Squished Bread
I was helping the cashier by bagging groceries for a few minutes before I clocked out. The SC's groceries had backed up on the checkstand conveyer belt, and SC piped up that her bread was being squished by the other groceries. It wasn't, but I understood her concern. I grabbed the bread. It didn't appear damaged. SC howled "Get me a new one! I don't want that one now!"
OK. No problem. I go to get a new loaf. Unfortunately, the SC picked a low-volume specialty bread and we never have more than 4 loaves in the store. I find the shelf empty, and also none in the back storeroom. I begin to rehearse in my head what I will tell the SC. She had already been mean and I was fearful of how she might react.
So I return with the SAME loaf of bread. Before I can say anything, SC grabs the bread from my hands and proceeds to examine it. She holds it up in the air and carefully looks it over. She puts the bread on the counter and says, “Fine. I definitely wasn't going to pay for that other one you squished!”
It took every ounce of willpower I could muster to keep from saying what I was thinking, “It's the SAME loaf!! You just deemed ACCEPTABLE the SAME loaf that two minutes ago you deemed UNACCEPTABLE!! It's the SAME one! There's only ONE!” I really wanted to say it and embarrass her, but I just excused myself, went around the corner and had a much needed laugh.
Salad Bar Stress
I have found myself being very stressed by SCs who frequent the store's self-serve salad bar. They have odd ideas about what they should pay. It's clearly marked for sale by the pound. The heaviest item there is the salad dressing. If you use a small amount of dressing, the salad is quite cheap. Use a lot of dressing, and it costs quite a bit more. Most salads sell for $5 to $8.
Some customers make a salad and just drown it in dressing. They use so much, you can't see any greens, just dressing. This makes the salad very heavy, and very expensive. These ring up $15 to $20, or more. I cringe when these are in my line. I know they will balk at the price, and say it's sold by the plate, not by the pound. A while back, I took a photo with my ipod of the salad bar sign. When the salad plate rings up $20 and they tell me it's supposed to be $4.99, I pull up the photo, show it to them and say the sign clearly states “per pound.” They do not seem to appreciate my preparedness.
There's also self-serve soup at the salad bar, sold by the container rather than by the pound. SCs are putting salads in salad plates, and then filling the soup containers with salad dressing. When I charge them for the dressing they say “You can't charge me for that! It's not part of the salad! It's on the side!” Of course, it is part of the salad. These are large soup containers. And they fill them to the top with dressing. I don't bother to ask why they need almost three cups of dressing “on the side.”
Last week, lady bought a salad. It was $5. Then I rang up the large soup container that she had completely filled with olives, cheese, mushrooms, and other salad toppings. It rang up $7. Right on cue, she starts yelling “You can't charge me for that!!! It's on the side!! It's just the toppings!!! It's not part of the salad!!”
It's starting to get to me. I was checking out a new store in town. I saw their salad bar, and I felt my heart begin to beat rapidly, and I started to perspire. That's right, just the sight of a salad bar is causing me a physical reaction.
I was helping the cashier by bagging groceries for a few minutes before I clocked out. The SC's groceries had backed up on the checkstand conveyer belt, and SC piped up that her bread was being squished by the other groceries. It wasn't, but I understood her concern. I grabbed the bread. It didn't appear damaged. SC howled "Get me a new one! I don't want that one now!"
OK. No problem. I go to get a new loaf. Unfortunately, the SC picked a low-volume specialty bread and we never have more than 4 loaves in the store. I find the shelf empty, and also none in the back storeroom. I begin to rehearse in my head what I will tell the SC. She had already been mean and I was fearful of how she might react.
So I return with the SAME loaf of bread. Before I can say anything, SC grabs the bread from my hands and proceeds to examine it. She holds it up in the air and carefully looks it over. She puts the bread on the counter and says, “Fine. I definitely wasn't going to pay for that other one you squished!”
It took every ounce of willpower I could muster to keep from saying what I was thinking, “It's the SAME loaf!! You just deemed ACCEPTABLE the SAME loaf that two minutes ago you deemed UNACCEPTABLE!! It's the SAME one! There's only ONE!” I really wanted to say it and embarrass her, but I just excused myself, went around the corner and had a much needed laugh.
Salad Bar Stress
I have found myself being very stressed by SCs who frequent the store's self-serve salad bar. They have odd ideas about what they should pay. It's clearly marked for sale by the pound. The heaviest item there is the salad dressing. If you use a small amount of dressing, the salad is quite cheap. Use a lot of dressing, and it costs quite a bit more. Most salads sell for $5 to $8.
Some customers make a salad and just drown it in dressing. They use so much, you can't see any greens, just dressing. This makes the salad very heavy, and very expensive. These ring up $15 to $20, or more. I cringe when these are in my line. I know they will balk at the price, and say it's sold by the plate, not by the pound. A while back, I took a photo with my ipod of the salad bar sign. When the salad plate rings up $20 and they tell me it's supposed to be $4.99, I pull up the photo, show it to them and say the sign clearly states “per pound.” They do not seem to appreciate my preparedness.
There's also self-serve soup at the salad bar, sold by the container rather than by the pound. SCs are putting salads in salad plates, and then filling the soup containers with salad dressing. When I charge them for the dressing they say “You can't charge me for that! It's not part of the salad! It's on the side!” Of course, it is part of the salad. These are large soup containers. And they fill them to the top with dressing. I don't bother to ask why they need almost three cups of dressing “on the side.”
Last week, lady bought a salad. It was $5. Then I rang up the large soup container that she had completely filled with olives, cheese, mushrooms, and other salad toppings. It rang up $7. Right on cue, she starts yelling “You can't charge me for that!!! It's on the side!! It's just the toppings!!! It's not part of the salad!!”
It's starting to get to me. I was checking out a new store in town. I saw their salad bar, and I felt my heart begin to beat rapidly, and I started to perspire. That's right, just the sight of a salad bar is causing me a physical reaction.
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