i hate people

you would think that you would run into very few cranky people in a chocolate store. i mean really, who gets angry when they smell chocolate? turns out that there are quite a few in my area. a woman walked in today with her friend. i greeted both and offered them a sample of our chocolate walnut fudge. the woman proceeds to berate me about how "terrible" my fudge is and how "it's the worst thing" she had ever tasted. wow...i was shocked. i think i make pretty decent fudge any that i don't make i sample before it ever comes off the table. she then tells me that she got this at another Rocky Mountain and that my fudge must be just as bad. What?! So I convince her to try a sample. It's free and it's just a tiny piece. I tried to do my part to save the Rocky Mountain name because I truly believe that there are very few who can compete with our quality.

So she tries the sample. She chews. She swallows. She turns to look at another candy case. No comment to me whatsoever. So I pry. "Was it terrible?" "No, it wasn't bad...but i still didn't like it." I admit that i felt a bit personally insulted by this. She glances over at the carmel apples and points to the plain ones and declares that she will have one of those and that i should slice it for her. I feel a little better knowing that this last batch of carmel was probably in the top three of all that I've made. Very smooth, very creamy, and had a very nice shine to it. I really want to try to win this customer back so I pick out the biggest apple with the most carmel on it that i can find. I cut it and place it in front of her. "$3.22 is your total" "WHAAAT?! But that carmel is SO thin on that apple! The apples at [rocky mountain location #2] have carmel on their apples that are at LEAST 3 times thicker!" She motions with her fingers how thick the carmel is...i don't see a difference. I apologize and tell her that we all use the same carmel recipe and that I'm not sure how they do that but vow to call and find out...and i meant it. "Well, I don't even WANT that thing!" so now i'm stuck with a store full of customers who now think my apples suck, an employee with her jaw on the floor, and an apple that i can't sell or use. As she walked out of the store I had this grand vision of hitting her in the back of the head with it. The thought still brings a smile to my face.

round 2: the biggest red flag in the store is "excuse me...do you have any samples?" they may as well just come out and say "give me something free because i have no money to buy anything". it would save me a lot of time. this happened the other day when a guy walked in and grabbed about 12 samples for him and his kids to "try". He then decided that he wanted to buy something and wanted me to cut everything in half as he did not want to buy such big pieces. He started with fudge. I reluctantly agree. He then requests a piece out of the candy case. I get it for him and he asks for only half of it. I tell him that I can't do that as it is a piece from the case. He orders me to just grab the knife behind me and cut it in half. "I can't do that." "Why not?" "We're not allowed." Yes, it is nice to keep your title hidden once in a while. He caves and buys the whole piece. I feel a little bit of victory knowing that my margin on that particular piece is the highest in the whole store and that had it not been for his previous behavior, I probably would have cut it for him.

round 3: a man walks in and requests a dark chocolate almond bear. It's big...almost 1/4 lb. I put it on the scale, weigh it, and ring it in. "$3.87 please." Without even looking in his wallet/pocket, "How about i give you $3.00 for it?" "I can't do that sir...I'm sorry." "It's all I have...they won't know how much it really cost...you can do that." Well, since "they" just got really pissed off, no, "they" won't do it. I explain that the scales are connected to the register and there's no way to fool the price (there is). "Well let me lighten it a little" and he pushes up from the bottom of the scale plate. It's unbelievable that this piece of trash is trying to pull this with me looking right at him. However, our scales read in 1/100ths of a lb. no human motor skills are that fine tuned so he gives up quickly. "How about I find you a smaller piece?" He seems to take offense to this but i rather enjoy it. I pull a smaller piece out and he pays for it. As he hands me his three dollars, he follows it with "make sure there is just three there and that i didn't give you too many". I've never wanted to open-hand slap somebody so badly in my life.

The only positive that i can take from these experiences is that thank god they happened to me and not my staff...especially the high schoolers who can get flustered pretty easily.