Lack Of Apology Just Takes The Cake

(I work in the bakery department of my local grocery store. One afternoon, a man approaches our counter.)

Me: “Did you need any help today, sir?”

Man: “Yes, I’m here to pick up a cake for my son’s birthday.”

Me: “Okay, what was the name the order was placed under?”

Man: “I don’t know.”

Me: “Do you know what the cake looked like? Anything descriptive?”

Man: “No, I have no idea. My wife ordered it.”

Me: “Okay. What’s your son’s name? That might help me find it.”

Man: “Oh, it’s Daniel.”

(I check both places we store cakes for pick-up, but we don’t have a cake for Daniel. I return to the counter.)

Me: “Sir, unfortunately, I’m not finding your cake back here. Is there a way you could get in touch with your wife and ask her about it?”

Man: *becoming annoyed* “I mean, I could call her, but all I know is she said to go to [Grocery Store Chain] at this time to pick up the cake. And this is the only store we ever shop at. We always come to this store. We never go anywhere else.”

(The store I work for has three locations within a three-mile radius, so it happens sometimes that people come in to pick up orders placed at other stores.)

Me: “Are you sure she ordered it from [Store #1], and not from [Store #2] or [Store #3]?”

Man: “No, we always do our shopping at [Store #1]. We never shop at any other grocery store or anything. It’s always here! Let me call my wife…”

(While he calls her, my coworkers and I sift through completed orders and future orders to see if it was glossed over, but we have no cakes for Daniel’s birthday. After about ten minutes of looking, I approach the customer again, and he tucks his phone away to speak with me.)

Me: “Sir, we don’t have any orders for a birthday cake for Daniel, from the past week or for the week coming up.”

Man: *getting angry now* “That doesn’t sound right! My wife ordered our cake from [Grocery Store Chain]! We don’t ever shop anywhere else! My wife swears she ordered it from [Grocery Store Chain], and we only shop at [Store #1]! We don’t shop anywhere else!”

(While he continues talking to his wife to try to figure it out, I head to the back and call Store #2 and Store #3, just to see if he’d come to the wrong one by mistake. After spending another ten minutes on the phone — now spending twenty minutes looking for his cake — neither of them have had a birthday cake for Daniel in the previous week or for the week ahead. I head back to the customer, who is now off the phone and seems completely calm.)

Me: “Sir, I called [Store #2] and [Store #3], just to double-check that your wife didn’t place the order there, and neither of them have a birthday cake for Daniel, either.”

Man: *as he’s walking away* “My wife ordered the cake from [Big-Box Department Store whose name sounds nothing at all like ours]. Have a good day!”