An August Story in September

I should have offered this last month in commemoration but I'm tardy. Better late than never I guess.

An older gentleman comes into the store looking for help. He asks me if we have old records on CD, I respond yes, we do and ask what record he is looking for. And then he does it. Makes the classic mistake, mostly made by men, (sorry guys I'm no sexist but it's true) of assuming that my knowledge of a subject is bound by my chronological age. He says "You probably don't know this but Elvis had a country record and I was wondering if you had it."

Now there's no way this man could know that my mother was a huge Elvis fan. There's no way he could know about her Elvis Christmas ornament that only she could hang on the tree, that my first home permanant was ruined by the news of his death or that I think Peter Guralnick's 2 volume set on Elvis is the best biography I ever read. I can't fault him for that. But I do sell music for a living. I am, if nothing else, a professional. That doesn't mean I know it all cause that's not possible but I do know Elvis.

I say, "Isn't that the one with his cover of "He'll Have to Go"?"

His jaw drops in disbelief. This young person knows what he is talking about. "You're joking," he says.

And, in an example of having just the right line just when you need it, I say "Sir, I never joke about Elvis."