‘Tis the season: for mean, stupid, and selfish people

Something happens to customers during the holiday shopping season; the bright lights, holiday music and dollar signs dancing in their heads magnify their inert jerkness, selfishness, and their perception that the whole retail world somehow owes them something; like their special circumstances of being alive and having a child who wants Bakugan, gives them the right to get one, even if we don’t have them; Or their shear desire gives them the inalienable right to the Jillian Michaels Wii game.
Scene: earlier today in the video game section of the world’s largest toy store
Customer: Do you have the Jillian Michaels disk?
Me: No, we’re sold out.
Customer: They always do that!
Me: (looking puzzled)
Customer: How many did you have? Like 2?
Me: I’m not sure, but we usually don’t get less than 12 of a game when it first comes out.
Customer: This always happens. (clearly annoyed that I am responsible for this dastardly tactic.) They advertise it, and then only have 1 or 2 in the store. They get you in here and you buy other stuff.
2nd customer-nearby: (sympathetically) Is it in the ad?
Customer: It was in Sunday’s ad.
Me: (voice over in my head) It’s Tuesday afternoon, that’s like two and a half days.

And so the official start of the Christmas season begins.
Associates hunker down like cold war 1950s, stockpiling a nuclear arsenal headed by Wii consoles, and sniffing out communist sympathizers (Bakugan, who clearly purposefully didn’t produce enough toys to satisfy demands, thus upsetting the American consumer and derailing the retail wage slaves who take the brunt of the blame that some poor child will wake up on Christmas morning and not have the little plastic ball that opens into a monster.)

My first attack came later that same day from a friendly face I’d seen just a few days prior. I remembered her and her friend.
Customer: I’m here for a Wii Guitar Hero World Tour Bundle.
Me: (looking at the large stack of them she just passed by) Okay.
A short standoff ensues before I retreat around the edge of my register counter over to the stacks of games, grab the top one and carry it back around and set it on the counter.
Me: (after attending to the numerous details of starting a transaction) That’ll be 189.99.
Customer: What? You said it was $99. (She meant the other day. I remembered the conversation)
Me: Actually, what I said was, I’m not sure what the price will be, but I heard $99. Which is the price of the bundle with the guitar and game.
Customer: You told me it was $99.
Me: What I said was, I’m not sure the price, but I heard $99. Which is the price of the bundle with the guitar and game.
Customer: You walked over here and checked the price, brought this card back and told me it was $99.
Me: I remember you. I remember that day. And I couldn’t find a price, which annoyed me, because I should have that information, so what I said was, I’m not sure the price, but I heard $99. Which is the price of the bundle with the guitar and game.
Customer: We were standing next to the drums and you said this was $99.
Me: It’s $189.00, the one with the guitar is …
Customer: You told me $99.
Me: Would you like to speak with a manager.

That’s my own personal duck and cover drill. Call the manager. I don’t get paid enough to deal with that.
What gets into people who yell and scream and insist that the store make things right, when in fact it was a misunderstanding, which really wasn’t my fault?
This person was bad, but not the worst.
I’ve had worse experiences, like this one:
Scene: me walking around straightening the store looking for customers to help. Two preteen boys are goofing off, pealing clearance stickers from PS One games and pasting them onto PS2 display boxes.
Me: Guys!
Guys: Sorry. (They laugh sheepishly, and skedaddle. I follow them at least to the end of the row, and watch them leave. Another customer has found the boxes and brought one to the register.)
Customer: This says $7.99
Me: Those kids I just chased out were peeling stickers from the PS one games.
Customer: I want this.
Me: They’re $129.99
Customer: It says right on here $7.99
Me: We didn’t do that, those kids were goofing off.
Customer: I want it for this price.
Me: Excuse me?
Customer: The box says $7.99 and I want it for that price.
Me: I can’t sell that to you.
Customer: You have to. The box says this price. You have to honor that.
Me: Fine. I’ll sell you that display box for $7.99. It’s empty though. I think you’ll be disappointed.

In the end, I called my manager, who calmly explained how we are not legally bound to sell a product at a price, even if the price is marked on the box, so even if this were a mistake by one of our employees, we wouldn’t sell the Playstation for that price.
I should have sold her the box.