When working as a cashier you will see plenty of customers who thought something was on sale when it wasn’t, and sometimes your register will have the wrong price loaded in, so you always have to check.

What would you do if a customer wanted to buy a slice of cake that wasn’t on sale, but they insisted that it was to the point where they were throwing a tantrum?

That is what happened to the cashier in this story, so she stood her ground and refused to give her the cake at the discounted price. Unfortunately, when the customer complained to the manager, the manager gave her the cake for free.

This type of story is so frustrating, and it only trains customers to behave poorly. Read through the full story below and see what you think of how it was handled.

Well then, I’m going to go have a chat with your manager! 🙂

I work at a grocery store. I was just finishing my shift with 15 minutes left. I was exhausted from standing in one spot all day, and I’m always thrilled when I’m just about to leave.

Why do the annoying customers always arrive at the end of your shift?

Anyways, this women was next in line and she sets down 3 slices of cake from our bakery (I’ll call her cake lady or CL). I give her the generic questions “how are you today?” “did you find everything alright?” yada yada, but she interrupts me and leans over the counter to try and look at my register screen.

CL: These cakes are all $2 each, right?

She couldn’t lean over enough to confirm (even though there is a separate screen for the customers to see the totals) so she just starts staring at me with the crazy eyes. The eyes that I know means this was going to be a difficult transaction. I look on my screen and to my dismay, one slice of cake is NOT for $2.

Sales don’t always apply to everything in the store.

Me: I’m sorry, one of the cakes isn’t ringing up for that price. Are you sure they were all on sale?

CL: Yes! There was this big sign and all three cakes had the $2 sale price!

To my surprise, CL was being very nice. I told her I would quickly go look to confirm and I thought this would be the end of it.

Oh well, it was an understandable mistake by the customer.

When I get to the cake area, there was a big yellow sign over the cooler containing all the cakes that read: “SALE! $2 birthday cake slices! (only for vanilla, chocolate, and carrot cake).”

I curse under my breathe when I notice that the one slice CL had brought up was in fact not on sale. Out of the 10 different types of cake slices we had, only 3 were on sale and their mylars were labeled as such along with the big sign.

She is not going to be happy about this.

I stroll back up to my register and she looks over at me with this big smile. She starts to say something along the lines of “did you find it?” and I gulp and tell her,

Me: Ma’am, unfortunately this slice of cake isn’t on sale.

Her face went from happiness, to confusion, to rage.

Sadly, yelling and being rude often gets people like this what they want.

CL: No! They’re on sale! You didn’t see the sign?!?

Me: Ma’am, there are only 3 types of cakes on sale and they are all labeled as such. This one isn’t one of them. Do you still want it?

CL: Yes! But I want it for the price it’s labeled!

Of course, she isn’t letting it go.

We stare at each other for a couple of seconds in silence. I wanted to laugh, but knowing this woman it would only escalate the situation.

Me: Like I just explained, this slice of cake isn’t on sale. I can’t give it to you for that price.

CL: Yes it is!

She really thinks she is going to get the lower price. I sure hope she doesn’t.

Me: No it isn’t, this one wasn’t label-

CL: YES IT IS!

CL and I are both becoming equally frustrated. Me because it’s become more and more obvious that she just wants a more expensive piece of cake by throwing a fit, and CL is mad that I’m not buying into her childlike behavior.

This worker is handling things perfectly.

CL: Look, you made all these people wait behind me, so either give it to me or not!

Me: So, if you can’t have it for $2 you don’t want it?

CL: Of course! But your signs said it was $2! So give it to me now or not!

The customer is shocked that her tantrum didn’t work.

Me: Okay, then I won’t give it to you, That will be $4.

CL face looked at me like she broke a fuse. CL must be used to always acting like a 5 year old to get what she wants and she couldn’t handle it. She looks at me with a plastered smile and says in an exaggerated happy voice:

CL: Well then, I’m going to go have a chat with your manager.

Let’s hope the supervisor does the right thing.

Me: You go do that then.

I have zero patience left for her at that point and turned my back to her and started ring up the next customer. 2 minutes go by and my supervisor (Sup) runs into my register area.

Sup: Okay, where is this cake this lady is freaking out about?

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How frustrating. Giving her the cake only encourages her to behave like that.

I hand him the cake and he runs back over the customer service desk. I knew she was going to get it for free just because our store is so massively customer service oriented, but once my shift is over I approach Sup.

Me: Hey, sorry about that CL. She was super rude and throwing a huge fit.

Sup: No, it wasn’t your fault. She was crazy and throwing all these complaints at me. I just gave her the cake so she’d get out of here.

I hate the way this turned out. People who throw tantrums and treat employees like that should not be catered to. The idea that the customer should get something just because they complain only makes them complain more.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about the situation.

Now this is just too funny.

Here is someone who has a similar story.

This is a great idea.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who was fired because of a coworkers lies, only to get the chance for revenge years later.

Here is someone with a good suggestion, but I don’t think the customer would listen.

This person thinks the supervisor had her back, but I don’t see it.

Why do managers think it is a good idea to give in to customer tantrums? It only encourages this type of bad behavior.

Sure, they might lose a customer, but do they really want customers like this anyway?