Your Overfriendly Neighborhood Grocery Store

(I am working as a cashier at the grocery store I work for. It is early in the day and not every busy. I have a regular customer come up to my register, who is always pleasant, and she, I, and the bagger are having a great conversation. I am at the time the fastest cashier at my store and the bagger is pretty quick as well. During this time I had several people go to different lines because there was no waiting and the regular had a larger order. All her items are bagged and ready to go as soon as the transaction is over. There is now another customer waiting in my line who seems impatient.)

Me: “Okay, you are all set for today! Have a great day!” *I turn to help the next customer* “Hi! How are you today?”

Customer: “You know, you shouldn’t talk so much!”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Customer: “That last person you had! You had other people waiting in your line that got fed up with you talking too much and had to go to other lines! You should not hold other people up just because you talk too much. It is rude.”

Me: “I am sorry, ma’am, if I made you wait too long. It was not my intention.”

Customer: “Well, next time don’t talk too much!”

(She leaves, and I turn to my bagger with a confused look, which the bagger shares.)

Bagger: “Did she just complain that we were being too friendly?”

Me: “Apparently. You know those other customers left because they could tell it was a large order and there were open lines.”

Bagger: “Well, at least working in a grocery store is never boring!”

(The best part was about a week later the regular customer came back through my line, and I had the same bagger again, and she overheard the whole thing. She told us we were wonderful, and that she was actually amazed by how quick we were!)