Fifty-Seven Clicks Of Karma

My local supermarket has a deli counter where you take a paper ticket and wait your turn. There’s a digital display that shows the next number, but when it’s quiet, the staff often just serve the next person without advancing the number of the display and it gets out of whack. Today was one such day.

I pulled ticket #87 and the display said, “29”. There were two people ahead of me at the counter, some guy who was apparently #85 and a lady at #86. While the young girl behind the counter was helping man #85, lady #86 launched into a tirade directed at the employee.

Lady: “This display is on number twenty-nine! You’re so lazy! And you’re just causing confusion!”

I just rolled my eyes and threw a look of understanding sympathy to the girl behind the counter as she finished up with guy #85. What happened next was priceless. The lady saw #85 leave and launched into her order. The deli worker cut her off with a saccharine-sweet smile.

Employee: “One moment, please, ma’am.”

She picked up the clicker for the display and clicked it over, and over, and over again until it reached #86. It took quite a while. The lady was pissed! She GLARED at the girl behind the counter the whole time, while I stood there with a huge grin on my face. She couldn’t even criticize, because she was the one going off about it being wrong.

After finishing the lady’s order, the employee tried to apologise to me for the delay. I told her that she’d absolutely made my day! It’s not often you see service staff being able to deliver a customer service slap-down, but when you do, it’s glorious to watch!