Friday, April 22, 2011

Lesson 1: Stand Your Ground!



I have that same habit I'm sure a lot of you have. The one where you wander around the kitchen like a lost soul, opening and reopening the refridgerator door praying for something delicious to magically materialize in the pantry. The sad truth is this never happens, as I'm sure you are all aware.

So for me, leftover porkchops, stale hotdog buns and some deli cheese sounded like something I could work with. Sliced pork sandwiches it is.

My roommate offered to pay for whatever else I needed, which I decided was an onion and a red and green bell pepper. I figured I could saute the onions and peppers for a bit, then layer it all in the hotdog buns along with some sliced porkchops and cheese. Throw it under the broiler and hey, I've got something semi-healthy that both my roommate and boyfriend will eat.

I picked up what I needed at Albertsons, along with some special requests for my roommate, since he was paying. At the checkout counter I was ready for my total...and it was wrong. I quietly said to the girl behind the counter, "I'm sorry, but the price on the red bell pepper is wrong. It should be $1.98, not $2.49."

She looked at me with a condescending "I'm too pretty to be a checkout girl and I know it" look and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure."

"Well I'm going to have to go check. And then I'll have to void it off, and then a manager is going to have to come and override..." Her voice trailed off and was replaced by the loud smacking of her gum.

I knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to make me feel guilty for making all the nice people wait in line while someone fixed my $0.51 dilemma. And I'm not going to lie, it was working. I could sense the tension of squirming people behind me, all of them doubting their earlier decision to get behind the girl with five items in her grocery basket. All of them duped by the possibility of a swift checkout. They seemed annoyed and angry, so I followed the cardinal rule of anyone taking up time at the cash register: I didn't make eye contact.

"Oh that's okay," I said. "I'll wait." Then I threw in a sweet smile just for the fun of it.

She left to check the correct price. People behind me started doing the "checkout dance" as I call it, when they try to calculate if switching to another line would save them more time than waiting in this one. Some stayed, some took the risk and line jumped.

She returned. "It was $1.98" she said sternly. She took a deap breath, "But now I'm going to have to get a manager to override this price differential. I don't know where she is right now."

Should've line jumped.

I stared blankly. She stared back. A real mexican standoff in the middle of Albertsons. "I'll wait," I said. She picked up the phone and called for the manager over the loudspeaker.

Right now I'm spending an average of $434.74 on groceries for both me and my boyfriend. Per month.  Damn right I'll wait.

Miss Manager came over, punched some buttons in the screen and reduced the price of the pepper to $0.00. The clerk stammered, and the manager replied that if the price of an item is wrong, the customer gets it for free.

Score. Free red pepper.

37 comments:

  1. I LOVE the way you told this story! great writing. I'm going to be your first follower. I suspect you've got lots more to come.

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  2. I'm going to be your second follower. I loved your stories, too. It's refreshing to hear some common sense. :) On Wednesdays, my blog post is "Tip of the Day" and does share some things about saving money, healthily (is that a word?) Anyway, good luck with it all. I look forward to your posts. I was starting the blog thing not too long ago. Enjoy the journey! hereslivinthedream.blogspot.com

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  3. Good blog! I´m following you!

    Please, follow my blog:

    http://questoesdefutebol.blogspot.com/

    Thanks

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  4. As I read this I was thinking they should just give it to you free. That girl needs a different job. Most clerks just take your word for it, especially on something like produce. Good lord. Good for you for not backing down.

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  5. Sarah linked to your post over at Ahh, the possibilities & I agree! Love your writing style. I'm in the same boat with the budgeting whilst studying so I look forward to reading more X

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  6. Found your blog from Ah, the possibilities! Love this, I'm in college too and can relate to the "every penny counts" lifestyle. Following :)

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  7. Wish your blog had existed back in my university days! And you were dead right to stand your ground. Good on you!

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  8. Good blog! I´m following you!

    Please, follow my blog:

    http://webkuflexter.blogspot.com/

    Thanks

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  9. Good for you to stand firm...honesty is a two way street and I always let the assistants know if I have been over paid in change so like wise they should be able to correct a wrong price without giving you grief about it.

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  10. Really? I'm a checkout girl and here in Australia our policy is that if something scans at a higher price then what the shelf ticket reads it's a free item and we don't need to call the manager or even the supervisor. We just delete the item and then write it up on our worksheet. Of course sometimes we do have to check the price, but there's not a lot of fuss involved as you had.

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  11. P.S. also, we're not allowed to just walk off the checkout, we have to use the phone to check the price by calling whoever is in charge of a particular department, like fruit & veg; or meat; or grocery.

    (And (whispers) sandwiches doesn't have that middle "h")

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  12. excellent writing - stay the course and you will do well!

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  13. Hi Marlee! I absolutely LOVE reading your blog posts! They're so entertaining...especially when i've always found finances to be a bore!

    I think you've given me some inspirations for my first few blogs too...FOLLOWED! :D Xx

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  14. Sometimes it's just the principle of the matter. Good for you for standing your ground and making miss grumpy face do what is right (and what is her job). I especially liked the throwing in a sweet smile just for the fun of it. I'm a big fan of smiling at people who are gumpy....if you're going throw a grumpy face at me, then I am going to have a little fun with that. ;)

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  15. Damn right!

    I live in Moscow and we have the same registers in the stores. But in our stores a line won't jump. They would yell at you.

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  16. You have brave balls of steel! not literally, but wonderful mental ones. Great blog :)

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  17. Wow thank you so much for the support everyone! I'm so glad my red bell pepper story hit related to you all!!

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  18. Good job! Whatever happened to customer service? I've had this happen a lot at my local City Market (kroger food affiliate), and there is no way I'm going to skip getting back even 1 cent! I'm saving for retirement!

    Oh, and I think I'll be your 27th follower lol.

    mywarpedworld.blogspot.com

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  19. Wow, loved this little story! Great writing style too, it's very humorous! : ) Follower #28!

    Check out my blogs?

    http://thatmademydayblog.blogspot.com/
    http://lepetitebaker.blogspot.com/

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  20. Hey, fab story. I hate it when people think that your being petty! well done for sticking to your guns. Nobody is too pretty to work on a checkout, if your doing a job you should care whether you do it right, whether you like it or not!

    kudos to you.

    daydreamsfromfeef.blogspot.com

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  21. I love it. I do it too, sometimes. Other times I can't be bothered. I need to find some stores that have a similar policy.

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  22. I don't know which I enjoyed more, your evocative writing style or your story. In a world of mediocrity both your writing and your gumption stood out.

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  23. By the way I see you're interested in mental health & nutrition. You may be interested in my blog if you enjoy a somber read.

    http://thepowerofpoo.blogspot.com/

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  24. Marlee - karma in action...your sweet smile = Managers empathy = free healthy produce - WIN!

    (Sarah is a friend of mine - she sent me....you give good blog...)

    Lucy x

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  25. I'm one of those sooky type people who would have blushed and paid the extra when she starting with the attitude.

    Am so glad people like you exist in the world!

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  26. Great post. Found you via Sarah and her possibilities.

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  27. I LOVE that she "sternly" told you it was a buck 98...like it was your fault!! You really are a fun read...I would have been your 4th follower if I could have figured out how to be a follower!! LOL!! Love the email link, I signed up!!

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  28. aha i liked your post in here. my boyfriend told me about the pricing stuffs too before, I told him it doesnt work like that here in Asia. anyway, following your blog! :)

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  29. Yay for the free pepper! I hate it when they act like it's your own fault that they have stuff mismarked. Sort of makes me miss the days of actual price tags.

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  30. totally following you as well...i'm a college girl too, i know how it goes!

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  31. I love the red pepper story! Thanks for sharing. :) I especially like the "cardinal rule" bit, and your portrait of clerk and manager. Good stuff, and oh so familiar. Found your blog via Sarah's too.... gjimsonandfriends.blogspot.com

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  32. I like reading your blog. Good that you've taking her on.

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  33. Your new follower here, we have so much in common. I started couponing, while hubby was in med school, then residency, and we had 2 children to support, and then we had to start paying off med school loans. Since, everything was required to pay, I started using coupons, suddenly we had wiggle room. I sign up for all of the free offers (you should too, when I post them). Let's bring your budget for food to $200/month

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  34. hahaha! This is awesome! GOOD for you :)

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  35. This happened to me at Wal-Mart not long ago! The cashier said she'd have to go check the price. I said I would do it because I didn't want to me the people behind me wait. She said that the rule was that she was supposed to and sounded all exasperated (like it's my fault that the price was wrong). Because I offered to do the dirty work and acknowledged the people behind me, they were totally on my side and not annoyed at me!

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