He Was In The Middle Of Retrieving An Item For One Customer, But A Second Person Barged In Expecting Immediate Attention
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Retail workers regularly encounter customers who expect their poor planning to become everyone else’s emergency.
One illegally parked shopper needed immediate service while an employee balanced a glass fish tank box atop a ladder.
That demand forced the entire repair process to pause so she could escape the consequences outside.
Safety first, unless your parking meter says otherwise.
Illegal Parking
I work in a vet clinic in the morning and a pet store in the afternoon.
This happens in the pet store.
This morning my shifts were swapped, and I did a morning shift at the pet store.
After downing a lot of coffee, I sold a nice lady a display fish tank for a nice discount.
Yay, display units!
The lady who bought the fish tank came back, and this woman helped her.
Anyway, about an hour later, the lady comes back in. She says that her display unit didn’t have the power cord or motor for the filter.
Whoops! So we find one in a box and decide to get that one down and cannibalize it.
I’m up on the ladder about to hand down this box full of glass to my coworker.
A lady walks up to the counter with two kids.
The other customer was in a hurry to pay for her stuff.
There are two tills, and a man is waiting at the other till patiently.
Lady: Um, hello! Can I just pay for this right now?
Me: Yes, sorry, won’t be a moment. Just handing this down!
Lady: No, I need to pay right now. I’m illegally parked!
Everything was fine, and the fish tank lady thanked her for her help.
So my coworker went to serve her and I stood up on the ladder waiting.
I apologized to the fish tank lady.
Eventually, my coworker finished and came back to help.
The fish tank lady was happy and thanked us, at least.
It’s great that the fish tank customer was so patient and understanding.
Let’s see how others reacted to this story on Reddit.
Go fix it, says this person.
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Indeed! This user shares their personal thoughts.
Here’s another possible response to the customer.
Short and simple.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a burned-out employee who finds a way to ease his stress with an extended daily lunch.
Finally, here’s another funny and sarcastic remark.
This impatient customer interrupted a delicate two-person task because she’d knowingly parked somewhere illegal and suddenly needed priority treatment.
The employees paused everything to serve her, while the remarkably patient fish-tank customer waited without creating another crisis.
Nothing says “urgent purchase” like announcing your getaway vehicle is illegally parked.
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