Would you please quit putting thoughts in my head!

[Food Lady]

This happened last night, 20 minutes before closing, when I was the last cashier, ringing up this couple's cartload of items. They had several people behind them, some with cartloads. (What is it with buying cartloads at the end of the night?) The woman complained about the really messy bathroom, which isn't sucky, but when I didn't react immediately with disgust and apologies--because I was focusing on dealing with her coupons and trying to figure out who we could send to the bathroom, if anyone--she kept going on about it. I think I said "ok" and grabbed for my walkie, when I finally got a hand free, to let the mngr know, when she said to her man, "Well, maybe she doesn't care." OK, first, she had no idea WHAT I was thinking, but she called me on it. Second, even though I actually cared less about the bathroom and more about getting the line down, I was about to make a move to fix it. Third, I did tell her, "We'll get someone in to check it as soon as we can." We were short-handed and it was the end of the night, but she would not let it go. (She wasn't being forced to hang out in there!) She responded that it didn't need to be checked, but cleaned, because it was so awful. At that point I just wanted to get her out if there. As soon as I got all the customers out, no one was going to care about the bathroom anyway. But yeah, don't get offended at what you think I'm thinking.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Perhaps she expected you to stop checking her out, make her wait while you cleaned the bathroom, and then came back to finish checking her out. But we all know she would have complained about that too.

[Lots42]

Quoth Ironclad Alibi

Perhaps she expected you to stop checking her out, make her wait while you cleaned the bathroom, and then came back to finish checking her out. But we all know she would have complained about that too.

Or do like that Wal-Fart commercial where a chain of employees started bellowing and yelling and causing a commotion over twenty cents.

[Blade_Raver]

If she wanted to be annoying about the situation, I would have:
Made full eye contact and drop the smile to a neutral facial expression while watching her finish her drama-llama tirade.
Once she finished. Wait 3 extra seconds, nod and then in a serious tone but slightly louder than my normal volume, say "Understood."
Put the smile back on and kept taking care of business as if what she did didn't happen.

[EricKei]

Quoth Ironclad Alibi

Perhaps she expected you to stop checking her out, make her wait while you cleaned the bathroom, and then came back to finish checking her out.

I'm thinking it's more like she wanted you to stop, DEMAND that everyone else in the store immediately start working on that bathroom, and then have you go to help... AFTER you were done checking her out. Stopping right there before her txn was done and saying "Okay! I'll take care of it right now! I'll be back to finish your order when I'm done, so please wait here...And oh yes, I already am halfway thru your order, so nobody else is permitted to jump in and help you." would have been simply AWESOME.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Quoth Blade_Raver

If she wanted to be annoying about the situation, I would have:
Made full eye contact and drop the smile to a neutral facial expression while watching her finish her drama-llama tirade.
Once she finished. Wait 3 extra seconds, nod and then in a serious tone but slightly louder than my normal volume, say "Understood."
Put the smile back on and kept taking care of business as if what she did didn't happen.

This technique is very good at deflating the egos of the sucky. I know it worked against that supervisor Ol' Scarface Herself at my old job. Used it on a day when she wasn't even the supe, when she tried to boss me around. I looked at her, waited for her to finish, nodded in understanding, and then turned to the actual supe and said, loud enough for Herself to hear, "So what did you want me to do?"