Super Bowl Suckage

[SecurityWench]

Well, as you all know, Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone. And of course, people had to get all their snacks and BBQ for the big game. Add that to everyone getting their usual groceries, and the fact that *gasp, HORROR* there's a cold front coming in, the store got SLAMMED.

I've lived in Austin for a long time now, but I'm originally from West Chester, PA. I'm used to, and actually enjoy the cold and wind and rain. But if it gets ANYWHERE below 50 or GOD FORBID, 40 degrees, people in Austin act like they need to get supplies for the end of the earth.

Here are a couple of sucks from the two day slam of customers:

Day Before Superbowl

The Rib Guy

A man comes through my line, and he has a bunch of racks of ribs. Nothing unusual, right? Super Bowl, BBQ, par for the course. I ring one up, and he immediately stops me. "Hey! Those are ringing up for $4.39, they're supposed to be $1.00!"

I look at the ticket on the ribs, and sure enough...

"Sir, it says $1.00 per pound."

He argued for a bit about bait and switch (with a HUGE line behind him) and left with nothing, leaving us with non-existant time and people to put it all back.

The Champagne Dude

This was late at night. I was burning the midnight oil and a guy wearing a shirt that said 'Team Illusion' (a nightclub around here) brought up six champagne bottles. Like the good cashier girl I am, I ask for I.D.

He swears under his breath and goes, "I left it at the club." I shrug and say that I can't sell it to him without his I.D. (The guy looked my age, just to clarify, I'm 21.)

"Look, the club sent me out to buy more champagne, I'm expected back. I gotta be 21 to work at the club!"

He obviously won't hear it from me, so I call a manager over, and she tries (with little success) to reason with him. He storms out, comes back about twenty minutes later with another guy in a 'Team Illusion' shirt.

And the guy he comes back with has the same huge wad of cash in his hand the other guy had. Hmmmmmm.

I call manager over again, and she asks the guy for I.D. once more. He doesn't have it, and says his friend is going to buy it for him. Manager explains to them that she cannot do that.

And guess what? The guy he brought back didn't even have I.D. either! If you say you left your I.D. at the club, wouldn't you just bring back your own damn I.D. when you go back in the first place?! Not some guy who we can't sell to because we know it's you?

They left again, pissy and with nothing. They didn't come back.

I mean, seriously. If you work in a nightclub, you guys have to check I.D. too. Don't act all shocked when we do our job.

I left at midnight, and people were STILL bringing in full carts. Lord.

Superbowl Sunday

Here's where the store gets PACKED. Sunday is our busiest day of the week, plus the cold, plus the big game. I worked from 12-8:30, and I was stuck on an express lane with lines wrapped around the entire store. (And in the grand scheme of HEBs, our store is pretty tiny.)

We had all 13 registers open, because that's all we have. Managers had to check, little to no baggers because everyone had to be on checkstand, and of course, people had to bitch about it.

Screamy McBitchface

I had a lady come into my line with some balloons and a birthday cake. She had a small child and a woman in a wheelchair in tow. Immediately she starts bitching to me.

"You guys didn't have the balloons I ordered and my cake wasn't ready!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. Would you like me to call a mana-"

"NO!"

She didn't want anything to rectify her problem, she apparently just wanted to scream. And she continued to do so even after her receipt was printed and her order was done. I call for a carryout, and that's where it gets nasty.

"Carryout to register 2."

"Carryout to register 2."

"CARRYOUT ON 2, PLEASE."

"CARRYOUT 2, COME ON I NEEDED YOU GUYS YESTERDAY"

And of course, nobody comes, she grabs all her shit and storms out shouting that she hates this fucking store and will never come again.

I would've felt bad for her if she wasn't such a bitch, but she destroyed any sort of sympathy I would've had for her.

The Confused Sunday Shopper

"But I don't understand why the store is so busy!"

I think I've said enough here.

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned

I'm ringing a woman through and she shakes her head at the mob scene of a store we have. "Good lord, look at all these people. Why didn't they come before the game?!"

"It is before the game, ma'am. It's only 2 o'clock, the game starts at 5 o'clock."

She stared at me for a long while before saying, "My husband said it started at one. He said he was running out of the house to go to a football party..."

She whips out her cell phone as I hand her the receipt. "Have a nice day." I say to her. She goes, "Oh, I will. I know exactly who he's seeing now. I'm calling my divorce lawyer."

....oh, dear.

Thankfully, that's all the stories I have for now.

[mattm04]

I was officially scheduled until 8 PM Superbowl Sun (eastern time). It was packed until about 20 minutes before kickoff, than after than you could have head a pin drip. About 6:45 a few stragglers came in, almost all female. Most came in and got a few items and left but a few must have thought it was time to do shopping with out any men around.

The MOD called me at 6:50 and said I could leave if I wanted to. Which I gladly did.

[SG15Z]

But if it gets ANYWHERE below 50 or GOD FORBID, 40 degrees, people in Austin act like they need to get supplies for the end of the earth.

Please, here in Houston people go nuts if it gets below 60(F).

(And in the grand scheme of HEBs, our store is pretty tiny.)

We had all 13 registers open, because that's all we have.

For an Austin store? Yeah that's pretty tiny. But here in Houston that's not bad. We still have a few Pantry Foods format stores that have only 7 or 8 registers. Those are some pretty small stores.

"But I don't understand why the store is so busy!"

*facepalm* I've had that before. I mean come on, are you that clueless to what's going on in the world.

"It is before the game, ma'am. It's only 2 o'clock, the game starts at 5 o'clock."

She stared at me for a long while before saying, "My husband said it started at one. He said he was running out of the house to go to a football party..."

Well to be fair some people do start their Super Bowl parties early, but if he did really say the game itself started at one, then wow. Did he think she wouldn't find out or what?

[Teysa]

Superbowl Sunday wasn't really any worse at my store than the last several days have been. I worked in GM that day helping to move stuff up from the back aisles. I did get several people asking where such and such in the ad was. They were rather annoyed when I told them we weren't honoring said ad.

By the way 13 registers seems like a lot. My store only has 6 plus 4 self-checkouts and it's considered one of the bigger stores. All of our self-checkouts are closed now which makes things even more fun.

[EricKei]

The Bowl party I went to started at 1 this year ^_^ I think that's about when the TV pre-game shows start revving up in earnest.

For us, it had a slightly different meaning...That's when the ribs and other goodies that had been smoking all day were ready to eat. That, and it was time to set up the beer pong table >_>

[Aethian]

HAHAHAHAH busted. Of course a coworkers party started at 3pm with card games and starting to get drunk. With the main party starting at 5 so that they can all watch the pre game show with food and booze of choice. And then ended around 10:30 with me getting a call about 11 with a request for a sober driver if I had one available.

I don't drink...of course I have one available...it only cost him five bucks.

[MadMike]

Well, as you all know, Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone. And of course, people had to get all their snacks and BBQ for the big game. Add that to everyone getting their usual groceries, and the fact that *gasp, HORROR* there's a cold front coming in, the store got SLAMMED.

The same thing happened over here, except that we got about 18" of snow dumped on us. We get paid every other Friday, so we go grocery shopping that Saturday, and unfortunately, last weekend was a pay/grocery weekend.

We weren't sure we were going to make it out on Saturday, but with the help of our neighbor and his snowblower (our neighbors rock!) we made it over. I was expecting all the bread and milk to be gone like what usually happens in this situation, but there was plenty. What wasn't to be found was ground beef. There was none, not a single one in the meat case. I never saw that happen before.

[Andara Bledin]

The Confused Sunday Shopper

"But I don't understand why the store is so busy!"

I think I've said enough here.

I said, and this is a direct quote from me (for more than just this year, too), "Oh, yeah, that's today, isn't it?"

I don't watch TV, I don't listen to the radio, and I don't follow any sort of sports news, so I would have been just like that woman. Well, until I got into the store and saw the sale signs for it, so the cashier would never have known.

For me, it's a matter of just not caring. Sure, I knew it was coming, but I will likely never really remember when it happens.

^-.-^

[depechemodefan]

he has a bunch of racks of ribs. Nothing unusual, right? Super Bowl, BBQ, par for the course. I ring one up, and he immediately stops me. "Hey! Those are ringing up for $4.39,

$4.39 is cheap!!!!He's bitching about $4.39???? I never see ribs that cheap.

I mean, seriously. If you work in a nightclub, you guys have to check I.D. too. Don't act all shocked when we do our job.

What a bunch of idiots.

"My husband said it started at one. He said he was running out of the house to go to a football party..."

Wow, either she thinks he went to see another woman, or she has him on a short leach.

[MadMike]

I said, and this is a direct quote from me (for more than just this year, too), "Oh, yeah, that's today, isn't it?"

I'm not a sports fan at all (I get quite annoyed when my Family Guy/Simpsons/etc isn't on because of a game), so I could see myself saying the same thing. In fact, I'm sure I have.

The only reason I knew this time, or even cared, was because the DJ at the bar I usually go to invited me to a Super Bowl party. I declined at first, telling him I'm not a sports fan, but he told me to come for the food, beer, and just to hang out, and that some of my friends were coming.

It turned out most of the people weren't really paying a lot of attention to the game anyway, at least not until the end.

[Salesmonkey]

1. If I found ribs for $1 a pound, I would fill my Brinkmann smoker, then fill my freezer, then fill my bathtub with them and ice it down!

2. Anybody can buy a club T-shirt. Anybody that actually works around alcohol knows the law and complies with it.

3. The superbowl pary I went to had 3 other people in it who work in marketing... so anytime the game went off we were yelling "Turn it up! It's another commercial!"

[SG15Z]

$4.39 is cheap!!!!He's bitching about $4.39???? I never see ribs that cheap.

Yeah $1 per pound is very cheap. They must have reduced it for a quick sale or something, because I never see ribs that cheap either.

[Jester]

"Sir, it says $1.00 per pound."

He argued for a bit about bait and switch (with a HUGE line behind him) and left with nothing, leaving us with non-existant time and people to put it all back.

He was arguing about RIBS being a DOLLAR a POUND?!?!??!

To quote Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!" That is a smoking deal (pun fully intended), and he should have his head examined for thinking that there was anything wrong with it!

It turned out most of the people weren't really paying a lot of attention to the game anyway, at least not until the end.

Pretty much the way the last Super Bowl house party I went to was. Which is why that WAS the last Super Bowl house party I went to! That was Super Bowl XXIX, San Francisco over San Diego. I have watched the Super Bowl exclusively in a bar ever since.

Anybody can buy a club T-shirt. Anybody that actually works around alcohol knows the law and complies with it.

Sadly not true. I have had to deal with many idiots who worked in bars, and still couldn't grasp the basic concept that I needed to see their IDs if they wanted to have any chance of drinking in my establishment.

Knowing the law doesn't make these people any smarter. Just more aggravating.

[Aethian]

He was arguing about RIBS being a DOLLAR a POUND?!?!??!

To quote Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!" That is a smoking deal (pun fully intended), and he should have his head examined for thinking that there was anything wrong with it!

He THOUGHT they were a dollar a lb. In fact they were a dollar off a pound bringing them to 4.39. Which is still a fab price.

[Chromatix]

No, I read it as: they were $1 per pound, he thought they were $1 each.

As for the woman, I think she was okay with her husband going to a party, so "short leash" doesn't really fit. It sounds like she already strongly suspected an affair, and this could have been the final straw.