If You’d Known One Item Is All It Takes You’d Have Tried That Before

Grocery Store, Jerk, USA, Virginia | Right | January 11, 2021

I’m a personal shopper at a grocery store. We do our best to have everything in stock, but sometimes we run out of stuff, especially right before trucks come in. We usually have one or two things out of stock on every order. Unfortunately, people seem to think we have some sort of guarantee that everything will be in stock, even though they have to check a button if they want us to substitute any out-of-stock items for a similar item.

A good 90% of our customers are lazy, entitled, self-absorbed snobs whose husbands make some insane amount of money each year and who can’t be bothered to actually come at the scheduled pickup time that they chose, while the rest of our customers are elderly people with mobility issues, young parents with babies, and people who seem to genuinely need this service.

I have just finished shopping a thirty-piece order. The customer’s pickup time — either four or four-thirty — is about an hour away, and the only thing I don’t have in stock is coming in later that evening on the perishable truck. I call her to ask her if she is willing to wait until about six to pick up, so I can grab the item from the truck. If not, then I can offer to get her a different brand so she at least has something rather than nothing, even though she selected “No Subs” when placing the order.

Me: “Hello, Mrs. [Customer], this is [My Name] with [Store] Online Shopping. I was just calling to tell you that I finished picking your order, and the only thing I didn’t have was [item].”

Customer: “Seriously? You’re out of [item]?”

Me: “Yes, but—”

Customer: “You know what? Just cancel the whole order. I’m tired of you guys never having anything. Your store is horrible! Nothing is ever in stock! I don’t know why people shop here! You lost a customer. I’m going to shop at [Nearby Location].” *Click*

Me: “Okay, then. Have fun with that.”

I would feel bad if I didn’t know that the location she mentioned has horrible in-stock percentages — I think close to fifty percent of any given order will be out — and is consistently late with their orders, so much so that a good chunk of our customers came from that location.

This story is part of our crazy-online-shoppers roundup!