On The Need For Hazard Pay, Part 13
Clothing Store, Golden Years, Impossible Demands, Revolting, USA, Utah | Right | October 13, 2017
(It’s a quiet Sunday morning, and I’m the only cashier. An older man who looks at least 70 hobbles up to my register and places a shirt on the counter.)
Customer: “I’d like to get this shirt, and I was told you could also take the sensor tag off these pants I’m wearing so I can buy them.”
Me: “Uh, the pants you have on right now? They’re from here?”
Customer: “Yes. Trying them on tuckered me out, and the girl in the fitting room said you could remove the sensor tag up here at the register.”
(Our sensor-removers are secured to the counter, and I know for a fact that there’s no way this man could manage holding his leg up to get the sensor tag taken off. I stammer for a moment before remembering an unattached sensor tag remover we used for our express lane on Black Friday months ago.)
Me: “Right! Let me just see if someone can get us the sensor-remover we need.”
(I ask over the radio and receive some confusion over why I would need it, but eventually my manager says she’ll go to the lock box in the back and get it.)
Me: “All right, [Manager] is just grabbing that sensor-remover, and then you’ll be good to go!”
Customer: “But I was told that you could remove the sensor tag.”
Me: “Yeah, we can; it’s just that our normal removers are attached to the counter. [Manager] is grabbing the unattached one right now.”
Customer: “Well, I’ve already stood here longer than I can handle. If I have to go take the pants off, I just won’t buy them.”
Me: “No, it’s all right. The sensor-remover is on its way up right now; don’t worry.”
Customer: “This is ridiculous. I was told the sensor could be removed. I won’t buy the pants if I have to go take them off.”
(I’m taken aback by how angry the customer is getting, but thankfully my confused manager arrives at that moment with the unattached remover. I go around the counter and have to crouch down to try and remove the sensor at the bottom of the customer’s pants leg. It’s a tricky process, and I notice the man is balancing on one foot, so I tell him he can put his foot down if it would make him more comfortable.)
Customer: “Actually, I have an open sore on that foot.”
Me: *freezes* “Uh, where is that exactly, so I don’t bump it?”
Customer: “Oh, it’s just on the bottom of my foot.”
(With that gross image in mind, I was finally able to get the sensor removed from the pants. I then had to pull all the tags and stickers off of the pants, getting much closer and more touchy-feely with the customer than I would have ever wanted to. He left without so much as a “thank you,” and I promptly took a much needed break to shake off the heebie-jeebies the whole interaction gave me.
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