Thursday, October 26, 2006

Price check on blueberries

Women of a certain age refuse to believe that produce is expensive, especially in late October. I don't care if it is Wal-Mart. Not everything in the store is twelve cents - the same laws of supply and demand that apply to diamonds apply to blueberries.

This woman stalks up with a pint of blueberries and slams them down on the counter. I knew she was trouble. She had probably a couple thousand dollars worth of clothes on and about ten thousand in jewelry - and she made it seem effortless. Hair, nails, clothes, shoes and makeup - she was EXTREMELY well put together for a Sunday shopping excursion. And the husband was sort of waiting behind her, as if to say "she's your problem now, bubs."

She didn't even wait for me to greet her. The first thing out of her mouth was "Your cashier charged me for the large size of these. I purchased the smaller one. I want them for free now." I so feel sorry for the husband!

For starters, the blueberries are not sold by the pound, they have a barcode. Whatever the barcode scans, they ring up. Two, the girls are stupid, but they're not going to decide to not like you and deliberately overcharge you for blueberries. Three, there's no such thing as the "large" carton and "small" carton of blueberries.

So I show her the barcode on the bottom of the carton and tell her "Ma'am, this is the UPC for this carton of blueberries. This is what was scanned and this is the price of the item. You weren't charged for another item."

I ask her if it were possible that the item was possibly another price on the shelf? (because we know how that goes)

I tell her I'll go check the price on the shelf, because I know she'll go totally ballistic if I suggest she go - plus, I don't trust her. And she goes "No, I'm going with you. I don't think those are $4.98. I still think she cheated me."

Oooooookaaaaaaaaay. Trust issues much?

We get over to produce and sure enough, the blueberries are $4.98. She was either staring at the sign for blackberries at $2.48 or the sign for plums at $1.98. Either way, she was mistaken. She didn't apologize though. She started complaining about something else.

"Why are all the mangos we buy so hard. Aren't mangos supposed to be soft?"

If you don't like the way the fruit looks, don't buy it. Otherwise, caveat emptor.

And she still wanted to return the blueberries. I don't want them at that price. The woman's socks probably cost more than those blueberries. Heck, a few sprays of her perfume probably cost more than those blueberries. But I returned them.

Too bad that poor husband can't return the wife!

3 comments:

Pookie Pie said...

It sucks that people can't understand that even though we seem to have year-round produce, it's not gonna be as cheap as when it is "in season." Blueberries in October? Darlin, it's gonna cost you.

Anonymous said...

Heck, she's lucky. We don't even have blueberries available at the Walmarts in Virginia anymore with the end of the season.

Red-Stapler.com said...

Jesus berrypicking christ... It is such a good thing you don't pack a gun.