Old People Gone Wild

In two days, I  witnessed two versions of "Old People Gone Wild". Thursday I was accused of stealing and Wednesday I watched an old woman verbally attack another customer.

Thursday
An old man comes up to me, while I'm helping a line of people cash out and tells me "You've got my credit card!"

"Excuse me, sir?" I looked over at him like he was crazy.


"This is the only store I've been to and you're the only person I gave my credit card to." He points to me and says, "I always put my card in my wallet, so what did you do with my card because I don't have it?"

I began to get annoyed. "Look sir, I don't have your card and you didn't leave it over here. Are you sure you checked all the contents in your wallet? Did you check behind the bills because I saw you put it in your wallet."

"It's not in my wallet and I don't have it. You have my card and I want it back!"

At this point I'm thinking maybe if I ignore him he will find his card and go away. Nope. He does the unthinkable.

"I'd like to speak to a manager. I want my card back!"

As my co-worker calls for a manager I turn to the old man. "Sir are you sure you checked everywhere in your wallet? Why don't you check again?"

"I already checked my wallet," he begins pulling an assortment of cards out of his wallet. He pulls out a card and I remember the card, "If you turn that card around you will see that it is the Visa that you put in your wallet."

"Well," he gruffly admits, "I guess you were right."

I wanted to yell, "Didn't I freakin' tell you that I didn't take your stupid credit card. What the heck did you expect a supervisor to do, tell me to cough it up?"


Instead I said, "Well yes, sometimes these things happen." As he began to walk away I loudly said, "Thank you and have a good day sir." He ignored me, but left his gloves at my counter.


Wednesday
An older woman asks me, "Why did you circle the bottom of my receipt?" 


I glance at the two patiently waiting customers behind her, "There is a website where you can do a survey on the service today."


"Oh I don't mess with the internet and online stuff," she pushed the receipt into her purse, "but my daughter and my son-in-law have the computers in the house."


She leans against the counter and takes a deep breath to tell me her life story, while the two women behind her give me looks of horror. 


The old lady continues with, "My son-in-law iz verry smart. He speaks the three languages and works all over the world. My daughter she goes on de internet sometimes and my son-in-law he pay the bills on the online."


I nod my head and smile like a bobble head in a car window. Meanwhile, the two customers behind her are getting frustrated.


She stands up straight and begins to walk away, but turns around to ask another question. "Do you pay your bills on de online?"


"Yes," I smile and nod my head. "I do."

She shakes her head, "Oh I guess that iz something the young people do."

The next customer comes up to me and I say, "Hi, how ya doin?"

She replies, "How are you doing?"

"I'm surviving," and the lady in front of me chuckles with a smile.

The old lady, who wanted to tell me her life story, turns around and says, "Are you laughing at me?"


I look on in shock as the woman in front of me does the same. She replies, "No I wasn't laughing at you. I don't know what you're talking about."


"Yezz, you were laughing at me." The older lady walks around my register and berates the customer in front me as she makes her circle back to my register. "You think it is funny, what I was saying? You laughing at the things I was saying?"


I began to wonder if this old lady is going to spit on the woman in front of me because I've seen how old gypsies curse people. Instead she stops near the lady and tells her, "You don't understand what it's like to be old, but you will soon. When you get old you'll understand."


My current customer shakes her head and continues to say, "Look I wasn't laughing at you." She turns to me and asks for confirmation, "Was I laughing at her?" 


I'm thinking, why is she trying to put me into their battle? I shake my head and right when I get ready to support my current customer, the old lady shocks me further.


"I saw you laughing," she nods her head to confirm her thoughts, "You were laughing at me! For that you will get old fast. I HOPE YOU GET OLD FAST!"


All that was missing was the spitting. In some small part of my mind I felt that if the old woman had spit on this lady in front of me, it would have solidified her curse. 


Throughout the entire confrontation, there was another customer waiting in line. An older woman who told me, "I'm glad I didn't say anything. She might have attacked me physically."


Old people gone wild, gotta be careful about what you do and say around the senior citizens. I keep my caution sign on when around senior citizens, they are liable to snap your head off.