A Difficult Customer

The store had barely been open for like half an hour when I encountered a rather....difficult customer to deal with.
I'd been chatting with one of our dog food reps, when this older woman, grey hair, and already with an attitude that screams "trouble" a mile away came up to me: 

Me: *walking past the dog food section when customer approaches*
Customer: Do you have *fancy medical terminology* here?
Me: O_o *stares at her dumbly waiting for more clues as to what she's actually looking for*
Customer: Should I go ask someone else?...
Me: *bristles* I can help you, but what is it your looking for?
Customer: I'm looking for *fancy medical terminology*
Me: .... What is it for?
Customer: It's stuff to help with hairballs for cats!
Me: *thinking* Well why didn't you say so in the first place? *Says* Yah we carry stuff for hairballs over here. I'm not sure if we have the particular one you're looking for but we can check.
Customer: *pulls product off the shelf* What can you tell me about this one?
Me: That it works for hairballs??
Customer: Does it contain calories?
Me: .... Anything you give the cat to eat would have calories in it.... But I don't know how many calories it contains no.

It was one of those encounters where I didn't like the woman right off the bat. The way she spoke to me just...made it seem like she thought I was just 'another dumb kid' who 'doesn't know anything' which is hardly true.

I know a lot. A lot more than most of my coworkers in the store. 

But that doesn't mean I know everything, and the cat section and dog sections of the store are my weaker areas because I don't often deal with things there. My department focuses on other animals. Not the cats and dogs. So my knowledge, is there....but if you ask the wrong question....I give what answers and suggestions I can. 

*exhales* 

So I helped her find her hairball thingy....and thought it was done. 

But no. No it wasn't. She then turned to me and told me:

Customer: My cat isn't drinking water. Do you have anything to convince her to do so?
Me: ... No, we don't carry anything like that... You could try using a fountain---
Customer: No, that won't work! We're on the road travelling. Guess I'll just have to mix in wet cat food into the water like I've already been doing. Where's your cat cans?
Me: *forgoes offering other suggestions* *points* All our cat food is over there. 

By this time, I kinda figured that I just need to get her to her cat can food and get her out of my hair. 

Really, I could have just pointed and walked away,

But I'm a good little helper and I wanted to make sure the customer was finding everything she needed. 

*exhales* 

Me: The cat food is behind the aisle of litter boxes
Customer: Oh! Maybe I should get another litter box. What's your cheapest one?
Me: *points to $4 litter box*
Customer: That's too small! Don't you have anything bigger or disposable?...
Me: *Points out both to the customer*
Customer: Those are so expensive!!
Me: Well the disposable ones come with cat litter already.
Customer: What kind of litter?
Me: Probably a clay based one. *Pulls down the pan to show customer*
Customer: But is this litter scented?
Me: Usually they label them if they're scented and I don't see one here.
Customer: They also usually say 'unscented' on the label too if it doesn't have a scent and that's not here either.
Me: *figuratively throws hangs up in the air* *thinking* Lady, what do you want from me!?

Honestly. I couldn't figure this lady out.

Because basically every suggestion I made was met with "no, that's not what I meant" or a response that left me feeling like I'd just wasted my time, or that she thought I was just a 'dumb' kid. which totally got my back up. >.< 

I was frustrated. 

And really really just wanted to leave.

But I'm also very stubborn.

So I eventually got the customer to the cat cans....only to encounter another problem.

Customer: Do you have any cans of cat food that are beef flavoring?
Me: I'm not sure. We can go check. What brand do you usually bu--
Customer: Oh, I don't care so long it's beef flavored. Do you know where those are?
Me: The food is divided by brand so it depends on the brand you're looking at....
Customer: I don't care.
Me: Well most of the time the flavors are chicken or salmon. I don't usually see beef in the cat section but we can see.
Customer: You guys don't carry beef flavored cat food anymore!?! *Making it sound like all cat food should be beef flavored*
Me: It's not a common one no. I don't recall seeing one but let me look. *Goes up and down aisle*
Customer: I can't believe you don't carry beef ones, I've always bought beef.
Me: Which brand do you usually bu--
Customer: It doesn't matter so long as it's beef.
Me: *thinking* Well if you'd just tell me the stupid brand you usually get then I could help you much faster by taking you to that brand instead of searching up and down every aisle for a can that's labeled beef.

Seriously!! This happened!!

Gah. 

Like I said.

Cat/Dog isn't my usual section in the store.

I don't pay attention to flavors or such when it comes to dog or cat food.

I can lead you to the brand, and then from there narrow down the search.

But do I know off the top of my head which brands of food carry which flavors?

No, no I don't.

Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with her after that point because she'd finally found everything she needed. 

Yaaaaaay.

Because by the end of this like twenty minute exchange I was totally ready to strangle her because she was being sooo unhelpful in helping me to figure out what she wanted because she was acting like I should know what she wanted even though she didn't really know what she wanted in the first place.

So. Very. Frustrating.

I was glad to see her leave. 

-Sarnic Dirchi