Not Thinking Outside The Singular Box

I work in a bakery in a grocery store that advertises freshly-made food. I am a packager, so I package and label all the food the bakers make and put it on display. One of our most popular items is the croissants, of which we have many varieties that come in single packages, three, four, or six depending on the size and flavor.

Some items we can ring up as single items when asked, but we don’t display them because they rarely sell. Nine out of ten times when someone asks for a single pastry, the rest will end up expiring in two to four days and being thrown out if no employee wants them. I am cutting a pie for one customer when another lady interrupts me as I’m boxing it up.

Customer: “Can you make me one croissant? Or do you not do that?”

Me: “If you get me the box, I can do that as soon as I finish with this customer.”

The lady returns a minute later with two boxes: an almond croissant and a cherry strudel, both in boxes of three.

I box up one of each, give them to her, and then box up the remaining four pastries. A moment later, I’m stocking something else and the lady comes back up to me.

Customer: “There is a mistake. You charged me $2.50 for one, but three is $5.”

Me: “Right, they cost less when you buy more.”

Customer: *Clearly annoyed* “Okay.”

Twenty minutes later, I found her single cherry strudel abandoned with the three-packs, so she wasted not only my time but the boxes. I didn’t find the croissant, so I guess she took it?