Stayaway From Layaway

(I work in the layaway department at a superstore. Late one evening, I’m cleaning the counter and a coworker from the electronics department shows up with three PS4s and tells me some customers are coming to put them in layaway. About twenty minutes after he leaves, three college guys walk up to the counter and tell me they’re putting the PS4s on layaway, but they have a question first.)

Guy #1: “I have a question about the layaway.”

Me: “Okay, what is it?”

Guy #1: “How much do we have to pay on these to take them home today?”

Me: “The full amount.”

Guy #2: “So, if we pay $30…”

Me: “…they stay here in the store until you pay the remaining balance. We keep them locked up, so I can assure you they’ll be safe.”

Guy #3: *to the two others* “Man, that girl in electronics said we could pay the $30 and take them home!”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but that isn’t how layaway works. You pay ten percent of the total cost and we store them for you. Once you pay them off, you can take them home.”

Guy #1: “So you don’t have like a payment plan or…?”

Me: “No. You can make payments as often as you like, but like I said, you can’t take them home until the full price has been paid.”

Guy #2: “Why not?”

Me: “Because that’s stealing.”

Guy #3: “So you’re saying we should get them at [Video Game Chain] for less?”

(At this point I’ve realized that there isn’t much going on in these guys’ heads, but I still attempt to explain that layaway allows you to spread out payments as opposed to paying a huge chunk of change all at once. Throughout my explanation they’ve been giving me blank stares.)

Guy #1: “All right, we’re just gonna go to [Video Game Chain].”

Me: “Okay, then. Have a good night.”

Guy #3: *as they’re leaving the layaway department* “I wonder how much [Video Game Chain] will charge us to take them home tonight…”

Me: *head-desk*