I turned and looked at the cashier. He had an apologetic look on his face as he motioned me over. I put on my professional smile and walked over to the register. I'm particularly good at calming situations like this down. But not today.
"What seems to be the prob..." I begin to say.
"This cashier short changed me!" she practically screamed at me. "I KNOW that I gave him a hundred dollar bill, and he says that I gave him a ten. What are you going to do about it?"
"It's a pretty simple process..." I start to say.
She was ignoring my pleasant smile and soothing voice. This was going to get interesting.
"I get cheated EVERY time I'm in your store, and I'm tired of it. I want my money back." I think I still have the bruises from her poking me in the chest to emphasize her point. I hate getting poked.
I looked at the cashier who has the "deer-caught-in-the-headlight" look.
"Dave, she gave me a ten dollar bill. Her change is only two dollars" he said holding out the money to me. It was obvious that he wanted me to take over, which I'm glad to do because our cashiers take the brunt end of most the abuse in the store.
"Bologna!" (not her exact words) she exclaims. "I know I gave him a hundred. I want my money back."
"Ma'am, all I have to do is audit the register. I have a machine that counts the money. It will take only a minute or two. We'll straighten this out for you." I say in my most soothing voice, with my best Customer Service Manager smile.
"I don't want you to count it, I just want you to give me my money! What's so difficult about you understanding that?" She asks. She's staring at me like I'm the most simple-minded of dolts.
"I'm just following policy Ma'am." I quickly direct the traffic in her line to other registers and close the register. All the time she's fuming.
"Figures. I'm supposed to be at the doctor's right now." She glaring at me as if she wishes I were dead.
"I'll just grab the machine and it will only take a min..." I begin.
"Yeah, whatever." And she waves me off.
It only takes a moment to count the register. She has indeed paid with a ten dollar bill. Of course she doesn't believe me.
"I want the store manager!" She insists. The store manager isn't there, but an assistant manager is. The assistant asks me to count the register again. In a moment I'm done, with the same results. Now she's turning beet red.
"How do I know that this machine isn't rigged? You're cheating me!" she bellows. Heads turn as she hurls names at us three.
"Ma'am, I will have to look at the security camera's to see what happened." Says the assistant manager.
"I just know that you're going to gyp me" she yells. The assistant leaves me with the customer and goes to the security office. Moments later he's back.
"You clearly gave the cashier a ten dollar bill...." he begins.
"I did not!" She yells. "I only had one bill in my purse and it was a hundred dollar bill! That's how I know what I gave the stupid cashier!" She opens her purse wide to prove her point. A hundred dollar bill falls out and lands on the register. We all stare at it a moment.
Gathering her items, she snatches the two dollars in change out of my hand.
"This is the last time I'm coming in this store!" she yells as she's stomping out.
She lied. She's in the store all the time. I'm still holding my breathe waiting for an apology.
