Overall, fairly well, until...

Dan took care of customer after customer as the day dragged on. Kristy, his Customer Service partner for the first half of the day, worked with practiced efficiency as she fixed all of her customer's problems. She flitted around the small oval kiosk as she processed returns and rung up purchases.

"I bought this yesterday, but it doesn't fit," the older, sallow-skinned woman in front of Dan said as she plopped a pile of clothes down on the counter. He looked at the twenty or so items and stifled a sigh.

"No problem. You have the receipt?" he asked.

"No, you should be able to bring it up on your computer thing there. I was here yesterday," the woman complained with a dismissive wave toward the register.

"Ma'am, I can't just bring up your receipt. Do you have the card you used to purchase these items?" Dan asked in his politest voice.

"I don't need a receipt! I've never needed one when returning anything here. Just do your job, boy."

"Kristy," Dan whispered. His blonde coworker shrugged at him and give him a pained smile.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" the woman screeched.

"I'll need some form of purchase proof."

"I've never needed it before!"

Dan bit back the words he was going to say. "Ma'am, I can't process any returns without some form of receipt. Did you pay cash?" he tried.

"That's it. Your incompetence is astounding. Just look it up in the system!"

Dan stared at the increasingly irate woman. He didn't know what to do. There wasn't a function on the registers to do what the woman wanted, and she wasn't listening to reason. "If you'll give me a moment, I'll radio my manager," he tempered.

"Do that, so they can fire your incompetent ass."

Dan blinked at the woman and shrugged. Keying the mic on his earpiece, he said, "Ms. Carmen? If you have a moment. I need you at Customer Service, please."

"If she has a moment? I demand her right now!"

"Ma'am, Ms. Carmen is a busy woman. She knows it's important and will come over as soon as she is able."

"I've had it with you. Tell your manager to get up here now!"

Dan didn't key the microphone as he said, "Ma'am, as soon as you are able, please." He hoped it would mollify the angry customer.

It took ten minutes for Ms. Carmen to arrive. Her sharp deep blue blouse, black pencil skirt, and high heels exuded authority as she rounded the corner near the front of the store. "How may I help you?" she asked Dan.

"Your employee is useless! He demanded I give him my receipt to return these items."

Ms. Carmen blinked and turned her sharp blue eyes to look at Dan. "Is this true?" she asked in a low, dangerous tone.

"I requested to see her receipt or card she purchased the items with so I can enter them into the system."

"I see," Ms. Carmen mused as she looked him over. She turned back to the customer. "He is correct. You do need proof of purchase before we can return any items. Do you have the credit card you used to purchase these garments?"

Ms. Carmen and the irate woman went back and forth for a few minutes. Eventually, the customer threw up her hands and yelled that she would be back. After her declaration, she strode off toward the exit, forgetting her clothes still on the counter.

"Uh, ma'am," Dan called after her.

"No, I don't want to hear a damn thing from you."

"Yes, ma'am," he shot back, trying not to smile.

Ms. Carmen gave him a withering look. "Do not get cheeky, even with cretins such as that," she chastised before moving off toward the staff doors.

Kristy gave Dan a smile as the next customer stepped up to the counter.

Just after Dan got back from his meal break, the woman returned. He was helping a quiet, redfaced woman return a small pile of silk panties. It was obvious the woman was flustered and kept shooting longing glances at the line in front of Kristy. Dan knew she'd been trying to get the register with a woman instead of his. He couldn't blame her.

"You, boy! I have your wretched receipt," the angry woman yelled as she cut through the line. She marched up to the counter, almost knocking the poor shy lady aside.

"Ma'am, I'll be able to help you in a moment," Dan said as he finished punching in the last digits of the barcode of the lady's receipt.

"You'll help me, now!"

"Ma'am, please," he tried.

"I've wasted my day. I've got what you want. You will help me you four-eyed, limp-dicked, mother-fucker," the woman bellowed. The entire store seemed to go quiet as everyone looked at the foul-mouthed customer. She wasn't done. "You are so incompetent you couldn't ring up my clothes. Then you make me walk out of here without them, forcing me to return. I will speak to your manager about getting you fired. You are the ugliest piece of mommy's basement trash that I have ever had the misfortune of seeing. You not only hit every ugly branch on the way down the genetic tree, but you also lost any semblance of intelligence along the way. Ring up my returns, now you neanderthal."