Manager, Manage! Part 4

We have a sale going on which results in long queues. I am serving a woman who has a lot of items. My manager is serving behind me at another register. We call customers from the same line. He rarely serves, but I wouldn’t let him leave me alone on the registers.

Manager: “Okay, if every second person in the queue can line up over here.”

Me: “[Manager], can you take the next customer as she’s been waiting the longest?”

She is also a regular.  

Manager: “No, I called every second person, not every first. You have to serve her.”

Me: “She’s been waiting the longest.”

I finally get to serve her. By this time, the manager has gotten through at least four sales. I apologise to her; she is so pissed off. The next day, she comes back.

Customer: “I’m sorry I didn’t thank you for what you tried doing yesterday. [Manager] was so rude.”

Me: “Yeah, I am sorry. I have no idea what he was thinking.”

Customer: “Well, I just wanted to thank you and say goodbye. You can tell [Manager] that I’ll be taking my business to [Competitor] from now on.”

Me: “Okay, I might see you there. I always shop there; they have better things than we do.”

Customer: “And they don’t have [Manager].”

Me: “They used to; that’s where he came from.”

Customer: “They probably fired him.”

Not sure if that was the case, but he was offered demotion or a forced resignation a couple of months later.

Related:
Manager, Manage! Part 3
Manager, Manage! Part 2
Manager, Manage!