Schrödinger Goes Shopping
A customer walks up to the customer service desk.
Customer: “I need this item.”
She shows us a picture on her phone. Two of my coworkers start pulling it up in the system.
Coworker 1: “Looks like… we should have one in stock.”
Coworker 2: “Yeah, says ‘1 on hand.’ Let’s check.”
We scatter around the aisles, stockroom, and back counters. Nothing. Nowhere.
Me: “Sorry ma’am, it looks like our system is off. We don’t actually have this one in store. You can order it at the kiosk here, and it’ll ship right to your house or to the store for pickup.”
Customer: *Scoffs loudly.* “Why on earth would I order it online if I came here to buy it in person? That makes no sense!”
She storms out. We exchange the usual “well, that was fun” looks and get back to work.
Five minutes later, the system dings. A ‘Buy Online, Pick-Up In Store’ order has just been placed. For the exact item we were just searching for.
Two minutes after that, guess who comes strutting back through the doors?
Customer: *Marching to the desk.* “Now that I’ve paid for it, you can’t lie to me and say you don’t have it. You HAVE to find it.”
We exchange glances, sigh, and re-check everywhere we already looked. Nothing.
Eventually, we have to cancel the order. Which looks bad on us, because it counts as a failure to fulfil.
Me: “Sorry, ma’am, the system was wrong. You’ll get your refund in a few days.”
Customer: *Fuming.* “Unacceptable!”
She storms out again, but not before giving us the death glare like we personally hid the thing in our lockers for fun. I get that it’s inconvenient to not have an item in stock, but she demanded a product we didn’t have, twice. At least she’s consistent?
