Customers

Here are two things I witnessed today. You may find them boring (and if so, keep it to yourself) or you may find them interesting, as I did.

I was in the Express lane of my local grocery store today, not in a particular hurry, but ready to get through my transaction for my one item. And as the guy ahead of me was checking out, I heard some noise from the other express lane over my right shoulder. It was nothing particularly out of the ordinary in today's world. A man was expressing his surprise at being carded for his purchase of alcohol. He gave the customary "are you serious" type of response and when it was affirmed he raised his game a bit. "This is a record. I've never been asked before," he said with that half-joking half-annoyed type of tone. The teenaged girl behind the counter did a great job of handling it, responding with something friendly like, "I set a record huh?" (She had already stated previously that she was only doing it because it was corporate policy.) Before he actually handed his id over, he checked once more, "you're serious, right?" Then somewhere in there as the transaction was being completed, he said something like, "I'm going to have to tell some people about this." I'm not sure exactly why he said this. My guess is that it is either because he was actually amused and it would be a good story to tell or possibly he was trying to imply that he was going to spread the word not to buy alcohol there since they checked for id's. If it was the latter, it was the classic case of complaining to/threatening the wrong person, since last I checked, Copp's doesn't go to their checkout girls for corporate policy decision making.
When I actually looked at the guy I was fairly amused. He indeed was a guy who was unquestionably over 21. If I had to guess, I'd say he was in his fifties. He had mostly white/grey hair, a moustache of the same color, and glasses that you'd be hard pressed to find on many people under 30. As I made my way to my car, I smiled at the thought of a 20 year old sporting the white moustache. To top the whole thing off, he was buying Old Milwaukee beer. I don't know a lot about beer, but I think you have to be at least 40 to drink that brand anyway.
All that said, everyone was being pretty reasonable. I certainly don't blame the checkout girl. She was doing her job. And I don't really blame the store for having that policy, though I prefer the "card if you think they're under 35" policy. And as long as they're not a jerk about it, I don't mind an old guy taking some exception with being carded. I'd be a little thrown if someone suddenly asked me to prove I was old enough to get into a PG-13 movie, no matter how easy it is to just show them your licence.

Before I went home, I stopped at Subway to get a sandwich. The guy behind the counter was in the middle of making a sandwich for the guy ahead of me and he paused to see what I wanted. As he heated up the chicken for my sandwhich, he finished making the sandwich ahead of mine and wrapped it, bagged it, and set it down. BUT, since he was the only one working, he didn't check the guy out. He went back to work preparing my sandwich. After all, if he handled the money for the first sub, he would have to take off his gloves, do the transaction, rewash his hands and put on new gloves. So as I watched the guy finish my sandwich, I spotted the kid (about 20 years old) ahead of me go through his own personal agony waiting to eat his sandwhich. I don't know if he was in a hurry, or running late, or just annoyed for getting so close to his food only to wait a bit longer. For all I know, he was minutes away from going into some sort of insulin shock and needed those carbs to stay alive. Whatever the case, I was interested at his reaction. He actually laid his head down on the counter as he waited in frustration at one point. He never said a word of complaint but if I can read body language at all, I think he died a little inside while waiting for that sandwich.
I'm a firm proponent of food preparation standards, so I don't think the Subway employee was out of line in doing what he did. He was going to make one of us wait either way, so he did what was most convenient. I do think it was a little unreasonable that he was the only one working. I don't know what kind of business that that particular Subway is running, but they need to be properly staffed. I was there last weekend and had to wait about 5 minutes to order, after I was at the front of the line, while their one sandwhich maker talked on the phone. I understand that there will be some down time if you have too many workers, but why not spend the extra $7.00 per hour (or less) to ensure proper service and probably raise efficiency?