International Lettuce

 

Hi again workaholics!

 

Last night I was working at the grocery store and had one of the most obnoxious customers ever. It started off as an ordinary busy Saturday night at the grocery store. I was shift leading and in charge of making sure everything ran smoothly at the front end of the store. As I was asking one of the baggers to do a floor sweep, I saw one of the cashiers lights start flashing. When the light starts flashing, it means the cashier needs help with something.

I walked up to the register and asked her what she needed help with. She said that a bag of lettuce rang in for $2.99, and the customer said it was on sale for $1.99. It is our policy that if something rings in wrong, the customer receives the first item for free plus an extra $1. If the customer has multiple of that item, then the rest of the items just get marked down to what they should have been. I asked the customer where he had seen that it was $1.99. If it was in the flyer or a sticker on the bag then there is no need for me to go anywhere, but if it was a shelf tag then I need to go hunt it down.

The customer told me that there was a big shelf tag that said $1.99 in the produce section. I walked over to produce, and did not see a big shelf tag. Each bag of lettuce had a tag in front of it with the price as well as a sticker on it with the price. I noticed that the bag next to the one he had said it was $1.99, so I figured he grabbed the wrong bag- it’s an honest mistake that happens often. I brought the bag back to the register and the man informed me that I was wrong. He said there was a big yellow sign that said that all varieties were $1.99.

I politely asked the man if he would accompany me to the produce section and point out the sign. He said no, and this is the conversation that followed:

• Man: “Are you ignorant? There’s a huge yellow sign over there!”
• Me: “I am sorry sir, I did not see the sign. Would you like to come with me and show me where it is?
• Man: “No I do not! I demand to get this free plus a dollar. The sign says $1.99, so you better fix the price right now!”
• Me: “I understand your frustration sir, but I cannot mark the lettuce down until I see the sign.”
• Man: “Oh, so now you are calling me a liar?! You think I am just making up the sign? Change the price right now!”
• Me: “Sir, it is policy that I have to see where the item is marked wrong before I give you the money for it. Not only to best serve you, but to also fix the price if needed for other customers.”
• Man: “I don’t care about other customers. There is a huge yellow sign above the lettuce, go look again if you need to, you idiot!”

I then went back over to the produce section and looked for this “huge” yellow sign he was speaking of. I found a small card that was the size of an index card above the lettuce. The sign said “This week only: $1.99 select international blends of lettuce.” The man had romaine lettuce. I brought the sign back to him and asked if that was the correct sign, and he said yes. I then explained that it was international blends of lettuce- meaning italian blend, or american blend etc. Not romaine.

He then said that the sign was unclear and that he demanded I change the price or he was going to call corporate and get me fired. I explained that the sign may be unclear (even though it really was not because each of the bags that was international blend said international blend right on them), but that there were also shelf tags in front of each of the different kinds of lettuce as well as stickers on each of them that said which ones were on sale for $1.99. If there had been a tag for $1.99 in front of the romaine, then I certainly would have given it to him for free plus $1.

At this point, his girlfriend or friend or whomever was accompanying him was mortified. Her face was bright red and she was trying to get him to just pay for the lettuce. I felt bad for this girl, because she too knew that he was out of line. She eventually convinced him to stop arguing with me and he got the lettuce that he had, even though I offered to go get him some bags of the international blend.

I am not quite sure if this man will really call corporate on me. I am confident, however, that my job will be safe even if he does. I followed company policy and had cashiers and baggers as my witnesses that I was not out of line or rude to the man (even though I really wanted to say some words to him after he called me ignorant- that is just so incredibly rude. But, I have learned to be patient with these types of people because they are truly the ignorant ones).

What do you guys think about this, do you think I acted appropriately? If not, what should I have done differently? I could always use some feedback for future customers who are out of line. Do any of you have similar stories? If so, please share!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I have today off, so I know I will!