"I Can't Afford This..."

Every once in a while someone will buy something, leave, come back a few minutes later and say, "I can't afford this."

Usually they're really nasty about it, like it's my fault they overspent. They demand a refund and if I hesitate in any way, they start yelling. They're not really mad at me, of course, they're mad at themselves. But why yell at yourself when you have a sales clerk you can yell at instead?

The other day, though, I had a really nice guy come back in. The first thing he said was, "I'm really sorry to do this to you, but..." and he asked me if I thought we'd still have the things he'd bought in a few weeks. He knew it was his mistake, not mine.

It's sad that he's the exception.