The Retail Diaries, Part 4 …
By Patricia Racine
October 2025
Running a business in a small town means that you get to see pretty much everyone in that town on a daily basis and usually hear all the latest news/gossip rather quickly. Over the years I was privy to some juicy stories about my customers which made going to work relatively entertaining.
Being on the register daily gives you a good insight into people’s habits and patterns. Some customers didn’t even need to verbalize what they wanted because I already knew why they were there at 6:30 each morning or just what their after-work routine required. It’s funny how people have their everyday routines and how as a business you become part of their day. More than once, I knew when there was something off in a customer’s life because I didn’t see them for a while; usually they were sick or on vacation. I knew when regulars went on and off diets, when they were trying to quit smoking and how much they were drinking based on their purchases.
These routines and all the information that flowed through the store gave me a pretty good idea of who to recommend when new residents moved into town and needed work done to their houses or property. Over the years we had used many different tradespeople to do work at the store and had weeded out the ones that just didn’t live up to our expectations and, yes, we shared those experiences with the people who asked. The last thing I wanted to do was suggest a tradesman only to have my customer mad at me because the person blew them off, drank on the job or did a shoddy job. And sure, some tradesmen would get upset about that but why should I lie to my customers just to stroke an ego.
But I guess it works both ways because customers followed my routines and always wanted to know what I was doing outside of work. That was something that I really didn’t like and tried my best to fly under the radar. I very rarely went out in town and when I did, I didn’t drink; I also didn’t vote in local elections for 16 years because I always had a feeling that someone would take offence to my choice and forget that my vote was based on my personal beliefs, not professional ones. It’s really nice to be able to actually do what I want these days since I’m not shackled by a local business.
Over the last year I have recognized the regular weekly customers at High Lawn Farm and have begun developing a nice friendly relationship with these new people; the nice thing is that I don’t live in Lee, so I really don’t have to worry about seeing most of these customers and co-workers in my private life, unless I want to. It’s also nice to be able to have a voice and opinion concerning town affairs and not have to worry about retaliation against my business. I used to say only 15% of what went through my head and now it’s probably up to 50%, still less than most people but a lot for me.
P.S. Maple celebrated her first birthday at the beginning of September and is getting so big; but she is also getting very mischievous and has snuck out of the young heifer pasture and led the farmers on a wild goose chase!
