Small-town jobs have a way of turning one simple task into five others you never signed up for.

So, what would you do if a longtime customer demanded a service your store stopped offering years ago, and refused to take no for an answer?

Would you stick to the company policy? Or would you offer her something else instead?

In the following story, one woman finds herself in this exact situation and does everything she can to help an elderly customer.

Here’s what happened.

I work here, but we don’t do that anymore

I work at a severely understaffed small-town local grocery store. I’m one of only two cashiers over 18, which automatically makes me a closing shift supervisor (responsible for locking doors, counting tills, etc.)

In the evenings, the only employees in the store are me and two high school students. The town this store is in has a very large elderly population, and in the past, the store used to deliver orders of groceries for those who couldn’t drive anymore or were immunocompromised and couldn’t go out during the pandemic.

However, in recent years, we’ve been losing many employees, and the few people who were able to make deliveries have all left, so we no longer have that service.

She was very busy when the lady called.

A few weeks ago, an elderly lady called the store asking if she could place an order.

I answered the phone while in the middle of scanning a customer’s groceries.

I assumed she was asking about a special order for an event, and, since I was busy, told her that if she called back the next morning, someone would be able to help her. She hung up on me without responding.

Then, she called again.

I didn’t think much of it until the next day, when she called back again around 5 pm.

Lady: “I want to place an order.”

Me: “Okay, the employees who typically take event orders are only here in the mornings, so if you call back-“

Lady: “No, it’s not for an event, I want my groceries delivered.”

By now, the lady was getting frustrated.

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry. We don’t actually do deliveries anymore. But if you call back tomorrow, someone can put the order together for you, and you can come pick it up.”

Lady: “No, I will not call back. I’ve been pushed off the phone too many times! I’m a disabled senior citizen, and I can’t come pick anything up, and I can’t drive! I’ve been out of milk for three days!”

Me: “I understand, ma’am, and I’m sorry, but we don’t have a delivery service anymore, and there’s nothing I can do.”

She did her best to calm the lady down, but it wasn’t working well.

Lady: “You guys have the monopoly on the town. You’re the only grocery store for miles!”

Me: “I’m aware, and I’m sorry, but it’s not up to me whether we do deliveries or not.”

Lady: “Can’t you deliver my groceries?”

The lady tried every suggestion she could think of.

Me: “No, ma’am, I can’t. I’m the shift supervisor on duty right now, and I can’t leave the store.”

Lady: “Well, make one of your employees do it, then!”

Me: “I can’t, ma’am. The only other employees here are students who don’t have driver’s licenses.”

She hung up on me at that point.

The lady called again, but things were different this time.

I mentioned the incident to some of my coworkers the next day at the start of my shift and learned that this lady had been calling for a few days.

Sure enough, she called again that evening.

I was stressed with unrelated things already, so since it wasn’t so busy this time, I decided to just take the order for her. I told her that if she could send someone to the store to pick up her order, I would put it together for her.

Everything worked out great.

She told me what groceries she wanted and gave me her number to call her when they were ready.

Then she told me that I’ve been “much more pleasant to talk to than the girl yesterday” (yeah, I’m the same person, just in a less tense mood).

In the end, it worked out. Her daughter came to pick up the groceries, though she also seemed annoyed that we didn’t do deliveries. I didn’t voice this to her, but even if we still did, it isn’t my job.

Wow! At least it worked out in the end.

Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit relate to this story.

What started out as grocery shopping turned into a friendship for this reader.

Here’s someone who has feelings about these situations.

For this person, the whole thing is sad.

According to this comment, services are dwindling.

That was a nice thing to do! At least the lady got the help she needed in the end.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.