A grocery store cashier called me a liar and shot me
the bird yesterday as I insisted a 2 for 1 promotion applied to my pretzel
purchase. Wow! I didn’t think
Millennials knew about obscene gestures, nor did I think a representative of
this “snowflake” generation could muster the indignation about something having
nothing to do with her.
What
a bizarre story I have to tell that combines defective bar code pricing with a Millennial’s
reminder that I have no reason to live, much less demand application of a
promotional price. The Weis grocery chain
currently offers buy one get one free for their store-branded pretzels. However, at the same time as the promotion,
the company has changed the trade dress, reduced the portion size and changed
the bar code for the product. At
purchase, the scanned bar code did not trigger the savings, despite on the
shelf price tags touting the 2 for 1 offer.
As
this pricing glitch had sucked 20 minutes out of my day on the previous day, I expedited
the display of my lawyer tone which offspring and student alike consider “yelling.” For the record, I cannot yell, having had
vocal cord surgery that substantially reduces the volume I can generate.
The
60-something cashier handling my order gladly offered to check the price, but
her granddaughter cashier in the next line reported the price without a doubt. This Millennial refused to accept my report
of the discount and quickly escalated the conflict. How could an old person like myself possibly
know the price of an item, or maybe she tagged me as a petit scam artist?
Do
Millennial service workers reverse the traditional business premise that the
customer is always right? For my part, I
accept that customers are not always right, but surely they cannot always be wrong.
I
had a pleasant, but inconclusive chat with the store manager and suggested that
customers do not deserve vilification as liars when challenging a price. His perception of the situation was
influenced by another, more regular customer, who attested to the wonderfulness
of the cashier who shot me the bird.
My
university has forced me to reframe the student-teacher relationship into one
with high touch customer service in light of Millennial expectations and the
cost of post-secondary instruction. I suspect
that lesson has not reached many Millennials when the shoe is on the other
foot.