Bread Hag

[Lace Neil Singer]

An SC from yesterday. What is it about the Christmas season that brings all the SCs out of the woodwork?!

This woman goes to the bread shelf. There is just one loaf of bread left; this is normal, seeing as it's around eight pm. She picks it up, manhandles it a bit, before walking over to the till.

SC: Do you have any more bread out the back?
Me: Sorry, that's the last one.

Like a goodly percentage of retail establishments, we do not keep fresh stock out the back, in the infamous "magic back room", when the shelves in the store are empty. That would defeat the object of having it on sale. All fresh stock goes out on the shelf; we only put excess round the back. Therefore, if the shelf in the store is empty, that means we have none.

SC: *thinks about this for a few moments* So, this is the last one?
Me: Yes, that's right.
SC: So... could you reduce it?
Me: Sorry, I can't do that.

We only reduce stock that's on its last day. Said bread had five days left on it, so no, I was not going to reduce it.

SC: I don't want it then. *puts bread back, leaves*

A couple of minutes after the SC left, a customer came in and bought the last loaf of bread. Ten minutes later, the SC returned. Stand by for part two of the Bread Hag saga...

SC: I've changed my mind. I want to buy the bread after all.
Me: I'm sorry, but it's been sold.
SC: ... What? I can't believe this place. I wanted that bread!

So I was supposed to keep hold of the bread, just on the offchance you decided to return and buy it after all, when you'd already said you didn't want it? No chance, lady.

It was after this final exchange that the SC stormed out in a huff and my tolerance of humanity dropped a few more notches.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Heck with discounting it.

Supply and demand! If anything, you should have marked it up.

[rose_metal_nz]

So I'm guessing she left & went somewhere else, which also didn't have "more [magical] bread out back" .. In fact, probably had none; at which stage she returned to you

[Lace Neil Singer]

At that time of night, she was lucky there was even one loaf. XD Seriously, where I work, it all gets snapped up during the daytime hours mostly; in the evening, we only usually have rolls.

[sylvier]

We often get questions about the "magic back room". Our customers seem to think that we hoard our best products there. In our store, this goes on all year long.

[Dark Psion]

Plus, many places like Wal Mart have the vendors pull up bread and even when they sell out on the shelves, they will call the vendor and tell them they need to send someone to restock.

[EricKei]

Around here, most of the excess bread (& related products) don't even go into backstock -- they go right back onto the truck, get rotated into the stores, and the oldest product goes to the "bread thrift store" for ninety cents a loaf ^_^ Shame it's so damn far away (it used to be 3 mins from my house pre-Katrina), so I really only go now when I need to stock up and have plenty of room in the freezer. It's mecca for people who love those Hostess snackycakes, tho...You can get big boxes of them for about $1.50 (rather than 5.50) when they're down to a month left on the shelf life. Given that these things last a YEAR or more, that does scare me at times. Not as scary as when I see the Twinkies in the "basket o' slightly expired goods" for a quarter a box >_> Not even the cockroaches will eat those.

[Mr Hero]

This same exact thing happened years ago at my hotel. In fact, I wanted to tell this story so badly that I created an account and told it as my first post.

Back in 2008, just before a major election, there was a convention in town where members of the Democratic party would speak, including our current president. Needless to say, the city was booked solid, but as luck would have it, I had one room left. In comes the SC

SC: How much are your rooms?
Me: I've got one left and it's $99.99
SC: That's too much! *leaves*

Not long after, another guy walks in.
Guy: Do you have any rooms left?
Me: I do. I have one left and it's $99.99
Guy: I'll take it.

About another 15 minutes, SC comes back.
SC: OK, I'll take the room.
Me: I'm sorry but I already sold it.

LNS, I'm happy you got to share in this sweet self-pwnage of the SC. It's something we should all experience at least once.

[Syriilord]

SC:[/B] Do you have any more bread out the back?
Me: Sorry, that's the last one.

Like a goodly percentage of retail establishments, we do not keep fresh stock out the back, in the infamous "magic back room"

I would have replied: "Why yes, we do. Unfortunately the dragon that guards our vast piles of unsold bread will only allow the chosen hero of the bread to come and claim it from her. And he's out sick this week."

But I'm evil like that and have probably been playing just a little too much Skyrim recently

[RayvenQ]

I would have replied: "Why yes, we do. Unfortunately the dragon that guards our vast piles of unsold bread will only allow the chosen hero of the bread to come and claim it from her. And he's out sick this week."

But I'm evil like that and have probably been playing just a little too much Skyrim recently

Or

"Our sweetrolls were stolen!"

"Sadly, we have no more because our baker took an arrow to the knee"