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The Grape Guy
I've been working as a Cashier since July now, and I've ogtten pretty good at it.
Over these past few months, I've seen customers ranging the full gambit, from nicle old ladys, to shifty trailer park people, to war vets, to young mothers, to everyone else.
And I have seen my fair share of SC's, as well.
And MC's.
But none of them comnpare to the force of Nature I have dubbed Grape Guy.
Heres the Story.
About three weeks ago, I was working a early afternoon shift(which was unusual on this day, since these days I usualy work the 6-11 closing shift.)
There was also the fact that I was not scheduled to work that day, and had been called in, when they called me, I was so sleepy that I thought it was still the previous week(since it was Sunday and our weeks end on Saturday) so I thought I needed more hours for that week so I had said yes when they asked me to come in.
Once I woke up more, I realized what a colossal blunder I had made, and I was in a really bad mood, and very tired(having gone to bed at 4AM the night before, and been woken up at 10 by the phone call from work
This all set the stage.
(I would like to make it clear at this point that by the time I went to work I had gotten over my bad mood, and resinged myself to my fate, as it were)
So because I was so tired, I was kind of half asleep in the beginning of my shift, and I had made a few minor mistakes already that day, when "The Customer from Hell" showed up
Crotchety old guy(maybe 60), bought Banannas, White Grapes, and a few other items.
Some back story, the code you enter into the register to weigh banannas is 4011, and the code for white grapes is 4022.
Sometimes when I am working, or writing or reading, I get ahead of myself, reading the next paragraph, writing the next letter of the word in my head, such as the the T in "after" before the F.
This sometimes happens during work.
I put the Banannas on the scale, but accidentaly rung them up as the grapes.
So I tired to void it off,but I did not his the Viod key hard enough, and accidentaly rung them up as the grapes a second time.
I then tried to void both of these incorrect entrys, and was able to void off one, bu not the other, because the scales weight did not match precisely with the entry that needed to be voided, thus requiring an overide key.
So I called someone from the office to use their overide key to approve the void, this was all done properly, and I was subsequently able to ring up both fruit and the rest of the guys order properly.
He paid, and left.
Cut to maybe 20 minutes later, the guy comes back in, comes to my register(it was a quiet period at this point), glares at me, and shoves his receipt in my face, accusing me of making him pay for the grapes twice.
Now the ink on the receipt printer was faint at the time, and I could bearly read the receipt, so I was not sure what to tell the guy.
So I told him(truthfuly) that if he wanted a refund, he would have to go to the Customer Service desk to get his money back, as I was not authorized to conduct returns from my register.
He was refusing to leave my register , so I tried calling asistance to my register, but of the two office people on duty at the time, one was working a register, and the other had several customers in line at the service desk.
After a few minutes, I decided to physicaly walk up to the desk and tell the office person up there what was wrong.
She was busy getting a money order ready for a customer, and when I explained the situation to her, she was not sure what to do and tald me she would be right there.
So I went back to register and told the increasingly agitated guy that someone would be right here.
Well, it had gotten busy again at this point, and I was working the Express lane, so I had several customers lining up behind this guy, who is now getting quite irate, telling me that because I was the one who had made the mistake(which may be ture) , that I should fix it(dispite the fact that I was not authorized to do that, since I am not an Office person, and I had already told him this twice)
He just kept getting angrier and angrier, yelling at me.
So this lady in line behind him says to the guy "Sir, the cashier told you to go to the service desk to get your money back"
The guy rounds on her, and starts yelling at her saying "Well its his fault, he should fix it!"
The woman(who is around 60-70) is also getting mad at the guy, and says "Listen sir, I work as a nurse in the hospital, and I dont have much time, I need to buy my stuff and get back to work"(since he was holding up the line)
He says "Well I want my money back, this guy rung up my order wrong!"
They both yell for a few seconds, when I see one of the office people coming off of register, I get her to come over, and explain to her(in a whisper) that the guy is irate and wants his money back.
So she says to him"Sir, if you just follow me to the service desk, we can get this sorted out"
so he finaly leaves and goes up to the service desk, and I'm able to get on with my order.
The old nurse was very nice to me, telling me not to worry about the guy, that he was rude and not worth my time.
She also told me she was Cajun and joked that she would make a doll of him(maybe it wasnt a joke, I dont know..)
Later on, I find out that the guy wanted me fired for what had happened, and indeed demanded of the office people that I be fired.
Of course, such an error bearly warrants a verbal warning(or may have if I had a history of making such mistakes regularly, but I am one of the better cashiers over there and dont often make mistakes such as this one)
They baisicaly told him they would "write me up"(Which consisted of the office girl walking up to me later that day and saying"make sure you ring up peoples groceries right. thats your "write up") she used air quotes and everything.
So I didnt actualy get written up or in trouble, but they had to pretend to to appease the guy.
He still comes in from time to time, and I am always extra nice to him(and extra careful to not make any mistakes on his order)
Killing them with kindness, as they say.
Over these past few months, I've seen customers ranging the full gambit, from nicle old ladys, to shifty trailer park people, to war vets, to young mothers, to everyone else.
And I have seen my fair share of SC's, as well.
And MC's.
But none of them comnpare to the force of Nature I have dubbed Grape Guy.
Heres the Story.
About three weeks ago, I was working a early afternoon shift(which was unusual on this day, since these days I usualy work the 6-11 closing shift.)
There was also the fact that I was not scheduled to work that day, and had been called in, when they called me, I was so sleepy that I thought it was still the previous week(since it was Sunday and our weeks end on Saturday) so I thought I needed more hours for that week so I had said yes when they asked me to come in.
Once I woke up more, I realized what a colossal blunder I had made, and I was in a really bad mood, and very tired(having gone to bed at 4AM the night before, and been woken up at 10 by the phone call from work
This all set the stage.
(I would like to make it clear at this point that by the time I went to work I had gotten over my bad mood, and resinged myself to my fate, as it were)
So because I was so tired, I was kind of half asleep in the beginning of my shift, and I had made a few minor mistakes already that day, when "The Customer from Hell" showed up
Crotchety old guy(maybe 60), bought Banannas, White Grapes, and a few other items.
Some back story, the code you enter into the register to weigh banannas is 4011, and the code for white grapes is 4022.
Sometimes when I am working, or writing or reading, I get ahead of myself, reading the next paragraph, writing the next letter of the word in my head, such as the the T in "after" before the F.
This sometimes happens during work.
I put the Banannas on the scale, but accidentaly rung them up as the grapes.
So I tired to void it off,but I did not his the Viod key hard enough, and accidentaly rung them up as the grapes a second time.
I then tried to void both of these incorrect entrys, and was able to void off one, bu not the other, because the scales weight did not match precisely with the entry that needed to be voided, thus requiring an overide key.
So I called someone from the office to use their overide key to approve the void, this was all done properly, and I was subsequently able to ring up both fruit and the rest of the guys order properly.
He paid, and left.
Cut to maybe 20 minutes later, the guy comes back in, comes to my register(it was a quiet period at this point), glares at me, and shoves his receipt in my face, accusing me of making him pay for the grapes twice.
Now the ink on the receipt printer was faint at the time, and I could bearly read the receipt, so I was not sure what to tell the guy.
So I told him(truthfuly) that if he wanted a refund, he would have to go to the Customer Service desk to get his money back, as I was not authorized to conduct returns from my register.
He was refusing to leave my register , so I tried calling asistance to my register, but of the two office people on duty at the time, one was working a register, and the other had several customers in line at the service desk.
After a few minutes, I decided to physicaly walk up to the desk and tell the office person up there what was wrong.
She was busy getting a money order ready for a customer, and when I explained the situation to her, she was not sure what to do and tald me she would be right there.
So I went back to register and told the increasingly agitated guy that someone would be right here.
Well, it had gotten busy again at this point, and I was working the Express lane, so I had several customers lining up behind this guy, who is now getting quite irate, telling me that because I was the one who had made the mistake(which may be ture) , that I should fix it(dispite the fact that I was not authorized to do that, since I am not an Office person, and I had already told him this twice)
He just kept getting angrier and angrier, yelling at me.
So this lady in line behind him says to the guy "Sir, the cashier told you to go to the service desk to get your money back"
The guy rounds on her, and starts yelling at her saying "Well its his fault, he should fix it!"
The woman(who is around 60-70) is also getting mad at the guy, and says "Listen sir, I work as a nurse in the hospital, and I dont have much time, I need to buy my stuff and get back to work"(since he was holding up the line)
He says "Well I want my money back, this guy rung up my order wrong!"
They both yell for a few seconds, when I see one of the office people coming off of register, I get her to come over, and explain to her(in a whisper) that the guy is irate and wants his money back.
So she says to him"Sir, if you just follow me to the service desk, we can get this sorted out"
so he finaly leaves and goes up to the service desk, and I'm able to get on with my order.
The old nurse was very nice to me, telling me not to worry about the guy, that he was rude and not worth my time.
She also told me she was Cajun and joked that she would make a doll of him(maybe it wasnt a joke, I dont know..)
Later on, I find out that the guy wanted me fired for what had happened, and indeed demanded of the office people that I be fired.
Of course, such an error bearly warrants a verbal warning(or may have if I had a history of making such mistakes regularly, but I am one of the better cashiers over there and dont often make mistakes such as this one)
They baisicaly told him they would "write me up"(Which consisted of the office girl walking up to me later that day and saying"make sure you ring up peoples groceries right. thats your "write up") she used air quotes and everything.
So I didnt actualy get written up or in trouble, but they had to pretend to to appease the guy.
He still comes in from time to time, and I am always extra nice to him(and extra careful to not make any mistakes on his order)
Killing them with kindness, as they say.