"JUST what I was looking for!!!!!"

[Becks]

OK, this isn't the suckiest thing ever, but it was unexpected...

This afternoon, I had to go out to the sales floor to gather the red onions needed for the salad bar.

I had my handy-dandy bin that I use to carry them, and I filled it up. As I was returning to the refrigerated cave in which I work, a customer comes up and squeals, "JUST what I was looking for!!!!!", also grabbing the biggest onion I had in my bin. She must've noticed that I wasn't particularily happy about what she was doing, so she did the polite-but-don't-care-about-the-answer, "Is it ok if I take this?"

"I guess..." Not the nicest tone of voice, but not too snotty, either, as I turn around and walk the two feet back to the red onions. She of course follows me and picks up a couple more. I grab a replacement onion and return to my lair.

This story amused my coworkers, in a shocked, "Sadly I can believe this" kind of way.


Other customers are SHOCKED by what she did.

[CanadaGirl]

I would have flat out told her "No." The damn onions were right behind you, why the heck couldn't she have picked hers from there! Lazy biatch.

[Banrion]

Sort of along the same line, only I felt like the SC.

I was at the store by my parents house. (100 miles from me) And it was about 6am as my mom and I shop early for minimum idiot density. There was a woman stocking a new product in the produce section, some store brand prepackaged salads that looked amazing. I tried to sneak over and grab one from the back so as not to get in her way. But stocklady must have had eyes in the back of her head cause she caught me.

She was really cool and not upset or anything, but she stopped what she was doing to tell me that I didn't want that one it was a day old already, then she proceeded to tear open like 3 other boxes she had stacked to be stocked looking for that variety of the fresh ones!

She went way out of her way and was totally nice, but I felt like an SC just because I had interrupted her. I try to make a point of going unnoticed by all employees until I checkout with the cashier.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Is this how that moron does her shopping? Looks at what other people have in their carts/baskets and just helps herself?

Too bad she didn't do that to another customer, she would have been the recipient of both a verbal and physical smackdown.

Come to think of it, she may either be or is related to one of the two women who came into a store I worked at several years ago and decided to fight over a potted plant.

[Tutorgal]

Is this how that moron does her shopping? Looks at what other people have in their carts/baskets and just helps herself?

Too bad she didn't do that to another customer, she would have been the recipient of both a verbal and physical smackdown.

That happened to me last time I went grocery shopping! Guess some lady decided that she liked what was in my cart, as she put her stuff into it and walked away with it at the deli, cheese and bread counters. I finally lost it in the bread section and started yelling at her about how rude it is to take someone's groceries on purpose. Her hubby dragged her off and apologized to me. Seems she has a little problem in the theft area.

[Ree]

Well, although annoying, technically, it is a grocery store, and she was a customer. She probably figured, since you were an employee carrying a basket of merchandise, that the stuff in your basket was still available for the taking. Probably thought you were filling up some area with produce.

I'd have been ticked if it happened to me, and I had to go back and grab what I needed again, but what the heck, you did say it was only 2 feet away.
The store gained a sale and didn't lose a customer.

Not siding with her, just explaining why she might have unknowingly acted sucky.

Now, since she just assumed your basket was open territory, and didn't even know if it you were doing personal shopping, then, yeah, she had a lot of nerve.

[pbmods]

If there's one thing that my sales experience has taught me, it's that you are an expert because you work at the store. While this can work in your favor (Upsell? What's that? ), it can also lead to oddities such as a customer preferring to grab produce out of your hands instead of the bin on the sales floor... 'cause, you know, you work there, so you know which ones are the 'good ones'.

That's my take on the situation, at any rate.

[Becks]

... 'cause, you know, you work there, so you know which ones are the 'good ones'.

If I knew which ones were the "good" ones, I wouldn't always be picking out the ones that are rotten in the middle. (Is it wrong of me to hope that the onion she took from me happened to be one of those? )

It just an unexpected situation, and it wasn't as if I were taking two dozen onions for fun. I needed them to slice up for the salad bar.

[Jester]

If I knew which ones were the "good" ones, I wouldn't always be picking out the ones that are rotten in the middle. (Is it wrong of me to hope that the onion she took from me happened to be one of those? )

Not wrong of you at all. That is why we come to this site, after all.

From my experience, onions are one of the hardest things to screw up picking in the produce section, as it takes a lot for them to go bad. They also are the item that lasts the longest in my fridge. Don't know why you seem to be having so much trouble with them.

[Broomjockey]

Okay, the onions were about 2 feet away, and she needed more than just the one she took from you. What was the point of taking the one from you instead of asking (because she obviously didn't see them) where the onions were?

[Lace Neil Singer]

She should have asked first, not just grabbed.

[Becks]

Okay, the onions were about 2 feet away, and she needed more than just the one she took from you. What was the point of taking the one from you instead of asking (because she obviously didn't see them) where the onions were?

You're looking for logic in a customer. We don't carry that particular item. For that, you must find your way to the mythical, magical "Everywhere Else" chain. Best of luck for your quest.

[drwood]

I just don't think that there's a good excuse for that. Not that either side is unreasonable but it's COMMON courtesy and when customers deal with service staff especially in retail manners and politeness suddenly disappear from otherwise rational and nice people. I don't know why that is but I'm sure many people reading this understand.

If you were another customer, you would not take onions from someone else's basket. Why would you take it from someone just because they work there? Common courtesy is that you don't take things from what is clearly in the posession of another person without at least asking first.

Having said that I don't think it was incredibly rude but I'm just sure it wouldn't happen in most other situations.

[Misanthropical]

If you were another customer, you would not take onions from someone else's basket. Why would you take it from someone just because they work there? Common courtesy is that you don't take things from what is clearly in the posession of another person without at least asking first.

Having said that I don't think it was incredibly rude but I'm just sure it wouldn't happen in most other situations.

You're kidding, right? Customers take things from other people's carts all the time.

[ditchdj]

More "Random Acts of Rudeness" that kinda makes you say "Damn!" when you turn on the news and hear that an asteroid just missed hitting us by a moon's length.