Katiedid Shares Two Stories Of Retail Hell: From Both Sides Of The Counter

Well hello all, it's Katiedid, back for another round of 'hooray humanity makes me want to kill something!' Today's tales are of a condescending bitch who couldn't take no for an answer and a bonus story from the other side of the counter. Buckle up kiddies and let's go back in time to the middle of August.

Now by this point in the summer I'm just ready to be done with work and go back to school, so I already have a low tolerance for bullshit of any kind. For those just tuning in and having not remembered me, as I only post when the rage makes me want to stab someone with a rusty fork; I work at McHells.

So I was actually having a pretty good day for once, which is amazing in itself because I was working counter at the time. I hate counter. Anyways, this little old biddy walks up to my till and orders a chicken wrap. For those who have never eaten a wrap from McHells it comes with chicken, lettuce, cheese and whatever sauce goes on it, nothing else. Little Old Biddy wants to add tomatoes onto her wrap. We have to charge for this, it's ten cents, so not a big deal, right? Fucking wrong!

Little Old Biddy: I don't want to pay extra for tomatoes!

Katiedid: I'm sorry ma'am, it's policy.

Little Old Biddy: Well, I've never had to pay extra.

(Big fucking deal and way to lie lady! Why the fuck do I care that someone else doesn't know how to follow the rules, and why the hell do you think I should change my answer just because you said that?! God I hate people.)

Katiedid: They were supposed to ma'am, I'm sorry, but that's policy.

Then she said something that made my blood fucking boil. She looked right at me and said...

Little Old Biddy: Oh, you must be new here.

In the most condescending, 'oh you're so cute when you don't know what you're doing,' voice I have ever heard in my life. I gritted my teeth, took the smile off my face and gave her the blankest stare I could.

Katiedid: No ma'am, I've worked here for five years, I think I know what I'm doing.

Thank god she shut up after that. 

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Second story has me and my mom shopping at Costco. I needed a new backpack, and mom was willing to make it an early christmas present for me, seeing as I never have any clue what I want, besides money for food and such (poor college girl presents, yay!). So we go, and we pick out a good backpack and shop around a little more, getting a few other things. We then head up to the cash register. Now for those that don't know about Costco, in order to buy shit there, you have to have a card and they don't allow other people to use your card, that's a big no-no.

So we get up to the cashier and mom wants to put my backpack on a separate bill and will be paying for it on a separate debit account. She has two, one shared between her and dad for the everyday family stuff, and one that's just hers for fun stuff, christmas gifts, etc.

The lady doesn't want to let us do that. This immediately puts my mom on high alert, because this is something she always does. I'll call her Mama Bear for this exchange.

Mama Bear: I always do this, why can't I do this now?

Cashier: You can't let other people use your card, ma'am. 

Mama Bear: I'm not, I'm buying it for her, she's not buying it. 

Cashier: We can do a subtotal...

Mama Bear: Both accounts I'm using are mine, I'm even using the same debit card. I'm not using her money, I'm using mine.

Cashier: Well I heard you asking if that backpack was okay.

Mama Bear: She's my daughter, I can't get a Christmas present for my daughter on my account? 

Cashier: *bitchy tone* Well, I don't know that she's your daughter. 

At this point I'm just getting annoyed with the cashier because really, it's not any of her business. Mama Bear's using her card for both purchases, I'm not handing her any money. Either the cashier should have backed off when Mama Bear had explained, or gotten her manager.

Instead she kept pushing, saying she needed to put it on a subtotal, which is not what Mama Bear wants. Mama Bear finally demands to see a manager and explains what's going on while the cashier is still arguing and getting catty.

I understand that you have to make sure the rules aren't being broken, but once someone gives you an explanation that makes sense, do not keep arguing, or get the goddamned manager involved. Me, being in the service industry, often take the side of the employee, but not this time. Sometimes the customer is in fact right.

-- Katiedid

Comments

[The Worst]

What a jerk! I never knew you couldn't let other people use your card. When I was in college I'd always let my roommates use my card to buy things and no one ever said anything to us. I'll stop now that I know it's a no-no, because I don't want any poor slaves to get in trouble over it.

[Mollywobbles]

That old biddy should thank her lucky stars that she doesn't frequent my McHell's. We charge 40 freaking cents per slice for tomatoes. I hate it when people pull that "Well, they didn't/let me do it last time!" excuse on me (I think I even wrote into RHU about that very subject a little while back), but she took the cake with that condescending "Oh, you must be new" thing. I'm not quite sure how I would have reacted to that.

[Skittles]

Last I heard Costco allows you to let one family member make a purchase on your card once per year. That might be an old policy as it was more than a few years back that I did that.

[BookishGirl]

We have a business membership which llows you to split your transaction into two parts and pay separately. Very useful, that.

[Soft Ice Girl]

You have to have a personaöized card in order to buy things? Why are you shopping there? The only reason why they would do that is in order to collect your data in order either sell it or send you personalized commercials.

[Katiedid]

@ Soft Ice Girl, idk Mama Bear's never gotten anything like that and she shops there because they carry stuff, like food, in bulk and since she runs a home daycare it winds up being cheaper for her in the long run.