As mentioned in a previous post, I work retail. Not just
retail, but at an overstock store. If you don’t know what that means, it’s
pretty simple: we receive stock from suppliers who either ordered too much or
simply don’t want the merchandise. We then sell said merchandise for an
extremely discounted price.
The benefit of a store like this is the discounts.
Seriously, some of the prices are unbelievable. Add in a 20% employee discount
and I can find reason to buy nearly anything we stock.
The downside of a store like this is we sometimes get some…
Let’s say special customers.
An example of that:
Tonight, as I was cashiering, a man and his girlfriend came
through my register and were purchasing a large amount of items. The woman
stepped outside as I was ringing up their order, leaving me to make small talk
with the man. He started joking that he was tired and his brain wasn’t working,
and then said that he didn’t learn how to count because he went to school in
Idaho. All pretty innocent, and he had me and my coworker laughing.
Flash forward to the end of the transaction, when it comes
time to pay. I announce his total, which was $218, and wait as he digs out a
giant wad of cash and starts pulling bills out. He hands me $125, and I wait
expectantly. I ask if he wants to put the remainder on a card, and he just
stares at me. So I fan out the bills and point out that he’s still about $100
short, and he continues to stare at me. After about a minute of me staring
back, it dawns on him that I need more money. So he tosses another $20 on the
counter.
“That’s great,” I say, “but your total is $218. This is only
$145.”
More staring.
“WAIT!” he yells. “Are you sure you’re not taking my
hundreds?!” He looks from the money in my hands to the money in his. “I had four
hundreds and now I only have…”
He looks again from the money in my hands back to the money
in his, counting.
“OH! There’s still four. Never mind!”
He hands me another $100, I give him back $25, and then ring
out his transaction.
His change came out to $1.62, which I handed to him with a
smile, as he asked me to please count it out for him. So I did, as ridiculous
as it seemed.
I’ve been accused of stealing money from customers before (a
hazard of working the night shift), but this guy takes the cake.
