~raindropchic

Apparently I am a magnet for crazy and/rude people. I'm a cashier at Publix, and even though I've only been working for about two weeks now, I've had my fair share of RCP's (rude crazy people). The first one I had will always be the most memorable however. I was ringing up this lady who was wearing surgical stockings on her head and had safety pins randomly stuck in her shirt, so I knew something was off right away. Then she started telling me about how she hadn't been to the doctor since 1976. I brought this on myself by asking her why, but at Publix we pride ourselves on customer service, and blah blah blah, so I had to ask her why. She then proceeded to tell me that the doctors had wanted to take her leg from her, but she didn't want to give it to them, but if she had kept going back, they would have found a way to make it look like she needed to lose her leg, so she just stopped going. By the way, this entire time, I'm ringing up her groceries, which consist mainly of chips, cookies, soda, dip, and other junk food, with a few fruits tossed in for variety. When I'm halfway done, she notices that the price is up to $150. She then flips out and informs me that she only has $107 in food stamps, with a little more strapped to her leg, but she didn't want to use that unless she had to (gross, by the way). So I call over my manager to help me help her pick out what she wants and pack up what she buys. I also had a woman spend three minutes telling me how highway patrolmen had the safest job in the world because their uniforms were green, and green brings them good luck. She then started to tell me that she disagreed with Congress passing a bill that allowed gay marriage, saying that it wasn't natural, after which the man standing behind her (who was obviously gay) began to glare at her with such intensity I thought the woman might explode from his fury. Then there are the rude people, like the man I had today. I rang up some plums according to the produce code sticker on the fruit. This code was 4442- the code for lemon plums. As soon as they rang up, the man gruffly asked me to ring them up again, saying that they were red plums and were supposed to be on sale. I told him that I would ring them up as red plums, but the reason they hadn't rung up so originally was because the code had said they were lemon plums. Only this man didn't hear the word "plums" because he rudely cut me off by saying, "Do they look like lemons to you?" Then there are the people who insist on talking on their cell phone while they check out and get pissed when you interrupt them to ask them the necessary questions- "Credit or debit? Is plastic okay? Can I please see your card and ID? Can you please sign this?" By the way, that's another thing that irks me. People who get pissed when I ask them for their ID when they make a charge on credit. It's like freakin' Republicans and Democrats! Some people are very glad when I do it because their brains are plugged in and they realize it's what we as Publix associates have to do to prevent ID theft. All it takes it two seconds for me to look at your credit card and your ID to make sure it's really you. Some people actually act irritated, like I'm memorizing their card number or something, and they say things like "Well I've been coming here for blankety blank years and no one's ever asked me for my ID." Then I have to tell them that Publix associates are supposed to, but most don't. I feel like informing them that, not only does Publix lose money from purchases made with stolen credit cards, but the people who they are stolen from have to deal with sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars missing or owed. So the next time they decide to gripe, I should just tell them "This is me protecting your financial assets." Some people need smart pills.