Anyone who has worked in retail has probably had to get their hands dirty at some point.

But in this story, a retail employee just wants to know, which dirt?

Let’s get down and dirty with this tale.

The customer would like dirt

I used to be a cashier at a place that sold gardening supplies.

We sold really big bags of soil and most of the time when a customer was getting those, they would tell us what kind of soil they wanted and how many bags they wanted and we would just look it up in the system.

Sounds like a solid system, but let’s dig up the dirt on this encounter.

After we rang them up, they would go and get them or someone would help them get it.

If someone was getting 30 bags, which people often did when they were doing big projects, it made more sense to pay and then load.

This one day, I’m out in the gardening section and this woman comes up. She’s buying some other stuff and she asks for “7 bags of the dirt.”

OK not exactly specific, but maybe she can narrow it down.

Now, if you’re into gardening or if you’ve ever worked at a gardening store, you will know that there are about a million kinds of “dirt.” There is not just “dirt.”

We have topsoil, garden soil, potting mix, soil for specific types of plants, fancy soil that costs more, soil with fertilizer, big bags, little bags, different brands, etc.

Not all dirt is created equal I guess. Maybe the customer will plant a seed of clarity?

If I looked up soil in my computer, dozens of products would come up. So I ask her which one she wanted and she just said, “Whichever one is the cheapest.”

I really had no idea what to do here.

I was staring at all of the kinds of soil we had on my screen. I didn’t know what she was using this soil for so I didn’t know what one I should stick her with.

Let me put it this way, in case you’re not getting why this is frustrating.

Yeah seems annoying, but say more…

Imagine if a person walked into a restaurant that served several kinds of sandwiches, sat down, and told the waiter “I want a sandwich.”

And when the waiter asked what kind of sandwich they wanted, if they wanted a grilled cheese or a turkey sandwich or a veggie sandwich, they just said, “I don’t know, any sandwich, whichever one is the cheapest.”

Not to mention, if I just gave her some random bag, how would she even know which one to load into her car?

Also what if there’s more than one dirt at the same price?

It was a little busier that day, so I just gave her the most generic kind of topsoil without asking more questions and sent her on her way.

Hope she didn’t need garden soil.

It was just an odd and frustrating moment. Any other time someone came in to buy soil, they could tell me the exact one they wanted.

Wonder why this lady didn’t know her dirt type?

Let’s check the comments.

This person says it’s always good to have a generic version.

Another user is like, question everything?

One poster doesn’t understand the issue.

Another poster says, be a better salesman.

Another user has an interesting interpretation of the request.

This customer wanted cheap dirt, for dirt cheap.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.