Wal-Mart shoppers getting mad for stupid stuff

[Bright_Star]

I've worked as a Wal-Mart cashier for over 2 years & in that time I've seen a lot. One of the things that boggles my mind is when shoppers get mad for the stupidest things. I've had people get mad for the following:
An item rings up for 2.25 & they complain that "The wal-mart where they live near is 25 cents cheaper!"
Asking me for the price of an item & then getting a hissy fit because I don't know it at the top of my head. I tell them that I need to scan it to check the price & they give me a dirty look.
Thinking that if they give me money for the newspaper then that's all they need to do but I HAVE TO SCAN IT first! So they throw the paper at me!
Getting angry simply by me asking for their ID if they use an unsigned credit card or for checks. In the time it takes them to pitch a fit they could have completed the transaction & been on their merry way out the door but nooooooooooooooo!...lol.
Sometime ago I rang up a customer who wanted to pay by credit card so when he gave me his credit card I turned it around & it wasn't signed. So I asked him for his ID & what happened next was totally unexpected. He gave me an angry look & threw a pen at me & walked out the store! People nearby saw what happened & I told them the situation. They said he probably had a stolen credit card. I'm just lucky that he didn't throw anything more substantial than a pen. My Co-Manager had a tv thrown at her & that's another story....lol.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

You've listed many reasons why there should be on-duty therapists in the front of every store who decide whether or not each customer is mentally sound enough to shop and check out without going into psychotic fits over nothing.

But we live in reality.
Sigh.
Freaks abound.

[Cyanocobalamin]

My Co-Manager had a tv thrown at her & that's another story....lol.

Do tell please!

Speaking of throwing things, it was in my top ten list of pet peeves when the customer tossed crumpled bills onto the counter expecting me to just take them happily. I took my sweet time unfolding the bills, placing them in the till carefully, then merely dropping any bills in change on the counter... If only I was allowed to get away with crumpling their change up and throwing it on the counter in a similar fashion!

[Rubystars]

The newspaper thing bothers me too, especially if they're cutting in line just to plop down the money for their newspaper and think they don't have to wait like everyone else.

I have to stop them and tell them that I need to scan it and they need to wait in line.

I'm also a Wal-Mart associate, but I work at the grocery store only version of it, the Neighborhood Market.

On March 6, they're going to make every Wal-Mart in TX do universal carding, that is, we'll have to card 95 year old grandfathers for beer or cigarettes. I'm really not looking forward to it!

[Imogene]

Cutting in line to pay for a single thing, dropping the money off to 'pay' for it...
Hmmm...
At Chesterfield, we had a soda freezer. Morons from the cellular kiosk just outside our store, when the kiosk was still there, would come in, grab a soda out of the freezer, and walk off, leaving $1.24 on the freezer, as I'd be busy with a customer.
"Whoa! Get yer ass back here and wait in line!"

Or, they'd just take a soda out of the freezer and leave...
"The freezer is for store employees only, you are NOT to be using it to chill the soda you brought in for lunch, particularly if you make no effort to let the employees know you have a soda even in the damn thing."

[lordlundar]

You've listed many reasons why there should be on-duty therapists in the front of every store who decide whether or not each customer is mentally sound enough to shop and check out without going into psychotic fits over nothing.

I'll settle for the guy with the shotgun who is the complaint department.

[blas]

I used to despise the newspaper folk. I remember people who would walk in during the midday rush or afternoon/evening rushes, and see the line people, then proceed to grab a paper and try to shove or throw dollar bills or 50 cents at me (depending on what day it was).

I do remember one specific bitch who would come in, no matter if there was only one person ahead of her or four, she'd hold a dollar bill in front of my face. I took to ignoring her and ignoring her until I had finished with everyone else (how am I to concentrate when a dumb cow is trying to block my customers and shove money at me?) but she managed to clear her throat and cough at me enough times to where I just grabbed her damn dolar right of out of her hand and gave her a Look that meant get the Hell out, NOW.

I always wanted to tell the money throwers that I wasn't a musician on the street or a prostitute, and not to throw money at me. If I was in a shitty enough mood, I took to dumping their change on the counter instead of placing it in their grubby hands. Hell, if you're going to whip and crumble money at me, don't expect to have it delicately placed back into yours.

[Hempress]

The only time I have ever thrown money down and left is if I just pumped gas and I'm seriously in a hurry. Probably not a very nice thing to do, but I have done it.

[BookstoreEscapee]

BN used to have a newspaper key on the register and we didnt' have to actually scan the paper, so we got people who would just give you the money and go. I didn't mind as long as they weren't rude about it, and as long as they didn't just drop their coins, not say anything, and not even show me which paper they were holding. I still need to see what you've got so I know the price! Occasionally we'd get in at 7 and find 50 cents sitting on top of the newspapers when we went to bring them in cuz they had taken one out of the bundle. That pissed me off cuz we still had to count them and we didn't know for sure which one they took.

We had one guy who came in every morning and bought a 35 cent paper. He'd either get his coffee and come in through the coffee shop, give me his money, then get the paper and go (the newsstand is on the other side of the door), or he'd get his paper, pay, then go get his coffee. I think it depended on whether he got there before 9 or not, cuz he almost always came in within the first 20 minutes we were open, and the Sbucks opens at 5 or 6. I didn't mind him at all cuz he was cool.

I was very glad when I transferred to a different store and learned that they don't carry newspapers! A few years ago they took away the newspaper key and now they have to scan them. I don't know how the customers reacted to that.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

I'll settle for the guy with the shotgun who is the complaint department.

Oh, yeah! Forgot about him!
Love that guy!

[MadMike]

If I was in a shitty enough mood, I took to dumping their change on the counter instead of placing it in their grubby hands. Hell, if you're going to whip and crumble money at me, don't expect to have it delicately placed back into yours.

Back in my wife's retail days, she almost got into a fight with a customer over that sort of thing. The customer threw the money at her, so my wife threw the customer's change right back at her. The customer complained, so my wife pointed out that the customer was the one who started the money-throwing match. They exchanged words, and at one point, my wife, all 4'11" of her, offered to step outside with her.

At that point, the manager, who had seen the whole thing on the survellance camera, broke the whole thing up. He sent my wife on break to cool off, and told the customer to leave and never come back again.

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

The customer threw the money at her, so my wife threw the customer's change right back at her. <snip> They exchanged words, and at one point, my wife, all 4'11" of her, offered to step outside with her.

That's brave. I'm 4'10" and I would never say something like that, pissed or not. Good for her anyway though. The hardware store I worked at (my first job) the nasty dirty dudes would throw money at you all the time. Damn if that didn't piss me off... especially when you'd put their change on the counter (fuck if I'm gonna hand you your money when you can't hand it to me) and they give you some nasty look like 'how dare you not put it in my hand'. *Gwah* I hated that.