Unfiltered Story #215085

Complaint to compliment.

(I work in a well-known British supermarket that’s known as a partnership where all employees have a share in the company. In this story, I’m restocking bread. We’ve recently had to rearrange this aisle, losing stock of a certain brand to replace it with more of another brand and our own brand. As I’m restocking, a customer comes up to ask for help).

Customer: Hello, I’m looking for a big loaf of (brand 1). All I can find are toasties and bloomers.

Me: I’m sorry, we have had to remove most of that brand to make room for more of (brand 2) and our own brand.

Customer: (launches into a rant about forever changing products that leads onto a tangent about not having enough sliced beef and having too much sliced ham).

Me: I am very sorry, it’s not ideal but unfortunately there’s not much I can do but offer you another brand.

Customer: (suddenly notices my name tag and pauses her rant) oh that’s a lovely name! Very graceful. Not many people have that name. I’m called (a fairly unique name originating from Greece).

Me: I guess it is nice to have a unique name.

(The customer then bids me farewell. It was a nice compliment but I was flummoxed at how quickly she went from a rant to polite smalltalk).