The Rude Hamptons - Tales of People Behaving Badly In Long Island’s Summer Playground

I am a cashier at the new Amagansett Farmers Market (now owned by Eli Zabar, the food is pretty good) and I am happy to report that most people have been quite courteous to me, considering that I am working a cash register alone and quite young.

Today, however, I was checking my prices with the price guide, when a woman yelled at me for pricing her four cucumbers incorrectly. It was said on the guide that cucumbers were $1.49/lb. As the cucumbers were relatively light, this figured out to about $1.20 each. The woman screamed that I was ripping her off, and claimed that a sign outsides called cucumbers 99 cents each. I had already swiped her credit card, and said that it was too late for that.

She refused to leave and asked to see Eli himself. I offered her $1.25 out of my own pocket but she refused, on a crusade to correct this “fallacy.”

I asked her to get out of this shop right now, I have other people to service. I showed her the math on paper, and she couldn’t deny I was right. I did not give her anything. She left in a huff, and people were switching to the other line throughout.

One man in the back stayed, simply to say to me “what a bitch.”; This is my favorite man in the world. I hope he sees this.

- The Cashier

I’m ringing up a guy and he says “oh man I can’t wait for all of these tourists to get out of here, it’s nice when it’s just us locals.”

I turn to the bag boy next to me with a smirk and turn back to the guy and laugh and say, “yea, he’s from the city.” (referring to the bag boy) and the guy looks at me and says “yeah, me too.”

It amuses me how city people think that they’re locals just because they own a house out here.

- Shocked and Awed

And this is my all time favorite.

A somewhat new girl had rung up a a middle aged couple. She didn’t make any drastic mistakes and there was no confrontation during the check out. After paying the woman decides to say that the girl had rung her up wrong. Being somewhat new, the girl didn’t want to deal with it and asked me to help the lady.

Meanwhile our manager type man, J, was there trying to keep the lady calm. Her complaint was that she was charged $1.99 for arugula when it was only $.99. I corrected her and told her that it was $1.99 and she probably misread the sign.

J told her to quit while she was ahead, but she persisted.

I re-rang her entire purchase not once, but twice, and in turned out she owed us 68 cents because the other cashier had accidentally put in the wrong code for a certain lettuce (not the arugula).

J tells her that she should have just let it go and she could keep her 68 cents. She mumble something to the effect of, “I’m right, the sign for the arugula said 99 cents.”

Fed up with her arrogance I run to salad greens section grab the sign and ran back to the front of the store, but the lady had already left, but I desperately wanted to prove her wrong. I ran after her, outside the store and up to her car and shoved the sign in her face.

Dumbfounded, she didn’t admit that she had simply misread it, her eyes had slipped over the 1, no, she said there was another sign that said .99 cents.

I told her again that she was wrong, the sign I had was the only sign, and that arugula was not and had never been 99 cents. She stormed off, speechless.

It was my revenge on all of the stuck up, self righteous jerks that I had to deal with.

- Shocked and Awed

Okay so, it’s a Monday, a lot of people have off because it’s a slow day and the sacks of corn are in front of the corn display table, open.

A lady comes up to the cashiers and asks where the corn is.

My reply is that I didn’t know, it may not have been put out yet because the people that usually do it have off today.

Her response, “what are you talking about, there’s 4 bags right there all you have to do is dump them out!”

So of course I volunteer to do it. I’m 5 foot 2 and weigh about 100 lbs. The sacks of corn weigh about 50 lbs. The lady stands idly, watching me struggle for quite some time with the sack that was as big as me.

When I finished unloading one bag and begin to walk away she snaps at me “you’re only doing one bag?!”

My reply, “oh did you need more?”

Her response “well yeah, that’s what I thought you were doing.”

I again, struggle to empty the sack of corn. I walk back to my register and a few minutes later she gets in line to be rung up.

She bought 2 ears of corn.