by Cindy Scully

Can I Help You?

Most of my life I’ve worked in a store,
Stocking, helping customers and a whole lot more,
Mostly, it’s true, I have found,
  Lots of folks just like to look around,
Which is a perfectly fine thing to do,
  But it’s my job to ask…”Can I help you?”

I’m not a mind-reader and some folks get upset,
   When I can’t figure out what they’ve come to get,
A do-hicky, a thingamajig, or that new stuff on TV,
That’s not always enough information for me,
So, let’s start playing 20 questions and we’ll see,
  If I can figure out what this “thing” is supposed to be.

If you really aren’t sure of what to do,
 It’s not always wise to pretend that you know “how to”,
If it’s a plumbing problem, you may only get wet,
 But mess up electricity…
  Fire, a big shock, or even dead is what you get!

We will try to help you get through anything you have to do,
 But you need to accept that what we tell you is true,
It may not always be the least expensive way,
 But at least it should last for more than a day. 

If I don’t ask if you need help you might complain,
  And, yet, sometimes when I do, I still get the same,
Folks seem to want it both ways,
  You just can’t seem to please them some days, 
And if you need help from me…”Get off your phone!”
My mama taught me don’t interrupt, 
Leave people on a phone alone.

So I’ll just keep working here the whole day through
    And it’s my job to ask…”Can I help you?”