#perishables

There I was, on register during another busy weekend. It wasn't a particularly long shift, but with how many customers there were it felt like I'd been stuck on that register forever. And I knew it was going to get even crazier because at 4:00 I'd be heading to self scan. I had 20 more minutes on register, but I would've gladly taken the rest of my shift there instead. I was finishing with one customer and their order as another got on my line. Then my supervisor told me to shut down for my break; I'd go straight to self scan when I came back. The customer who just came didn't start unloadng yet so I could have told her I was closed. But that would've made me a glutton for punishment because she was technically there when my light was still on. She had a decent sized order. I figured if I scanned fast enough and helped her pack, I could be on my break within 10 minutes. If only I knew how wrong I'd be! It started off alright. The only downside was as I was scanning, instead of her going to the other end of the belt to help pack, she was ripping coupon after coupon after coupon from multiple flyers. She gave them to me as I was about 3/4 of the way done scanning. There were between 10 and 20 manufacture coupons in the pile. And when I was done scanning the items, I went for the coupons. The first coupon was denied. Which basically meant I'd have to call a supervisor to override it. That is, assuming the customer had the item/the correct number of items for the coupon. But before I did that, I read the coupon to see why it was being denied. It was for frozen vegetables. "Did you get the [Brand] Vegetables?" I asked her. "Yes," she said. I looked at the frozen food that was still on the belt and unpacked. There was a lot of frozen food in her order. But I only remembered scanning TV Dinners. Not frozen vegetables. I double checked the screen. No [Brand] Vegetables. I told her it didn't look like she got them and gave her back the coupon. I scanned the next coupon. It was also denied. I read it. It was the exact same coupon. As was the next 2 coupons. I gave them back to her. She looked at me like I was a nut. Then came the third...or was it fifth?...coupon. It was also denied. It was a cleaning product. But I knew all she had bought was food. So I gave the coupon back to her. After the next coupon was denied, once again for an item she didn't get, I looked at each individual coupon. I put 3 to the side, unsure if she got the right amount of those specific items. I gave her back the rest, all of which she had none of the items for. She still looked at me like I was a nut. I scanned another coupon. It was denied. "Did you get These Crackers?" I asked her. "Yes," she answered. I checked the list on my screen, but didn't see them. It was possible I scrolled too fast and missed it, so I printed the on demand receipt. I scrolled down past the Frozen Food section, past the Bakery section, and past the Dairy section to read the Grocery section. It looked like she had the item. But did it match the size the coupon was asking for? "May I see These Crackers?" I asked. "I don't know where they are," she brushed me off and continued packing. She left me no choice but to start going through the bags she packed and placed in her wagon. Fortunately These Crackers were easy to spot. But there was only one box. She was supposed to get 2 boxes. I told her this and handed her back the coupon. Then I read the last 2 coupons. They were exactly the same - $3 off of 8 [Brand] greek yogurts. I asked her how many she got. "I got plenty," she said. I dug through her bags, eventually finding them at the bottom of the cart. There were only 4. I told her this. "Check again, I definitely got more." I double checked. There was all of one yogurt hiding under the cheese. "There's 5 yogurts here. These coupons are for 8. So you'd need to buy 8 to use one coupon or 16 to use both." "So I only need to run back and get 2 more?" she asked. I shook my head. "3 more," I corrected. I walked back behind my register after handing her the coupons back. From the corner of my eye I glanced at the time on my screen as I helped her pack the rest while she stood there. It was 3:50. It was sure cutting it close to getting to self scan after my break if my coworker had to leave at 4. But I didn't say anything. "How much were the grapes?" the customer asked. Silly me, I'd already thrown out the on demand receipt. I scrolled through the list on the screen searching for the grapes. Fortunately they were one of the last items I scanned so it didn't take long to find. "About $9.24." The lady made a face. "That's a lot to pay for grapes. Take them off." I voided off the grapes and she dug through her bags to give them back to me. She then asked the price of a few other items, some of which I had to reprint the on demand receipt for to double check. I answered her questions and she stood there thinking. After another couple of minutes, she took out her credit card to pay. Her total was $136.72. The payment processed $21.89 on her card. "Your new total is $114.83," I told her. Once again, she looked at me as though I were crazy. "What?" "Your card took off about $21," I explained. "Where does it say that? It should've gone through," the lady said. I turned the other moniter so she could see it better. My finger brushed over the screen, signaling toward the last line. Visa - $21.89. "Oh..." she blinked. She paused. "Can you cancel the transaction?" "Yes...I just need to a supervisor." I called for a key - a shorter way of yelling for a supervisor. Since one was on register and the other was preparing to clock out, my coworker at Customer Service came over to help. She asked what was wrong and the lady said she wanted the transaction canceled. Coworker blinked. "The whole thing? Or just the payment?" "The payment," the lady specified. Coworker put her key into the slot and typed in her code. The payment became undone and the total went back to $136.72. Coworker said she could try paying again. I asked Coworker not to go too far, as I might need her help again and I was already late taking my break. Fortunately Coworker did not have a line waiting for her at customer service, so it was nice she even wanted to stick around and help me. This was one of the Good Ones. The lady attempted to pay again. But this time her card was denied. "Why isn't it going through?" she gasped. Coworker proceeded to give her a list of reasons why the card might've been denied. She could've gone over her limit. Maybe she got locked out of her account. Maybe there was just a problem with the card. This time, it was Coworker who got the crazy look. Coworker paused and blinked before asking, "Do you have another card you can use?" "No," the lady answered simply. "So...do you want me to suspend the order? We can hold it at customer service for you and you can come back later with another payment method," Coworker explained. "Oh I'm not coming back later," she shook her head. Coworker and I exchanged glances. She then slowly brought her gaze back to the lady. "Sooooo should I just cancel the whole thing?" Lady shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so," she said before turning and leaving the store. Coworker sighed and proceeded to void the transaction, once again using her key and her code. By now it was 3:57. Realizing this, I sighed. "Guess I'm not going to self scan at 4." "Oh really? How come?" Coworker asked in a genuinely happy tone, as she knew how I loathe self scan. "[Other] Coworker goes home at 4. I was supposed to be on my break 15 minutes ago," I said. I then glanced over to the wagon the lady left behind, full primarily of perishables. I bit my lower lip before glancing at my Coworker again. "What do we do about all that stuff in the meantime....?" Coworker sighed. "Just...I guess bring it over to the throwbacks and let self scan know you're gonna be late. There's no one to run anything back and there's nowhere to put any of it right now. You just take your break." "Soooo all that's stuff's just gonna go bad now?" I asked. Coworker wasn't thrilled about it either, but there was no other choice. "It's gonna have to." Luckily [Other] Coworker at self scan was understanding why I was late to cover for her and didn't mind staying the extra 15 minutes. Admittedly I only took a 10 minute break instead, as I already felt bad she was stuck there longer than needed. And I didn't get asked about why there was a wagon of perishables sitting there fully bagged at all. But looking back on this story I'm not sure what annoyed me more.... The fact that this lady gave me so many coupons for things she didn't even get just expecting to get at least $10 off her order without me even batting an eye (did she even read the coupons to be sure she got the items?) or the fact that because someone didn't schedule enough people on a busy weekend to work that there was all that frozen (and some dairy) food that ended up needlessly going to waste. Maybe it was both. Maybe I'm just cynical from all this time working in retail. Or maybe it's just that I reached the Are You a Nut? look limit. All I know for sure is this - you can't make this stuff up. And that, my friends, is a True Retail Story.

And my freezer is full of whatever I couldn’t eat before it went bad.  Or whatever was on sale.  Right now there are strawberries, chicken breasts, fish my neighbor caught, taquitos, frozen veggies, and ice cream.  The supply is low.

@sniper-mom-and-dad76

I’m just so thankful I have people in my life who are so understanding like @mxduckemy and @dryad-diana and @faolmohr and @neo-trickster and @chaoticinconvenience like it’s nice to know my gender network is so big and supportive and wonderful. Edit: @ Jay I forgot ur URL t w i c e and had to keep coming back to add it to this fucking post I s2fg