Des-pickle-ble

A lady comes to the register with thirty jars of pickled onions.

Customer: “All of these are out of date!”

I’m confused because those just came in.

Me: “I’m sorry?”

Customer: “These are all out of date! I checked them all and look! They’re six months out of date. What kind of shop are you running?”

Me: “Could you pass me one, please?”

The customer huffs and slams one down on the counter.

Customer: “I think it’s despicable that the staff here aren’t doing their job. Just disgraceful!”

I read the dates on the jar and immediately realise what’s happened:

Me: “Oh, I see. If you look just here, the date you were looking at was the production date; the ‘best before’ date is just below it.”

Customer: “I know how to read a date!”

Me: “It’s very easy to misread the label on these, but I assure you they’re well within date.”

It’s not easy to misread; it very clearly says, “Production,” on the first line and, “Best Before,” on the second.

Customer: “How could you be so rude? I’m going to call corporate and have you fired!”

She left in a huff and my boss — the owner of the company — who had watched the whole thing burst out laughing.