Not Bready For The Holidays
(I work the morning shift in a bakery on Christmas Eve of 2014. I am pretty new, and it is overwhelming. There are hundreds of pre-orders, and most of the regular sale breads are gone within an hour. I’ve had to turn away several people who wanted Christmas breads at this point.)
Customer: “I’d like a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread.”
Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, we’re sold out.”
Customer: “What do you mean?”
Me: “I mean we’ve sold all of the cinnamon raisin bread. I could recommend—”
Customer: “Well, it’s Christmas Eve. You should have baked more!”
Me: “Ma’am, all of our bakers were up all night baking extras–”
Customer: “This is ridiculous! I can see a loaf right there!”
Me: “Ma’am, that is a pre-ordered loaf. Some people have ordered weeks in advance and–”
Customer: “But I’m here now!”
Me: “But that bread was ordered by another person. Ma’am, I can recommend a different–”
Customer: “FORGET IT! YOU RUINED MY CHRISTMAS!”
(The customer storms away, and I’m left blinking in shock. The next customer is a kind elderly lady with a pre-order that happens to include cinnamon raisin bread. A few minutes later, the original customer has apparently gotten back in line and has reached my register.)
Customer: “Hey, why did that woman get bread!”
Me: “Ma’am, she pre-ordered last week–”
Customer: “But I was here first!”
Me: *heavy sigh*
(This went on for a minute or two until she declared I’d ruined her Christmas once more and stormed out for good.)
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Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
