never-ending barrage of magical memories.
One of my favorite of those memories was when we were in Cars Land in Disney California Adventure Park walking past the Cozy Cone Motel and Red the Fire Engine was out there for photos and sounded his siren. Instantly, I started singing Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” because I felt the siren had some of the same instrumental elements as the song and since then we always sing that song anytime we see Red the Fire Engine …and well, even sometimes when we don’t. I mean, how could one not sing it? That song is a jam! It has more or less become our official Disneyland Resort anthem! Pretty impressive for a song that isn’t even by Disney!
Since Memorial Day of this year (2019), Amanda and I spend the same thirty minutes on the phone talking each weekday morning. It’s the perfect way to start my day and for us to fill each other in on everything going down in our lives. Those morning talks are therapeutic to my soul and regardless of how much or how little we have to discuss they’re always worth having.
Due to the two hour time difference between California and St. Louis I had to leave Amanda a voicemail on her birthday when I called in the early morning and now in retrospect I realize that I should have sung “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” verus “Happy Birthday.” Looking back that was truly a missed opportunity. Damn. Regardless, HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY AMANDA! We still owe it to ourselves to fulfill our Three Disney Dreams! We can’t lose sight of those – even if Linda’s are the only ones (or should I say ‘one’) I can remember!
THANK YOU ALL for allowing me the opportunity to boast about one of my dearest friendships! This was really quite fun for me and I’m now feeling rather certain that this will kick off a series of birthday profiles for all “Ben’s Best (Friends)!”
BOOK UPDATE: This book proposal is infinitely more difficult to write than the actual book was! That’s literally all I’m going to say on the subject now. Just know this is FAR MORE formulated than fantastical and we all know I’d much rather lie with the latter. In the coming days ahead though I am going to my first local authors meet up, so hopefully that will bring me some much needed inspiration.
I will forever be grateful to Macys and that awful woman for introducing us and giving me one of the best friends of all time! Our friendship only gets stronger everyday and our adventures are the absolute best! Thank you for capturing it all by finding some of our cutest photos and of course through your incredible writing.
Thank you! 😊 It was easy for me to convey something so perfect! We owe that miserable lady so much! 😂
What a great story! I remembered like yesterday sitting on the Men’s shoes chairs and talking about Disneyland and the Disney movies. It was late night, late store closure. You really made great friendships at Macy’s Mission Viejo and certainly Amanda was one of a kind. I missed those days, not the retail part but the endless conversations with the coworkers and the good laughs. 🤗
First of all, thank you so much! I remember that time in the shoe chairs as well! I’m with you, I miss those days quite a bit too! That store was full of outstanding individuals. I feel very blessed to have worked there when I did.