In Line And Out Of Line, Part 12

I am walking out of the cash office to put my cash drawer in the register. I have to recount it in front of a manager before I start my shift to make sure I have my required float. My cash light is off, signaling I’m not ready to accept customers yet.

A woman walks up with her young daughter — maybe ten — and places a greeting card on the belt.

Me: “I’m sorry, miss, I’m not ready to accept customers yet, as I have to still count my drawer. Cash #1 would be happy to help you.”

Mother: *To her daughter* “Now, honey, we have to go stand at the end of the line behind everyone. Now we’re last because this lady should have been ready to take us. We’re going to be late for Granny’s birthday because of this lady.”

Me: “I do apologize, miss. It should only take me a minute if you would rather wait?”

Mother: “No, it’s fine. You have just provided my daughter with a good lesson. When an employee is at work, they should be ready to serve at all times. Now you have shown her that stupid people like you are what’s wrong with the world, and you can’t do anything about stupid people making you late for things.”

The mother and daughter walk off into my coworker’s line — one customer deep — and huff and puff while I count my drawer. I hear the mother complain to my coworker about how I’m slow and should really have been ready to serve her immediately.

Coworker: “We are all required to count our drawers and enter it into the system before taking on any customers, and her shift hasn’t even started yet, so she is well within company policy to make sure everything adds up before taking on any customers.”

The mother has been served and starts heading past my register. She stops and says to her daughter:

Mother: “When Granny gets upset that we’re late, we can come back and thank this lady for ruining everything.”

Just as she has finished berating me, I am done counting and flip my cash light on and ask to take the next customer in line.

Daughter: *To her mother* “See mommy? She’s open now. Didn’t Granny say, ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all, to you when you were a little girl like me? You called that lady stupid and I think she’s smart.”

The mother turned beet red and hurried out the door.

Related:
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 11
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 10
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 9
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 8
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 7