Almost About To Lose It

(I have just been assigned a new hire to shadow me on the registers when a customer with two heaping carts walks up to my register. I give her a friendly greeting, but she ignores me and starts piling her things (mostly $2-$3 clearance children’s clothes) on the counter. After I finish scanning the entire pile, she begins to scrutinize the screen which shows her the items she’s buying, including the prices and total.)

Customer: “How much is it?”

Me: “$150, ma’am.”

Customer: “That’s too much. Start over.”

(By this point, I had already spent more than ten minutes scanning her items.)

Me: *surprised* “Start over? I could just take off what you don’t want instead.”

Customer: “No. Scan it again. Start over.”

(The customer then starts digging through the pile, alternately throwing things at me, on the floor, and in several disorganized heaps on the counter. I void out the first transaction and reach for one of the piles to begin scanning again, but she slaps my hand away. After a while, she shoves a few shirts into my face, and then grabs them away when I move to scan them. Eventually, after another fifteen minutes, I have a pile of scanned items that she seems to approve of.)

Customer: “Here, I don’t want these either.”

(She throws still more items from the bottom of her cart at me. At this point, my bin for rejected items has long since overflowed, and the pile beside it is threatening to tumble over. Finally satisfied, the customer presents a coupon that doesn’t start until the next day.)

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am. That coupon starts tomorrow, and I’m not allowed to accept it early. If you like, you could bring your receipt in tomorrow to get it adjusted.”

Customer: “Don’t bother. Just hold it until tomorrow for me.” *begins to walk away*

Me: *calling after her* “Ma’am! I’ll need your name to put it on hold!”

Customer: *storming back* “FINE! It’s [Name]! You’d better not lose all that! I spent a lot of time finding it all!”

Me: “Of course not, ma’am. It will be waiting for you at customer service. Have a nice day.”

Customer: “Whatever.” *marches out the door*

Me: *to new hire* “I think I need to take my break now. I’ll have you shadow [other cashier] until I get back.”

New Hire: “Does that happen a lot here?”

Me: “Unfortunately, far more than it should.”