Writer's Block: Tales from the Registers
I worked for a major discount retailer in the Layaway section for many years. Black Friday was one of the worst days each year. We would have people at the register, boxing and putting things away. We asked the customers to stand behind a line until we called them to the register. They would push and shove each other. People would take things from someone else's cart while in line. They would argue about the prices or why they couldn't have longer than the time allowed. I even saw two customers who got into a fist fight over a tv. They would have us ring it up and then say that they didn't want to spend that much. They would ask us to delete things. The customers behind them would get angry. Many customers were just wonderful. It's the few who acted like jerks that made it difficult.