Ultimate Shirty Behavior  

(I work at a popular retail store known for having brand names at a discount. I’ve been working here for just over a year when this event occurs. I’m on cash and have been having a relatively normal day. A customer comes up, tosses the one shirt he wants to purchase on my counter, and seems pleasant enough as I take the security tags off. I scan the shirt into the computer and get an error message saying the shirt cannot be sold.)

Me: “Sorry, I need to check something really quickly. I’ll be right back.”

(My supervisor is nearby, so I grab her to explain what happened.)

Me: “Hey, [Supervisor]? I scanned in this shirt and got a message saying it can’t be sold? I know that can happen, but do you mind taking a peek, making sure I didn’t just hit a weird button or anything.”

Supervisor: “Of course.”

(She comes over to my till and checks the message. Confirming that the shirts have been flagged, she attempts to explain to my customer.)

Supervisor: “I’m sorry, sir, the computer is telling us we cannot sell you this shirt.”

Customer: “What? Why?”

Supervisor: “It could be a manufacturer’s defect, or a product that [Company] has pulled for whatever reason.”

Customer: “I don’t care. That’s the only thing I found that I wanted.”

Supervisor: “I’m very sorry, but the computer won’t let me sell you this shirt.”

(The customer doesn’t throw a fit, but he leaves very aggravated. I don’t think much of it, give my supervisor the shirt to deal with, and return to my shift. I don’t have any more cash shifts for a while, and I put the event completely out of my mind. One day, as I am leaving from a warehouse shift, I stop to say goodbye to my cash supervisor on my way out.)

Supervisor: “Do you have a minute before you go?”

Me: “Of course!”

(I’m thinking that perhaps something was wrong with one of my tills, so I want to make sure to have this dealt with. This supervisor is one of my favourites.)

Supervisor: “Did any of the managers ask to talk to you?”

Me: *panicking now* “No?”

Supervisor: “No, don’t worry. Remember that customer you had, the one you couldn’t sell the shirt to? It turned out he filed a complaint against me.”

(I’m flabbergasted. This supervisor is one of the sweetest people in the store, and while she can be a bit brusque, I’ve never known her to be impolite and I can’t think of a thing she said out of place during the exchange.)

Supervisor: “Oh, yeah, he said I cussed him out, ‘Don’t ever come back into this f****** store,’ ‘If I ever see you back I’ll call the cops,’ a bunch of nonsense. I had to talk to the managers about it.”

Me: “He’s lucky he didn’t come in to do it, because I would have started a fight!”

(I’ve never seen this customer again, but if that’s how he decides to deal with his problems, then good riddance.)