Acting Like A Fish Out Of Water

I work in a fast food sandwich shop located within a supermarket. I am a closer and it’s about an hour until closing. I only have a trainee with me in the back doing dishes when a family comes in: a grandma, a mom, and three kids. They have already done their shopping and bought a live fish in a plastic bag full of water. The mom is arguing with one of the kids, demanding that he order a sandwich.

Kid: “I don’t care; I just want that chicken.”

He points to the teriyaki chicken.

Me: “Okay, would you like the whole thing toasted or just the meat warmed?”

Kid: “I don’t care. Yes, toast it.”

The kid gets into a fight with the grandma, but I don’t catch why they start fighting. He then runs around the corner with the grandma chasing him.

I prepare the sandwich and, as I am sliding it into the toaster I hear this awful noise come from near the soda machine. I assume they have broken something. The kid and the mom then begin to yell at the grandma and I quickly look over to see her bent over and picking up their fish, out of its bag. Apparently, they dropped it and the water got all over our rugs. The kid is yelling at her more and the mom begins yelling at him.

Kid: “You killed my fish!”

He runs out of the store and out of the supermarket. The mom goes after the kid, leaving the other two kids in the store. I gave the grandma a water cup for the fish and she then leaves to go back into the supermarket to get water for the fish. The two kids stand around awkwardly until the mom comes back with the little brat. They continue to fight and argue the entire time while ordering three more sandwiches, two pretzels, and three or four Icees. All the while, the kid is yelling about his grandma killing his fish, and she even paid for everything!

I have a conversation with the trainee when the family leaves.

Me: “So… there’s fish water on the rugs out in front of the soda machine.”

Trainee: “Umm… what? H-how?”

Me: “Yeah… Well, I’m gonna go call the manager.”

I called her but she did not answer. I ended up having to text it to her and she simply told me to hang the rugs to dry. The next day, I talked to the manager about it and she said, “That isn’t a call you get every day.”