Interaction in a beer store

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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1

This happened several years ago now, but I remembered it when looking at some photos the other day, from the city where we lived in at the time. I’ve never quite understood this.

A nearby beer/wine store had one of those “make your own six-pack” sections, where a shelf has a bunch of individual beers, ciders, etc. and you fill a six-pack holder with your own choice of items.

I noticed a single bottle of Woodchuck cider that was placed on another shelf close by, with some regular packs of other beverages. I figured that another customer had probably picked it up from the “make your own” section and carelessly set it down there, instead of taking two or three more steps to put it back in the right place. I’ve worked enough retail jobs to know that people do this! My husband and I liked that cider sometimes, so I added it to my six-pack.

At the register, the cider doesn’t scan (I think, at this store, all of the bottles had to be scanned, probably for inventory, and then a “make your own” price was applied to the total). The employee stares at it and wants to know where I got it from.

I told her that it was near the shelf with all the other drinks, and she gave me a suspicious stare, then asked me to show her exactly where it was. She followed me back to the make-your-own section and I point out the spot on the nearby shelf where I found it. I mentioned how I thought someone just picked it up and set it down there.

She looks very irritated, does not seem to believe me, but goes back to the register and charges me the price for the six-pack. Continues to glare at me as I leave.

My husband and I went back about two weeks later. The same employee is there and she stares at us, then asks me, “So, how was that Woodchuck cider?” in a very obvious “Thought you got away with it, huh?” or “You don’t fool me” type of tone.

Any thoughts on what she suspected me of doing? I just saw a single bottle of Woodchuck and thought it was part of the make-your-own choices. I chose that, five other drinks, and paid for them. We had been to this store before with no issues.

2

I assume they thought you broke a single can off a six-pack and that brand was not among those being sold in individual units.

3

I’d say that’s weird.

I’ve seen two ways this goes down- one is that any four or six-pack is pretty much game for inclusion in the make-your-own, and they just charge you 1/4 or 1/6 of the bundle price. And the others go on the shelf for others to do the same.

The other is that they’ll balk at having you use ones that are not on the list, but will usually just tell you no outright, because it’s not in the system as an individual bottle, or on the list of approved “one price” singles.

But confronting you, then being cranky about it, then bringing it up later is strange. Unless she owns the place, that’s highly unusual for a cashier to be that invested in what people buy or whether they’re trying to game the system or not.

4

Agree.

For whatever reason, the cider was not on the approved list of make-your-own 6-packs. Is it maybe a much different price per 6-pack than the beers? I don’t do cider & have no idea whether it’s commonly half or double the price of beer.

I’m sure there are cashiers who get tired of watching thefts go out the door. Or scammy stuff where a case of booze or wine is 5 cheapies and a premium, just hoping the cashier scans a cheapy & hits x6. People pull that shit all day long.

You got on their nerve. That is all.

5

I would have been slightly less surprised if this happened in a small town, but it was a city of 35,000 people, give or take a few thousand (at the time).

In my experience, the “defensive of my store” attitude is more common in smaller towns. People take their job very seriously because (1) not many other jobs within a few miles, (2) they get bored and want a bit of excitement in their day sometimes.

6

I mostly like ciders during autumn and winter. Usually they are not expensive compared to average single beers at convenience stores.

7

That is SO ignorant!

That would have set me off, and I would have gotten aggressive with her. SHE is the one who ultimately signed off on it, so SHE needs to shut up about it. If it was unacceptable, she had her chance to nix it. She didn’t.

8

The story of the store employee remembering you negatively jogged loose a memory of a store experience I had. We have what’s known in the greater Detroit area as ‘party stores’ that are basically small convenience stores that sell beer, wine, liquor, snacks, and other various items you might need for a party.

So this one party store was on a route home I seldom took. One day I happen to be going by and decided to stop for some beer. I grabbed the beer I wanted and saw they had a walk-in humidor with a pretty good selection of cigars. I smoked an occasional cigar back then, so I asked the guy behind the counter, who was clearly the owner, for cigar recommendations. He was very helpful and friendly, gave recommendations and pointed out some cigars he thought I’d like. As we were finishing up the transaction, he said, “by the way, we have a great wine selection, and the best wine prices in the state. Keep us in mind next time you want some wine!”. I answered “sure thing!”.

Since, as mentioned, I seldom took that route, a couple months went by before I happened to stop at the store again, to buy beer again. This time the guy, who remembered me, said grumpily “still don’t want to buy any wine, huh?” I said sorry, I do sometimes buy wine, but not at this particular time.

A few more months went by, and I found myself in the area again, and decided to stop at that place for some beer. So, just to recap, this is only my 3rd visit ever to this store, and each visit was months apart. I set the beer up on the counter and the guy practically yelled at me “aren’t you ever going to buy any wine?!?” That was my last visit to that store.

9

She has probably had many people try and pull that scam of taking one bottle from a more expensive six-pack and then “finding” it among the build-your-own section. People do that shit all the time. The fact that you honestly did find it there doesn’t really matter to her because that’s what they all say. But for her to sell it at that price and then comment on it days later is weird and rude. In her mind you’re a scammer. It’s unfortunate and totally unfair to you.

The simple solution for the store, and what I general see when a store does this, is that each individual bottle in the build-you-own pack rings up as 1/6 of the original six-pack. So there’s no way to scam for a cheaper one. One bottle might be 2x the price as the others.

10

Strange. My best guess is that a manager/owner was pushing the employees to sell more wine (maybe they get more profit from it)…but even so, he was rude.

11

Thank you all for the comments and guesses.

12

Not sure, your behavior seems completely normal but hers doesn’t.

She charged you for 6 bottles but you took 1? Or for 1 cider + 5 beers at the 6-beer price? “Make your own 6 pack” stores are not unknown to me, but we have pretty flexible alcohol laws, so usually you can buy complete packs or whatever you want anywhere. So some specialty shops allow you to create a sampler, but it’s not common.

Woodchuck is hardly a specialty item, cider is usually more expensive than beer but not substantially. Maybe she had issues with scammers but it seems like a minor issue to antagonize you for.

13

I took six bottles for the “make your own pack”, including the Woodchuck that I found (on a different, but close by shelf). Because I believed that it was one of the “make your own” options and was not supposed to be out of place. Sometimes the “make your own” selection will include ciders and alcoholic sodas (Not Your Daddy’s Ginger Ale, etc.) in addition to beers.

14

Really? Are grown people just generally that big of shitbags that they’ll intentionally do that sort of thing?

I’d be embarrassed with myself for doing something like that, versus just paying for it.

15

Many, many riddles can be solved by remembering that “God sure bakes a lot of fruitcake.”

16

OK, I can’t imagine you made out like a bandit here. Seems to just be a weird interaction.

17

I’ve found an entire rotisserie chicken on top of the wipes or diapers in the pharmacy section of Costco, which is the exact opposite side of the store, and you may recognize should probably be temperature controlled. Yes, some grown-ass adults are shitbags.

18

I just had a flashback to when I was a 20-something, shopping in a hardware store in a small town that was home to a state university.

As I was looking at something on display, I noticed a store employee at the head of the aisle, partially hidden from view and apparently keeping an eye on me. I moved to a display that blocked his view; he shifted position to maintain it. I moved to another aisle and he appeared again.

After this dance had continued for awhile longer I eventually went up to the register and bought my item. The nasty glare I got…

Install mirrors and/or a camera, but don’t follow your customers around as if you’re convinced they’re malefactors.*

*Comedian Franklin Ajaye told a story about a couple walking ahead of him on a city sidewalk one evening. They kept glancing apprehensively back at him, to the point where he became so offended, he went ahead and robbed them. :smiley:

19

Yes. I’ve worked at a few stores and I’ve seen other stuff that people tried. It’s not unusual for inexpensive stuff to be stolen. The person wants a thrill, they have a grudge against the company or the particular store location, etc.

20

Good decision. If I went into a place to buy a cigar and beer (and bought both), but the owner was pushing other wine or other goods at me while selling me those, I wouldn’t feel comfortable either. Have you any idea why he was pushing wine so much?

I used to work in a Beer Store in Ontario. We had the “mix six” option. Consumers loved it, but it was a bit of a PITA, because almost everything in the six was differently priced. So instead of keying “6BTL [brand name]” into the till, which was easy and fast, you had to key in, “3 x price A, 1 x price B, 1 x price C, 1 x price D” in. It took time, and on a hot summer weekend, people are thirsty and don’t want to wait too long.