A Gruel-ing Customer

(A customer walks up. I’ve been working the registers for awhile.)

Customer: “I never got my soup.”

Me: “Okay, what kind of soup?”

Customer: “The vegetable—he called for it!”

(I recognize the customer from just a few minutes ago. I pull up her order on the register just to confirm if she had paid for it, which she did not.)

Me: “All right, would you like to pay for it separately or—”

Customer: “I already paid.”

Me: “Well, actually ma’am, I rang you up, and you never said you had soup so I didn’t ring you up for it.”

Customer: “I did; I said I got the combo!”

Me: “Well, my apologies; did you want to pay for it on the—”

Customer: “I don’t have any cash; I only have my card. I can’t pay for it!”

(I pause because that doesn’t make any sense. However, I decide to let her have the soup for free.)

Me: “Well, ma’am, don’t—”

Customer: “Just keep it. I can’t pay for it!”

Me: “Well, ma’am, if you hadn’t interrupted me, I was about to say ‘Don’t worry about it, you can have it for free.'”

Customer: “Oh… okay.”

(She takes it and hurries away. She didn’t even say thank you.)