Be The Change You Want To Receive In The World, Part 2
I am currently working a lone shift. The few customers I’ve had today who paid in cash have used big bills for smaller purchases, leaving me with little change. We are an independent business, so we don’t have fat stacks of cash ripe for exchange at any time. As I am alone, I cannot go out and buy more change until another staff member arrives. That’s anywhere between thirty minutes to four hours.
As my luck as a long-time retail worker would have it, an old lady wants to purchase a single chocolate. We have a discount for seniors. It also applies to the chocolate.
She produces a fifty-dollar bill, much to my dismay and internal wincing.
Me: “Oh, I’m sorry! I don’t have enough change to break that. Do you have a card?”
Customer: “No, I have this, and I want to use my fifty!”
Me: “I’m sorry, but again I’m out of change to break that properly. Do you have anything smaller?”
Customer: “No, I only have bigger. I want to use this.”
She says that like I’m either trying to imply she’s poor or that I’m lowly for being a cashier.
Me: “Well, like I said, I’m sorry, I haven’t enough change to break that.”
She looks at me incredulously.
Customer: “Well, what are you doing then?”
Oh, here we go. Lack of service worker sympathy detected.
Me: “Well, I would have to go to the bank and buy more change, but I can’t leave right now. Customers before you also happened to pay with big bills and cleaned me out pretty bad!”
Customer: “So what then?”
Me: “You could go to one of the banks and see if they can break smaller bills for you?”
Nope, gods forbid I suggest that. She looks at me like I’m doing this on purpose as some incompetent human being. Unfortunately, I’m too jaded from retail to respond with anything other than a cheerful look.
Customer: “Well, the lady who went before me wouldn’t have made a difference.”
The person before her was doing an exchange, for context. I am also not sure how that’s relevant to the fact I have no change? Okay, lady, you do you. I’m sorry I’d like to not short-change you for your purchase?
Me: “The person before you paid with card for their purchase, but it was an exchange just now.”
She then gathers up her fifty from her wallet, with more fifty-dollar bills in it.
Customer: “Well, good thing I didn’t touch it.”
She leaves, with the aura of complaint about her.
The total by the way? $3.30. Lady, if I say I don’t have $46.70 in change, I don’t! Next time, I’ll keep a secret stash of coin rolls for this occasion. It’s retail, though, and people have complained about that too. Sigh.