Service With or Without A Smile by Glynis Gillespie

Author:Glynis Gillespie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Self Publishing

CHAPTER 16

It was a busy day in Kwiksons as it was coming up to Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night so people were buying a lot of party food as well as costumes and fireworks at the ready for the celebrations, therefore Tabatha was kept very busy on the checkouts. The day was passing quite slowly, however, as Tabatha had a headache and she was wishing that her shift would come to an end so that she could go home and take some aspirin. Then an elderly couple appeared at the end of her checkout belt. They started loading all of their shopping onto the belt.

“NO, DON’T PUT THE MEAT ON TOP OF THE FISH, YOU SILLY MAN!” shouted the irate elderly woman. The man calmly separated the meat and fish and carried on loading the shopping, not saying a word.

“COME ON, WE HAVEN’T GOT ALL DAY!” she bellowed at him again. “GET A MOVE ON!” she commanded. Tabatha glared at the woman. It was very clear that this poor man had a lot to contend with being married to this dominant lady. “Hello, would you like a hand with your packing?” asked Tabatha, looking at the woman.

“Yes, you can do it if you want,” she replied wearily. She handed Tabatha some bags to pack it in.

“Thank you,” said Tabatha, and she started packing the shopping.

“NO, DON’T PUT THE TINS AND THE BREAD TOGETHER!” the lady shouted at Tabatha now.

“But the bread is on top of the tins, madam!” protested Tabatha calmly. Even though she actually didn’t feel very calm. Quite frankly this woman was getting right on Tabatha’s nerves. She was insinuating that Tabatha didn’t know how to pack a bag for goodness’ sake. Tabatha began packing another bag, ignoring her bad manners. She put the frozen products into it, and then the lady struck again.

“NO, NO, I WANT THE FISH IN THIS BAG.”

“Oh I see, madam,” said Tabatha, gritting her teeth and handing her the box of frozen cod. Tabatha didn’t understand what the woman’s problem was. Everyone knew that all frozen things went in one bag together in order to keep them cold.

“OH FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE. YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY NO GOOD AT PACKING, ARE YOU?” The nasty lady was getting a little bit abusive now and Tabatha was almost at the end of her tether.

“Perhaps you would prefer to pack your bags yourself, madam,” Tabatha suggested while smiling sweetly at her through gritted teeth.

“WELL, I THINK I’D BETTER,” she said, snatching the bag away from Tabatha. She started shoving the groceries into her bags in a haphazard way. She doesn’t seem to care about how her bags are packed now, thought Tabatha. “DON’T I GET A FREE BAG FOR MY MEAT, THEN?” she said, picking up the piece of meat that Tabatha had placed in a small bag.

“Well, as you can clearly see, I HAVE put the meat in a bag,” said Tabatha with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

“NO, NO, I MEAN A CARRIER BAG.”

“We put meat into an appropriate-sized bag, madam, which I have done.

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