Monday, July 26, 2010

Little old ladies? Not to be trusted.

Okay, so I worked in a cafe today, managing and running the cash register.  At one point, this little old lady came up, moving at a ridiculously slow pace...slow to order, slow to speak, slow to draw out her $10 bill to pay for her order.  FINALLY, I gave her the change and moved on to the next customer while she awkwardly lingered, sloooowly stepping maybe six inches to the side as she slowly began packing up her things.  (Have I mentioned how slow she was yet?)  My next customer ordered, and I began to give the man his change when..."Excuse me, I gave you a $20."  WHAT?!

I was sure she had given me a $10, but I'm not one to start an argument with a customer.  It's bad for business, and I couldn't prove anything, regardless.  No one else knew if she had given me a $10 or $20, and while I didn't think I would have made such a mistake, I naturally had second thoughts.  It wouldn't matter anyway because I couldn't prove anything, and I wasn't going to argue with an old woman with customers behind her in line.  So I gave her another $10 to make up for it.

And what do I find when I count my drawer five hours later?  Oh, I'm $10 short.  At first I thought that maybe she was just mistaken and senile, but both my boss and my mom told me that it was definitely intentional.  So naive little me, who usually doesn't trust people and expects the worst in every situation, actually thought that maybe someone was innocent for once.  Weird.  So unlike me.

Anyway, just a friendly reminder to everyone:  Old ladies are apparently sneaky little devils.  Or as my mom said, "Thieves age, too."  Who knew?