The End

This will be my last post. I have come to realize that there are many crazy things that happen in a grocery store, but I have also realized that there are not as many crazy things that I thought when I began this blog. I had a few silly stories and I always think that I am going to have something odd happen to me at work, but since I started the blog it seems that not as much had happened.    

                I also think that since it was the winter, not as many people came in as if it were the summer time. I think that in a month or two I will start to get more crazy stories because there will be more people coming through the store. Plus, I have only worked two days out of the seven in a week so I did not have as much time in the store as I have before school, so that may have played a role in the decline of weird people and stories.

                I am glad I was able to maintain this blog, although at times I had to think hard of past stories that have happened. I will probably save these stories and look at them a few years from now and get a good giggle from them. If this summer gives me a good amount of stories I may continue this blog, but I would have to expand more on it and I am not sure if I want a blog to be like a part time job.

                Well hopefully these stories have made you laugh a little bit and made you feel a bit smarter. Thank you for reading=]

Oh no...my keys!

            This weekend something happened that was, no so out of the ordinary, but the woman that it happened to was definitely out of the ordinary.

            I was working customer service, like usual, and a woman came up to the desk and told me that she had locked her keys in the car. This scenario has happened in the store a few times, so I was not alarmed or anything. I asked her if she had AAA or anything like that, that could help her unlock the car. She said she had AAA but her card was locked inside the car with her purse. Also, the car was running. I could not imagine how this woman had managed to do that, but I told her that we can find out the number.          

            I finally got ahold of the number and dialed it for her. She was on the phone for about 15 minutes and when she finally hung up she told me how it would be about an hour and a half until they would get here. She asked if there was any way that someone from the store could drive her to her house right around the corner since she had an extra key. I called the manager and he said it was okay so I asked one of the employees in the bakery if she would mind. She said it was no problem, but the woman would have to wait a few minutes.

            The next thing I knew the woman was telling me how she did not want a ride now and to tell the bakery girl never mind. I asked her why, and she explained that she had locked her house keys in the car too and that her house was locked. So she decided to just wait for AAA.

            I am back a customer service and about 10 minutes later the girl from bakery came over and said she was going to bring the woman to her house to see if she may have left her house open. I was confused at why she would even do that now since AAA should be almost at the store, but I let it go.

            Eventually the woman got home after AAA came and unlocked her door. I just could not believe how extravagant the woman’s problem was. She locked herself out with her purse and keys in the car, while it was running. I had a little giggle out of it, but I was glad she got home.

Lottery CANNOT be closed!

As I have stated in another blog, I have come to learn that people love lottery. There was an incident about a week ago where I actually got attacked because I closed down the lottery machine at the end of the night. That story goes as follows.

            Every night the person working behind the service desk goes home at 8. Before they leave they have to make sure lottery is counted out and that all the transactions match the amount of money in the draw and that things are even. Therefore, lottery needs to be closed down about 15-20 minutes early in order for the counting to be done. I usually close it down about 20 minutes before 8 because I sometimes miss something and need to recount everything.     

            So one night I closed down lottery and had just finished counting everything out and finding that it was perfectly even, when a man walked up and asked if lottery was still open, which happens a lot. So I told him no and that I am sorry. He looked at me and told me that I had to open it back up because he needed to get tickets. I told him that I am sorry for the inconvenience but everything is all counted out so I cannot open lottery back up. He then went on to tell me that it is not 8 yet and I am not allowed to close it until that time. I explained to him how I am only there until 8 and I need to count out lottery before I leave so it needs to be shut down early so I can do that. He then told me about how he was here last week and a woman sold him a ticket 5 minutes before 8 so I should do the same. I again explained to him how everything was already counted out and that if I had just started or was in the middle of counting I would have stopped and sold him tickets and then recounted, but I was completely finished and it was perfect. He went on for a few more minutes about how I am not allowed to do that and how I need to open it for him. I still continued to explain how it is all done and closed. I kept saying that I am sorry, but I did not help. He finally, after about 5 minutes, walked away.

            I wish that lottery could stay open until 8 so things like this will not happen, but when I need to be clocked out by 8 it is hard to do that. I have had people make a sigh sound when I tell them lottery is closed, but this guy was by far the worst that I have experienced.

April Fooool's

            As you all know, April fool’s day was this past Friday. I worked behind customer service, just like I do every Friday. I was expecting some of the older people to try and play some jokes on me, or at least tell me some jokes. I was surprised to find that two hours into my shift that no one was saying anything about April fool’s day. Finally one man showed the April fool’s spirit and played a joke, but not on me, on a customer.

            I had just finished taking care of this one man, and he went to walk away, but turned back around. He looked at me with a little smile and said “Just so you know I put a fake winning lottery scratch off ticket on the floor over there”. I said that was ok and hopefully someone will pick it up. Not even a minute later a man came walking buy and picked it up. He was an older gentleman. He stood there looking at the scratch off for a few seconds and then walked away slowly.

            The man who had planted the ticket was standing to the side watching this man as well, and once the man with the ticket left he came back over to talk to me. He explained how the man who picked it up had an empty cart so it seemed like he was about to start grocery shopping, but once he had the ticker he booked out the door. I found it kind of funny, but then I did feel bad for the guy if he really did think that he won about 3 million dollars. But, I am not sure what ended up happening because the man with the ticket never returned to the store to try and cash it in or anything, so I assume he either went home to show his wife or he found out it was fake and threw it away.

SELF scan

One thing that has come to bother me through the years of working at Stop and Shop is the ignorance of the elder people. You try to explain thing to them, but they do not understand, or they try to tell you how to do your job, but it is completely nothing like you need to do it. The biggest pet peeve that I have with ignorant elder people is when they use self-scan. There are a good number of elder people who go through the self check out with no problems, but there are a few who have completely no idea what is going on.

One time I had a woman just stand in front of the self check out machine for about five minutes. I went over to her and asked her if she needed help with something. She looked at me and said she was waiting for the cashier to come ring up her items. I explained how it was self scan and that she would have to do it herself if she wanted to use it. She walked away.

I honestly do not mind when people do that, and there have been times that I will scan there few items for them because they look so sad that they were waiting for nothing. The people that I mind are the ones who come up to self scan and say “Oh I have never done this before you are going to have to help.” I show them the basics, but then they tell me to just ring everything up and bag it. I do not understand why people who do not know how to work self scan, mind you it is pretty self-explanatory, even come to the lines. It is not that I do not want to help them, I just do not like the fact that they know they cannot understand the concept of the machine, yet they still insist on using it.

The Strange Bagger

I was sitting at the computer; wondering what I should write for my blog this week and then out of nowhere and event that happened about a year ago popped into my mind. I do not know how I did not think of this before. The following story is something that caught me, and the manager, off guard one night.

I was working behind courtesy one day and I noticed a young man hanging around the registers. He ended up being one of the cashier’s cousins. The cashier told him that he had to leave and that he could not stand there with her. Plus other customers were complaining about someone helping them bag who was a random stranger. He left about ten minutes after he was told to leave, but before he walked out him and another young kid, who was shopping with his mother, got into a little bit of a verbal bicker.

The next thing I know the phone rings. So I pick it up like usual and I hear this woman’s voice on the other end yelling. She was telling me that “That kid that was hanging around your cashiers who does not even work here just ran after my son and tried to beat him up. I am calling the cops and coming back inside now so have your manager downstairs so I can speak with him.” I said okay no problem, hung up and got the manager downstairs.

The fight did not end up happening and I do not believe any cops ended up coming, but the randomness and adrenalin from the chaos made this event something crazy and entertaining.

Creepy....Part Two

In the last blog I talked about creepy old men hitting on me. The next story I am about to tell is a bit more direct and freaked me out even more than the first instance.

Last week I was working at customer service and a regular customer came in. I see this guy every week and he always says hi to me and asks me how I am doing. I never found that odd until this day, since many of the regular customers say hi and ask how I am and I do the same in return. So, I see the guy and we wave to each other and he comes over to say hi and whatnot. We were talking and since it was slow and no one was coming up to customer service, he was talking to me for a little longer than usual. We talked about the tsunami and earthquake in Japan and other things that he brought up. Then, out of nowhere, he says “so maybe we can get some lunch together sometime”? I kind of was not sure of what had happened because he mumbles a bit and I was not sure if he was talking to me or about him and his wife getting lunch. So I just dismissed that he even said anything. But, then what he had said was confirmed when he said “so, um, should I get your number or something”? I laughed a little and he said “oh are you too busy?” So I told him yes because I have school and work and I do not have time for anything else. He looked at me and said ok and walked away. I seriously had no idea what to do. I am now scared to talk to that guy, but he is always in the store. So I guess I will have to come up with some sort of plan to avoid him or something.

Creepy...Part One

Have you ever heard jokes about creepy old men hitting on younger girls? Well, it is not much of a joke since I have started working at Stop and Shop. Since I started I have had a few old men stare at me in a creepy way and tell me how beautiful I am and all that stuff. But, there have been two instances so far which have stuck with me more than the rest. In the following two blogs I will tell you each story.

The first instance happened about a year into working. I was working on register that day. A fairly old man, I would say about 60’s, came into my line. I said hi like usual and asked how he was, like I do to all the customers. We were talking for a little while I was ringing and he asked me how I liked working here. I told him it is very nice and they work with my schedule well. To me that was not an odd questions since I have been asked that before. Then the weird part began to happen. He asked me if he would like him to get me a job at a casino that he owns. I told him that I am ok where I am working now. Then he says “are you sure, I would get you a job as a cocktail waitress”? I just looked at him and again told him no and that I was happy where I am. It was so weird, and I felt a bit uncomfortable.

Free Peanuts?

There is nothing that I dislike more than people who demand to get things for free. It is our policy to give them their money back, but it bothers me when they demand it, because sometimes it is up to my discretion if they get the full price back or just the difference.

Last week I had a woman come up to the courtesy counter and explain to me how she found some plastic in her peanuts. I called the manager because she wanted to let him know what had happened. He said he was sorry and that he could write up a report to the company for her. She said that she would appreciate that. Then he told her that I will give her the money back for the peanuts, which I figured I was going to do anyways. So I gave her back the full price which was $3.29.

About a half hour later the woman comes back up to the desk and complains that she bought the peanuts for $2.50 last week and now they are ringing up the regular price of $3.29. I explained to her how the sales change each week so that is why the peanuts are not on sale anymore. She then says “Well I think because of the situation I was in I should get this one for free or get the difference back.” I then explained to her how she got a refund of the full regular price for the peanuts before, because I did not know she paid a sale price. So I tried to have her understand that she pretty much just traded cans because I gave her the same amount of money back that she just spent on the peanuts. It took her a few times to understand that she only ended up paying $2.50 for the first can of peanuts and that she was not going to get a refund on another can.

I thought it was funny how she was telling me that she should get it for free just because she found plastic in her other can. She would then be getting 2 free cans, one for no reason.

The Lost Keys

The following post is nothing too funny, but when it happened I thought to myself “this is going in the blog.” The funny part of the story is how it ended because the customer’s daughter was so angry and demanding; that it is ironic how it all played out.

            I was working the customer service desk last weekend and a looked at the next person in line and asked “how can I help you?” All she said was “I think I am going to need a manager.” I was a bit confused, and I thought I was about to get yelled at or something because the woman seemed to be a little tense about something. So I asked her what the problem was and she told me “My mother was in here shopping yesterday and the person in front of her in line stole her keys.” I just looked at the woman, but in my mind I was thinking of how she knew it was the person in front of her and why she is telling me. So I told her I am sorry that happened and said that I do not know who was in front of her mother so I cannot help much.

            The woman then told me that I have a computer that I can look up the customers on and see what order they went through which register. So I can use the information that is on her mother’s receipt and track down who is the woman in front of her was and then I can call her and ask for the keys back. I was a bit taken back because I do not have any type of system like that at all, and I did not like how she was telling me what I could and could not do like she knew. “I wish I had a system like that to help” I said to her and explained how I do not have anything that can look that up. So she asked me to call down the manager and I did.

            He told her, again, that we do not have a system that can look that sort of information up, but that headquarters did. So he took down her information and took the receipt so that he had the time and register number that she went to. The woman left, just a bit happier.

            About an hour later I see the manager walk to the register that the woman was on and lift up the belt. To my surprise he pulled out the woman’s keys. I started to chuckle a little to myself and I asked him how he figured out that the keys were there. He said he had watched the security tape and saw the cashier put them on the belt and they fell through. So he gave me the keys and the woman’s number and I called her to let her know we had her keys. She showed up two hours later to get them.

I think that this was funny because the woman was so angry and flustered about her mother’s keys, while the mother just stood there quiet and calm. Then she accused the person in front of her mother in line without proof, which I found funny because it is usually the person behind you in line that takes your keys. Then at the end of it all, the keys were under the register belt.

You Found that Where?

Have you even gone food shopping and while you are searching the isles you see items that do not belong in that aisle? Well I see that a lot and it is one of my jobs as a front end employee to walk around and gather those misplaced items. I think it is lazy for people to just place down an item that they do not want somewhere random, but I have done it before so I cannot complain too much. The one thing that drives me crazy is when people put cold items in an aisle that is not refrigerated. I think that, that is not only laziness but inconsiderateness. Throughout my years at Stop and Shop I have found some odd things while searching for the out of place items, but the following story is about the experience I had one day, when I found the oddest items in the weirdest places.

            One day at work I was asked to do a back shop (find the misplaced items), so I began in the produce section, but only found a few misplaced items. The next aisle was the sales aisle. I did not find much, but as I went to exit the aisle a shopping bag caught my eye. It was on the bottom shelf. I went over to see what was in it. There were six packages of meat in the bag. I picked it up, only to find another five packages in another bag underneath it. I could not believe that someone would leave bagged meat in an aisle. I put both bags in the cart and continued on my search through the rest of the store.

            The next place that I found an odd item out of place was the bread aisle. In the middle of two loafs of bread there was a pineapple. I picked it up and was trying to think of what person would think of throwing that in with a pile of bread and why. I continued and a few aisles later, I found something else weird. There was a big bag of cat litter in the middle of the toy aisle. I could not even imagine why or even how it got there, so I just picked it up and added it to my cart of other finding.

Another few aisles down there is the makeup and hair supplies aisle. As I walked down the aisle I noticed something odd on the bottom self under a large display of hair ties and brushes. As I walked up to see what it was exactly I could not help but laugh to find out that it was a gallon of milk. I was floored to see that someone would even do that. Dairy is one thing that you do not want to get warm and the fact someone just left a whole gallon in an aisle amazed me. Not to mention the fact that about two aisles over is where the milk cases are. I picked up the milk and put it in the cart with the rest of the items. I did the last few isles and returned to the front end to see what else needed to be done.

            It still amazes me to think that people would put items in aisle that are not even close to the appropriate aisle for that item. I can understand little items like a card or a pack of gum, but to put large or perishable items in another area is crazy to me.

Say What?

                Have you ever been in a supermarket and seen a customer yelling at the cashier? I would probably guess that many have because I know that it is a common occurrence in stop and shop. The one thing that bothers me about people yelling at the cashier is that most of the time the problem is not the cashier’s fault. The only thing that can really be the cashier’s fault is if they ring something more than once. If the price is wrong, it is not the cashier’s fault; it is the computer system. Yet, that seems to be something that many customers cannot understand and they chose to get angry with the cashier. The following story is one of the oddest things I have seen that is an example of a customer getting mad at the cashier.

            I was at work one day and I was on register ringing up my customer, then all of a sudden I hear some sort of commotion going on at the register in front of me. I looked up to check it out and I could not believe what was going on. Apparently an item did not ring up the proper price and the woman was angry. The cashier was trying her best to remain calm and quiet the woman down, but this woman was relentless. She was screaming and yelling and complaining about the store, the service, the products, and everything else that came to her mind that had displeased her about our store. I finished up the order that I was doing and went over to the register to see if I could help the situation and maybe calm the woman down a bit.

 As I approached the register the woman’s voice grew even louder and scarier. But, this time I was not able to make out any words that she was saying. It seemed as if she was chanting or calling to the Gods. It was really odd to witness and I was confused on what the woman was doing. After a few minutes she finally calmed down and the cahier was able to finish ringing up the rest of her order. We even ended up giving the woman the item for free.

The scary and odd part about this story is that as the woman went to leave she turned to us and told all of us to watch out and be prepared for the curse that she had put on the store. I was a bit confused, but then realized that she really must have been doing a chant when I thought she was. I dismissed the fact that there was any curse on the store and finished up the rest of my shift shaking my head every time I thought of what had happened.

The Lady With MANY Coins

                If you ever worked at a grocery store, or even any kind of retail store, you can probably sympathize with the store I am about to tell. The one thing that any cashier does not want to hear is “can I pay with some coins?” Although it sounds harmful, which sometimes it can be, most of the time it is horrible.

            One day I was ringing up this woman, she had a good amount of food. Her total came to $87.92. When I told her the total she looked at me and asked if it was okay to pay with some change. I figured she was going to give me a few quarters or something instead of dollar bills. Well I was wrong. She pulled out a freezer size plastic bag and preceded to hand me rolls of coins. The nickels were first. Each roll is worth $2 and she had given me 5 rolls. Her total was now down to $77.92. The next thing she pulled out of the bag was rolls of dimes. She gave me 7 of those, and each was worth $10. So now her total is at $17.92, and she still continues to pull out even more change out of the bag. 7 rolls of pennies was next, each a dollar a piece. Her total was now at $10.92. She reached into her purse and handed me 92 cents. With $10 left on her bill she hands me a 20 dollar bill. I looked at her a bit confusingly, and then gave her the $10 dollars I owed her for change and she left.

I was then stuck with 19 rolls of coins. There was no room in my draw, so I tried the best I could to make it fit. I was putting rolls under the bills and everywhere else I could fit them. I went onto the next customer, but when I went to open my draw to insert their money, guess what? My draw was jammed. I called the manager over to my register and showed her what had happened and I explained what I had received from the wonderful woman. She found a screwdriver and finally was able to pop open the draw and take a look at my nice coin collection. She laughed and was able to take a few rolls from me and gave me bills so my draw could then close

Ever since that happened I always ask the customer how much change they are planning on using to pay with. I find the story fun, but definitely a lesson learned.

Stalker!

Working at a grocery store, and especially customer service, you can assume that I have seen many angry and disappointed people. I have actually had a few customers fight in my line, not physically though. The following story that I am going to tell happened to me about two weeks ago. It was one of the oddest things that have happened to me and I really had no idea how to react in the moment.

On this day, I was working customer service and my line was at least five people long. About three of them were waiting for lottery; the one thing I have learned while working the customer service desk is not to mess with people and their lottery. So I was taking care of this one customer with a problem he had with an item ringing up wrong, and all of a sudden I heard this old lady voice say “Hey the back of the line is over there!” I looked up and saw a man standing in front of the lottery machine, which is at the end of the desk toward where the front of the line is. The man looked at the woman who had called him out and said that he knew that. The lady came back to say that even lottery counts and that he had to go to the back of the line.

The man looked at her confused and explained how he just wanted to look at the numbers that had come out for midday. He started to look a little mad at how this woman was treating him. The lady still was not giving up and started getting louder with him. Then the weirdest part happened. The man said “Oh well I am sorry, I just wanted to come over here because I am fascinated by this girl back here and I stalk her all the time, so I had to come over to stare at her.” I had no idea what to say so I just let it go and let the two people argue it out. The lady shut her mouth after that and the man walked away. I was still a bit disturbed about it, but I figured it was probably out of anger that he said that because I knew the man; he was my old friend’s father.

The funny part about this story was that the following weekend the man came back and apologized because he had once he walked away; he realized it was me and he was embarrassed. I thought it was weird and odd when it first started, but now I think about it and laugh because of how crazy people can be. There was no reason for him to say it, but because “lottery woman” said something it pushed him to that point to come up with a crazy, outrageous thing to say to her.

The Intro

Hey everyone. I am new to the whole blogging thing, but my teacher assigned this as an extra credit assignment so I figured I would try it. I have been a cashier at Stop and Shop for almost three years now, and over my time being there I have seen many crazy and ridiculous customers and experienced many outrageous events. I once wrote a whole story for a creative writing class about some of the odd things that have happened while I was at work. I thought it would be a fun idea to share some stories each week of the crazy things that I encounter during the week at work. Do not worry, if nothing good happens during the week I have a lot of stories from the past I can tell.

I guess I can end this first entry by telling a short story, just so you can get a feel of what I deal with on a regular basis and also what to expect from future blogs. I am not going to tell any of the really good ones just yet, I will save them for a little later on.

Along with being a cashier, I also work behind the customer service desk. I have seen a lot more ignorance in people since I have started working behind there. I remember this one lady came up to the desk and told me that she had been overcharged for one of her items. It is store policy that we refund them the whole price back so that is what I did. I handed her the money and she handed me the item. I told her she can take it back. The next thing I know she says “Take it back where?” I guess I should have used different wording word I just thought her response was so funny. I explained that she can keep it and I am refunding her the money because that is what we are supposed to do. She then handed me back the money and the item. She looked very confused so I again explained that she is getting her item for free because it is policy to do so. She finally understood and took the item and the money, but what made it even funnier is that she gave me and attitude about it and walked away angry. I guess she does not like free stuff.