February 26, 2015

One Person Can Ruin a Day

February 26, 2015

Project I worked on today - a baby quilt probably

This morning I was up early and got to the office just after 9:00.  We were closing at 11:00 so I thought I should put in a little time.  I spent the time working on paper work, cutting out some quilt pieces and waiting on some customers.

It has always amazed us how many people come in to buy merchandise and don't bring money.  Way back when my dad was still living (20+ years ago) we would talk about how many came in, had you cut their keys, looked at the bill when you wrote it up, and went to the car to get their money.  We would usually comment to each other when they headed for the car, "Do they do that at H.E.B. or Luby's?"  It just boggles the mind that people go in a store to make a purchase and don't bring means to pay.

This morning a lady asked for 15 keys.  Ron cut them while I wrote her bill.  Then, she asked if we took credit cards - which really turned out to be a debit card.  I ran the card for about $25 and it was declined.  I gave it back to her.  Without asking me, she ran it again.  It costs me money every time a card is declined.  She was about to run it again when I stopped her and told her it had already cost me $2 in fees and not to run it again.

She pulled out $15 cash and handed it to me.  I told her the bill was $25 and she said she was going to put the other $10 on the Debit card.  I told her no, that I would hold the keys for her until she came back with the money.  She wanted me to let her take part of them for the $15.  (We know from experience that they very rarely come back to get the other keys and pay the rest.)  I told her I would keep them all for her and she said that she wouldn't come back at all.  I told her very calmly, that was ok.  I returned to my office.  She told Ron she was going to "report me on Facebook."

Yes, I could have taken her $15 and gotten some of the money and maybe I should have, but Ron agreed with the way I handled it.  He had heard the exchange.  A customer behind her was rolling his eyes at her.  We don't like to make customers angry, but we don't work for free.  We expect to be paid for our merchandise and labor.  After the store cleared out, I told him it bugged me that I could be having a great day and one person could ruin it. 

We are all guilty of doing the same thing to others.  Their day may be great and we make a derogatory comment and they will dwell on it.  Maybe her day was bad and she was taking it out on me.  Maybe she had no idea why the money was not in her account and was upset about that.  Anyhow, I was glad it was a short day.  We were closing early for the Charro Days Children's Parade.  I left around 11:00 but Ron didn't get out for a while.  Customers continued to come in and kept him there.

On my way home, I stopped by Mom's house and then came home and spent the afternoon working on my sewing room, sorting, cleaning, and then sewing.  I cut out some more pieces and got 4 quilt squares made. 

Ron was out all afternoon and got home about supper time.  I read for a while and relaxed.  It was a good day.  Only a few birds came to the feeders.  I filled all of the fountains and ponds.  We had unplugged the pumps when we went out of town and had not had time to start them again.  I just had a quiet afternoon and that was nice.