Assistance on Aisle 10

My mom and I took a quick jaunt to our local big box store this holiday because I decided to try out my new crockpot and needed a pot roast to act as my guinea pig. This trip was anything but quick.

We get into one of about four lanes out of 100 that are open and just wait...and wait. After standing there a while and becoming the middle of the lane, we realize that we each have under 20 items and could actually be in the express lane. We look over to see that there are lot of people in those lines and decide to stay right where we are. That was our mistake. We weren't thinking. Even if there were a lot of people in the express lanes, they would move faster due to the small amount of items unlike the two cart fulls in front of us. The first cart's total came to $222 and some cents. The second cart, that cart was the problem. The total there was $98 and some cents. As a side note, prior to ringing up the $98 cart, the cashier tells a man two people behind us that he is her last customer and after that she is closed. He gives her a blank stare. She repeats herself and asks him if he understands. He nods with a blank stare. I immediately think "that's not good."

Back to the $98 cart. It is all scanned and the lady puts her card through at which time the cashier informs her she owes $8.67. The lady is baffled. Discussions ensure. Apparently she has a bridge card and either (a) she bought some items that were not allowed or (b) she did not have enough of a balance for all of her purchases. She disputes either one insisting that she purchased only allowable food and that she checked her balance before coming in and it was over that amount. Manager girl is called. She repeats what the cashier said. They are scrutinizing the receipt to figure it out. They attempt to subtract items from her order. That does not work.

Meanwhile my mom informs me that the "last" guy in line has not told anyone that the register is closed. I look back and there are 5 people in line behind him!! I wait to catch his eye and then give him my disappointed in him look. He turns his blank stare elsewhere. Moments later the lady behind us turns to the guy and says "Didn't you tell all those people behind you that she was closed?" He gives her the blank stare. She attempts to tell the first lady behind him that the register is closed. The lady says something about being in line when the light was on or some other random reason that she belonged in that line. However, since the line is moving slower than molasses, most of the people left and went to other slow but faster moving lines.

Back to the register - still attempting to remove and still not happening. I turn to my mom and tell her that I am about to offer up $8.67 to this lady so we can just get out of there. Then the manager tells the lady that they can take her to a different register and try to ring it up again when the lady informs them that she wants no part of that. Huh? What? I put my money back in my pocket because now I am mad at this lady who is unwilling to do anything to help them fix this. Apparently she believes it is the store's problem. I am not sure how the store is at fault when your card will not do what you think it can do. The store does not control that. The cashier is just standing there next to the manager with dead eyes. I imagine her thinking she is never going to get her break and she is going to have a lot of angry people to ring up in a minute.

At this time the "last" guy in line decides to yell "Send her to customer service so the rest of us can get out of here!" Really? The guy who cannot even manage to follow one simple request to tell people behind him that the register is closed now wants to bark out orders for other people to follow? You have got to be kidding me! I actually say this out loud. He does not hear me.

Finally, the manager convinces the lady to go to customer service and this whole debacle ends. Not a moment too soon, I might add, for I found myself repeating over and over "really? you want to bark orders when you cannot even follow them" in the direction of the "last" guy and I was getting louder every time. At some point, he was bound to hear me.