A disgruntled and clueless customer

In front of Jason stood a man in his late thirties. He looked like some former quarterback who had neglected his exercise regimen of his younger days. He had wide shoulders and an intimidating build, but had gained a beer gut. He had that demeanor of "the world is out to get me and I'm tired of being nice," plastered all over him.

Jason sighed inside himself as he gained the attention of the guy. "I'm Jason. Anything we can help you with?"

"About time one of you guys figured out how to do your job," the guy drawled and gave Jason a look of disdain. "I'm Ronnie, I'm looking for a cheap cell phone, a dumb one, but all you guys have are these five hundred glass things."

Ah, someone looking for a burner phone. Figured this guy would need a phone for some illicit deals. "Oh, yeah, those sort of phones aren't really produced anymore by anyone," Jason explained with a practiced sympathetic smile.

"Bull. Shit." Ronnie the douche bag replied, not happy with the answer. "I got my last phone here, so I expect you to have the sort of stuff I want."

Jason rolled his eyes and decided Ronnie wouldn't be a return customer, so he could be snarky back. "I'm sorry, but times change," he said and took a breath before he continued. "I wish I could tell you there's a hidden basement entrance in aisle seven going to a room where anything you could ever wish for could be found, but if you want a throwaway phone for... whatever you're planning to use it for, I recommend buying it in a pawn shop or on ebay," Jason said bluntly.

A weird feeling went through Jason's body, as if he was swimming in open waters and a big wave had lifted him, or someone dancing on his grave. Sure, adrenaline was surging through his body in fear of the big guy getting violent, but it was a bit different than that. Maybe the lightning bolt hitting his car had caused his brain to fizzle a bit? In his pocket, the screen on his phone flickered, and if he had had his hands on it, he might have felt the surface crawl as a sphere invisible to mortal senses engulfed the store, dissipating after doing its work.

The man rolled his eyes and clenched his jaw, but nodded. "Fine, I'll take my business elsewhere," he said and glanced behind himself, looking at a sign down the aisle. "I'll leave you to do your... work, but I'd like to know where the customer bathrooms are."

Great. Leaving a gift for us? Jason thought to himself, but smiled and played dumb. "By aisle ten, look for the storage door, the bathrooms are to the right of them," he explained with two pointing fingers on one hand and stepped back with the goal of ending the conversation.

"Alright," Ronnie said and turned around, making no attempt at ending the conversation in a polite manner. Jason sighed internally and waited a second too feel the adrenaline bleed out of his system. What had that feeling been? He thought to himself as he figured everything was okay, walking back to figure out what goods needed to be stocked.