Please work for my sale!

The silly season that has descended upon us once again, and with that we join the throng of hundreds of frantic shoppers to get that perfect gift for our family and friends.

Yesterday M34tb4LL and i went to a shop to buy a present for ... someone. Well if i tell you what the item is, where it was bought from or who it is for then that person might read this and think to themselves, where there goes the surprise!

So we were in a shop and were not sure where they had the item we wanted on display. Rather than mill around and add to the already packed shopping area i decided to ask a little shop person as to the where about of the item. I looked around the shop and spotted two rather bored shop people, leaning on some boxes of stock, chatting away to each other.

I went over and interrupted their conversation with my Paddington Bear style stare and asked about the where abouts of the item. Rather than point me in the direct (which wasn't far at all) i was escorted to the shelf that housed the item. The sales person then took the item off the shelf, wrote a number on the price ticket and passed it to me.

When i asked M34tb4LL what the number sales person wrote on the ticket meant, he told me that it was the sales persons ID number, so that when we bought the item he would be credited for the sale and get a commission for it.

WHAT????

What assistance did he give us that means he deserves that commission?

Did he approach us and offer his assist?NO, i had to find him and interrupt his conversation with his co-worker to get his help.

Did he assist us in selecting the item? NO, we went to that particular shop knowing full well what we were after.

Did he give help in choosing one brand of the item over another? NO, the item we were after does not have a few makes over a few different brands - it is kind of like "I am after this thing" "Then to get one of these things, this is the only option - one option - here - if you want it this the one you have to get"

Did he help us pick out a second or a third item? NO, we had come in for the one item - found it bought it left the shop.

So what did he do to deserve that commission? He did not have to walk the floor, checking with customer if his assistance was needed, nor did he need to display any product knowledge. He did not even have to employ any of his sales training to sway us to buy the item!!! All he had to do was walk three steps and write a number on a price ticket.

I'm not sure why this bothers me, it is not like we had to more for the item because of this. However if he had not done this where would the commision have gone? Would it have defaulted back to the manager of the store? Would have split up at the end of the day with the girls as the checkout? Or would it have just been lost in the ether?

Call me petty, but i think i would rather any other option than the one that transpired. And in the future when i shop at that store and a sales person offers to write his ID number on the price ticket - i think i decline the offer! Unless of course he HAS worked for my sale.

(: G