The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving

(It’s a busy Saturday afternoon, and several of us are ringing at the counter, trying to get the line down. Everything is going fine, until a young woman comes up with a large online return and, halfway through, my register crashes.)

Me: “Sorry, I don’t know what happened, but my register crashed on us. Could I move you further down the counter to that empty register over there?”

(Without a word, the woman snatches her purse and moves the six feet down the register counter. I gather up her returns and move as well, just as she’s slamming her purse down.)

Me: “Sorry about that again. Now, we’ll quickly go through this return and have you out of here in no time!”

Customer: “Whatever. I can’t believe I still shop here. Something always goes wrong.”

Me: “I’m sorry, again. Our registers are very old and sometimes they crash, especially when we’re busy like this.”

Customer: “That, too! There’s always a line when I come in. I hate this store.”

Me: “Again, I’m sorry. We’re trying to move as fast as possible.”

(The woman rolls her eyes and I go through her returns silently, making sure each one beeps as I scan it in. Finally, I get through them all, and pause to gather them up and drop them in the returns bin behind me. I come back to the customer to process her refund, but she stops me.)

Customer: “I need you to count those all again and make sure you returned them all.”

(I stare at her for a moment before turning around to gather up her items again. It takes me a minute to find them all in the bin, but eventually I do and I’m able to count them. The numbers match up, but the customer is still shooting daggers at me.)

Customer: “Whatever. Can we just put my money back on my card?”

Me: “Actually… it looks like you used two separate payments on this order. I can put most of it back on your card, but [amount] will have to go back on a gift card, since that’s what you used on the original order.”

Customer: “What?! Are you kidding me? I just waited in this ridiculous line, and now this? I don’t want another gift card! Just give me my money back!”

Me: “I’m so sorry, but—”

(The customer is about to cut me off when the older, extremely nice, and good-natured coworker ringing next to me jumps in tersely.)

Coworker: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but we can’t give you back actual money you never had in the first place. And I’m sorry you’ve had to wait in line for so long, but it’s a Saturday afternoon and it’s to be expected. Try coming in at nine in the morning when we open; it’s NEVER busy then. Until then, she’s just trying to do her job and help you as much as she can, and you’re making it difficult.”

(The customer was embarrassed and silent for the rest of the transaction, and left without further argument. I never had a problem with her again!)