Unfiltered Story #108134

(I work as a cashier at a discount store. I’ve only been there for a few months and it’s the first job I’ve ever had, so I tend to be nervous when transactions don’t go smoothly. However, my more experienced co-workers have taught me a lot, and I always have help nearby, so that calms me a little. Until this instance, I never had a customer yell at me.)

Customer: “I want to buy this dress. Why does one have a lower price than the other?”

(She has two of the exact same dress, but one has a clearance sticker. I ring it and immediately see the problem. The clearance sticker has been placed on the wrong dress. The dress she wants is $59.99, but the correct dress has been marked down to $29.99. This happens from time to time and is annoying, but most customers understand and just put the item back if they don’t want to pay the real price. Not this customer.)

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but this dress isn’t on clearance. This sticker has been misplaced. It’s for a different dress.”

Customer: *now angry* “Well, why does it have the sticker?”

Me: “That’s not something I handle, so I wouldn’t know.”

Customer: “But you have to honor that price! It’s supposed to be on sale!”

(I realize this will go nowhere and ask my manager for help. I explain the problem, and he repeats what I have said.)

Manager: “Ma’am, I can give you a 10% discount on the dress you want, but I cannot mark it down to that price. It’s incorrect. We’re sorry, but we can’t do anything else.”

Customer: “But you have to honor it! You have to sell it for that price!”

Manager: “I can’t mark it down just because the sticker was misplaced. I’m sorry about the mistake, but a 10% discount is all I can do for you if you still want the dress.”

(She refused his offer and proceeded to yell at both of us for the next five minutes. In the end, she left the dresses behind, and said she was going to complain to our higher-ups. Later, I vented my frustration about the situation to our loss prevention worker, whose words I always take to heart because she saved me from getting into trouble once.)

LP worker: “It happens. I know it’s not fun to get yelled at, but it’s best to put it behind you. You saw it was incorrect, and you refused to sell it for a wrong price. Would you rather be yelled at, or you and your CSS get written up for the loss? Don’t worry about it. You’re learning well.”

(The second she said that, I was suddenly proud. I know retail is far from the most important work, but being my first job, hearing I did right means a lot.)