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February 25, 2007

CHANGE YOUR WAYS

I was getting low on shaving gel and I knew it wouldn't be long before my supplies ran out. And I hate it when my supplies run out. So I took myself off down to Boots to purchase some spare shaving gel for when my existing supplies finally expire.

There were two cash registers, but the strange set up in the Putney branch of Boots meant that there was only one queue. The woman at the near cash register was perturbed, clearly in a mood about something and taking her frustrations out on the staff.

"So I can't pay for it with the points on my Boots card and make up the difference?" the woman snapped with a venomous flick of her posh tongue. The assistant confirmed that the transaction was impossible that way and that she needed more points on her card to cover the cost of the item. The woman tutted and slammed her purse down on the desk.

"For goodness sake" she spat, "why not? Can't you people manage that? It's not much to ask. It's not difficult is it." The assistant called her colleague over to see if there was anything that could be done to help the woman, but she just confirmed that the woman would have to pay in full. "This is ridiculous. Well, I want to pay by card and then get some change from this" she demanded and waved a tenner in front of the assistant. And added "I need money for the car park. A fiver and five ones. Can you manage that at least?"

Her tone was awful, I was about to step in and tell her that her attitude and the way she was speaking to the assistant was completely unnecessary and the assistant was only doing her job, when the second till became free and I was called over to pay for my shaving gel.

"I'm afraid I haven't got any change in this till" I heard the assistant say to the mardy woman as I stood at the counter watching my item being scanned. This news was greeted by the woman with utter disgust and another loud tut. "I'll have to check the other till for your fiver and five ones" the assistant added.

At this point, I had my wallet out and was about to pay for my item in shrapnel as I had loads of pound coins in there, but I seized the opportunity to potentially teach the rude woman a lesson. Neglecting the coins pouch of my wallet, I handed the assistant a tenner for my £2.89 item in the hope that I would clean her out of five pound notes and pound coins. The assistant handed me a fiver, two pound coins and some more shrapnel and I left the shop.

As I walked through the automatic doors, smiling at my cunning plan, I heard the assistant quite cheerfully add "I'm sorry madam but I can't give you change. We don't have any more five poun..."

Posted by jonola14 at February 25, 2007 9:44 PM

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