So, I previously mentioned that I won’t be continuing my retail rants. But I changed my mind. Since I’ve shifted to posting my short stories on Medium, I’ve decided to keep my retail rants here on occasion. And it just so happens I had a situation perfect to write up for you. It’s a quick story, but I hope it’s still entertaining.
I was working on the center aisle, resetting seasonal stuff and whatnot. And I hear a box of chips being dug through. There’s only one other person working at the time, and she’s at the register ringing up customers. So that can only mean that a customer is messing with the boxes. A moment later, I see a woman come around the corner with an empty box in her basket like it’s no big deal.
I walk to the chip aisle to see what she’d done with the chips – and I find she’d stuffed them all onto a random shelf so she could take the box. Before I make a big deal about it, I check to see if the chips can just be moved to their spot. I don’t mind if people need boxes, but it bugs me when they don’t ask and they just take. And it doubly bugs me when they take thing out of full boxes when we have plenty of empty ones they could choose from. But anyway, I see that the home spot for the chips in question is full and I can’t fit all the product up there. I’m going to need the box back.
I walk over to the woman where she’s now looking at medicine and say, “Excuse me, ma’am, I’m going to need that box back.”
She looks at me like I’m the scum of the earth and goes, “Why? I put the chips away.”
I inform her that she put them in the incorrect spot and the spot they actually go in is full, so I need the box back to put the chips in the stock room. As though I didn’t just explain she puts her hand on her hip and says, “Well, where do they go?” I don’t have the patience for this conversation already, but I say, “Not where you put them. Their spot is full, and I need the box to put the chips back.”
She rolls her eyes and hands me the box. I walk away. But not fast enough to not notice her shove the rest of her basket off to the side and stomp out the door. Because I’m the rude one, I guess.
And the part that gets me is that if she had just ASKED for a box, I would have found her one of the same size two aisles over where my coworker had already been working freight and there were plenty of empty boxes. But I guess since she needed that box in particular, it was unacceptable of me to ask for it back.
Oh – and I can’t emphasize this enough – well.