Confession #5: Well That’s Awkward…
While this confession is not my own, it’s still directly related to my line of work. I will mention no names to preserve the innocent.
A styling assistant shared with me her story of shopping for a job. She was part of a team of people working on a holiday baking guide during the summer. That’s the nature of the business, we work on things a season or two ahead of time.
She was in charge of shopping for the job, which required purchasing a cart-load of baking essentials. And as any food stylist knows, mass quantities of sugar, butter, and flour always lead to an interrogation by the clerk. She went to check out, and the clerk, of course, asked her what she was up to with all this stuff.
And this is where it gets good... the assistant told a little fib. She told the clerk that she was making cookies for her kid’s teachers. Which, to her credit, after the shoot, she was going to give leftover cookies to the kid’s teachers, so it wasn’t quite a lie.
The clerk was shocked and then proceeded to call the manager of the store. He marched over and proceeded to say how he loves people that love and support teachers… He made a HUGE deal out of it and even offered her a discount!
I can just imagine there being some applause from some store customers, too. She was so freaked out and fearful of a publisher's clearing house style situation (balloons, flowers, and camera crew), all she could do is smile awkwardly, say thank you, and leave.