It was an hour before the end of my shift. My supervisor told me to leave my register to do my closing tasks (clean the front end of the store from top to bottom and do the reshops) thirty minutes before that. Keep in mind that it's a biggish-medium store. It was supposed to be just my coworker at self-checkout dealing with customers with cards, and she'd call me back up for cash transactions.
Anyway, last minute, my supervisor told me to stand guard at the front to block (or intimidate) suspected thieves. I stood there for 30 minutes, and nobody tried to steal a thing. 5 minutes before I was supposed to do my other tasks, two middle-aged women came to my line looking to pay with both card and cash. That's fine. I was quick, but they weren't. They had two separate transactions. While I was scanning the first woman's items, the second woman said she forgot her cash in her car and needed to run out to get it. No problem, because I could scan her stuff by the time she came back. While the second lady dealt with that, the first lady told me she wanted another cream cheese. I just scanned it twice and told her to pick it up after she paid.
The second lady came back by the time I finished ringing up her stuff. She didn't give me enough cash, so she had to go to her car AGAIN! I had to call my supervisor to suspend the transaction because I got a third customer. The third customer also didn't bring enough money, so I had to call my supervisor again for her fob so I could cancel some items. The third customer paid for what she could ($40). When the second lady came back, she asked me if we sell wash cloths and body wash. Whole time, she hadn't finished paying for her first transaction. I thought she wouldn't be long. I said we MIGHT have some wash cloths in the limited items section, and we had body wash straight behind her. BOY! I was wrong about her not taking a long time.
While I wait for her, I figured I'd go back to cleaning and keep an eye out for her. I see that they put bacon strips in the register candy section when I was walking away. I asked the first lady if they still wanted it. Lady #1 says, "I don't know if she wants to get that one." I don't remember how turkey bacon came up, but it did. She said they wanted turkey bacon. I informed her it was not turkey bacon. I kept having to repeat that it was regular bacon. She only understood that it wasn't turkey when I yelled, "IT'S PORK!" So, she wanted to return them and get turkey bacon. I told her she had to wait for her friend to finish the transaction.
When the second lady came back, she had body wash AND a different kind of cream cheese for the first lady that cost more. I told her so, but she wanted it at the same price. I said "Nu-uh." The first lady also told her that the bacon was pork. She tried to claim there was no sign saying "Turkey Bacon" and to get me to move from my station to get it. The latter is not allowed while my register is still on. I called my manager for approval of a return and to come help the lady #2 find the turkey bacon. My supervisor and I were both fed up.
They came back with the turkey bacon. The first lady exchanged 3 packs of bacon for 3 packs of turkey bacon. Totaling 3 packs of turkey bacon and 2 packs of regular bacon. By the time they were done, they ate up 40 minutes of my last hour. They knew they were wrong, too, because they apologized and called me "so patient." Because they held me up, my ride had to wait for me outside for an extra 33 minutes and came inside to yell for me (they had no service).
TLDR:
Two customers turned what was supposed to be a 5-minute transaction into a 40-minute transaction by the two of them deciding they wanted more things at the opposite end of the store before they finished paying, and one of them having to run to the car to get money twice. My supervisor had to come to my register 2 times for them and 1 other time for a third customer who also didn't bring enough money. I left work really late because they kept me behind.