Those Who Won’t Pay The Price Will Pay Some Other Way

I used to work in a thrift store. And without a doubt, the very worst part of working there was the hagglers. Customers always assumed they knew how much something was really worth, especially in the collectibles section. I never bothered to count how many customers gave me grief about the prices, even though I had no control over the prices whatsoever.

At least once or twice, somebody had the gall to tell me to go to the back and tell the people who put on the price stickers that their prices were much too high, and one old man told me to my face that God didn’t love me because I was robbing the customers of their hard-earned money.

I especially dreaded when the workers put two different stickers on the same item by mistake, because the customer would demand the lower price every time. 

We had a few regular hagglers and my stomach would sink to my shoes every time I saw them. My most memorable moment was when a regular came by like usual, and I dreaded her the most because she was the “my way or the highway” kind of person. While she never got physically aggressive or anything, I could just tell she was a woman who knew what she wanted and wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

I can’t remember what item it was, but she was very adamant about purchasing a particular collectible that day while being just as adamant about not buying it for full price. As usual, she tried everything possible to get us to knock the price down, and she hung around the area for at least an hour. 

When she walked away for a bit, a man came to collectibles, saw that same item, and decided to buy it. He didn’t say anything about how much it cost; he just wanted it. How could I refuse? I wrote him the sales ticket, he came back with his receipt in good time, and he left with his little prize fair and square. 

You guessed it: the same lady came back — I swear my heart skipped a beat or two — and saw that the item was gone, and all I can tell you is that she was not a happy camper.

It was all I could do to refrain from telling her, “Well, gee, lady, maybe if you weren’t so picky about the price, you could have gotten your hands on it first. And you wouldn’t have saved that much money, anyway.”

I totally understand people who must stick to a strict budget, and I understand the need to save. Even so, as I witnessed there, and still witness from time to time at my current job, the lengths some people will go to save a measly two or three bucks are simply astounding.