Harassing an elderly woman in a wheelchair? Be prepared for a long transaction.
This story resurfaced after finding this sub, happened back in 2012.
I used to work at a CVS/Pharmacy in downtown Long Beach. For those who donât know, thatâs in the midst of LA, but thankfully on the shoreline so I wasnât surrounded by city. However, the clientele were just low-life LA city trash. Overall I had amazing coworkers and the occasional nice person to come through and make things tolerable.
So one day itâs later in the afternoon and of course we have a line of people forming as they get off work to do shopping before headed home. Iâm the only cashier, I see a few people get in line, Iâm going as fast as I can, but sometimes people come too fast in the late afternoon. So I page my backup cashier to come up. Within a minute or so theyâre here, and we have 2 people, but still the line grows, so I page the third cashier [My manager, Monica, real names, whatever]. She comes up, and now thereâs a line of probably 10 people that formed in a good 5 minute period, with people constantly coming in and lining up still.
Everybody in line gets it, itâs 4-5 in the afternoon, itâs a rush time for a quick trip. I get this one lovely older woman in a wheelchair, very nice, but obviously confined to a wheelchair and can only move so fast. She buys her stuff, and has to slowly put her 5 items into her bag on the wheel chair, carefully placing each item into the bag to make sure itâs secure. She canât move out of my station since sheâs bound, so I just wait patiently while she does her stuff. Unfortunately, the next guy in line (Weâll call Drunk Ass), isnât as patient. He begins yelling from the line that I need to call the next person. I tell him sheâs in a wheelchair and Iâm not forcing her to move. She looks up at me and just smiles, and continues putting her stuff away. Keep in mind itâs been about 30 seconds since we finished, nothing crazy.
DA: âYouâre taking too long. Youâre too slow, you had to call 2 extra cashiers up just to get people out, whatâs the hold up? Whatâs wrong?â
Me: âSir, sheâs in a wheelchair and putting her stuff away, Iâm not going to rush her out, just please wait patiently for her to finish.â
So Drunk Ass comes up to my line anyway. The poor lady is still working on putting her bag back around her wheelchair, and this guy stands right up against her wheelchair, and plops his items down on the counter. I donât initially grab any of his items until the woman finishes, but he pushes them closer anyway. So I start scanning, and then an idea hits me.
Anybody whoâs been to a store like this (CVS, Safeway/Vons, Rite Aid, Walgreens) knows you pretty much need one of the club cards to receive the sale price. You can probably see where this is going.
Me: âDo you have a CVS card?â
Me: âOkay, well just so you know you canât get the sale price without a CVS card.â
DA: âThey always scan one of those cards for me, just do that.â
No please here? Oh boy, Iâm DEFINITELY going to oblige now!
Me: âSorry, sir, theyâre very strict that I canât just scan new cards, they actually track if we scan too many new cards in a day.â
DA: âI have a card, I just donât want to get it out, just scan that one.â
Me: âAgain, sir, I canât do that. I can look up your phone number though.â
DA: âI donât have it tied to my number, just scan that card.â
Me: âI have to have your card to give you the sales, Iâm sorry. Theyâre very strict about our numbers.â (This is actually true for the most part)
So at this point Drunk Ass is getting visibly upset. Heâs definitely a little drunk, his face is getting red, and he just wants to buy his stuff and go home. Then the unexpected happens, my manager Monica speaks up to the side, I had no idea she was paying attention.
Monica: âSir, youâre holding up my line, Iâm going to need you to give him your card or just pay.â
Oh to hear your manager catching on to your game and rallying against the awful customers. Drunk Ass ended up paying for his stuff without the sale price, cost him an extra $1 IF that, and I never saw him again. As he walked out the door I looked over to my manager and sheâs just grinning ear to ear at what we just did.
Never a dull moment there, but Iâm glad I no longer live there, nor work for a company as awful as CVS. I have more stories Iâm sure I can post, but hereâs to my first!