When time drags on....

Yesterday we went to our favourite games store to trade in some of the games we don't play anymore, and get some new ones (can't leave without new ones...). Everything was going well, I gave the clerk my games, gave him the ones we were buying and made the transaction.

Let me point out here that we were very hungry at this point. We had decided on which games we wanted going in and figured on a 5-10 minute time period to complete our business and go have lunch.

Once everything was done and my debit card debited, and the transaction rung in, the clerk paused, a look of shock came on his face and he told me that I was actually entitled to more of a trade in value since I traded in more than 5 games. So, I scratched the card and it worked out that he owed me another $5.50.

This is where his brain stopped working and time stood still.............

He looked at the other clerk and asked her what he could do. She was busy with other customers, but turned and told him to cancel the transaction, refund my money and start again. In fact she said it three times over the next 20 minutes.

Here's what he did:

1. Stared at the register. This apparently didn't work.
2. Tried to give me a $5.50 store credit. Hmmm, some person had programmed their system so that it would not let him give me money for no apparent reason.
3. Stared at the register in case it had changed its mind. The other clerk repeated her earlier instructions.
4. Started to enter a return for the items I had just purchased. Looked at the receipt for the games I traded in. Apparently the message on that was to stop since he then cancelled that transaction.
5. Stared at the register again. They seemed to be having a contest because the register stared right back at him. Who knows what he saw that time.
6. Asked the other clerk again what to do. This was the third time he heard the same thing.
7. Stared at the register some more. Obviously it had not heard the other clerk and was not in a cooperative mood.
8. Then the light bulb came on. "Sir, would you consider one of the $7.99 Xbox games? I will give it to you for free." He was obviously very proud of himself to find a way out of this. Ben actually found a $7.99 pre-played game that looked half decent. It will probably be a trade-in in due course. I took it back to him. He rang it in.
9. Stared at the register some more. I think they were communing this time and the register told him something. I think the answer was NO.
10. Ran to the back room after "I'll be right back, sir".
11. He came back and completed the transaction after appeasing the cash register with an offering of money. I'm pretty sure he paid $3.69 of his own money just to get me out of the store. For some reason the system would not allow him to discount a game for no apparent reason.

You know, there were times when I was tempted to tell him just to forget it, but the customers being served right beside me by the other clerk were getting their extra trade in. I just think that if I had been served by her, then everything would have gone smoothly or - at the very least - she would have been able to follow her own instructions once she discovered the mistake.

When the three of us hungry souls finally got out of there, Karen looked at me and told me it was all her fault. I asked her why. She said that she was just thinking that morning that time never goes by slowly for her anymore. She always seems to have the opposite problem where it goes by way too quickly. This was the fates reminding her of how slow time can pass.