Losing one’s eyesight is said to drastically sharpen the remaining senses, but for a careless shopper at a local outdoor supply store, a cashier’s superhuman hearing proved to be a highly expensive liability.
An elderly woman stepped into a bait-and-tackle shop to buy a birthday gift for her grandson. Knowing absolutely nothing about angling, she randomly grabbed a rod-and-reel combo from a rack and hauled it over to the checkout counter.
Standing behind the register was a clerk wearing thick, pitch-black sunglasses.
“Excuse me, sir,” the woman said. “Can you tell me if this is a decent setup?”
The clerk smiled calmly. “To be honest, ma’am, I am completely blind. But if you just toss it onto the counter, I can tell you every single detail about it purely from the sound it makes.”
Skeptical but intrigued, she dropped the heavy fishing gear onto the hard Formica surface.
The clerk didn’t hesitate for a second. “Ah, that’s a six-foot Shakespeare graphite rod paired with a Zebco 404 spinning reel, pre-spooled with a 10-pound test line. It’s an excellent all-around beginner kit, and it happens to be on markdown this week for just $20.00.”
“That is utterly astonishing!” the woman gasped, thoroughly impressed. “I’ll take it.”
She unzipped her purse to pay, but as she rummaged around inside, her credit card slipped from her fingers and smacked against the floor.
“Ooh, that ring has the distinct pitch of a Mastercard,” the blind clerk remarked smoothly.
Blushing, the woman bent down to retrieve the card. The sudden physical exertion caught her off guard, and she accidentally let out a loud, ripping fart.
Mortified, her face turned bright red. But after a quick moment of panic, she smiled to herself. ‘Wait,’ she thought, ‘the man is completely blind. He has no way of visually tracking where that noise came from, and he can’t see that we are the only two people in this aisle.’
The clerk typed a few things into the register, pulled the receipt tape, and said, “Alright, ma’am, your total comes out to $34.50.”
The woman paused, her brow furrowing. “Excuse me? Didn’t you just tell me the rod and reel was on sale for $20.00? How on earth did you get $34.50?”
The clerk adjusted his sunglasses, faced her directly, and replied:
“Yes, ma’am. The rod and reel is indeed $20.00. But the Duck Call is $11.00, and the Bear Repellent is $3.50.”
