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.