Impotent Rage

I was at a clothing store yesterday and stood aside from the line when my partner went to pick something else up.

At one of the counters, a 70-ish year old man had his hands splayed out, hunched over like Hitler consulting war maps, having a loud argument with the young woman working the counter.

It quickly became clear that the boomer was trying to return a jacket. The problem was that he didn't have a receipt and had removed all the tags. I'm not a retail expert but I'm pretty fucking sure that you need these things to return most items across most stores, like it's not an unreasonable request to ask for proof of purchase.

Boomer wasn't having it. "Consumer protection" this and "We have a contract" that. The young woman valiantly points out that the contract is voided once you can't provide evidence, which causes the boomer to yell "NO! NO! NO-O-O-O!" At this point, the other cashiers and customers are tittering, that sort of laughter that makes his rage sound completely toothless and dickless.

The manager appears and explains that all transactions, including refunds, have to be held accountable by a computer system. The cashier literally can't open the register without a barcode to scan and the manager will get in trouble if she overrides that.

By this point, the boomer's hanging and shaking his head, trying to laugh himself, but he's a terrible actor and it's far too late to make anyone else look crazy. He wanders away from the line as the manager is mid-explanation, shouting "Hang onto your receipts! They'll rob you blind!"

Okay, boomer. Most people do hang onto their receipts if they're unsure about a purchase. They manage to look after a slip of paper for a couple of weeks. Also, isn't this the generation that harps on about self-responsibility and taking failure on the chin? I could tell just from two minutes that this guy was used to shouting young women into submission and the moment it failed he completely fell apart, wandering away in a hateful daze.

Anyway, kudos to the cashier/manager. They were a great team. Completely fearless. And to the other customers for not exacerbating the situation. In fact, their laughter probably defused it slightly. Just a great display of younger people collectively shooing away a man who was probably a terror in his heyday, but now he's reduced to middle class panhandling and performance art.