Cashiering at Christmas, Part 3 -- The Boxes

Of the top three most annoying things about being a cashier at Christmas, the demand for boxes is definitely one of them. Everybody wanted a box for every single thing they purchased. To start the problems off, we didn't get any boxes until Black Friday. To add to the problems, the manager told us that we had received a very limited number of boxes this year. Customers could only get one box for each item they purchased and they could not bring in old receipts and ask for boxes for previous purchases.

Before the boxes arrived, everybody thought I was a liar when I told them we had no boxes. Many of them were determined to intimidate me into giving them a box. Well, all the whining, complaining, and yelling in the world couldn't make boxes appear when there weren't any, so they went away angry and empty-handed, declaring that they would bring their receipts back and get their boxes.

Well, Black Friday brought out the boxes -- and the problems. We only had three sizes of boxes, shirt boxes, boxes a little bit larger, and small boxes. One of my first customers on Black Friday bought a lot of items and stated in a very bossy tone of voice that she wanted 20 boxes for them. The person who was bagging for me was carrying on a very friendly conversation with her and gave her all the boxes left in my package, which was already more than 20. Then the customer pulled out a receipt from the week before and wanted 20 more boxes. I said very nicely that we could not give boxes away for previous purchases. She threw a fit, not just a typical fit but rude. She had spent $400 at this store and she was going to get all the boxes she wanted and she didn't want to hear any lip about it. While she was thus griping, my bagger went around behind me, opened a new package of boxes, and pulled out an armload to give that customer. The customer was still going on and on that this was the worst customer service she had ever seen, and my bagger started agreeing with her and saying that she deserved all the boxes she wanted because she had spent so much money. I was furious. For one thing, I had called the manger over to ask if she could have the boxes, and he said she could, even though he didn't realize just how many she was getting away with. So, I had been doing what I was told and called a manager to ask if she could get her way, not giving bad customer service. For another thing, the person bagging for me was an employee of the store who knew what the rules were. She was not supposed to go behind my back and hand out that many boxes or take the customers side against me. In the end, the customer got away with around 60 boxes.

Another incident that stands out to me (out of many) was the older lady with the boxes. First she wanted 10 boxes. She didn't need 10 to go with her purchase, but I was battle-weary, so I just handed her 10 of the larger boxes. She said, "Honey! I don't need boxes that big! Don't you have any smaller ones?" I had to search the other registers until I found ten shirt boxes. I very nicely handed them to her, expecting to take the large boxes back. She scooped up both the shirt boxes and the large boxes and scurried away as fast as she could go.

Then there were the people who didn't understand why we didn't have boxes for trench coats, for frying pans, for picture frames. Maybe I'm tacky, but I've never put a picture frame in a box. It comes in a box. I wrap it as is. Then the people who bought various odds and ends that didn't even need a box along with a few shirts. How many boxes do you need? 20. And they wondered why we ran out of boxes a week before Christmas.