You Found The Backup Humans We Keep At The Back!

It’s a Saturday, the busiest day of the week at our store. On top of that, the weather is perfect, so everyone and their neighbor decided to come and buy heavy things. To make it even better, we’re short-staffed on loaders. So, chaos.

I’m working in the garden section when a woman comes through with a big cart full of bricks. After I check her out, she asks for loading assistance. No problem. I call it in, but the person on the other end tells me there’s already a backlog of people waiting for help, and it will take a few minutes.

Me: “I’m so sorry, but it’ll be a few minutes before someone can come over to help you load.”

Customer: “Well, you need to get someone that can help me sooner.”

I repeat my apologies and explain that all the loaders are busy. In between me ringing up other customers, she keeps coming back to complain, as though sheer persistence will magically make someone appear.

Customer: “I can’t stay here too long. I have other things to do today.”

She’s been waiting maybe five minutes at this point. I told her it would be a few minutes, not a few hours. Then she drops this gem:

Customer: “If I go to customer service, can they get me loading assistance?”

Like… no.

There are no secret loaders hidden behind the customer service desk. If she goes there, they’ll call the same loaders I just did. She will still be waiting.

Customer: “In the past, I’ve always gotten help right away!”

Yes. And in the past, it wasn’t a slammed Saturday with half the team missing. But sure.

Thankfully, a loader shows up soon after, and she finally gets on her way. The whole time I’m thinking: some customers really need to understand that if something takes a while, it’s because it takes a while. Going to a different desk isn’t a cheat code for extra staff.