So my uncle got the store closed down today (a "what would you have done" poll)

You are correct Erdosain about the types of stores where these setups are most common. I have never seen them in a large grocery store, but they are common in some 24-hour gas stations / convenience stores in high-crime neighborhoods.

Worked in retail. You’d be surprised at some of the crap people say, thinking they are sooooooooooo funny.

I bet the old guy doesn’t do it again.

I vote knowing the guy was joking, however, again, I wasn’t there, didn’t see the guy’s body language, don’t know if the girl had experience any robberies, or was just following policy.

(And yes, sometimes store policy IS that retarded)

I hope your uncle never again patronizes that store and that he had been a regular, high-spending customer before the brainless twit of a cashier reacted in such a totally unjustified manner.

I also hope there is some legal recourse for him to pursue and that he accepts a large out of court settlement.

The kids at work are notorious for this pattern of behavior.

Them: “Hugely derogatory/inflammatory/disgusting comment!”
Person overhearing/being targeted: “Predictable offended response!!”
Them: “I was only kidding!!!”

:rolleyes:

My advice is always the same: If you walked up to a stranger on the street and said whatever it is you’re are about to say, would it get you- at the very least- punched in the face? If so, it’s not funny and you should keep it to yourself.

I do think the cashier overreacted. However, glancing over the Bashas wiki page, it seems that the company has been undergoing some fairly significant legal and financial problems over the past few years, including filing bankruptcy about 6 months ago and closing down several stores. So I can see where she might have been a little hair-trigger, either in response to the general tone of her environment (nothing like being under constant threat of losing one’s job due to failure on the company’s part) or to a draconian company policy (“We’ve lost enough money the past few years- DON’T YOU DARE contribute to us losing more!”).

What I’d be a little more het up about was why it took four hours for the police to figure out it was a joke.

Many of the grocery and similar stores around here have a similar cash-collection system from the registers. A manager walks around with a bunch of zippered bank bags, numbered for each register. They stand next to the cashier and at the next opportunity, the cashier pulls out all the large bills, checks and coupons and stuffs it in the bag. No counting is done at this point.

I’m wondering how the manager who was standing right there next to the cashier reacted to the joke and her subsequent actions?

The cashier did overeact, but the OP’s uncle was an ass and he doesn’t deserve any compensation.

I probably would have known he was joking, and voted so, but I think actually the teller did the correct thing.

It was probably part of her job training - anyone makes any sort of demand or threat, push the panic button.

Not that I think the Uncle is a horrible person. It was, after all, just an innocent joke. The (probable) embarrassment and the four hours of detainment were more than enough “punishment” for a small lapse in judgment.

…just make sure he keeps his jokes to himself in airports. :smiley: The TSA is even more humorless.

He certainly deserves a groveling apology and compensation for the detainment he suffered.

I’m a former hotel night auditor who has been held up at gunpoint. In my opinion, the cashier overreacted. I think I would have laughed it off and went on with what I was doing.

Why?

This is nonsense; the overwhelming majority of criminals do retire, as people age out of delinquent behavior in general as they exit their 20s. Link. Seniors account for roughly 13% of the population, but only 0.7% of the arrests. Put another way, there are about 40 million Americans aged 65 or older – last year, that age group produced all of 92 arrests for robbery.

Maybe because if you acknowledge that the cashier overreacted, that means that any action she took was incorrect. That means that anything that resulted from her action was also incorrect. Therefore, the fact that the guy was detained for four hours was also incorrect. If they value him as a customer, they need to make amends, even if they don’t think he did anything wrong. And if they don’t, then I understand why they are in such a financial pickle.

Anyways, If I were the cashier, I don’t think the idea that it was a robber would even enter my mind. (I know it didn’t as I read the OP.) Her reaction completely and totally took me by surprise.

And seeing as I’m capable of thinking like that, I can’t argue that the guy’s an ass for not realizing that someone might think he was a robber. Unless he deliberately acted like he was going to force her to give the money, I don’t see why she reacted that way (besides asinine store policy).

If the place is so crime prone that this sort of fear is reasonable, then the cashier should have been behind bullet proof glass the entire time, with one of those revolving slots to keep her safe.