Don’t Discount The Customer’s Ability To Discount, Part 8

(I work in the deli inside a small grocery store. We have two scales to weigh the sliced meat. The one at the front counter plugs in by our feet, so it is easy to step on and accidentally unplug it. This happens five minutes before we close.)

Customer: “Are you guys still open?”

Me: “Yes, we are! What can I help you with tonight?”

Customer: “Yes, I would like some maple ham and oven roasted turkey.”

Me: “How much would you like of each?”

Customer: “Just show me what two pounds looks like and I’ll decide from there.”

(I slice two pounds of the maple ham and put it on the scale. She decides she wants three pounds instead, so I slice another pound for her, but when I go to put it on the scale, the screen is blank.)

Me: “It looks like the scale came unplugged and will take a minute to boot back up. But in the meantime, I will start slicing the turkey for you. I apologize for your wait.”

Customer: “Oh, it’s no trouble at all. Does this happen often?”

Me: “Unfortunately, yes. The cord is right by our feet and it is easy to unplug. But it shouldn’t take much longer. Again, I apologize for your wait.”

(The screen comes back on, but it is reading the weight of the meat wrong. My coworker tries to fix it, which doesn’t seem to help, but I go to the other scale and weigh the meat.)

Me: “Since this scale isn’t working properly, I used the one in the back. I had to write down the price for you since it doesn’t print out labels. Is that all right?”

Customer: “Not a problem, dear.”

(I bag up the three pounds of each meat and hand it to her with the prices written down.)

Me: “Okay, just give these to the cashier at the front and they will ring you up! Thank you so much for your patience and I hope you have a great rest of your day.”

(She takes the bags to the front and I think that’s the last I will hear of it. But then I get a call. Note: that whole thing took a total of about seven minutes.)

Cashier: *over the phone* “I have a lady here claiming you guys were goofing off while serving her and made her wait a half hour to get her meat. She wants a discount because of you.”

Me: *explains what happened* “I apologized profusely for making her wait. Our scale came unplugged and we had to reboot it.”

Cashier: “Well you should have explained that to her. She had no way of knowing. She is very mad and we have to give her a discount now.”

(She got the discount, and then proceeded to the service counter to get a full refund. I guess you just can’t please some people.)