(Every once in a while, my wife and I take the kids to a popular self-serve frozen yogurt place where there’s a whole wall of flavor selections and a huge bar of topping choices, and you pay for your creation by weight. Due to the ages of our children, we have to help them get their treats, and you can handle one, maybe two, cups at a time. So we’re strategic about it, she and I going up one at a time to each help one kid and get our own. We learned early on by visiting this place that they’ve set up their system to accommodate such arrangements without requiring multiple purchases: they weigh each cup, then store the weight/cost, then we add to it as needed until we’re ready to pay. We’ve done this so often and it’s always been so smooth that we don’t even specify specifically what we’re doing to the cashier, we just say, “and we’re going to be adding to this order” and continue concocting.)
(Well, on this particular visit, prompted by an email telling my wife that a $2 off promotion she had been awarded was expiring soon, we were the only customers when we first arrived. Not long after my wife started helping our oldest with their treat, a small rush hit and about 10-12 people showed up and got in line. At the cash register, as normal, my wife told the cashier, “we’ll be getting more with this order,” and sent our oldest over to me and went back through alone to get hers. A couple minutes later as I was talking with my kids at the table, I looked up to see how far along my wife was and I saw the cashier angrily staring a hole through the back of my wife’s head, making the circular hand motion of “come on, already!” and about six people were standing at the register looking confused and a little annoyed. My wife (oblivious to all this) finished her treat and went to the back of the line of people at the register.)
Cashier: “Ma’am!” *gesturing her forward*
Wife: “Oh! Uh . . . okay.” *as her yogurt is weighed* “My husband is going through, too, so there’s still more on this.”
Cashier: *really annoyed now, sneering at my wife, then turning to the still-growing line of people* “I’m sorry but it’s going to be just a LITTLE longer . . .”
Me: *catching on, stepping up to the register* “Aren’t you able to store her order and help other people while we get the rest of our stuff?”
(The cashier looks very confused, looks over her monitor, and then as if by providence a second employee comes out from the back to help with the growing line of customers. She and the first cashier whisper for a moment, and the second cashier smiles, makes a few selections on the screen, and then helps the next people in line while the first cashier doesn’t acknowledge my wife again but also starts helping the next people in line.)
(After I have my stuff, it’s time to pay and I’m again dealing with the first cashier. I mention the $2 promotion as I’m getting ready to pay. The cashier gets our phone number to apply the promotion and fumbles on the screen for a second.)
Cashier: “Hmm. Well it was there but then it vanished. I guess it expired already. Your total is $X.XX.”
Me: “Well we’re here because we were told it was expiring at the end of the day.” (It was still hours from closing time).
Cashier: “Yeah, so it expired today. It’s expired. Your total is $X.XX.”
(I see I’m getting nowhere so I pay and then tell my wife when I sit down. She checks her email again and it was sent *that morning* and said “visit us today” to use it. We got home and emailed corporate about the entire experience, and within 24 hours had an apology, assurance that the manager of the branch would be notified, and a $5 coupon. We’ve been back a couple times and haven’t seen her again).
