John returns to the store for comfort's sake

John, having read through a bit of the FAQ, sighed and decided the air conditioned air of the store was a better place to loiter. So, he got up from the bench and walked inside.

Melody the cashier was still talking to the handsome customer, whose looks was making John's self confidence feel like a balloon pressing softly against a tack. John shook his head and stood out of direct view, pretending to peruse the merchandise. It seemed they were getting close to completing the sale, so he figured he could wait until the guy had left before approaching her.

In the meanwhile, he wrote "Melody" as the target and pressed the "Target statement" button.

"Melody, the weary electronic shop girl, is happy to serve handsome customers," appeared on the screen. John could feel the tack nudge against his confidence once again. He saw the text was editable and decided to try and adjust it a little.

"Melody, the weary electronic shop girl, is happy to serve average customers," was now written on the screen. The confirm button highlighted as the text editor recognized that only one word had been edited and John pressed it.

He glanced over at the two, now standing by the checkout. John could swear he noticed Melody's smile seemed to waiver and struggle for a moment as the man glanced away to pull out his credit card. He couldn't really blame her for struggling. He had done his hours in shops like these in his younger days and he knew exactly the feeling, but as a guy he didn't really have to put as much work into it as women were expected to.

He pushed the "Target Statement" option, which had Melody's name already filled in, and he pressed enter.

"Melody the shop girl was feeling confused, as her desires for handsome men was replaced by average men," John lifted his eyebrows and glanced over at her. He remembered the information pages said the targets were not unaware of the changes put upon them, so he'd have to be somewhat careful. As Melody put the items into a plastic bag for her latest customer, John started editing the text.

"Melody the shop girl was feeling elated, as her desires for handsome men was replaced by average men," He edited in and pressed enter. He had considered more radical edits as he still hadn't seen any proof of this working, but he figured this would let him sneak in some questions without causing a scene.

"Thank you, sir. Have a great day. Thanks for shopping with us," Melody said to the handsome man in a manner you recognized from a few minutes ago. He said his goodbyes after a short pause, apparently picking up on some loss of chemistry between the two, but he began heading for the door. He gave John a glance as he walked past, casually but distractedly gauging him.