I had a weird interaction at work today in the jewelry department. I showed a woman a necklace with a heart pendent but the chain wasn’t long enough for her. As I was putting it back in the case on one pad, she asked to see another necklace on a different pad.
Customer: Can I see the one with two hearts?
Me: (Looks at jewelry pad she is pointing at. I don’t see a necklace with two hearts.) Which one?
Customer: The one with two hearts.
Me: (Still looking, still don’t see necklace with two hearts. See necklace with two crosses.) The one with two crosses?
Customer: No, two hearts. It’s the second from the left.
Me: (Second necklace from left is the one with two crosses. I reach into the case and touch the necklace with two crosses.) This one?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Those are crosses.
Customer: That’s what I said. Wait, what was I saying?
Me: You said hearts.
Customer: No, I was saying crosses.
I let it drop after that because there is nothing to be gained from arguing with a customer but I did kind of wonder which of us was hearing and/or saying the wrong thing. Was she saying crosses the whole time and I heard it as hearts? Was she saying hearts but thinking she was saying crosses? Was I saying hearts? Was it some weird mix?
Part of me wants to believe I was hearing everything correctly but part of me knows human perception and memory are fallible. I have never wanted to have recorded a conversation more.