“Don’t ever tell the check out you didn’t find what you wanted unless you want to spend another ten minutes while they go from person to person confirming that they didn’t have what I was looking for. Just smile and say yup and get out of there.”
Absolutely!
99.9% of the time, I simply smile & say, “yes”, because–like you–I am finished shopping at that store, and have no desire to remain there any longer while they go on a quest for something that likely does not exist in their storeroom.
However, on a couple of occasions, when I was feeling impish, I did use my, “World Peace”, line, just to…to be a bit of a wiseguy…and to try to gauge the reaction when a customer gives a bizarre response.
The store where I encounter this on a regular basis is Whole Foods, and almost all of the cashiers are not kids. Instead, they are almost always adults, and sometimes they are as old as I am. Like you, I have a lot of patience with kids who are likely holding their first job, so I don’t play amateur comedian with the kids–who are few and far between at Whole Foods.