Tweet
"Goldie Locks and the Tricycle"
aka "I only have $40 dollars!"
I'd already had a HORRIBLE day....
I was doing "pick-ups", meaning I have to carry all the heavy stuff to peoples cars when they cash out at the registers.
A call went out that help was needed in bikes. I had a free moment so I said I'd take it.
I misread the look of the other customer that was pointing the lady towards me. I thought her face said "poor old lady", what it really said was "oh sh*t this b*tch is crazy".
It started off normal enough.
CS: I want to buy my grandson a bike.
ME: Okay, how old is he?
CS: He's six.
I consult the size chart. It said a 16" bike.
ME: Is he tall for his age?
CS: No, he's this tall.
She measures a spot not far off the ground.
ME: Okay, you probably want to go with a 14" (gestures to bike) if he grows you could always raise the seat."
Starts to get a little strange/unreasonable.
CS: No! It has to have the wheels on the back!
ME: Training wheels? Yep. This one has them. In fact, most of the bikes this size have them.
CS: No! It doesn't have them.
I physically put my hands on them.
ME: Yes, it does. They're right here.
CS: I don't see them.
CS: I have to have the wheels. My grandson, they live on the hill you see. You see.....
I wait.
CS: ...you see, they park the car at the bottom and they go up.
ME: To their house?
CS: Yes. To their house.
CS: I don't want him to fall.
I set the bike on the ground and push the bike side showing that it won't fall over. Seeeeeee? It won't fall.
CS: This seat is too hard!
CS: I know if my grandson sits on this, he will feel the pain. It will hurt him.
CS: I don't want him to fall. You know, if they had a YARD he could play. But they live on a hill. They park the car......(and she repeats).
I pick another bike.
ME: How about this one?
She feels it.
CS: It is too hard! It will hurt when he sits on it! I don't want him to.....
ME: Yeah, you don't want it to hurt when he sits on it.
I move to pick another bike.
CS: No! You come here! (She points.) You feel this!
She scowls at me until I rub the seat.
ME: Yeah...I guess, maybe it is a little hard?
I continue suggesting some other bikes and she says ALL the seats are too hard. And while I'm picking out each bike she continues repeating the fact that they live on a hill, they don't have a yard, and she's very concerned about him falling off the bike, down the hill, and having the seat hurt him. Over and over and over and over and over.....
And although all of these bikes are no good she keeps asking their prices. All the bikes are around $69.99 and above. Every time I give her a prices she wails "Oh no this is too much! It is too much money! (insert story about boy falling and getting hurt) I want to get him a good safe bike. Find me something!!"
10 minutes elapsed.
I'm getting paged to bring stuff to peoples cars.
Finally I say,
ME: Well how much money do you have to spend? Maybe I can search by your budget?
CS: Oh I only have $40 dollars or less to spend.
ME: Unfortunately all of these bikes are at least $69.99 or above.
I suggested some ways to get a few dollars off but nothing came close to $40.
She ignores me and continues pointing to bikes asking how much they are. I find out the price of each and then I continue telling her, politely, that everything in that section is more than she can afford.
Suddenly the hard seats aren't the only thing wrong.
CS: This bike is too big! He will FALL!
I pause. I'd intentionally gone down a size. I'm not sure how much smaller we could go and still fit the kid properly. I shrug. It's her grandson not mine.
I pick the next size down. Still too big.
Next size. Still too big.
Eventually we end up in the corner with the little plastic trikes for the 2-3 year olds.
20 minutes elapsed.
A second page. The carry-outs are building up.
A crowd of people are forming in the bike section needing help. I start calling for assistance.
She spots a display for a trike with a little shade thing. It's pretty beaten up.
CS: How much is this?
ME: $99.99
CS: What is this?
ME: Its for shade. But actually it's broken.
CS: It's broken and you're going to charge me EXTRA!??!
ME: No, it comes with it, it's part of the price. And I wouldn't sell you the broken one, I could see if we have it new in a box.
CS: But I would have to wash this!
ME: I could find a new one.
CS: What does it do?
ME: It's for shade.
CS: I don't like that shade thing.
ME: It can come off if you like.
She tells me she likes the seat on it. She decides that what she wants HAS to have that type of seat (one with a back).
CS: He has to have the..
CS: This seat..it's got the....
CS: It's got the seat that's good because.....
I'm waiting and finally decide to finish her sentence because she's only said it 100 times already.
ME: Because you don't want him to fall out and get hurt.
She flips out.
CS:!!! NO!! NO I NEED YOU TO COME HERE AND I NEED YOU TO LISTEN TO ME! I like this seat because it has the back and he won't fall out and get hurt. He lives on the hill...(repeat).
30 minutes elapsed
I still haven't gotten the stuff for the people paying up front.
She's been pointing to everything in the area and I've priced the SAME things multiple times at this point, and explained to her that NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING there would FIT the kid, fit her budget, and have the stupid friggen seat she needed so the damn kid wouldn't fall out and get hurt.
Yet she continued to point to things that labeled an age range of 12-18 MONTHS and asked me for the price (all of them being, as I'd told her, OVER $40). She'd moved on from the trikes and was asking me about the little plastic cars.
A gentleman who had been waiting patiently, watching me deal with this woman, saw the little trike with the shade thing and asked me about it while the crazy lady was distracted. He wanted to know if we had one in stock.
Suddenly the crazy woman runs over to us waving her arms and says
CS: NO! SHE CAN'T HELP YOU! SHE HELPED ME FOR 5 MINUTES AND THEN SHE JUST WALKED AWAY AND IGNORED ME TO HELP YOU! NO, NO! (She turned to me) YOU HELP ME!"
The guy and I exchanged the same "holy sh*t this b*tch is crazy" look that the woman I saw earlier had.
I told him I'd check while I was in back price-checking something for the crazy lady.
I find out it's the last one and I came to tell the guy. I find the woman following the guy's kid around talking to him and telling him about her grandson who seems to fall a lot. The father looks disturbed so I try to distract her by giving her the price because I can't have her harassing the other customers. She turns away to look at some other stuff and the man tells me he'll take the trike but he doesn't need the shade since it's broken. I take it off for him and I tell him I'd find a screw to replace one that was missing.
40 minutes elapsed
When I get back the crazy lady has the guy's trike!
CS: I'll take this. (I could tell she only wanted it because that other dude had said he wanted it. But he'd apparently followed his son a few aisles down and didn't see the lady take it).
WTF.
ME: I'm sorry. That other gentleman already said he would like to buy it.
CS: NO! I WAS HERE FIRST! YOU ARE CONFUSING ME! YOU ARE TRYING TO TRICK ME! I SAW IT FIRST AND I WANT IT. <Other babbling about how I was unfair and tricking her and she was there first/story about living on a hill and getting hurt>
I tried to remind her that, as I'd already said, it was more expensive than she could afford. She continued ranting.
At this point I got my store manager. The crazy lady launched into the hill story and my manager couldn't even take it long enough for her to finish talking. She just said "take it take it!"
The crazy woman pointed to the pole the shade had been connected to before I removed it for the gentleman who was going to buy it.
CS: What is this?
ME: It was for the shade. Would you like it?
CS: Yes! Give me my shade. It's mine!
I went to the back to get it for her.
ME: I took it off for the other gentleman because it is broken.
CS: It's mine! Not his! I want it!
The woman scowls at me and says:
CS: I will buy this. You are unfair. You want to give it to him.
ME: You can have it
CS: I was here first-
ME: You can have it
CS: It's mine and I don't want to fight but it's mine-
ME: You can have it.
CS: I want this.
ME: And you can pay for it right up front.
I point.
She walked five feet. Complained about not knowing where to go.
I pointed
Another five feet. Same.
I pointed
Another five feet. same. (keep in mind it was a straight line right up to the front)
I go to find the guy who the trike really should have gone to and I'm pretty much in tears at this point because the day had sucked so hard. I begin telling him I have to apologize to him when he interrupts me and says:
Awesome Guy: Really, please, you have nothing to be sorry about. I watched you dealing with that lady. I knew that was coming. Please don't feel badly.
LATER:
I found out from the cashier:
The lady freaked out when someone tried to walk AROUND the trike to get to something she was blocking.
Then, she asked the cashier what the shade was for (facepalm) and she told the crazy lady it was broken and she acted like she was never told that it was broken and GAVE IT BACK. After she'd just made me go get it for her.
Then when it came time to pay it was 89.99 (with 10% discount for it being broken) and the woman started wailing about how she didn't have enough money she only had $80 (Suddenly she had EIGHTY dollars!!???) and she had "other things to buy" and needed money for the bus, etc, on and on.
And after 10 minutes she says "Oh, okay. I've got it"
AND TOOK OUT A $100 BILL.
aka "I only have $40 dollars!"
I'd already had a HORRIBLE day....
I was doing "pick-ups", meaning I have to carry all the heavy stuff to peoples cars when they cash out at the registers.
A call went out that help was needed in bikes. I had a free moment so I said I'd take it.
I misread the look of the other customer that was pointing the lady towards me. I thought her face said "poor old lady", what it really said was "oh sh*t this b*tch is crazy".
It started off normal enough.
CS: I want to buy my grandson a bike.
ME: Okay, how old is he?
CS: He's six.
I consult the size chart. It said a 16" bike.
ME: Is he tall for his age?
CS: No, he's this tall.
She measures a spot not far off the ground.
ME: Okay, you probably want to go with a 14" (gestures to bike) if he grows you could always raise the seat."
Starts to get a little strange/unreasonable.
CS: No! It has to have the wheels on the back!
ME: Training wheels? Yep. This one has them. In fact, most of the bikes this size have them.
CS: No! It doesn't have them.
I physically put my hands on them.
ME: Yes, it does. They're right here.
CS: I don't see them.
CS: I have to have the wheels. My grandson, they live on the hill you see. You see.....
I wait.
CS: ...you see, they park the car at the bottom and they go up.
ME: To their house?
CS: Yes. To their house.
CS: I don't want him to fall.
I set the bike on the ground and push the bike side showing that it won't fall over. Seeeeeee? It won't fall.
CS: This seat is too hard!
CS: I know if my grandson sits on this, he will feel the pain. It will hurt him.
CS: I don't want him to fall. You know, if they had a YARD he could play. But they live on a hill. They park the car......(and she repeats).
I pick another bike.
ME: How about this one?
She feels it.
CS: It is too hard! It will hurt when he sits on it! I don't want him to.....
ME: Yeah, you don't want it to hurt when he sits on it.
I move to pick another bike.
CS: No! You come here! (She points.) You feel this!
She scowls at me until I rub the seat.
ME: Yeah...I guess, maybe it is a little hard?
I continue suggesting some other bikes and she says ALL the seats are too hard. And while I'm picking out each bike she continues repeating the fact that they live on a hill, they don't have a yard, and she's very concerned about him falling off the bike, down the hill, and having the seat hurt him. Over and over and over and over and over.....
And although all of these bikes are no good she keeps asking their prices. All the bikes are around $69.99 and above. Every time I give her a prices she wails "Oh no this is too much! It is too much money! (insert story about boy falling and getting hurt) I want to get him a good safe bike. Find me something!!"
10 minutes elapsed.
I'm getting paged to bring stuff to peoples cars.
Finally I say,
ME: Well how much money do you have to spend? Maybe I can search by your budget?
CS: Oh I only have $40 dollars or less to spend.
ME: Unfortunately all of these bikes are at least $69.99 or above.
I suggested some ways to get a few dollars off but nothing came close to $40.
She ignores me and continues pointing to bikes asking how much they are. I find out the price of each and then I continue telling her, politely, that everything in that section is more than she can afford.
Suddenly the hard seats aren't the only thing wrong.
CS: This bike is too big! He will FALL!
I pause. I'd intentionally gone down a size. I'm not sure how much smaller we could go and still fit the kid properly. I shrug. It's her grandson not mine.
I pick the next size down. Still too big.
Next size. Still too big.
Eventually we end up in the corner with the little plastic trikes for the 2-3 year olds.
20 minutes elapsed.
A second page. The carry-outs are building up.
A crowd of people are forming in the bike section needing help. I start calling for assistance.
She spots a display for a trike with a little shade thing. It's pretty beaten up.
CS: How much is this?
ME: $99.99
CS: What is this?
ME: Its for shade. But actually it's broken.
CS: It's broken and you're going to charge me EXTRA!??!
ME: No, it comes with it, it's part of the price. And I wouldn't sell you the broken one, I could see if we have it new in a box.
CS: But I would have to wash this!
ME: I could find a new one.
CS: What does it do?
ME: It's for shade.
CS: I don't like that shade thing.
ME: It can come off if you like.
She tells me she likes the seat on it. She decides that what she wants HAS to have that type of seat (one with a back).
CS: He has to have the..
CS: This seat..it's got the....
CS: It's got the seat that's good because.....
I'm waiting and finally decide to finish her sentence because she's only said it 100 times already.
ME: Because you don't want him to fall out and get hurt.
She flips out.
CS:!!! NO!! NO I NEED YOU TO COME HERE AND I NEED YOU TO LISTEN TO ME! I like this seat because it has the back and he won't fall out and get hurt. He lives on the hill...(repeat).
30 minutes elapsed
I still haven't gotten the stuff for the people paying up front.
She's been pointing to everything in the area and I've priced the SAME things multiple times at this point, and explained to her that NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING there would FIT the kid, fit her budget, and have the stupid friggen seat she needed so the damn kid wouldn't fall out and get hurt.
Yet she continued to point to things that labeled an age range of 12-18 MONTHS and asked me for the price (all of them being, as I'd told her, OVER $40). She'd moved on from the trikes and was asking me about the little plastic cars.
A gentleman who had been waiting patiently, watching me deal with this woman, saw the little trike with the shade thing and asked me about it while the crazy lady was distracted. He wanted to know if we had one in stock.
Suddenly the crazy woman runs over to us waving her arms and says
CS: NO! SHE CAN'T HELP YOU! SHE HELPED ME FOR 5 MINUTES AND THEN SHE JUST WALKED AWAY AND IGNORED ME TO HELP YOU! NO, NO! (She turned to me) YOU HELP ME!"
The guy and I exchanged the same "holy sh*t this b*tch is crazy" look that the woman I saw earlier had.
I told him I'd check while I was in back price-checking something for the crazy lady.
I find out it's the last one and I came to tell the guy. I find the woman following the guy's kid around talking to him and telling him about her grandson who seems to fall a lot. The father looks disturbed so I try to distract her by giving her the price because I can't have her harassing the other customers. She turns away to look at some other stuff and the man tells me he'll take the trike but he doesn't need the shade since it's broken. I take it off for him and I tell him I'd find a screw to replace one that was missing.
40 minutes elapsed
When I get back the crazy lady has the guy's trike!
CS: I'll take this. (I could tell she only wanted it because that other dude had said he wanted it. But he'd apparently followed his son a few aisles down and didn't see the lady take it).
WTF.
ME: I'm sorry. That other gentleman already said he would like to buy it.
CS: NO! I WAS HERE FIRST! YOU ARE CONFUSING ME! YOU ARE TRYING TO TRICK ME! I SAW IT FIRST AND I WANT IT. <Other babbling about how I was unfair and tricking her and she was there first/story about living on a hill and getting hurt>
I tried to remind her that, as I'd already said, it was more expensive than she could afford. She continued ranting.
At this point I got my store manager. The crazy lady launched into the hill story and my manager couldn't even take it long enough for her to finish talking. She just said "take it take it!"
The crazy woman pointed to the pole the shade had been connected to before I removed it for the gentleman who was going to buy it.
CS: What is this?
ME: It was for the shade. Would you like it?
CS: Yes! Give me my shade. It's mine!
I went to the back to get it for her.
ME: I took it off for the other gentleman because it is broken.
CS: It's mine! Not his! I want it!
The woman scowls at me and says:
CS: I will buy this. You are unfair. You want to give it to him.
ME: You can have it
CS: I was here first-
ME: You can have it
CS: It's mine and I don't want to fight but it's mine-
ME: You can have it.
CS: I want this.
ME: And you can pay for it right up front.
I point.
She walked five feet. Complained about not knowing where to go.
I pointed
Another five feet. Same.
I pointed
Another five feet. same. (keep in mind it was a straight line right up to the front)
I go to find the guy who the trike really should have gone to and I'm pretty much in tears at this point because the day had sucked so hard. I begin telling him I have to apologize to him when he interrupts me and says:
Awesome Guy: Really, please, you have nothing to be sorry about. I watched you dealing with that lady. I knew that was coming. Please don't feel badly.
LATER:
I found out from the cashier:
The lady freaked out when someone tried to walk AROUND the trike to get to something she was blocking.
Then, she asked the cashier what the shade was for (facepalm) and she told the crazy lady it was broken and she acted like she was never told that it was broken and GAVE IT BACK. After she'd just made me go get it for her.
Then when it came time to pay it was 89.99 (with 10% discount for it being broken) and the woman started wailing about how she didn't have enough money she only had $80 (Suddenly she had EIGHTY dollars!!???) and she had "other things to buy" and needed money for the bus, etc, on and on.
And after 10 minutes she says "Oh, okay. I've got it"
AND TOOK OUT A $100 BILL.
Comment