When the lights go out...

[Plankton78]

An hour before closing, we lost power at our store after a transformer blew out next door. After. escorting customers out of the building, we locked the door and waited for our store manager to come up and help close the store manually. (damn computers)

While we wait, let me answer all your customer questions in regards to the situation.

No, we did not close an hour early to pissed you off on purpose.

No, we can't let you inside to grab 'one quick thang.'

No, I don't know how much the mothballs are with tax.

No, bribing me with an extra two dollars will not get you into the store so you can buy.... What?.... You want to buy potatoes?? You're a regular!! You know we don't sell produce!!

No, we are not being lazy or unhelpful or rude or whatever. Bye.

No, you cannot give me five bucks to run inside and grab you cigarettes!

No, you cannot attempt to steal bags of ice from the outside ice cooler in front of me. It's not THAT dark, dumbass.

No, nothing in the store is free because of the inconvenience we caused you.

No, Satan did not turn out the lights and no, I will not baptise you with bottled water.

No, I'm not giving you a discount for your 'troubles.'

No, I do not know when the electricity will be back and no, I do not know the 'electric peoples' phone number.

No, I'm not accepting checks at this moment. No, I can't accept your credit card either. No EBT or debit cards or ID cards or gift cards either.

No, you cannot, for the FINAL time, go into the store for ANY reason. Now quit whining and leave the parking lot so I can go home.

[notalwaysright]

No, nothing in the store is free because of the inconvenience we caused you.

No, I'm not giving you a discount for your 'troubles.'

I swear, any little thing, and they tantrum like a 2 year old coming off a sugar high.

Years ago our store had an issue with the lights. They are on timers (to save energy) with buttons to manually turn them on or off. So one day the timers freak out and turn the lights off at like 2:00 PM. Overrides suddenly won't work, so we have to get all the customers out. OMG, it was like the apocalypse.

[Evannah]

I hate how customers throw the word 'inconvenience' around!

The cashier passed out in front of you? No, you can't get a free item for the inconvenience.

There was a fire that took out the whole store? No, you can't get a free item for the inconvenience.

There's a zombie apocalypse in town? No, you can't get a free item for the inconvenience.

What I'm saying here is that it doesn't matter how grave the situation, or how bizarre or out of control it is, there are customers that will throw the word 'inconvenience' around like they are the only important person in the world and that you're doing it on purpose.

I mean, okay, if something terrible happened, like a cashier or another customer, was having a seizure or a heart attack, you'd describe the whole situation as horrible or saddening, or tragic, right? Not inconvenient. Maybe it's just me, but that word just seems really cold to me; like, you'd only say that if the only person you cared about was yourself.

Sorry for the rant. I just really hate the word 'inconvenience'/'inconvenient'.

[Argabarga]

No, Satan did not turn out the lights and no, I will not baptise you with bottled water.

Out of all of them, this is the only one that surprised me.

[MoonCat]

Out of all of them, this is the only one that surprised me.

That's a good one, though.

I was in a supermarket once when the lights went out during a storm. Some idiot screamed. My sister said, "Oh grow up." Dead silence

[Plankton78]

Customers whine and bitch over little things. It's beyond ridiculous. Tonight, my poor cashier called me up to help with this asshat guy who was mad because we were out of stock of his favorite brand of coffee. He whined and yelled because it was an "inconvenience", he needed it now, blah, blah, blah. My first mistake was standing opposite my cashier, on the other side of the register, next to Asshat. He dropped a six pack of root beer on my foot, causing the pack to bust open all over me. My second mistake was saying politely, 'You have a good night too, sir' as he stormed out. I should have said BLEEP bleep yourself you bleeding bleepy bleep. Yeah. Customers are toddlers.

I hate hearing that word too! Inconvenience my foot! You're inconveniencing me by stepping into my store to whine and demand free things, you cheap bastard. Go away already. Yeah.

Out of all of them, this is the only one that surprised me.

I work in Tweaker town. Nothing suprises me anymore. My favorite is a regular customer who comes in three times a week and buy nothing but tuna fish, discounted rugs, and ibuprofen. (No. I'm serious, I can't make this up.) Every week is something new... There Kracken (sea monster) is REALLY responsible for 9/11. Earthquakes are caused by angry kangaroos in Mexico. (DO NOT CORRECT HER. It hisses.) The latest is that air conditioners were invented by the Devil because it turns out, he doesn't like heat.

And I bet you're thinking, 'She's probably mentally ill or something, not on drugs.'
My store manager went to high school with her..... she's on drugs, trust me.

[Argabarga]

The latest is that air conditioners were invented by the Devil because it turns out, he doesn't like heat.

Well, there's at least some tenuous logic behind that...........

[Plankton78]

I'm terrified of that woman. Seriously. She comes in? I'm going on break, back room, outside, somewhere. I do not like her, Sam I am, I do not like that woman.

[Argabarga]

I have the same issue, in a non-customer way, whenever I'm out walking the dog... there's this one woman I tend to run into who is mentally unstable but too elderly to be a threat. (Wears plastic bags over her hands, and talks in a manner similar to listening to streaming audio on an unreliable internet connection) But the real problem is, she wants to pet the dog, ask all kinds of questions, DISAGREES with the answers, (Does he like the water? No. Aw, he must LIKE water!! NO! he doesn't, trust me!) then she'll try to force-feed him biscuits she carries with her, that he doesn't like, and, worst of all, NEVER remembers us so the next time we meet, we get to do it all over again...

And, she's rail-thin, so just because I don't see her ahead of me doesn't mean she can't suddenly materialize from behind a doorway, or tree, or parking meter, and ruin my day.....

I empathize with people like that, but, even Jesus himself would be desperately looking for someone else to pass her off on after 5 minutes.....

[MoonCat]

My favorite is a regular customer who comes in three times a week and buy nothing but tuna fish, discounted rugs, and ibuprofen

...Wut??

I think that broke my brain...

There's a hell of a story there, somewhere....

[Argabarga]

I'm imagining Wile E Coyote standing next to several broken-open boxes/crates that say:

ACME Canned Tuna Fish
ACME Ibuprofen

and

One (1) ACME throw rug

But I lose the vision before I can pan over to what he's built out of all of it to finally get that pesky Road Runner.

[EricKei]

Well, I can certainly see Wile E Coyote going through a shitload of painkillers...tho I would think that, by now, he's become immune to the OTC stuff and has to get something from a doctor >_>

[otakuneko]

Plan A:

Roadrunners are birds.

Birds sometimes eat fish.

Therefore, tuna is roadrunner bait.

Throw one (1) Acme Throw Rug over Roadrunner.

????

Dinner.

Plan B:

Fall off a cliff.

Take ibuprofen.

[Kaibutsu]

Argabarga's crazy reminds me of the lady from Citizen Cope's "Mistaken ID".
http://youtu.be/-lzKkb80aOE
Some people are just... out there, even if they're mostly harmless.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The OP's story reminds me of the time that we had a power cut back when I worked in the pet store in the garden centre. Now, where the garden centre is situated, there used to be a lot of power cuts. Nowadays, they just have brown outs so maybe in the future, there will be nothing. XD Anyway, at roughly 2pm, all the power in the area went out. Everything, even the street lights and traffic lights. The boss, who was the only person in the place with a mobile phone (remember those days? ) called up the electric company, who said that they were working hard to fix the black out, but the power wouldn't be on for at least another three hours. The boss figured that since our closing time was 5:30pm, he might as well close the store.

The customers thought otherwise. Honestly, it was like trying to get a bunch of five year olds out of a sweet shop. People kept whinging, "But I want to finish my shopping!" and "Can't you just put my stuff thru the till first?" Um, no, cuz the tills don't work on pixie dust, they work on electricity. I just waited til I'd made sure that all the animals had plenty of food and water, and left. Oh, and did I mention that the store was in complete darkness, and we staff were sharing a few torches between us, and customers were still insisting that we could keep the store open?