I was at a local grocery store today trying to buy a few items when i witnessed this atrocity.
First let me say that i'm nine months pregnant (i'm literally due to pop any day now) and i just got off of a twelve-hour shift at my own job dealing with my own customer_sucks. This store is something of a health food store. Almost everything is organic or otherwise healthy. thus it is somewhat expensive. All i wanted was to get my sandwich fixings and milk and go home. But no i had to witness this spectacular example of human stupidity.
Its about eight thirty when i walk in the store. It closes at nine so the worker bees are already running around doing their late night closing tasks and only two checkout lanes are open. One is an express lane and the other is the normal lane. I gather the things i want and head to the express checkout lane just wanting to finish and leave. The lady ahead of me has a cart with not too many things but just a few over the "fifteen items or less " limit. not a big deal since i'm sure most people here occasionally count similar items as just one.
Right away i can tell something is wrong because the cashier was looking very flustered and the customer kept sighing and looking at the clock. yet every few items the cashier swiped would have the customer interrupting her to scream "that's not the right price!! It says *insert number here* for one dollar!!" and i do mean scream. at first she was just pointing it out but each time she interrupted the volume in voice rose. the cashiers at this store always keep the current specials next to the register so the cashier would pull out the specials and ask the customer to point out where the pricing was so she could correct it. No this store does not do price matching. Its just a local store.
Each time the customer failed to locate the pricing she was screaming about she would huff loudly, sigh, look at the clock and mumble under her breath about "stupid teenagers changing the advertisements" and then either tell the cashier to remove the item or just wave her hand and tell her to continue. this goes on for about ten minutes until finally the cashier has finished scanning all the items. Meanwhile the line at the other checkout is about ten people deep and the other cashier is doing her best to keep everyone in that lane happy. express lane cashier hits the total and gives the customer her balance. this is when customer goes absolutely apeshit.
Crazy/Customer Lady- CL
Poor Cashier- PC
Pregnant and Pissed- Me
CL- How is that so high when half the things i was going to get i took out! you must not have removed things correctly! scan them again!
PC- Ma'am i assure you i removed everything you requested from the bill it shows on the screen what your total is including.
CL- I don't care what it says on the screen! I want you to scan it all again! I know you're trying to cheat me!
PC- If you wish me to do so i will go ahead but you'll need to wait until i get a manager to cancel the order so i can rescan it.
CL- i don't want the order canceled! just scan everything again and compare it to this total!
PC- unfortunately our systems don't have that capability. in order to rescan i would need to cancel the current order.
CL- don't lie to me you lazy little bitch!! just scan the order again!!
PC- Ma'am i am not lying to you. i can not compare an existing order to a new one because the system will not allow me start scanning an order until the previous transaction is complete.
CL- Stupid Fat and Lazy! and a liar on top of all that! Where is your manager?! You'll be fired for this! Do you know how much money i spend in this store?!
at this point she turns to me and says "Why do people make things so difficult? Don't they realize people have better things to do with their time than argue with lazy uneducated cashiers? Like get home to their families?" I guess seeing that i was pregnant made her assume i would sympathize.
***If this counts as a zorro let me know and i'll edit it out***
Me- Don't you know that people have better things to do than wait in line behind people who have to bitch about everything? Like get home and rest?
CL just stood there staring at me while PC was waving frantically at the manager who was walking slowly in our direction. CL opens her mouth to probably scream something at me (probably something along the lines of "How Dare You?! or something equally inane) when manager finally reaches us and CL turns her attention to her.
CL- your cashier is refusing to rescan my items and give me my correct total! do you make it a habit to hire the lazy and inept!"
Manager=M- I'm sorry to hear she is not doing her job correctly but i will not say she is lazy or inept. I'll be glad to rescan your groceries as soon as we cancel the transaction currently pending.
CL- i don't want it canceled! just rescan and compare the totals!
M- says exactly what his cashier did earlier. We can not do that ma'am. i would be happy to go through the order myself to ensure your total is correct but i would need to cancel this order first. our system only allows for one order at a time.
CL- Well then you need to fix your system because that's the stupidest thing ever! Other stores have no problems with this! (Has anyone heard of a store that can compare two orders like this? I never have) I don't know why fucking places like this stay open with their stupid outdated systems and even stupider employees!
M- Ma'am you have repeatedly insulted my employee and now you are insulting my place of employment and myself. I'd like you to leave. Now.
CL- What?! Why?! I'm being punished for the backwards way your store operates! I'm reporting you to the BBB! I'll make sure this place is closed! do you know who i am!
M- do not make me call the police Ma'am. you are upsetting other customers. Leave now.
CL Huffs and puffs and can't blow the store down so leaves. I wanted to applaud.
PC was just standing there nearly in tears. I asked the manager to ring me out while PC got a few minutes to get herself together and have a cigarette or go out back and just scream. At this point i would have done both. This took place over the course of about fifteen to twenty minutes but when you're as far along as i am twenty minutes on your feet in heels is almost an eternity. I would have said a lot more to CL if manager hadn't arrived because i was exhausted by that point. But seriously has anyone heard of a system that allows two orders to be compared? Was Cl really crazy or is this something new?
tl;dr crazy lady wants her order rescanned because she thinks the price is too high but doesn't want the current order canceled and insists there is some magical system that allows two orders to be compared. tries to involve me into complaining about cashier who she insults multiple times. rare awesome manager gives crazy lady the boot.
