Cashier's Thoughts

I don't know about anyone else that works in retail, but sometimes I wonder how many murderers I ring up in a day.

Seriously, how would I know if some guy just killed his wife and came in to buy cigarettes from me?

I see at least 500 people a day, there's bound to be a murderer somewhere in there, right?

And I don't mean the crazies, like this guy:



or this guy:



I'm talking about the strange ones...the ones that don't look you in the eye, the ones that are very quiet...the ones that just buy their shit and get the hell out. Those are the ones that I watch out for. We have a few of those types in the store.

I'm expecting one of them to come in one day covered in blood and wanting a pack of Lucky Strikes, breathing heavily from the adrenaline rush they got from stabbing someone 71 times.

If that ever happens, then I'm out of there for good.

I can feel something strange is going to happen soon. Is there a full moon coming? I'd better put some foil on to protect myself like that guy above. Maybe he has the right idea.

Torani Giveaway WINNERS

Okay, I used random.org to pick out two winners and those are...

Maria @ NailsMadeSimple.com

and

Katie.

Please email me at admin (at) confessionsofacashier.com and let me know your address so I can send you the coupon. If I don't hear from you within 48 hours, then you're shit out of luck. I'll just go to the next person in line.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And remember, if you happen to shop at your local gas station or convenience store on Thanksgiving, don't tell the cashier how much it must suck to be working that day. Instead, buy them a lottery ticket. Or better yet, THANK THEM for being open and working that day.

Torani Flavored Syrups + GIVEAWAY

I received these the other day to try out. What are they? Thanks for asking! They are Torani flavored syrups to put in your coffee that are supposed to liven it up.

I don't drink coffee, but I decided to give the peppermint flavor a shot. I love the smell of coffee, but it's always tasted pretty bland to me and I don't like adding any milk or sugar to things just to get them to taste better. Tea, on the other hand, makes me get out of bed every morning. I drink it plain and absolutely love it.

Anyways, the box that these came in also came with a recipe book for things you could make with the different flavors of syrup from Torani.

I immediately went to the "Cocktails" tab and started looking through the recipes for alcoholic drinks. Dealing with customers every day has turned me into quite the alcohol connoisseur. They have a recipe called a Peanut Brittle Caramella that looks good but I didn't get that flavor of syrup in the package so I couldn't make it. Not until I buy the right syrup for it. Hmm...clever marketing tactic, Torani.

So I decided to get a cup of coffee at the store and throw a splash of the Peppermint flavor into it. Imagine my surprise when regular customers stood there and watched me do this and all because they had never seen me drink a cup of coffee before. I make it known that I am an avid tea drinker. And yes, when I admit that I'm a tea drinker, I get a lot of teabagging jokes thrown my way.

I'm not going to bore you with exact descriptions of how my taste buds bursted at the seams while reacting to coffee + peppermint flavored syrup, but I am going to say that it was actually quite good. I could taste the peppermint flavor and it made the coffee taste sweet.

I have discovered since that these flavored syrups can go in just about any drink. One that I will try next is called a Candy Cane Steamer.

But here's the good part! I've been given some coupons for FREE bottles of this stuff! And not the small, dinky bottles, either. These coupons are good for the BIG ones! This is good stuff here people!

To enter, just leave a comment below letting me know if you've ever tried this stuff before.

Two lucky winners will each get a coupon good for a FREE bottle of Torani syrup. Yes, just a coupon. You didn't think I'd send you a bottle in the mail, did you? With the outrageous shipping prices going on these days??

This giveaway ends on November 21, 2011 and the two random winners will be announced on November 22, 2011.

This Guy Needs A Bubble Bath

We had drama at the store the other day....and as usual, I wasn't there.

This customer came in to buy cigarettes. He looked like he was on something because he was moving around really fast and waving his hands in the air while talking quickly.

He paid by credit card and when he was told to "press credit or debit" on the screen, he continued waving his hands in the air until he finally reached down and touched the correct button.

Naturally this scared my co-worker, so she came in the back to tell my dad about it.

As the customer was walking away, he was swaying and almost fell into our wine rack. As he did this, a customer, who was in the store the whole time, got on his phone and called the cops at the same time my dad got on the phone to call the cops.

By the time the police showed up the man was sitting in his car. They ended up blocking him in with their cars so he couldn't go anywhere.

He was acting loopy with them as well and they asked him what was wrong with him. He said that he had forgotten his medicine at home and needed to take it.

Since it was obvious that he was on something, they ended up searching his car. And what did they find?

A prescription bottle with BATH SALTS in it.

I don't know about any other state, but in Ohio bath salts have been banned because just like everything else, some idiot decided that they got a high from snorting it.

So the cops ended up arresting him and thanking my dad and the customer for the "good bust".

Will people ever learn?

One Slice Away From Crazy

We lost a customer's business over 20 cents. Allow me to explain...

I was working yesterday when one of our regulars came in. I don't really care for this guy, he's loud, mean and I've seen him slap his grandson across the face before when he's brought him in to buy stuff. So, not my favorite guy in the world.

But he does come in every day and buy tons of shit, so any business is good I guess. He also asks for a receipt every day. Probably to make sure we aren't overcharging him.

So yesterday my co-worker, Erin, was ringing him up and bagging all of his stuff. He had four bags full of things he bought on the counter at this point. Once Erin rings every single thing through, he then starts complaining.

"Uhh, I was charged $2.29 for this bread and the sticker on it says $1.99," he yelled.

Erin was a little scared of him so she just kind of glanced at me to take care of the problem.

I walked over and looked at the register screen. "Okay, I'll go in and fix this," I told him. I was a little irritated that he pointed this out AFTER she was through ringing everything up when the bread was the first thing she ran through. Normally for a void the cashier has to start over and ring everything back up again.

"Well are you going to give me my money back yesterday, too? Because I was overcharged for this bread yesterday just like I was today," he said, even louder. It was at this point that I remembered how much I hate loud people.

"Why didn't you tell us yesterday?" I asked.

He didn't say anything and just kept smiling. So naturally I assumed he was joking around with me. So I finish correcting the price on the bread and start to walk away so Erin can complete his transaction. By this point the store was getting busy and there were a lot of people in line.

"So are you going to give me my money back from yesterday?" he yelled over to me.

"You should have said something yesterday," I said, smiling. He was shaking his head and still smiling at me. "See you tomorrow," I told him.

"Yeah, no. I don't think so," he said, STILL smiling. "I won't be back here," he said as he grabbed his bags and started walking away.

It took me a second to compute that he wasn't really joking, even though at this point I still wasn't sure because he still had a smile on his face!

"Nope. Won't be back," he kept saying out the door.

After he left I got pissed off. If we overcharged him, why the fuck didn't he bring his receipt back to show it to me? He yells at all of us everyday if we forget to give him a receipt, so I'm assuming he checks what he's getting charged daily.

Why does he think he can just demand money back from us without any proof? We don't just hand money away whenever someone asks for it.

I'm sure he was overcharged because the bread was ringing up incorrectly, but it's not our fucking fault that the bread driver priced his products wrong.

And so now I look like the asshole that wouldn't give this guy 20 cents back, but really I was just confused by his behavior the whole time.

Is he owed his money? Sure! I'd be pissed if I was overcharged. But then again, I wouldn't go buy another loaf of bread the next day so I can 'catch' them in the act of overcharging me. And I certainly wouldn't have a fucking smile on my face while demanding my money back from the day before without a receipt.

All of us are afraid of this customer, because at some point he's yelled at all of us. I used to like him, but once I saw him slap his grandson in the store, I lost all the like I had for him.