I know this happens all the time but I'm still shocked

[RavenStarr]

Hi guys it's been awhile since I've posted on here. Anyways I thought I would jump right in and post my latest SC posting.

I was at work last night. This Lady comes through my line. She has things like chips, salsa, bell peppers, lettuce, ground beef, and a few other food items. She asks me about a certain type of beer saying she didn't see any on the shelf. I checked and found out that we were out. Well after I rang her up this is how it went:

RavenStarr: your total is $23.09 (can't remember the exact amount lol)

SC: Oh I only have $20.00 (that I do remember) I'll have to put something
back.

RavenStarr: *voids off something* That will be $20 and some change.

SC: Actually I need to get it down to at least under $10.00. I still have to
go somewhere and buy some beer. ( She then proceeds to go on about
how her kids don't like shopping with her because she always buys
more than what she has money)

RavenStarr: *Thinking* What. The. Hell.

I mean seriously she has kids, only enough money to buy beer or food. She chooses beer. I mean if thats all she wants to consume thats fine. But she is fucking taking food away from her kids. I wanted to say something but of course I couldn't. That is just beyond fucked up.

[elsporko]

Lets just hope the kids are out of the house or she was on her way to a taco party.

[bainsidhe]

And if she'd gotten the beer, she'd have twice as much in groceries as she did in cash. Why do so many customers do this? Are that many people THAT bad at counting? It's usually someone with over a hundred bucks in groceries and only fifty to spend. And it's always the refrigerated items being put back, which store policy dictates we have to throw away. Jerks.

[fireheart]

And if she'd gotten the beer, she'd have twice as much in groceries as she did in cash. Why do so many customers do this? Are that many people THAT bad at counting? It's usually someone with over a hundred bucks in groceries and only fifty to spend. And it's always the refrigerated items being put back, which store policy dictates we have to throw away. Jerks.

Maybe the new policy should be that perishable goods get voided last or something like that. I know it's the policy with shoplifters-they're required to pay for the perishable goods, but anything else they'll either buy or put back.

[depechemodefan]

I can understand being a few cents over, or even a dollar, but to get a bunch of stuff, thinking magically they will be 50% or more cheaper when you get to the line? Like the bell peppers will be $.01 each instead of $.75 each, and the meat will be $.40/lb instead of $2.88/lb.

[tropicsgoddess]

So this wench picks swilling beer over feeding her kids?!!! Talk about parenting fail.

[Hyndis]

And if she'd gotten the beer, she'd have twice as much in groceries as she did in cash. Why do so many customers do this? Are that many people THAT bad at counting? It's usually someone with over a hundred bucks in groceries and only fifty to spend. And it's always the refrigerated items being put back, which store policy dictates we have to throw away. Jerks.

I made a point of making a big deal about having to throw away all of those perishables, back when I worked at a grocery store and stopped giving a damn.

Most people didn't even care.

Worst job ever.

[BethB]

Great parenting there!! I am SO glad I have my priorities straight concerning my kids. Plus, not having enough for groceries is irritating as a cashier who has to void mass quantities of items. I get it at least once a day. A customer brings up a full cart then gripes that they only have XX amount of cash to spend. Well...how about buying what is necessary and doing some math?! Oh wait...that's right. I forgot who we were talking about. My bad

[mikoyan29]

I don't know how many times this happened to me when I worked at the grocery store. I think there was one time I saw a customer with a brimming shopping cart and she said she only had like $50 or something and at that point I knew I would need the manager and the magic key.

There was another time when I rang up the order and the customer said, "I don't believe you"....Yeah, I had this magic button that would let me vary the order price based on the suckiness of the customer (this one was particularly sucky). So I voided the entire order to get to 0 and rang her up again. Lo and behold, the total was the same. She said, "I still don't believe you" and at this point her friend chimed in and said, "Look, he rang it up twice and totals matched...figure out what you want so we can get out of here". So then we played the, "Well, I don't want this...." game. Gah.

[otakuneko]

Just to make things even sadder...

I have a friend who's... well, dumb. Well, maybe dumb isn't the right word. It's just that mentally, he's still a kid. Maybe ten. In some respects, anyway. In some ways he's kind of an idiot savant (just TRY and beat him at chess. I DARE you!). Either way, he's officially disabled -- even draws social security disability.

Guess what?

He can budget. Not just his groceries, but his whole month. He may be mentally a child and often impulsive, but he's also able to figure out and stick to his budget. He goes into a store with say 30 bucks in his pocket, and will go to the register with 30 bucks or less worth of food, usually less since he has to take tax into account somehow.

He even gave up the beer on one shopping trip, so he could buy other things. (Replaced the beer with store-brand root beer. ) Sucky customer? Nah, not him.

[Merriweather]

A customer brings up a full cart then gripes that they only have XX amount of cash to spend. Well...how about buying what is necessary and doing some math?! Oh wait...that's right. I forgot who we were talking about. My bad

I had plenty of years when younger (and a few times when older, LOL) when money was tight enough that going over my grocery budget (even if I had the cash at that point in the bank) would mean not being able to pay a bill, so for years it was standard procedure for me to keep a little calculator in my purse, and add as I went around getting groceries. I got essentials, and if there were room left, added any luxuries - and still left a little cushion in case I entered wrong. Actually, come to think of it, for a few years I addded it on a little tablet with a pencil, using my brain, before calculators came down in price enough to afford one [yes, children, I did roam with the dinosaurs - gather round for tales of life with no mod cons ]

Common Sense and Common Curtesy - and even I can't complain that it's a "nowadays" thing, I don't think they were ever "common".

[AccountingDrone]

I had plenty of years when younger (and a few times when older, LOL) when money was tight enough that going over my grocery budget (even if I had the cash at that point in the bank) would mean not being able to pay a bill, so for years it was standard procedure for me to keep a little calculator in my purse, and add as I went around getting groceries. I got essentials, and if there were room left, added any luxuries - and still left a little cushion in case I entered wrong. Actually, come to think of it, for a few years I addded it on a little tablet with a pencil, using my brain, before calculators came down in price enough to afford one [yes, children, I did roam with the dinosaurs - gather round for tales of life with no mod cons ]

Common Sense and Common Curtesy - and even I can't complain that it's a "nowadays" thing, I don't think they were ever "common".

I had a buddy I loved shopping with, he was a lightening calculator, and could keep track of everything including remembering what got taxed and what didnt. It was fantastic *sigh*

I just keep track of what I am buying, and since I menu plan, I know what I absolutely need any given week and print it out for mrDrone to take shopping. It isnt difficult to know roughly how much the stuff that gets bought all the time costs. Only thing sucks is fresh fruit, the prices can vary wildly week to week depending on what is in season.

[Canarr]

A friend of mine is a mathematics student - and damn, he's scary sometimes. Three of us were grocery shopping for a LARP; he was pushing the cart, the other two were doing the shopping: putting things into the cart, finding other things, putting the first items back, adding new ones...

When we reached the checkout, he informed us of the tota. 200+ Euros in groceries, and he was off by less than a Euro. When we asked, astonished: "Did you just add that up while we threw it in the cart?", his reply was, "Well, I didn't have anything else to do!".

[Carsomyr]

I don't think I've ever had a customer who couldn't work out the total of their shopping. Heaps have the exact change ready.

...but they generally make up for it by thinking every item in the store is the same price.
Perhaps that's what the beer woman was really suffering from?

[Dips]

Common Sense and Common Curtesy - and even I can't complain that it's a "nowadays" thing, I don't think they were ever "common".

I think you're right. My father worked in a grocery store in the late 50s and he dealt with most of the same kind of SCs as you guys.

Well, not the paper-in-plastic folks. Because they didn't have plastic grocery bags back then.