I don’t think I’m alone when I say that, when I am returning an item to a store, I do my very best to make it very clear immediately upon re-entering the store with the item that I actually purchased, lest someone think I was trying to return an item I had not paid for.
This happened to me recently after my wife and I did our weekly grocery shopping. My wife is very good at planning out the meals for the week and making a detailed shopping list, and I am very good at pushing the cart.
Recently, we got home with our week’s groceries, and my wife noticed two issues: A bag of frozen shrimp and a bag of coleslaw were both open, presumably by ambitious staffers with box cutters used to open the boxes they were shipped in.
I told her I would return them to the store and get replacement ones. Also, a quick point: I live on the coast. I am merely a few minutes away from fresh shrimp, straight off the dock. As one of the places I frequent likes to tell me, “These fellas were swimming this morning!” Fresh shrimp is amazing, and I like to support local shrimpers. But there are also times of practicality, and when you meal prep in advance, a bag of frozen shrimp that is already peeled and deveined is a real timesaver. So I will, on occasion, compromise quality for convenience. As for the coleslaw? I made homemade coleslaw once in my life. And it took so much effort and made such a mess that I was like, yeah, bag o’ slaw it is from here on out. Or I’m just swinging by KFC.
I headed back to the store and entered with my two bags and the receipt. This store is one of those no-frills places without a customer service desk. So when I entered, there was only one clerk at a register. And the line was impressive. Probably 10 folks, with carts filled to the brim. It was going to be a while until I got to the front of that line.
I decided I would set off on a quest for another employee who might be able to help. As I wandered deeper and deeper into the store, my first thought was, “Is that one clerk the only one working?” Eventually, I encountered an employee. I was still holding the bags and the receipt out, as offering him abject proof of my purchase, something he clearly did not care about.
I told him I had gotten home and found the bags open and that I was hoping to replace them and that I can go to the register and that I had a receipt and that … “Sir, I’m really sorry about that. Go grab replacements, and I’ll take care of these for you.” I was beginning to think he did not, in fact, see me as an international grocery heist mastermind.
I went and found two replacement packages, and then wound my way back through the store until I saw the same employee. I said, “I found the replacements. Do I need to go through check out?”
He had a curious look on his face. His response was, “Um, no? You can just, you know, go.” Very good.
So I left the store, and made sure I carried the bags extended far from my body in a really obvious way with my receipt in the other hand, because, hey, I’m legit.
I don’t think the clerk at the front actually looked up from his scanner when I walked out, probably because his job was dealing with the epic line awaiting him and not playing security over $8 of product.
In the future, I will avoid the anxiety of such exchanges by (a) ensuring that my packages are not open before I check out and (b) just buying shrimp locally.
The Link LonkMarch 03, 2021 at 09:00AM
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MIKES LIFE: Buying local shrimp would have been less hassle - Charleston Post Courier
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