Friday, September 05, 2008

Glass Jar Sketch in Ink and Wash

"Oh" she said "this binder doesn't have the bar code on it."

"Oh, yeah, look at that."

"Do you think you can go get a binder that does?"

"Ah, well, yeah, I guess."

I walked across the store floor and found one of the binders with a bar code. But when I walked back to the counter she had already begun ringing up a lady with a basket full of stuff.

I waited patiently for the woman to find her discount card in her cavernous purse. Then she rummaged through it again looking for coupons. The cashier didn't acknowledge me but kept scanning the woman's items. The woman asked over her shoulder "I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all." I lied.

The cashier continued to ring up the sale and I continued to wait. I stood by the counter holding a single bar coded binder in my hand.

But I was tired of waiting. The woman now in front of me had more coupons to use. She had pulled cards of items too big to fit in her cart and the cashier scanned them and rang up more dollars.

Finally I set my bar coded binder on the counter and walked to the door without a word.

I really did mind.

...dave
"Treat every customer as if they sign your paycheck…because they do." - Author Unknown

3 comments:

Content in a Cottage said...

The only thing worse is a clerk that stops in the middle your transaction to answer the phone and then puts that customer ahead of you.

Love the quote.

Papa Joe said...

Yeah...but if you didn't have to hunt for another binder, you probably would not have broken the 5500 steps plateau that day.

daveterry said...

papa joe:

You're exactly right. I walked over two miles that day. In part thanks to the cashier. Yet, somehow I don't feel any better about it.

I keep thinking: Why didn't the stocking clerk note the missing bar code? Why didn't she just guess at a low price and let me walk out a happy customer? Or call someone to check for her or...well, never mind.

content in a cottage:

Yeah, I hate that. I can never figure out what inspires a manager to demand that their employees answer phones at the cash register. Why would you stop a sale in mid-transaction? It just doesn't make any business sense to me.

...dave