That was it…
Something inside me clicked. I wasn’t going to let this woman blackmail me in front of a crowd, especially at my own workplace! I squared my shoulders and gave her a sweet but forced smile, pretending to agree to her demands.
‘You know what, Denise?’ I said, my voice now a little louder. ‘You’re absolutely right. I’ll take care of it.’
Her eyes lit up with satisfaction, certain she had won. ‘I knew you’d understand,’ she said, already preparing to enjoy her victory.
I grabbed the jars of caviar and scanned them, feeling the weight of each dollar as it added up at the register. My heart was pounding, but I knew exactly what I was going to do. After I packed the caviar when my mother wasn’t looking, I leaned forward and pressed the microphone button on the register.
My voice boomed loudly and clearly from the speakers as I gave Denise a taste of her own medicine, but amplified…
‘Attention, shoppers,’ I said, trying not to let the glee show in my voice.
‘Today I want to introduce you to a special guest — my mother-in-law, Denise! She came to buy two jars of our best caviar and asked me, her cashier daughter-in-law, to pay for them. Let’s give her a round of applause for being such a generous member of the family!’
For a split second, the store fell silent. Then someone in the back started clapping, slowly at first, but then others joined in. Soon the whole store was clapping and cheering!
My colleagues were grinning from ear to ear, and even the customers in the queue were giggling and clapping along with them!
Denise’s face turned a shade of red I had never seen before!
‘What the hell are you doing?’ she hissed, looking at me as if I had just committed a crime.
I kept smiling, pretending not to notice.
‘Oh, I just thought everyone should know how generous you are, Denise. Isn’t that what you wanted?’
She grabbed her bag from the counter, her lips pressed into a thin line. Without another word, she stormed out of the shop, her heels clicking furiously on the tiled floor as the applause continued!
It didn’t stop until she was out the door, and by then I was practically beaming with delight!
When she left, my colleague Rachel came over to me, barely able to contain her laughter.
‘That,’ she whispered, ‘was the most LEGENDARY thing I’ve ever seen!’
The store manager, who had been watching the whole thing from the back, winked at me as he walked by. ‘Remind me never to cross your path,’ he said with a grin.
I couldn’t stop smiling as I finished my shift. It wasn’t just the applause or the fact that I had finally stood up to Denise so openly. It was the fact that, for once, I had outplayed her.
It wasn’t until later, when I got home, that the full meaning of what had happened dawned on me. Jack was sitting on the sofa with his phone in his hand, looking confused and impressed at the same time.
‘What the hell happened to my mother today?’ he asked, unable to hide a hint of a smile.
I sat down next to him and told him everything. I braced myself, expecting him to be angry or at least a little annoyed. But instead, he just shook his head, trying to stifle a laugh.
‘You know,’ he said, ‘I think she might leave us alone for a while.’
And you know what? He was right. Since then, my mother hasn’t called, written or shown up!
Unfortunately, Denise isn’t the only problematic couple. Jane moved in with her son and his wife, pretending she had problems with her house, but then it turned out that she wanted to keep an eye on the couple and make sure they gave her grandchildren. The daughter-in-law didn’t like it and took revenge in her own way.