He’s Sour About The Dough

I’m a shift supervisor at a popular bakery in my town. I’m currently in the office, finalizing some catering orders for the week, when I hear a commotion at the counter. An old man in a tweed suit is yelling at one of my counter staff. He’s demanding bread.

Old Man: “What do you mean, you can’t do it?”

Coworker: “No, I said we can.”

Old Man: “So you can’t?!”

I step in at this point.

Me: “Sir, what is it exactly you want?”

Old Man: “I’m looking for sourdough bread.”

Me: “Unfortunately, we don’t have any more of the sourdough. We only had it for the summer for a special.”

Old Man: “Well, when do you expect to have it again?”

Me: “Probably sometime in May—”

Old Man: “In May? That’s too far. Do you not carry it anymore? What bread do you have?”

Me: “We carry white focaccia and multigrain.”

Old Man: “So you don’t have sourdough?”

Me: “No, we only have white focaccia and multigrain. The sourdough is seasonal.”

Old Man: “Now listen. I’ve been in California the past two years, and you always used to have sourdough. How do you not have sourdough? If I go to [High-End Bakery] two years from now, I assume they’ll still have French baguettes. How do you not have sourdough?”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but we change the menu seasonally and we do not have sourdough bread.”

Old Man: “Well, what do you have?”

Me: “White focaccia and multigrain.”

Old Man: “Well, the multigrain used to be decent. I’ll take a loaf of that.”

I go in the back again and get him a loaf of multigrain bread. Before I can even look at the register, he starts again.

Old Man: “Since I assume you’ll be taking my order now, I’ll have an oatmeal raisin cookie, and a Lola cookie, and how much is this cake slice? And what’s this over here?”

I finally manage to get him rung up, and he drops this gem:

Old Man: “Now see, aren’t I nice? I think I’m pretty nice.”

He asked me if I could wait outside with his stuff while he pulled his car around. I declined.