365个英语简短小故事-347. The Refund (2)

The checker called the bag girl over, who went back to aisle¹ 4 to do a price check. She returned shortly; $5.32 was indeed the correct price. The checker gave Delbert 64 cents to cover the overcharge and the tax. He told her that he thought he was supposed to get the item free if Ralfs overcharged him for it. She said, “Oh, we don’t do that anymore.”

That figures, Delbert thought. Just before he got to the store exit, he saw an assistant manager. Delbert asked him about the overcharge policy. The man said, “Yes, for most items, if you’re overcharged, you’ll get the item for free. Let me get the manager for you.”

When the manager arrived, Delbert explained his situation. Silently, the manager looked at the receipt² and then asked for Delbert's 64 cents. The manager went to aisle 4 to check the price tag³. He returned to Delbert about five minutes later. He gave him $5.32. Delbert thanked him. The manager said “You’re welcome,” but he didn’t say it in a friendly manner.

Delbert didn’t feel sorry for the manager, the clerk, or the store. Their overcharge policy wasn’t posted anywhere for customers to see. The employees knew nothing about it, or else were told to keep quiet about it. Delbert had spent way too much time over the last 15 years trying to figure out Ralfs’ tricky⁴ and confusing price tags⁵. They owed him a lot more than $5.32 for all his wasted time over all those years.

 

1 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

2 receipt   

n.收据，收条；收到，接到

参考例句：

• We are in receipt of your letter of the 10th.我们收到了您十日的来函。
• I asked for a receipt.我要一张收据。

3 tag   

n.标签，附属物，名称，谚语；vt.附以签条，尾随，添饰，指责，连接；vi.紧随，尾随

参考例句：

• Please tag your baggage.请在你的行李上贴上标签了。
• The clerk attached a price tag to each article.店员给每一件商品系上标价签。

4 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

5 tags   

n.[计算机]标记( tag的名词复数 )；附加语（为加强语气，如 Yes, I do 一句中的 I do）；名言；污块毛

参考例句：

• He put name tags on all his shirts. 他给自己所有的衬衣都缝上了标有姓名的签条。
• The old scholar's writing is always full of tags. 那位老学者的文章里总是有很多名言警句。 来自《简明英汉词典》