'Of course, now I'm laughing about it': Retail boss handles young employee's first Karen-customer encounter like all upper management should, standing up for their employee

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    Cheezburger Image 10451268096
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    just got yelled at for the first time LETS GOOOOOO for context, this is my first ever job and it's at a relatively small, locally owned grocery store. i've been here since november 14th so this'll be my second month. this lady comes up and i'm scanning her items, and she stops me at a little package of m&m candies.
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    her: "no, return that. the tag underneath them says 50 cents." the system is ringing it at 99. me: "oh, yeah i'm sorry, sometimes the tags get moved or are in the wrong place. i can remove the items for you."
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    she proceeds to tell me (aggressively) to go look at the tag, and since it was on the other side of my register, i couldn't see it from where i was standing. she then walked over to where the candies were. her: "honey, come here and look. it says fifty cents."
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    i read the tag, which says "LINDT sea salt chocolate, 50 cents". me: "so this tag is for a different product, i'm sorry." her: "you need to honour the price. california law says you need to honour it, look it up." me: "i'm sorry, but we don't do that here."
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    i then start bagging her items, but she had an issue with that too of course. her: "and i said i didn't want a bag." me: "oh, i'm sorry." i start taking her items out. her: "that wouldn't have bothered me if it wasn't for your last comment." me: "i'm sorry?"
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    her: "i would've paid for your bag, but your last comment ped me off." me: "what comment made you upset, ma'am?" her: "you think you're exempt from california law? well you're not, and you need to honour your prices because this happens here all the time." me: "i'm sorry, but that's not my department."
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    Cheezburger Image 10451293696
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    her: "yeah, well just get it ready for me to pay because i've had enough of your smart mouth. i'm usually such a sweetheart, but you made me angry." i can feel myself start to get anxious about this and i'm trying to mitigate the situation by just explaining that i don't have authority to change prices or anything.
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    her: "i'm just going to pay and leave, so stop your arguing because it's only going to make me angrier." me. "i understand, it's just that i was told that we don'f honour prices that way." her: "i said stop arguing, it's only going to escalate. what's your name? my name? okay. i'll remember that when i talk to a supervisor."
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    now around this time, my lovely coworker removed the tag she was complaining about, then went and got not just a supervisor, but my boss and the OWNER of the store and told her what was happening. my boss came out and immediately talked to me, not the lady. my boss: "what's going on?"
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    me (now trying to keep myself from crying because i panic around authority figures and i was scared i'd be fired if this lady complained): please talk to her. my boss: "what's the problem?" her: "you guys constantly have wrong tags, and sometimes i get home just to find out i've been over charged four, five, sometimes more dollars. it's bulls and california law says you have to honour the tag. are you a supervisor?"
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    now my boss doesn't put up with this stuff after her twenty or so years working retail and dealing with this herself, so hearing this lady's tone ped her off i think too my boss: "oh, no. i'm the owner." the lady tells her the same stuff, the same attitude, and my boss just brushes it off and says the same thing i did. we don't honour it, she's sorry. but then the lady goes to show my boss the tag.
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    ALLEEN EN Tiame and nics
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    her: "honey, come here NOW and look. oh, see, he removed the tag. but it said fifty cents." i did in fact, not move a single inch from my register. my coworker removed the tag because she didn't want any more issues, and was currently in the back printing a tag for the m&ms to replace it with. my boss: "i can go ahead and finish your transaction over here if you want to continue talking."
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    her: "i'm getting my card to pay, i forgot my glasses so i can't see well." my boss: "alright, well he has people waiting in his line so we can go ahead and finish it over here." her: "no, i don't want to finish it over there. i want to pay and leave, because this happens here a lot."
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    she pays and leaves, and my boss walks away to tell her husband (majority owner) about what happened so he can check the cameras and make sure everything I was okay. the customers behind her were SILENT for a while as i stood there crying because, for some reason, i only start crying AFTER the yelling and stuff is over.
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    customer gf: "you've always been so nice to us every time we come in, so just brush it off okay? don't let one bad person make you feel bad." customer bf: "she was complaining about the tag and then said she didn't have her glasses and couldn't see, so she could only see when it was convenient for her?"
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    Cheezburger Image 10451294208
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    my boss then comes back and asks if i'm okay, to which i start crying again and tell her that the customer was saying i was being r de, acting like it was me personally that messed up, asking for my name etc. my boss: "oh, no. you should have called me right away and i would've told her absolutely no way she's talking to my crew like that. you don't deserve that. you're always so nice, and i don't think at all that this was your fault."
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    me: "thank you, i just feel bad for crying and i don't even understand why she was mad." my boss: "if any customer talks to you like that, you call me and i'll tell them to get the h I out. you don't get to be talked to that way, especially when you're nice to them." she asked me if i wanted to take a second to breathe, then stood next to me and made sure i was okay for a few minutes.
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    my boss: "you seemed okay when i came up here, i was like wow my name is handling this really well." me: "i don't start crying until after it's over and i process it- when people yell at me all i care about is trying to deescalate the situation."
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    my boss then just made sure i was alright and told me i handled it well, did everything right, and that my other boss was watching the camera footage to see all of what happened because they knew it wasn't my fault. of course now i'm laughing about it (literally forty minutes later) and i thought i should share the milestone
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    n Fasty Pasta Mil Ma LINE 30
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    Random-life-772 You really have to work on not taking bu ying personally. Remember It's not about you, it's about them. I know it can be really hard sometimes. Don't apologize to them if you didn't do anything wrong. It just makes them feel justified in their nastiness. Just explain it once. Look up Grey Rocking and practice it.
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    And never hesitate to call a supervisor if you are struggling to keep your composure. They get paid more let them deal with difficult customers. Hang in there!
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    TheGhostWalksThro I wish I had your boss so much. They are RARE. I've had similar things happen, and my boss DID NOT care that I was crying. She actually rolled her eyes and told me to give the customer what they want. I hate retail so much people like that make me want to end my life. I'm so glad your boss came over and stuck up for you.

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