Knowledge is Power: a GM

I'm at work on the mezzanine floor. A little old lady asks me where to find something and I take her to its location on the lower level. From the stairwell I can see a blonde Mother and Daughter being waited on by one of our younger clerks; Carl. I have to go in the opposite direction, but I'm hoping that they're still at the information desk when I am free to pass by it.

After helping the old lady, I head back to the desk and they're still there. Mom, is somewhere in her early 40s, but very well preserved in an upper class sort of way. The daughter is about 9 or 10 and is wearing a little more make-up than I prefer. They're both dressed to the nines as though they came from the ballet. And judging from the girls make-up and coiffe maybe she wasn't in the audience.

Anyhow, Carl is struggling with little to go on and asks for my assistance as soon as I arrive. Mom, says that its a needle in a haystack kind of search, and turns it over to the girl. She gives me the description and it matches to a T something immensely popular and well nigh inescapable in my line of work 3 years ago. Fortunately its still in stock on our top floor. As Carl picks his jaw up off the floor at my ability to draw the answer out of thin air, I offer to walk them up there to make sure they find it where its supposed to be.

No sooner do I step on the stairwell than the old lady asks me where to find something else. Smiling I point to Carl and say, "Its on this floor and he can show you just where it is." ( This time the item is widely known and in plentiful supply.)

Now its true that had Carl been busy helping someone else, I would've been obliged to send my charges up to find their item on their own. But dammit, I wasn't going to deny myself the pleasure of their company while Carl was twiddling his thumbs. I'm a Supervisor, I should prove I can delegate responsibility every now and then.

On the upper floor the girl recognised what she'd been looking for with delight. They both thanked me. And I wandered blissfully back down with a smile on my face.

Dante