A Time For Giving And A Time For Gift-Receipting

(I am working Christmas Eve in a popular overstock store and have been there since 6:30 that morning. It is the mid-afternoon and I have about an hour left of my shift when a woman comes up to me, wanting to exchange a shirt for another one of a different size. She hands me a stack of receipts and I begin to process her order. I hand her the new receipt and the new shirt when she begins to glare at me.)

Customer: “Where’s my gift receipt?”

Me: “You didn’t ask me for one, so I didn’t think to print you one out. I’m very sorry.”

Customer: “Well, I need one. This is for my nephew and he can get very picky. Can’t you look up my sale and print it out?”

(Our registers can only reprint the regular receipt, not a gift receipt. I call my manager and ask her what I should do and she proceeds to tell me what to do. I look up at the customer and tell her what I was told to do.)

Me: “The only way I can give you a gift receipt is if I return the shirt, sell it to you again and reprint it. I’m very sorry.”

Customer: *huffs* “I guess.”

(I begin the return and, since it was less than 24 hours of the purchase, I need to see her driver’s license and put her state and number into the computer. She’s huffing at me the whole time as well as giving me nasty looks. I’m also beginning to get a line as well. Due to the volume of people starting to pile up, I call for backup and completely forget to print the receipt.)

Me: *feeling extremely embarrassed* “Ma’am… I’m so sorry. Because of all this craziness I forgot to print the receipt again. If you go around the other side, my coworker can help you and get this taken care of.”

Customer: “No! I’m already here and you’ll fix this for me! This is completely ridiculous! You shouldn’t even be working on register if you don’t know how to operate it! They should have people like you working in the fitting room!”

(I can feel my face getting hot as I’m utterly embarrassed and mortified, and I’m on the verge of tears because of her screaming at me and I can hear my voice cracking because of it.)

Me: “Ma’am, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to forget it and the only way I can get your receipt is to return it once more. Again, I’m very sorry. May I please see your driver’s license so I can return it?”

Customer: “No! Get your manager up here because you obviously don’t know what you’re doing! This is completely ridiculous and a complete waste of my time!”

(I call for my manager to come up and help me when the man behind her steps up to the counter and pushes the woman’s shoulder.)

Man: “Don’t you know it’s Christmas Eve? This woman’s probably been here all day, dealing with a***-holes like you and she doesn’t need you making her day any worse! Next time, don’t wait until the last minute to do all your f****** shopping and giving people like her a hard time!”

(The two of them begin to argue and my manager comes up to diffuse the situation and help ring the first customer out. Afterwards I’m sent to the break room to recompose myself after all of this. I’m back there for no more than 20 minutes when the assistant manager comes in to talk to me.)

Assistant Manager: “We just received a very interesting phone call.”

Me: “I’m fired, aren’t I?”

Assistant Manager: *smiles* “No. That guy called, the one who was behind that woman and tried to pick a fight with her. He called to say that he was very sorry about the way he acted and wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas.”

(I began crying all over again, but left feeling a bit better about the situation. Thank you dude, whomever you are, for making a young cashier feel better about her Christmas. You’re welcome back at our store anytime!)