Another tale from The Far Side...Real-life Drama

I told you all a story several weeks ago about a strange and wacky trip to Walmart and told you that trips like that are part of the reason that I like to shop once-a-month.

Well, how about another tale?

I had actually forgotten this story until the children reminded me and you'll see why they can't forget it! ...It became a "lesson" from which I taught my children about a lot of things!

To start with, all of us were on this trip, all 8 of us! We needed to run into Walmart (and I mean run, for you see, I really like to get in and out of there as quickly as possible!).

....So, we are checking out and thinking that we are going to get out this time without incident and feeling pretty happy about that. Well, we have something like a paper carton of ice cream and a bottle of soap and a small box of laundry powders and the cashier is putting them all in one bag. Normally, I don't even pay any attention to how they are bagged because I'm usually making sure the kids are doing what they are told or I'm still unloading the buggy. Well, the cashier just happens to say something about bagging them that way and my DH said, "Well, as a matter of fact, I would like the ice cream bagged separate." (We live like half an hour from town and its just safer that way, ya know?) Well, the cashier goes on some big 'green' spill and says that she is going to bag them that way to save on bags and something about landfills and blah blah blah. Well, my mouth just dropped and so did the kids. My kids are used to being taught to respect and submit to their elders (they had never seen someone challenge their parents in that manner! must have been a real shock, ya know!?) and they've heard the story of my first job a thousand times and how my boss held to the policy that "the customer is ALWAYS right".

Well, my DH did not want to make a scene. He simply said that we live in another county, and picked up another plastic bag and laid it in the buggy. But as soon as we got to the van and me and the children were in, he did step out of the van and call the manager!

Now, just in case you don't see the problem...our order was more than big enough to cover her whole day's pay- and much more than that plastic bag cost! And we were paying for these items and didn't want the chance of them being ruined before we made it home! (ice cream+liquid soap+powdered soap= a potential mess) ..AND, she brought it up and we made a request and she DID THE OPPOSITE! And did I mention that WE WERE PAYING FOR THE STUFF!!???

So, you know what my kids got on the way home don't you?
"What's wrong with what she did?"
"When you are employed some where, how does the employer make money to pay you?"
"Should you be nice to the people who pay your employer so he can pay you?"
"How will you do business?"
"Shouldn't you always try to accommodate your customer?"
"Should you tell your customer how YOU are going to do what they want OR should you let the
customer tell you how to do what THEY want?"
"When YOU are employed by a company, and represent that company, should you really promote your own ideas and agendas that could be contrary to the job that you are expected to do, WHILE YOU ARE ON THE JOB?"
"What kind of attitude should you have if you are working with and for the public?"

Just this past week, I purposely went to a store where I'm treated better as a customer to avoid a store where I was not treated properly as a customer. (And I just might write and tell them that I did and why! And as frugal as I am, I was willing to pay slightly more for service in this purchase.)

Teach your children well! No one else will do it!