Danni sat back in the cubicle, drinking her coffee and quietly fuming. It had been one of those days. Everything seemed to have gone wrong and there had been nothing she could do to stop it.
Her mind drifted back to the worst of the little incidents, one that she considered quite insulting. She'd searched for weeks for the perfect dress for the party next week, and when she'd found it she hadn't objected to the price or the rude manner of that stupid salesgirl. She'd known that the girl was deliberately overcharging her, but she had really wanted that dress.
She'd had put it on layby and put down her deposit and made the final payment with plenty of time, and then that girl claimed she'd lost it.
"Can't understand what happened," she said, "but the layby is missing. You'll have to wait until we can order another one. It may be a month or two. Sorry."
And on top of that, when she'd pointed out that would be far too late and demanded a refund, the woman had tried to charge her a fee for layby cancellation. She hadn't cancelled, they'd lost it. No way was she paying for their mistake and so she'd told her. There was also no way she'd go back to that damn shop.
What had really got her was the shop assistants attitude. She'd been rude and arrogant, as though they were doing her a favour by letting her shop there. Some favour, they couldn't even keep track of the few sales they did make. She could still hear that woman's voice, so sweetly condescending.
Just a moment, Danni thought, I can still hear that woman's voice. She suddenly tuned in to the conversation floating through the air from the next cubicle.
"Anyway, this woman came in to pick up her lay-by. You know the one," the woman was saying.
"I assume you mean the one you raided for that dress you wore last week," giggled another voice.
"Spot on," said the salesgirl. "Pity about that wine spilling. If it hadn't been for that I'd have been able to put it back in time and she'd never have known. As it is, the dress is at the cleaners and won't be back for another couple of days."
"What'd she say when you told her the dress wasn't there?"
"Oh, I got all superior, insinuated it was her own fault for taking so long to pay it off. Told her she should wait for a few months while we found a replacement. God, she was ropable."
There was some mutual giggling, and then the salesgirl continued.
"You should have seen her face when she demanded her money back. I told her there would have to be a layby cancellation fee, and she turned purple. I thought she was going to have a stroke."
"God, you've got a nerve, when you're the one who pinched it. What did she say about the fee?"
"Ha! The silly bitch got all hoity-toity and pointed out that she didn't cancel. We failed to live up to our side of the bargain. She'd have her money back and no fee, or else."
"What did you do then?"
"Oh, I acted all superior and told her that as a favoured customer we would, this time only, waive the cancellation fee. But was she grateful?"
There was more giggling.
"What did you tell your manager?"
"I just said she came in and demanded the lay-by be cancelled. She was threatening to kick up a stink if we didn't refund all her money, so I thought it politic to do so. The stores good name and all that. I was given a pat on the back and told not to accept lay-bys from her anymore. I'll slip the dress back into stock after it's back from the cleaners and no-one will notice."
Danni sat back, thinking hard. Her first impulse was to stand up and pour her coffee all over the bitch. Her second thought was that it'd be better to wait and consider just how best to give the woman her dues.
A few days later, after dinner was over and Danni and her husband, Gordon, were relaxing watching TV, Danni turned to him.
"Gordon, do you remember what you said when I asked what you wanted for your birthday."
Gordon grinned. "I not only remember, I still have the bruise on my arm where you hit me."
"You do not. I didn't hit that hard, and you know it. Anyway, if memory serves me right, you said a blonde, slender, about twenty, with nice boobs and no clothes.
So what would you say to a nice young blonde, but complete with clothes, initially. You'd have to do the clothes removal yourself."