Gross Grocery Behavior

We have courtesy clerks, who are also called baggers. Most people hired are hired as courtesy clerks and make their way up through different positions in the store. If you have special skills, such as a butcher or cake decorator you get hired directly to that department. I was hired as a cashier.

My bagger and I are moving along like a well-oiled machine. I’m very fast and he is able to keep up with me with no problems. My bagger is great at his job; he knows not to put the potatoes on the eggs and to keep the frozen foods together, etc.

My customer does not like at all how he is bagging and everything he puts in a bag is wrong.

Customer: “No, put that with the bread!”

Customer: “No no, that goes with the ice cream! Are you stupid? You are doing it all wrong!”

We both try to remain polite and he just does as asked. She finally yells:

Customer: “Get out of here! I’ll just do it myself!”

My bagger comes up and whispers to me:

Bagger: “I’m gonna use the bathroom before I say something I’ll regret.”

Customer: *Yells* “Get me your manager!”

The manager comes over and the customer starts with all kinds of lies.

Customer: “He was being rude, he was throwing my groceries, refusing to bag them, he called me names, and he whispered something nasty about me to the cashier.”

About this time my bagger returns. My manager tells him to go clock out and go home. I am in shock. The next person in line is with the shouting customer, and she looks so embarrassed.

Customer’s Friend: *Quietly* “I’m sorry. She is actually very nice.”

Since she is the last in line, after she leaves I turn off my light and go to the office to talk to my manager.

Me: “[Bagger] did everything by the book. That customer was absolutely in the wrong!”

My manager knows I would never lie so we watch the CCTV and although there is no sound, we can tell exactly what happened from the body language. We find [Bagger] getting his stuff from his locker.

Manager: “I apologize. [My Name] stood up for you and told me what happened. You can leave but you’ll still be paid for the day.”

Never saw that customer again.