Grocery Store Boxing Match

The customer isn't always right,
sometimes they are very, very wrong!

Not too long ago in a town in the Midwest, it was another 4^th of July weekend and I was working at the grocery store. One of the store managers was a larger, somewhat husky woman who didn’t take any crap from her workers. For the sake of anonymity I will refer to her as Big D. Big D was always pleasant to work with, like a ray of sunshine to brighten our miserable 8 hour shifts….. well, not really. We all dreaded being under her watch for any length of time, the full shifts were just extra special.  She typically didn’t work weekends so most of the time I was safe. She just happened to be working this eventful day, but without her what transpired would not have been possible.

The store was packed as was to be expected on a holiday weekend. There were lots of people on beer runs, doing their best to go broke at the state liquor store located in the grocery. I was manning one of the cash registers this fateful day. A small group of drunken men came in and loaded up their cart with beer and various grilling foods. They got up to the checkout a few registers down from me. They’re ages appeared to range from early 20’s to mid 30’s.

Their lucky cashier asked for ID as was required by the store for anyone looking under the age of 40 (not sure how the brilliant management chose 40 but that was the guideline). The men seemed to take offense to this, i.e. the one who was paying was most likely underage. I heard the cashier say “can I see your license please?” The youngest guy said “I didn’t bring it, I rode with them. I’m 23, what’s the big deal?” The cashier explained why he was asking and the dude continued to get more irate. For me, I actually got some sick pleasure out of messing with customers like this guy, the cashier who was trying to ring him up…..not so much. 

The irate jackass started yelling “get your manager over here, NOW!” So the cashier obliged. Lucky for him Big D was on duty, not so lucky for the group of morons at the register. Big D arrived at the register and addressed the customer. He immediately laid into here with “this little dumbass won’t sell me this beer and shit. He keeps asking for my ID.” Big D responded “It is our policy to ask for ID for people who look under 40. Can I please see your ID.?” I looked at Big D, looked at the dude, and then looked back to Big D. She had good 5 or so inches on him and at least 40 pounds. Things were getting interesting.

She kept asking for ID and the guy kept getting louder and more belligerent.  He reached out and touched her arm and the last words I heard out of his mouth were “Look you big bitch….sell me the fucking beer.” Then BAM! There was a loud crack as Big D threw her best round-house and nailed him in the face. She had enough and had been pushed to the limit. The cops had been called well before the confrontation’s fatal blow. They arrived just after this happened to drag the drunkards out of the store. Big D became an instant legend.  It was “yes ma’am, no ma’am” from that moment forward.

There is the old adage in sales about how the customer is always right. It is a good practice to follow. The customer is always right……most of the time. In this case the customer couldn’t be more wrong and he paid for it. It’s ok to argue with management if you feel the store is in the wrong. Just be careful when picking your battles. There are some arguments that there is no way you’ll win, especially if you are drunk, belligerent, and disrespectful to a particular grocery store manager known as Big D.