The Store has a promotion where if you spend $75+ or use the Store Card, you get a free $20 bag. Good deal, right? Well a woman walked up to the register with a whole stack of things and three little girls. She piles the clothes on the counter and I ring them up. When she passes me 4 of the 5 for $25 undies, I tell her about the sale instead of charging her $7.50 apiece. She thanks me, all is well. Until I bust out with the bag.

I ask her to pick a color. She lets her eldest daughter choose (hot pink, by the way) and I scan it and put it in the bag. Then all hell breaks loose.

She begins to yell at me about not telling her beforehand about the free bag. Her middle child whines about it, which escalates the situation. I apologize, I mean, it sucks that she can't get a bag too but what can I do? The credit card's gone through and canceling the transaction will only piss off the 5 people in line behind her. She glares at me, tells me that I'm a "bad salesperson", and proceeds to stand in the middle of the store with another mom complaining about me. Coworker told me that he heard them talking about how it was a big deal and that she had the right to make a huge situation out of it. And to make matters worse, Bag Lady runs up to White Oprah, my manager!

I continue ringing customers up, trying to keep a smile on my face. The only time I even remotely let loose is when this group of guys comes in that I recognize (one of them came in the night before with his girlfriend) staring at me. I enjoy having guys stare at me as much as the next girl; it's flattering. But this guy was kind of leering at me and it got old, fast. Especially with it happening while Bag Lady is discussing how much of a "bad salesperson" I am. I don't even think I was rude to the leering boys, just curt.

But I digress. As soon as I finished ringing up all of my customers, which took a surprising about of time, I walked over to White Oprah, who highlighted the conversation for me.

Bag Lady (BL): Now this girl at register was just the sweetest girl ever...

White Oprah (WO): Awww, that's kind of you to tell me...

BL: BUT she only gave me one free bag when my purchase was $400!!!

WO: That's our store policy, ma'am.

BL: Well ma'am, I am a small business owner myself and if it had been my store I would have split the purchase up so both girls could get a bag.

WO: But you see, ma'am, more people would be upset if we asked each time.

BL: But I wouldn't.

WO: I understand, ma'am, but that's our policy.

And then, to my utter delight, Bag Lady and her crew of miscreants left.

Labels: Store