This past Friday we opened the first Festival Foods store in Sheboygan.
The doors opened at 6 A.M. I was scheduled to work right at the opening, so I got up nice and early. When I pulled into the parking lot at about 5:45 A.M. it was still very dark out but we had a good handful of cars already. A line had been formed in front of the store and it contained around 10-15 people. Personally I think 6 A.M. is very early to go grocery shopping even if it is the grand opening of a new store, but it is nice to know that people were excited and eager to see the store.
My job title is a cashier but on opening day I was scheduled to be a bagger. The first few hours were pretty slow and wasn't to big of a crowd. Around lunchtime the crowd had started to pick up so it became much more busier and a lot more work which was fine because I like to keep busy.
They had asked me if I wanted to be the greeter at the front door and explain to people about the store and hand out things. I really didn't want to because I am more of the shy type of person, but I said I would give it a try and I actually got into it and it wasn't so bad. It was nice having a chance to talk to all the new excited customers.
Although, every store always gets that batch of customers who will go out of their way to complain. In my line we had such a person. I personally did not have to deal with it because I was bagging the groceries, but the cashier had to deal with the unhappy customer. The customer kept yelling at the cashier because she said that the price per pound of peaches was not ringing up right. The cashier seemed to be frustrated because the lines were long and it had become overwhelming, so she called over the manager and he found out the price which turned out to be it was the right price all along. The customer seemed annoyed that she was wrong and the manager was right, so then she decided to say that her icecream was melting because the cashier was to slow and the lines were to long.
We at Festival are friendly people so the manager killed her with kindness and asked if he could get her some new ice cream and just have the cashier ring up the price while he went back and got some. She agreed and then continued to yell at the cashier and say thats what she should have done all along. When the manager came back with the icecream I bagged it and said thank you and sent her on her way.
It really ticked me off because that cashier did not deserve that and she was at no fault at all. Of course we are going to be busy and mistakes are expected to be made on the first day of the store, but what can you do? You're always going to get those lovely customers who will go out of their way to give you a hard time. I think she needs to find better things to do with her time.
