$1.12 cost Safeway/Albertsons customers for life.
Safeway (Parent company Albertson's Companys / Cerberus Capitol Management) at 14840 SE Webster Rd, Milwaukie this afternoon made an announcement at appox. 4:30pm that "Due to an Unfortunate Set of Circumstances, we will only accept CASH until further notice." Not in an apologetic tone, but in a 'I can't believe I have to deal with this crap' tone. OK. I had been shopping for 15, minutes at this time, so I did 2 things, first, I checked how much CASH I had on me. $31.00 - Next, I did a quick math problem in my head, how much is is my cart at this point ( I was not done shopping). I estimated $28, so I stopped shopping, and got into 1 of 3 long lines- I do not know or care how long this had been going on, but typical long line for this store. I observed several interactions of what must be a most embarrassing discussion to have in public- with the cash we have on us, what do we have to have in our cart, and what do we leave behind. I believe everyone I witnessed was a respected, hard working man, woman or couple, and my heart hurt seeing them have these public discussions, trapped in line with strangers. Finally my turn, and the cashier looks at me and says in her snottiest voice, "I hope you heard we only take CASH!" Um, yes, I heard. I told her I checked, and I have $31, I believe I have more than enough. "Well, we'll see." Great... I gave her my extra-large shopping bag, and that dramatic 'I'm too good for this' attitude cashier began to scan my purchases, which included a couple of fresh meat products, and 4-.99 + .05 deposit 2 liter Coke Zero bottles. The total, after the Safeway Card discounts??? You guessed it, $32.12 - $1.12 more that the cash I had on hand. Well damn, shame on me. I mentioned I had no problem coming back down in a little bit with the $1.12, but I was cut short of my offer, and just told "All we can do is 'suspend' the transaction, and continue it when you come back." I said, "Oh, that's nice, expecting to provide my credit/debit card and drivers license, sign some form of IOU, and be on my way. But then it occurred to me- "Oh, you're going to keep my purchases (fresh meet *pork chops - 2 packages*) in my bag, somewhere in this store, until I make it to a teller machine and come back with an additional $1.12". She said that is all she can do. I then reached into my cart, where the 4 bottles of Coke Zero sat, grabbed 2 of them. held them between me and her, and asked "There is no other choice than to leave all of my food here?" She said yes, no other choice. I sat the 2 bottles on the counter, grabbed the other 2 and again asked, "Are you sure there is nothing else that can be done?" as I held the bottles towards her. "Nope, nothing." I said, "OK. Well, you just lost a customer who has been coming here for longer that this store has been open, over $1.12. Good job, you must be proud of yourself. Please take the items out of my bag, here are the 4 bottle of Coke Zero (3rd try to get her to come up with a possible solution of maybe only buying 2- she apparently is that customer service blind.)" I looked at the people behind me in line, and their jaws were wide open. Then, she let out another long sigh, and said "Let me ask my manager." I said "For what? Anything that it is going to take a manager to approve I don't want, unless it's offered to everyone else in this store. Is that what you're going to ask her?" "Well, NO!" So... I said "do not bother, you will never see me in this store again, and remember, this is allover $1.12!" She emptied my bag, I looked at the customers behind me, I shrugged my shoulders at them, they all had big grins of realization on their faces, and I left the store. I sure hope they had better experiences than I received, but if nothing else, they have a heck of a story to tell when the get home. Sooo... if you have stayed with this tale to the end, I applaud you.
I see US Bank has determined that they no longer need a branch & ATM there, maybe the parent companies will come to the same realization towards this Safeway, it's management, and specifically this employee.
In regards to the management, is it possible that in this day and age, that no one had ever thought of a remedy for the time an 'Unfortunate Set of Circumstances' occurs that they have a back-up plan to accept credit/debit cards? Too bad that previous to the invention of the little credit card chip readers, there wasn't a manual way to accept payment by credit/debit card. Oh wait, there was? Hand written slips and a signature? Oh, the horror of it all to have to train someone on how those worked. Geez. read more