When The Customer Gets Tough, They Have To Get Going

(We close at 9 on Sunday nights. At about 8:15, a customer calls and says she has a few items to return, and will be in shortly. She shows up at 8:45 and dumps $60 worth of stuff on the service desk.)

Customer: “You just do my return and I will grab a few things and come back here.”

Me: “Okay, but be advised we close in 15 minutes and I am going to need your ID and signature because this is going to be over $25.”

(I make the 15-minute closing announcement. The customer walks away, ignoring me. I ring in the return, make the 10-minute, 5-minute, and closing announcements, then go walking through the store trying to find this woman. I finally find her in the very last aisle, with a cart FULL of groceries.)

Me: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but we are now closed. We’ve been closed for five minutes at this point. You’re going to have to stop at the desk, sign for your refund, and head to the register because I and my cashier would like to go home.”

Customer: “YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO. I AM THE CUSTOMER—”

Me: “Ma’am, I can. And the laws in this county say YOU. NEED. TO. GO.”

(She then made some ungodly noise, almost ran me over with her cart, snatched then signed the refund form, and stalked her way up to the register… all the while complaining about how rude I was because she was so important and this was the only time she had to go grocery shopping. Once she finally left, my cashier told me she said ‘that little b***h is lucky I’m not 10 years younger because I would have kicked her a** for making me leave.’)