Waste of Time

A woman left a cart FULL of stuff at the customer service desk. She had forgotten a coupon so she wanted us to hold her items while she returned home to get it. "I'll be right back!" she promised.

Two hours later she still had not returned, so we returned everything to the shelves. Five hours after that she returned and was upset that she had to gather the merchandise again. She arrived at the check-out, presented her coupon, and wrote a check....that was declined (due to a history of writing bad checks, though I never tell the customer what the string of numbers translates into).

What a fit she threw!

"My check is good! This is so embarrassing! You HAVE TO take my check because it's the law! I want to talk to a manager! {I am the manager.} Oh. {Pause} What's YOUR boss's name? I want your corporate phone number! NOW! All of this is YOUR fault! You wasted my time because you made me go home to get my coupon! I asked you to hold my stuff but you put it away! That is SO WRONG! Now you WON'T TAKE MY CHECK! WHAT A WASTE OF TIME! I'm NEVER SHOPPING HERE AGAIN!"

Then she stormed out the door. I didn't try to respond to her diatribe because A) she didn't really give me a chance, B) the check-out area was empty at the time so she wasn't disturbing other customers, and C) nothing I said would have made a difference. Talk about a waste of time--after she left we had to put her cart full of stuff away. Again.