A Deflating Situation

(I work in a store that makes balloon displays. A customer has ordered a large quantity of balloons and I’m packing them into bags. It’s quite clear there are still plenty of balloons to be packed because they’re behind the till. It’s hailing heavily outside and the customer is already irate because he needs to get the balloons safely home.)

Me: *passes one bag to customer* “Here’s the first bag. I’ll just pack up the rest.”

Customer: “Thank you!”

(I turn around to open up another carrier bag. When I turn back, the customer is gone. I look at my colleague, confused.)

Me: “Where did he go?”

Colleague: “He went out the door. Run after him!”

(I have a lung condition and cannot go sprinting after the customer, especially not in the cold and hail, and I also have another customer waiting. When they realise this, my colleague runs after the customer, but cannot find him. An hour later, the phone rings. It’s the same customer.)

Customer: “I bought some balloons earlier and you only gave me half of them! I need the rest right now!”

Me: “With respect, I explained that the bag only contained half the balloons, and you left before I had the chance to give you the rest.”

Customer: “It’s not my fault; it’s yours! I’m not coming back into town, so you need to bring the balloons to my house right now or my party will be ruined!“

(To dispel the situation, my manager ended up driving out of town to the customer’s house, dropping the balloons off, and apologising for my “bad service” because “the customer is always right.” I really hope the balloons deflated.)