You Ever Hear The Expression, “Patience Is A Virtue”?, Part 2

This happened years ago when I worked at a big box furniture store. This store was massive, with a marketplace, warehouse, and two restaurants. It had dozens of departments, and every employee had specific tasks. Mine happened to be cart retrieval and helping customers load their flat-packed furniture into their vehicles.

One random weekday, my coworker called in sick, so I was carrying double the workload. The cashier manager contacted me over my radio.

Cashier Manager: “A customer at the exit needs help loading.”

Me: “Got it.”

I was finishing up with another customer not too far away so I was there within a few minutes.

Me: “Hi. I’m here to assist you. Where is your vehicle?”

Customer: “It’s about time! I’ve been waiting here for fifteen minutes!”

She hadn’t been; I had just walked by there five minutes beforehand.

Me: “Sorry about that; I was with another customer. I came within a few minutes of being told you needed help. Where’s your vehicle?”

Customer: “Are you saying I haven’t been waiting that long?”

Me: “No. I’m just saying I came within a few minutes of finding out that you need help.”

Customer: “I don’t need your attitude after waiting so long. I want an apology.”

Me: “Ma’am, I already apologized to you. Where’s your vehicle?”

Customer: “Forget it! I’ll find someone else!”

Me: “I am literally the only person here that can help you.”

Customer: “I’LL. FIND. SOME. ONE. ELSE!”

Me: “Okay.”

I walked away and continued working since I was incredibly busy loading other vehicles and retrieving shopping carts from everywhere, including the occasional cart corral.

Thirty minutes later, the cashier manager came across my radio again with a slightly annoyed tone.

Cashier Manager: “That customer by the exit still needs help.”

Me: “I offered her help. I told her I was the only one to help her, and she refused, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

Cashier Manager: “Ooooookay?”

Twenty minutes later, I saw my manager, the cashier manager, and the warehouse manager talking to her. The cashier manager had called my manager and gone to meet the customer. The two of them were middle-aged women who then had to call the warehouse manager to load this large box containing a dresser. I walked past them, leaned against a post, and watched.

The customer was irate, yelling and complaining about customer service. She spotted me and scowled at me before getting in her car and driving away.

I approached the managers and explained what had happened. One of them said, “We get it,” before we all separated and went back to work.

That customer had to wait over forty-five minutes because she was too entitled to wait for five minutes. I’d like to think she learned a valuable lesson, but she probably tells a very different version of the story.

Related:
You Ever Hear The Expression, “Patience Is A Virtue”?