The oddest thing a customer wanted to buy

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

At my store, if you want the hanger your shirt came on, we'll give it to you free. We'll even ask if you want it.

The discarded hangers just go in the garbage anyway.

[Bagga]

Old people buy tiny amounts of butter and eggs for several reasons, including:

1) They are on such low incomes that they cant afford the upfront capital investment in "too much" butter, especially because:

2) Due to their poverty they have switched their fridge off, or couldn't afford to replace their old one that broke down. This is made even more significant because:

3) When they were young, butter and milk and eggs weren't kept in a fridge because no-one could afford one. So you kept such items in a cold pantry. Funnily enough, because food was processed through from the farm to the customer with much more immediacy, food actually did taste better in those days.

Also, in the UK:

4) People didn't use to put anywhere near as much butter on their bread and toast. To me, modern bread is a soft doughy mass, whereas I remember that you could actually spread butter on the firm slices we used to have. So my treat as a kid was a slice of "bread and scrape", sometimes even with a faint pink glow of jam. This had almost no fat content, cos the butter was scraped so finely,

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Mmmm....butter. I lop off a chunk and just put it in my mouth. Contrary to popular belief, it DOES melt.

Spreadable butter from Land O Lakes is good for spreading on bread. It's cut with a little canola oil so it's softer, but it's still butter. I should try that with some olive oil.

Butter is one of the things put here on earth because God loves us and wants us to be happy. That, and whipping cream.

[Lingering Grin]

Mmmm....butter. I lop off a chunk and just put it in my mouth. Contrary to popular belief, it DOES melt.

That's a popular belief? I was always told butter melts at room temperature, and it does too lol.

[IHateStupidCustomers]

When I worked at the mall kiosk selling glass figurines, we had these glass cubes with pictures lasered inside of them. One lady was looking at one with an eagle and an american flag. There was a price tag in a little plastic holder that was next to it that said "freedom soars $9.99." She picked up the tag and says, "so, where does this go? On top? Oh, I see. You just set it on top..." and places the price tag on top of the cube. I tell her "that's just the price tag ma'am." She huffs "so it doesn't come with it!?"

This lady could not get it through her head that it was a price tag and the person she was buying for was probably not going to display the price on it.

[Emrld]

Hi my name is Emrld and I dip my nacho chips in butter.

The store I work in has "Props" all over to show ideas for how what we sell could be used.
We constantly have people wanting to buy the items.
One of the areas is to show a cleaning station and we have a single bottle of Febreeze . . . I can't tell you how many people on the weekend come up to the register with it saying wow . . .you have saved me a trip to another store since you had one bottle of this left. I then have to tell them it is not an item that is for sale. (or the laundry soap)

We also have a container that has candy in it . . . I think it has been there at least 2 years if not longer. Of course we get asked by kids if they can have a piece of the candy. Most parents are ok/ cool with us saying no it has been on display for a while and wouldn't be safe. (Yes we get SC that think we are calling their kid fat or that their kid shouldn't get candy - umm hello I just said it is over two years old with who know how many people having touched it)

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That's a popular belief? I was always told butter melts at room temperature, and it does too lol.

It does. But I have a bit of a rep for being an Ice Queen. You've heard the phrase "butter wouldn't melt in her mouth"? Many people think that of me.

My friends dont', but rude, presumptuous, or pushy people do.

[Broomjockey]

Set it on the counter for 5 minutes

or... blast it in a microwave for 10 seconds.

Hey, what did I say? No futzing. Setting it on the counter for 5 minutes is planning about 5 minutes further ahead than I normally do, and I don't think I'm going to try and guess how much butter I need and cut that off, microwave it, and then either have too much or too little, and either waste, or need to repeat the process.

Now, RK's spreadable butter, if I can find it up here, sounds like an option.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, lemme tell you, we tried it for the first time last week, and it's gone already. Delish.

[MTNLaurelPoacher]

My sister used to butter her grapes. She would drag a grape over some soft butter and eat it.

On other topics I have sent a group of highschool aged Christian camp youth into a Lowe's with a $20 and a strict shopping list.

1) 1 lb of 1 3/4" deck screws
2) 1 Quasiepress
3) 1 roll of duck tape (any color)

That kept them busy for 45 minutes, as they asked every associate in the place where the quasipresses were. I took a nap during this time.

The group came back out with duck tape, screws, a toilet brush and a hand full of glow sticks. Ironically all the stuff came in handy on the little job we were sent out to do.

[Estil]

When I worked the grill at the local hospital (2004), I had a customer order, and I quote, "A cheeseburger with no cheese". No joke!

At my current job, I've had customers request some odd things too, such as whether or not we sold hammers. What's wrong with that you might ask? We're a grocery store, and not a very big one at that. I mean seriously, do we look like a hardware store? :P

On a related note, I'd say the oddest thing we offered for sale (about a year or two ago) was the DVD Because of Winn-Dixie (we were one of Winn-Dixie's competitors at the time). I thought that was so strange to see a huge display of DVDs of a movie based on one of our competitors.

[justZu]

On the topic of butter - I like it melted on chicken, especially roasted chicken.

As for wanting to buy only part of something... I did that once

Actually, I didn't realize it was part of a set. I am a terrible cook and I saw a sign in a store "Home of the World Famous BURNT EVERYTHING" that would go perfectly in my kitchen, as if my poor family still needed a warning. I asked the price and was told it came with a really ugly large plaque with a weird looking male chef on it. The price was reduced so I bought it and asked the girl if the store wanted to keep the plaque part, because I was just going to throw it away and only keep the sign. So the store kept the plaque and I took home the sign, but I did pay for the whole thing and did not ask for a discount.
Everyone who sees my sign tells me how appropriate it is - I think I should be insulted.

[ktopmil]

I had a customer bring up a bottle of water. Clearly, there was no UPC and was labled Not For Individual Sale. I asked her where she got it and said that she didn't want the entire package of water, so she took it out. I informed her that she would have to buy the the pack of water, not the one. She backed down, but only after a minute of trying to size me up to see if I would give in.
Why do people think they can get away with these things? Why are they so stupid??

[Lingering Grin]

Hey, what did I say? No futzing. Setting it on the counter for 5 minutes is planning about 5 minutes further ahead than I normally do, and I don't think I'm going to try and guess how much butter I need and cut that off, microwave it, and then either have too much or too little, and either waste, or need to repeat the process.

Nuke the entire stick, then just put whatever you don't need back in the fridge.

A few seconds won't melt it, just soften it up a bit. Also, setting it on the counter is easy too, just put it on the counter right as you stick the bread in the toaster. Also, if you set it next to the toaster while it's on, the radiant heat will soften it faster

[Broomjockey]

Nuke the entire stick, then just put whatever you don't need back in the fridge.

A few seconds won't melt it, just soften it up a bit. Also, setting it on the counter is easy too, just put it on the counter right as you stick the bread in the toaster. Also, if you set it next to the toaster while it's on, the radiant heat will soften it faster

Hmm...this one talks sense...though usually my use of margerine/butter is for grilled cheese, so the toaster'd not be an option some times, but nuking the entire stick, eh.... *contemplates*

What the heck, the margerine I've got now is getting fuzzy anyway, I'll go for it.