Skip to main content

The Giant Eagle Series: Volume 2

Here's another story from my ongoing saga of employment at Giant Eagle:

I've just turned the light to my aisle off, I'm getting ready to head home, and my favorite manager is about to get my remaining stash of coupons, when a young Oriental couple pulls in with hopeful faces. They don't have much to buy, so I suffer one last load.

I should've waved them on.

They buy $16.31 worth of groceries (yes, that's an exact number, you'll see why I remember it) and I ask how they're paying. The guy hands me his Buck ID card, which for those of you who don't know how that works, it's a little piece of plastic that OSU students can use to double as a credit card and takes 8 YEARS to process. Not really, but our Buck ID machines are all archaic and tempermental. The machine asks for the amount of the sale, I have to punch that in, wait for the machine to search for the signal...then find the signal...then connect to the signal...than approve the signal...then print out a receipt with the sale amount and remaining balance...then I have to tell the actual computer the amount of the sale...the code for the type of sale it was...then the sale goes one of two ways: either they had enough on their Buck ID to pay for the entire order and it's over, or they didn't have quite enough and we continue with the next form of payment. Oh yeah, I definetely ended up processing 4 types of payment for these two.

The guy hands me his card and says "I tink der 14 dollars someting on here. Don't really know how much mo."

"OK, I'll just put in 14 dollars for now and finish it up when we know what we've got."

SO I punch it in and wait and wait and push buttons and out comes the receipt with a 2 cent balance. Oh no, there's no cent left behind with this pair.

"I so sorry - can you use dat up please?"

"Um...sure..." So I swipe and push buttons and code and wait and receipt comes out showing that the balance is now a cheerful zero. That's good, now they'll pay normally, no more torturous Buck ID, there's only $2.29 left, please pull out your wallet with some crisp green bills.

Then, oh then, the lady leans forward with HER Buck ID and says, "I have 22 cent. Can you do dat too please? I sorry." I blinked and couldn't help laughing at how ridiculous this was becoming. My manager looked at me and then reached a long arm over to the next register to pull off a strip of printer paper and grab a pen. I look up as the Stone-Age piece of crap finally starts to print out a receipt declaring HER balance is a joyfully lovely zero DO YOU HAVE ANY FRIENDS IN HERE WITH LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR BALANCES THEY'D LIKE TO CANCEL WHILE WE'RE AT IT? GO AHEAD, REALLY. There's a flicker of paper on my other side, and on the receipt paper my manager has written in red capital letters: "THEY ARE TRYING TO TORTURE YOU" Yes, David, I know, but you have to admit, it is very funny.

FINALLY we get to a balance of $2.07, and he whips out a wonderfully simple credit card to END THE TORMENT. I'm still biting back hysterical giggles as they leave while David shakes his head and tries to be professional. All he had to said was "Oh. My. God."

Comments

Anonymous said…
HAHAHAHAHA! That's pretty funny Heather


That is PRECISLEY (sp?) why i'm not gonna get a job like that
~heather said…
Yeah, I recommend against fast food especially, though

and...who are you, yellow dart? I like knowing my commenters! :)

and it's spelled "precisely" in case you really wanna know ;)
Anonymous said…
rofl! thats great ya gotta love ppl like that

i work for the land lord and cant understand any of my "coworkers" broken english. It's the best lingo ever isen't it.

over and out
Nate the Rednek
Anonymous said…
I'm gonna give you a BIG hint



you havn't picked up your freaking phone in forever and I havn't talked to you in forever and I havn't seen you in forever! GAH!


crazyness, button, sheer craziness





~button pusher

Popular posts from this blog

The First Stages

2 days ago I had a coffee date with the girl "in charge" of the house I'll be moving into this Sunday. Snuggled down in a sweatshirt over a white chocolate mocha during a drizzly afternoon we went over last minute details to make sure she and I were on the same page. As we wrapped everything up, she told me to wait and dashed to the car; coming back in with a polka dot gift bag I had only eyes for what lay behind the curled red ribbon tying the two handles together: two shiny silver keys. Inside the bag was a beautiful red journal and a heap of candy from all the girls to welcome me into the house, but I couldn't get over the feel of those keys in my hand with fresh cut grooves. I marveled at the sight of them threaded onto my keychain as Sarah Brasse's eyes danced from across the table. I looked up, feeling the warmth of the mocha spread from my abdomen to my fingers and toes and the ends of my hair. "It's real, isn't it?" I said. "It's

Religious Musings...

So, getting the coffee went well. We ran into an older friend of mine and his wife there and chatted for like 20 minutes or something crazy like that. About life and church and odds and ends like that. But that meant an extra 20 minutes waiting for what Dave had to say. To sum it up, we sat down and tried to comprehensibly write the purpose of our relationship to get things going on the right track: in other words, we want to be less physical and more spiritually uplifting. Dude, even I'm intimidated by such a daunting task. But we want our relationship to be something good for the both of us; the purpose of a Christian dating relationship is to support and rebuke and encourage one another in the direction of spiritual maturity. And no, don't freak out and think I'm going Puritan on you guys or anything, I still definetely enjoy kissing and the odd harmless make-out session, there's nothing wrong with that at all...but it is a problem when the relationship is based on l

Mixed Feelings

So I got a message from what I thought was a former friend. I really don't have any idea what the hell he is right now, or how I should respond to him. He and I used to be the closest of close, and then he got in a bad mood and shut me out. A little while later, we picked stuff back up again after a tearful and apologetic reunion. A few months and one ruined practical joke later, I became a scapegoat and he shut me out again. That hurt - mostly because I felt wrongly accused. I haven't heard from him since, and suddenly he's trying to connect with me again, claiming a change in heart. I have a hard time believing him - that was what he said last time. If you're reading this, I'm not doing this to spite you, but to process you and get advice from my friends. Can you blame me for not knowing what to do with you exactly? He sent me a message through facebook and then told me about a pivotal blog entry he had - I read it, and now I'm interested in at least one conve