B134 - Customer with issues of waiting and being organized

’06 Dec 17 Saturday
Customer with issues of waiting and being organized

The store was busy but not rushed. The store has two cash out lines with two cashiers in each line. Janet was alone on her side and had 3 or 4 customers in her line while I and another cashier had the majority of the customers in our line. I wasn’t aware of the details as they were happening but I got the details after it was all over.

The newer girl on cash had either forgotten, or was never told that she wasn’t supposed to leave her register to go on break until a replacement had arrived if she had a line. It was time for her break and she had just served a customer and then, without previously informing the remaining customers that she was closing, she simply put up her closed sign and asked the customers to go to the next line. Well there was a guy that was third in her line that was annoyed by her actions and started to complain in a loud voice as he moved to join my line. Our line was moving fast as most of the purchases were small numbers and he was at my register in a matter of a couple of minutes but was still complaining and tearing a strip off of her and the store that they should get more organized, yadda, yadda, yadda. The supervisor was there and tried to calm him to no avail. I said nothing as I basically agreed with him. I just let him yak away as I served him and his son and then he left the store, still nattering and cussing.



A few moments later he comes storming back in and comes up to me, demanding that I give him his sunglasses.

Confused, I asked, “What sun glasses?”

He hissed, “The ones left on the counter when I left.”

I said, “There was nothing on the counter when you left. It’s a small counter and I would have noticed them.”

He shouted, “Either you or a customer took them as my son said that they were on the counter.”

I quietly replied,” What would I be doing with a pair of sun glasses, I couldn’t wear them as I have glasses.”

He snarled,” don’t get smart with me, look under you counter and see if they are there,” as he leaned over to see what was behind the counter.

I said, “why should I, no one has been at my register since you left and there’s nothing on the floor as you can see and I’m not going to pretend to look for them to make you happy because I know I didn’t take them and I didn’t even see them. You left them somewhere else, not here.”

He was furious and as he began to leave he shouted “You got to get organized” and then uttered some seasonal profanity that I couldn’t really make out as he stormed out the door.

I raised my left hand and calmly raised my voice enough so that he would hear me and said, ”back at you, I don’t accept it,” and calmly turned to serve the next customer.

The customers were basically silent as they didn’t know what went on before, except for the woman that I was now serving when he interrupted us. The other cashiers and the supervisor were amazed at how I talked to him and never lost my cool, although they said they wanted to tell the guy where to go. I replied that he wasn’t mad at me during the first episode so his actions didn’t activate me and when he came back in about the sunglasses, I simply stood my ground and spoke the truth. I knew he was activated, but at nothing that I did, only by what he thought I did, and I knew the difference.

JR