retail workers: tell us your stupid customers

[jdcnow]

So I had a dumbass thief come through self-checkout the other night. Guy looks me dead in my eye, while holding an item over the scanner at his pay station. He was watching to see if I was watching him. He was going to try to sneak it into a bag.

This is where me being gay came in handy - I cruised his ass. I threw him a suggestive smile, and tilted my head, like, "What's up..." Like I was all flirty.

He promptly put the item aside, and rang himself out, as I watched like a hawk. I love my job, sometimes

[evanrick]

had a VERY interested day at work

had a black girl come in asking if we had something. i said yes we do. then she says 'id like to get it' and STANDS THERE. i walk a few feet, pick up what she wanted, and sell it to her.

at no time did she take any consideration that its a store and get it herself. i was already wearing pretty thin by closing time, so instead of risking another needy bitch deciding to complain about something they have no right to complain about i got it for her.

but i must say, black people are the neediest people in the universe and while i give them praise that they usually KNOW what they want, it NEVER crosses their minds that they CAN DO THINGS ON THEIR OWN! Grow the fuck up people.

Also had some whiny bitch say that I need to be 'fucking fired' because i flat out fucking refused to do her homework for her. I stonewalled the bitch because I knew she was acting and trying to force me to do something that is completely out of my job description.

Had another skanky white bitch try and get money back for something we never sold and kept saying 'you know where im coming from' because she happened to have a price tag from something we do sell and a piece of shit receipt, so i flat out fucking told her 'no i don't know where your coming from', she continues to ramble like that would make me cave,so i just started moving away because she just kept bitching.

another old white bitch said i must 'hate my job' because i wouldn't shop for her or dig through one of her 50 fucking coupons to find the right one. she wanted to buy something but couldn't use a coupon unless she bought something else, so she expects me to find her something related to what she wanted to buy then proceeds to shoot down every suggestion I make like I am supposed to know what the fuck she wants.

at the end i told her i loved my job, its a pretty awesome job where you get to tell people off in creative ways because i know my decisions wont be questioned. i really wanted to say 'no i just hate bitchy old wives'.

while there are many exceptions to the broad generalizations ive made, generally mexicans, white men, fat white women, lesbians and grandma/grandpa are easy to serve.

[bendted]

Uh oh...the usual JustUsBoys self appointed PC police are going to tear apart your post.

But really, did this happen during one shift?

[Huntneo(PT)]

but i must say, black people are the neediest people in the universe

lol such bullshit.

And I'm pretty sure I speak for all black people when I say "fuck you".

How's that for PC, bendted?

[Lefty]

I'm not stopping here to applaud or defame either of those posts. I personally find it juvenile
to classify people in a wide swath of bigoted terms. One should tell ones story, not add on
denigrating personal prejudicial descriptions of people in general.

Huntneo, drop that idiotic

speak for all black people

go to speak for most people
and Fuck You how about ... 'when I say you appear to be a person
of limited mental capacity or a troll evanrick. (more in keeping with a person of your calibre.

Evanrick, you seem to have a large reservoir of antipathy towards the people you, as a Customer
Service Person, are expected [and paid] to wait on. Try manipulating the client. Half the fun of
the job is getting that person in front of you to do/act in a manner that meets your expectations.

I'm sure you don't use your work techniques when you are out and cruising. Take some of those
pick-up skills (assuming you have any) to manipulate those challenges in the work place or find
more suitable employment.

[Native Son]

lol such bullshit.

And I'm pretty sure I speak for all black people when I say "fuck you".

How's that for PC, bendted?

I've avoided this ca-ca thread from the git. (Knowing full well.)

Today I decide to look. Why, oh why, did I look?

What's wrong with me?

[Lefty]

Like me Son,

You are a fair and equitable man who is curious about things and can't always resist peeking.

Some ignorant people of the lower classes refer to us as nosy interfering bastards

We bear the onus of being caring and concerned, actively trying to help all these poor people.

what B.S. we're nosy

lol

[Huntneo(PT)]

People like evanrick is one of the reasons I go out of my way to avoid having to "bother" the associates when I go into any business. It's a damn shame when you feel like you're doing too much to simply ask someone a question these days. Just because you have a couple of inept customers (who may be of a certain race) to behave in a certain way doesn't mean we all are such...then to go on and make such a broad, sweeping generalization. Bitch, please.

Lefty...I spoke in relation to what his prejudiced post referenced. There was sarcasm there. You missed it.
don't try to lecture me, daddy.

[G-Lexington]

I had a really annoying customer this week, who wanted me to perform a task that I'm legally unable to do, and kept insisting that I should do it. So I took the time to explain why I couldn't do that task for him, and he said "Oh, I see. I didn't realize that. Sorry about that."

Lex

[Lefty]

Neo,

I wasn't lecturing you, just offering collaborative thought in a manner more indicative
of a man of your sensibilities and breeding.

BTW, having been in many sectors of customer service in several venues, it has almost
always been Airline Passengers and their 'people' , regardless of other identifying traits,
that consistently appear as the most demanding, irrational, inconsiderate, overbearing people.
Maybe because they are sub consciously scared shitless in an environment they cannot control?
ALL Customers have needs and as such some are often weak but defensive.

A good Customer Service person does not sink to their level,
a great one brings them up to their level. JMHO

[Huntneo(PT)]

Well said, Lefty. And I apologize for the misunderstanding.

[Lefty]

Believe me friend,

I wasn't offended. More irked with myself. Sometimes I forget people can't read all
that's inside my head when I type a few words.

What is important is that we can communicate and share as it is a pleasure doing so
with you.

[bendted]

How's that for PC, bendted?

No,not you. I was referring to those who type from their ivory tower.

edit: and I call BS that all this happened in one shift.

[jdcnow]

A good Customer Service person does not sink to their level,
a great one brings them up to their level. JMHO

Oh, boy, have I got a story for y'all!

Yesterday was my second day as a front-end supervisor at my new store, and just OMFG wow! They got remodeled with the company's new visual graphics and signage. That came, however, with only a minimal technology upgrade for the front-end. So all of the front-end registers (except for the customer service desk) are the old-school ones with no touch screens - you have to memorize all the produce PLU codes, and unlike the touchscreens where you could easily see what you are doing, on these, you have to be competent enough to know what you are doing and what buttons to hit, without seeing it in front of you - basically you have to know how to fly blind, more or less.

I end up having to run a checkout to bring the lines of people down, and one woman had 3 different ones of our store's gift cards. She slid them through the PINpad on her side, and I followed the procedure process the payment on my end. The PINpad machine and the register somehow couldn't process the cards, so I had to run them on my register keyboard. Another fellow supervisor had to hand-key the card number into the register, for which he needed to give me an override. The woman behind the first customer threw a hissy shit fit, and just scoffed and rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms, like some put-upon princess whose horse-drawn carriage had been delayed. The other supervisor apologized profusely for the delay, and the woman saw our politeness and apologized for the way she just acted.

We finally got the first woman paid up and I sent her on her way. Now, comes the princess. I ring her purchase up, and total it out, She had some coupons - 11 of them. And of course, not one of them would scan - I had to key those in by hand, too. She remarked about how the equipment wasn't wanting to work, and I just smiled at her, and replied, "That's OK, I've been in retail for ten and a half years, I'm a little bit tougher than this equipment breaking down." She laughed, and I was just as courteous as I could be. She thanked me and left my register smiling, and certainly with a better attitude than when she walked up to me. I can only hope that she was at least a little embarrassed at how she acted, when there was no reason for it. She strikes me as the type of snooty, prissy woman who, if you would have shown her video footage of just how she acted in my line, she'd either swear up and down that it wasn't her, or she would die of pure shame.

[Lefty]

Funny JD,
In the years I've been watching out of the corner of my eye, you have forced me
to reevaluate my opinion on several occasions. At first I thought you were just a
horny and not overly bright nice good old Texas boy. Hard worker that let anybody
come along and take advantage...(no, I'm not talking SEX...thats another issue) As
time progressed and your 'stories' added meat to the man, I realized a few things.

You're not a Rhodes scholar or the Village idiot. You took jobs that some people looked
a bit down at. Things went bad you didn't cry and whine...you went a got another job.
Sometimes better, sometimes worse...sometimes just a push. You did what needed to be
done (even when it was somebody elses duty) did it as a Representative of the Company
and as a man of integrity and pride. Your stories never really BAD MOUTH anyone. That
positive attitude and ability to read people make you Great at what you do. As time has gone
on I asked myself why you were not running the shop. Duh, why would a small town manager
groom or promote someone that 'could' have his job thus losing a fine, reliable worker and
gaining a threat to their job security.

I was glad to read you went to the big city...even happier that you are being recognized for
your people skills and experience. Okay, enough one man dialogue here. I think you are
great and a definite asset where ever you go. The positive in that post was written with you
in mind. Your story sums it all up. Turned a grumpy bitch person to a happy customer just by
keeping your cool and making that experience good for her. Especially when she is making
good reasons for the problem not being you... As always, I'm too long winded and You did
a great job.

[jdcnow]

Thank you Lefty!

That pretty much sums up my last few years in this profession to a T. Hopefully, I can get my life together, and move on to weather forecasting, like I want to.

[jdcnow]

Had a real gem, yesterday...

Had this little old lady literally stop me and ask, "Sir, where's your shoe polish?"

I just smiled at her, and I swear, it took every ounce of professionalism within me not to go, "Uh, ma'am, it's in Hardware, at the paint counter."

What I actually said: "Oh, it's in Shoes, at the back of the store." I could literally see the light bulb turn on above her head, as if she'd honestly never thought about that.

[jdcnow]

I had a really annoying customer this week, who wanted me to perform a task that I'm legally unable to do, and kept insisting that I should do it. So I took the time to explain why I couldn't do that task for him, and he said "Oh, I see. I didn't realize that. Sorry about that."

Lex

OMFG...


I'm always humored in my job now, as a front-end supervisor, when I get called up to the Customer Service Desk, to defend my cashiers when they won't take back underwear. It is ***The Law*** in the state of Texas that all sales are final, period, regarding undergarments. This is not just my store, this is with every retail establishment in the state of Texas that sells underwear.

(Note >> I tried to find a copy of Texas' law online, but no such luck on Google. I did, however find the state of New York's version of the law, and Texas pretty much says the same thing...)

TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the general business law, in relation to prohibiting the return of underwear

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To prevent the resale of underwear that has been returned to a store unless such underwear is in its sealed unopened original package.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 390-d. Prohibition on the return of underwear.

1. "Underwear" means an article of clothing worn or intended to be worn by individuals on the lower body next to the skin and is known by common parlance as underwear or undergarments.

2. No individual, partnership, corporation, association or other form of business shall accept any underwear for return, unless such underwear is in its sealed unopened original package.

3. Whenever there is a violation of this section an application may be made by the attorney general in the name of the people of the state of New York to a court of justice having jurisdiction by a special proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon notice to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin and restrain the continuance of such violations; and it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court of justice that the defendant has, in fact, violated this section, an injunction may be issued by the court of justice, enjoining and restraining any further violations, without requiring proof that any person has, in fact, been injured or damaged thereby. In any such proceeding, the court may make allowances to the attorney general as
provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section eighty-three hundred three of the civil practice law and rules, and direct restitution. Whenever the court shall determine that a violation of this section has occurred, the court may impose a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars for each violation. Each sale of returned underwear in violation of this section shall constitute a separate violation. In connection with any such proposed application, the attorney general is authorized to take proof and make a determination of the relevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.

Then the customer claims it's still in the package. Texas law says no.
Then the customer tries to find their reciept. I finally told one woman in my best Judge Judy polite-but-no-BS voice, "Ma'am, the law does not look at whether you have a reciept or not. You bought them, money changed hands, they're yours. For better or worse." I wanted to tell her that she could use them as dishrags for all I cared, but I kept that part to myself.

But the law is the law. We aren't trying to fuck with you, or bait you, or screw with you. We are trying to keep our jobs by doing what we know that we're supposed to do, and if that means telling you No, then I'm terribly sorry, but it is what it is.

[Lefty]

JD,

You need to change the bottom of your siggy to

{WX Man} or {WeatherMan}

something like that....just a thought..........................

As to the patrons....well, sometimes it is to bad we need them to keep the store open.

Stop by and say something sometime. If No ones home drop a post and we'll get back to you.opensm

[jdcnow]

A bit of humor I found last night, with my sincere thanks to Tumblr. This post is required reading for those of us jubbers who work in the retail profession. It is humor like this that is going to get us through the next two and a half months...

DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW

GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY

YOU’RE SO FUCKING SLOW

AND FAT, WHAT DO YOU WEIGH

HA-HA-HA

YOU CAN’T FUCKING SING

I’LL START A FUCKING FIGHT

GET OUT MY WAY YOU FUCKING HO

I’M DRIVING HERE TONIGHT

OH, JINGLE BELLS, GO TO HELL

GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY

OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE

OVER BODIES EVERY DAY (HEY)

JINGLE BELLS, GO TO HELL

BITCH WHAT DID I SAY

RUN THAT ASS CUZ YOU CAN’T HIDE

FROM MY MOTHERFUCKING SLEIGH

HEY

Believe me when I tell you that when I first saw this last night, I was literally on the floor laughing hysterically.

[niknik17]

IAmA McDonald's employee, who has seen the worst of the worst customer incidents, altercations, and overall rudeness of human beings. AMA. : IAmA

My 1st job is my current I work at a fastfood place & I swear I never seen as many rude/ignorant people in my life. I honestly think that the customers take that "customer is always right thing to the head" but its most def not in some cases. Customers disrespecting me is only 1 in my book & that's something that they need to realize.

[london12]

food service is terrible for customers. I have customers looking like drunks, drug addicts and everything in between.

Funny story though - there's a liquor store next to us. Guy came in on his bike on a rainy day. Got whatever and left. In the parking lot (near my car btw) his bike slipped and he fell smashing his beer. Which he went back to the store to buy again. Sorry, but it cracked me up.

today
customer: what is the different between a salad and a sub (seeing how I work at Subway doing nothing with my life)?
me: A salad has no bread

I think I could write a bloody book on this topic. Between customers on cell phones, eating chips in line, not looking at the menu and then wondering what the hell they just order or the price of it, shoving a whole paper of coupons in your face for your to pick the right one, not reading coupons (buy1 get 1 free with a drink and yet they leave without the drink). The public baffles me. It's like America (I don't about the rest of the world) needs etiquette lessons.

[roadtripboy]

So, I'm working as cashier at a Supercenter for the holidays. (yeah that one) Anyway, it's an okay job. But, I have two questions. Why does EVERYONE buy bananas? I hate bananas.The other question involves a story.

Tonight a woman and her sister arrive at my register. Their cart is full of bathroom stuff. Bath rugs and lots of big stuff. First they want me to price check the clearance items. No big deal. Then they discuss between themselves..."do I really want this", "should I buy this for the kid's bathroom" and my favorite..."are these cherries or apples on this rug?" They even involve me in that one. So, question two: Why don't people decide these things BEFORE they hold up the line?

Here's the rant:
They decide that they don't want two assemble it yourself storage units, a shower rod, bowl brush and a jar of baby food. These things end up with me behind my register. There's really only enough room for me between the cash drawer and bag station. So I'm stuck with this junk until my line dies down. Not a huge problem, but it's just sort of clueless.

[jdcnow]

^ I know where you are coming from. We have the same issues at my store.

Good to see you all again!

Had a doozy yesterday. This woman couldn't understand why she couldn't get the price of 12-packs of Jumex nectar juice for $5 price on her 24 loose cans. I look at her reciept. The cashier had given her the 24 cans at the 12 for $5 price. She thinks we overcharged her, because we charged her $10 for the 24 cans.

Learn some math, folks! 24 for $10 is the same as 12 for $5! Fail. Just fail!

[jdcnow]

"Beauty fades, but dumb is forever..." - Judge Judy. ( <---- I love that woman, and look up to her.)

Huntneo, you will love this one. So late yesterday afternoon, I had to help one of my cashiers with a WIC-food stamp customer. This woman got all of her grocery items paid for with her WIC card, but she still had a balance due of over $50 and change. Now she wanted to know why she still had to pay more money, and why all of her purchase was not covered by WIC. OK, I look in her bags in her shopping cart. She had 4 boxes of hair color, the most expensive pack of toilet paper my store carries, two packs of diapers, medicine, a pack of ladies' maxi pads, nail polish...

In my best Judge Joe Brown diplomatic-but-no-bullshit voice, I just flat told her, "Madam, the purpose of your WIC card is government financial assistance to help pay for your food expenses only. It is not your 'I Get Stuff For Free Card'. It is not going to cover your four boxes of Miss Clairol hair color, nor any of the other miscellaneous non-food items you have. WIC pays for hardcore groceries only - milk, eggs, bread, produce, etc. - the basic food necessities you need to live off of. Any non-food items you have is your responsibility to pay for in some form or fashion." No surprise that she got mad at me for telling her that.

Let me be clear >> I begrudge no one for going on welfare, and needing public/government assistance such as WIC to help pay for food to help keep you and your kids alive, so you don't starve. That is explicitly WHY we have social safety nets. That is what they are there for. And those of you who use the system honestly, rightly, and fairly, and use the system how it is meant to be used - to pay for your food expenses for you and yours, I defend you. But I will be good goddamned if my hard-earned tax dollars that go into WIC and Welfare will pay for your 4 boxes of Miss Clairol hair color, and other items that you and you alone are supposed to provide for yourself. Hell. Fuck. No. Please, oh please do not abuse the kindness of those of us whose tax dollars help keep WIC and Welfare afloat. Because, oh lord...



I'll show ya' right!

[Huntneo(PT)]

^ wow. LOL I wish i could say I'm surprised, but there are many more where she came from.

Good job 'explaining' things to her.

[Lefty]

Damn but Lefty Cam wished he'd got that one and taken
it VIRAL to YOUTUBE. I don't know why but sometimes I can;t believe her attitude
has become the prevalent one, 'you gimme now you gimme more'...to the point that the
'giveyu giveyualls' have no more to give or even have to be ripped off.

[Yooper]

It's Christmas at the Mall! The customers are grumpy and needy!

1. Was on the sales floor on the lower level doing whatever I was up to, had a customer approach me and ask where we'd moved the restrooms (they have been in the same place for 25+ years). When I told her where to go (no pun intended), she bitched me out about moving them just before Christmas. Yeah, we move the restrooms just for fun regularly!

2. It is December in Colorado. It snowed a teeny bit today. Got a telephone call from another Manager that a customer had complained that the parking lot is a bit slippery. I mean, Honestly, what the HELL was she expecting, Palm Trees and Rainbows and Unicorns? It's fu(%#@# snowing out! (The mall salts and sands the parking lot anyway, what am I supposed to do, run out with my blow dryer??)

ONLY 5 (think sparkly and glowing number here, I don't know how to put in a GIF) days left!!!!!

[mydrew1]

One happened to me at the back of my store a few weeks ago.

I was checking some Christmas Trees in the back area to ensure they're fully stocked in their box. A man comes to the back garage door and asks me to give way. I point out no customers are allowed to come through the back, onyl the front. As the sign says. He declares "Oh, I think I will though." And so weaves through the trees to use the back door.

If I was the boss I'd have locked the door to prevent that, I swear. Signs aren't enough.

[holeconfusion]

It's Christmas at the Mall! The customers are grumpy and needy!

1. Was on the sales floor on the lower level doing whatever I was up to, had a customer approach me and ask where we'd moved the restrooms (they have been in the same place for 25+ years). When I told her where to go (no pun intended), she bitched me out about moving them just before Christmas. Yeah, we move the restrooms just for fun regularly!

2. It is December in Colorado. It snowed a teeny bit today. Got a telephone call from another Manager that a customer had complained that the parking lot is a bit slippery. I mean, Honestly, what the HELL was she expecting, Palm Trees and Rainbows and Unicorns? It's fu(%#@# snowing out! (The mall salts and sands the parking lot anyway, what am I supposed to do, run out with my blow dryer??)

ONLY 5 (think sparkly and glowing number here, I don't know how to put in a GIF) days left!!!!!

I never pictured you as a blow dryer guy

[Lefty]

The glitteries are tedious to do some times

[Lefty]

...


.

[jdcnow]

I absolutely cannot wait until this sideshow of a holiday season is over.

In what you are about to read, if I come across as Michael Westen from Burn Notice, it just means my 11 years of experience in this business really have served me well.

So we had a short-change artist last night. Too bad, it just wasn't her day.

I take you back to just after Six Oclock last night, at my store. I was on cashier duty, last night, although I am still a supervisor. (I just go where they put me.) I wait on this one customer. Hispanic female, early to moderately middle-aged adult, about 5 ft 6, if I had to guess, moderately built. She comes up with these four packs of "5" gum...



We sell them for $0.50 cents a whack. She presents four of them. I ring them up, hit the Total key, and tell her her total. Only then does she say that she wants only two of them.

<< Michael Westen Moment >> Cashiering and running a checkout line can be a monotonous, repetitive, and incredibly dull job at times. But, it is that dullness and repetitiveness that teaches you the flow of a normal transaction - Greet the customer, ring the items, tell them the total, take their money, make sure they take everything they paid for and didn't accidentally leave anything behind, closing goodbye greeting. Rinse, repeat. Any deviation at all from this process should immediately raise a yellow flag, if not a red one, inside the mind of a trained and competent cashier at any retail business from Walmart all the way down to your local convenience store.

So a yellow flag went up inside my head. Gut instict immediately instructs me to void 3 out of the 4 packs off, instead of the two she wanted, thus only charging her the one pack. She slides her debit card on her end. I follow my end's procedure for processing the payment on my end. The drawer pops open and I notice that she got $100.00 cash back off the card. OK, fine. Get the money, shut the till, get the receipt, and hand her cash, receipt and the one pack of gum. She tells me, she wants to charge the other packs. I ring up all 3. Tax and total come to $1.64.

<< Michael Westen Moment >> A trained and competent cashier knows this golden rule - Be leery and watchful of people trying to repeatedly strip money off their debit card. This should immediately trigger a yellow flag, as in, "pay attention to what's going on". Especially when your store (like mine) has an open-to-the-public ATM machine that is literally all of maybe 30 feet away, the other side of self-checkout. True, some people are cheapskates and do not want to pay the $2 to $3 fee for using a competitor ATM, on top of the additional $3 most banks will ding you for for using a competitor's ATM. But, at the end of the day, that isn't the cashier's problem. The customer voluntarily uses such services, or chooses to not use them. That is their issue.

So, the woman runs her debit card again, and strips another $100.00, which I give her. While I take a second to straighten bill money in my till, the woman interrupts me. She claims to not have the second $100 bill I just handed her. I ask her for clarification. She explains to me that she just ran through self checkout (a mistake on her part), and now to me, that she should have an extra $100. She also wants to haggle about the gum, and how many she wanted.

<< Michael Westen Moment >> One of the first things they train you (or should) when you run a cash register in a storefront retail business is that if there is any discrepancy in the process of giving back change, for the love of god, shut your till drawer ***IMMEDIATELY***. If a supervisor needs to be called to reopen your drawer for you to give out more cash change, the couple of seconds it takes to call the supervisor over will buy you enough time to wrap your head around the situation, and raise yellow or red flags in your mind if the situation warrants it.

This is where I put my Judge Judy thinking cap on. Because in this incident, it did. I explain to her that if she just ran through self checkout, and got $100, and then came to me, and got another $100, and then had the second purchase from me, which was the third $100. "Madam, you have the $300 you're supposed to have," I state politely.

She begins looking all around. She has her wallet (a ladies style clutch wallet, the long ones that look like a checkbook cover) in her left hand, with the $100 bill she's missing underneath the wallet. This is slight-of-hand on her part. I see the bill underneath the wallet and tell her. She's a good actress, and feigns being surprised at having found the missing money. OK, problem solved - "Thanks, have a pleasant evening." She immediately leaves my line, goes around to the back side of the front-end, where customers enter the checkout lines, and goes to another checkout line.

<< Michael Westen Moment >> Red flag triggered >> Why is she going through another line? Remember what I said above about the normal flow of a transaction? Most customers pay for their items, and immediately head for the exit. The only exception to this rule is if the customer, while checking out, suddenly realizes they need something they forgot to pick up. It happens all the time. But it should be only one of two reasons (the other being to use the restroom) to go back into the store.

So I see the woman. I greet the next customer in my line - a tall, elderly gentleman, caucasian, with a black ballcap, and glasses. I mention, off the cuff, that I thought she was a short-change artist. He looks at me and speaks softly. "I saw what she just did, I saw the whole thing. I'm a retired now, but I was a bank teller for over 30 years. That lady was a short-change artist."

I ask him, "Would you mind if I stepped away to go tell the other cashier?"
"Son, do what you have to do."

I go whisper in the other cashier's ear to watch the last woman in her line. I go back and ring my gentleman out. He pays cash, I make his change. I look up at him, and he's staring at the other cashier two registers behind me, who is now with the woman in question. I go over and stand behind the other cashier. The woman then confronts me: "What are you doing?" - and she says it with a smile. (That is important, you'll see why in a moment.) I tell her that I'm a supervisor and that I'm training a new cashier. (That was half true, half bullshit.)

She then goes off on me, "Where is your manager?" I show her to the front-end supervisor on duty, and go back to my register. (The supervisor was at Customer Service attending to other guests, and did not see what happened.) Supervisor comes back to me saying that the customer complained that I was rude, blah-blah-blah...

<< Michael Westen Moment >> Here's why her smiling at me when she questioned me was important - It all boils down to her acting getting sloppy. A genuinely upset customer will look pissed off in their facial expressions. They will sound pissed off in their voice. She was smiling at me when she asked me what I was doing standing behind the other cashier. That is not something an authentically upset customer who believes they have a genuine grievance does. This woman was an actress, and a bad one at that.

Judge Judy was right - Don't pee on my leg, and then tell me it's raining. Don't sit there and act suspicious, then unleash the alligator tears, "He was so rude to me, wa-wa-wa!!!" I suspected her to be a short-change artist. The customer behind her confirmed my suspicion. Madam, you need to work on your deception skills and your acting. Because both are straight lousy.



Case dismissed.

[Stoowii]

Not stupid, just cute.

Customer: Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my account number, so research maybe?

[jdcnow]

Tonight, I had a woman return some Land O' Lakes butter - the rectangle bar package. She claimed that she just bought it and it was out of date. The date was clear as day: EXP 04 18 13

[Yooper]

It's over for me! I shall now go into a coma until Wednesday and all the returns!



Inventory in 3 weeks, but a piece of cake after the last few months.

[bankside]

another old white bitch said i must 'hate my job' because i wouldn't shop for her or dig through one of her 50 fucking coupons to find the right one. she wanted to buy something but couldn't use a coupon unless she bought something else, so she expects me to find her something related to what she wanted to buy then proceeds to shoot down every suggestion I make like I am supposed to know what the fuck she wants.

OMG that sounds so terrible. All I can say is thank goodness she wasn't also black! Because:

but i must say, black people are the neediest people in the universe and while i give them praise that they usually KNOW what they want, it NEVER crosses their minds that they CAN DO THINGS ON THEIR OWN! Grow the fuck up people.

[roadtripboy]

To the slack jawed customers of Wal-Mart.

Just how much cheap made in China junk do you need to make your Christmas merry?

I am so glad to be home and away from people who want to pay with 3 gift cards, some cash, a coinstar voucher and their debit card. (I'm not kidding...that happened on just one sale)

[Huntneo(PT)]

...and I say it again: those of you who work in customer service have my respect.

I often look at you guys in awe and wonder just how you manage to do it.

[jdcnow]

...and I say it again: those of you who work in customer service have my respect.

I often look at you guys in awe and wonder just how you manage to do it.

Thank you hon! Sometimes I wonder myself just how we manage to handle it.

Yesterday was slammin', gangbuster busy, especially in the last hour, 5pm (we closed at 6:00).

I actually got this one guy whose generosity I am grateful for, but at the same time put me in an ethically exceptionally tricky situation.

So I'm on what feels like this runaway roller coaster of running a register. The lines are all 10 to 15 people deep as we try to get every customer rang up and out the door ASAP. I wait this one guy, checked his purchase, took his money, made his change. He gives me this wad of money. I look down and its all $20s - **several of them!!**

Now, my company, along with most storefront retail businesses have a strict policy against employees accepting tips or gifts from customers. I'm not kidding - depending on the company you work for, you can actually be either written up or fired if it is discovered that you accepted a tip or gift from either a customer or vendor/supplier.

So I see this wad of money in my hand, (turns out later, it's $100.00). I look scaredly back at him as he walks away, he looks at me and says, "Merry Christmas". Inside my head, I'm like, "I do not want to piss this generous guy off, but I know damn well that I'm not supposed to take this money." I decide to pocket it anyway, because how am I going to explain this?! This all happened so fast - the whole thing happened within 5 seconds. My mind freezes in shock and quandry for a second. I honestly do not know what to do, so I do the only thing I can do - keep my checkout line moving. The mental focus it took to do that was unreal.

But I was seriously scared. If I ever get called on that, I could be in huge trouble, even though it wasn't my fault he tipped me.

But, at the same time, I am honored that someone thought so highly of the job I did that they would give me a tip. Thank you, who ever you are, sir! I'm going to put it toward my college tuition, due next month (yes, I finally am going to school for weather forecasting, after years of just dreaming about it).

[jdcnow]

So, when I was off New Years Eve, apparently, some customer apparently made one of our front checkouts supervisors cry. :grrr

It rained all day, and some woman came in complaining that when she came to the front door of the store, she had to go back out into the rain, to go get a shopping cart. Our shopping carts are literally right next to the front entrance door as you walk in, outside on the front porch of the building. All she had to do was walk to the door and turn her head to the right, and she would have seen a whole shitload of shopping carts. My supervisor told her just that, too.

She literally chewed the supervisor out and told her (the supervisor) that she shouldn't have to turn her head and look around for a shopping cart. She took my supervisor's name and threatened my supervisor that she will be writing in to corporate on her, personally.

Talk about thinking your shit don't stink. /bitch please...

The supervisor asked one of our managers about it. The manager said the woman won't be given the time of day by corporate. All she had to do was go to the front door, look to her right, and there ya' go - the shopping cart she was after. Abject laziness and straight-up blatant incompetence on the woman's part does not constitute an error on our part, nor does it constitute a legitimate complaint worthy of actually being taken seriously.

[evanrick]

you can always tell which customers work in retail, they don't piss you off.

[Lefty]

Or, sometimes they can be the worst...

"I wouldn't let you treat one of my customers like this"
or similar.

[Taz]

Indian and Asian people, If you have never swum before in your life, why for the love of god do you go in the deep end of the pool. (rhetorical)

Seriously, the amount of non-swimmers who try to drown themselves is baffling. maybe its a forced perspective because I grew up in and around water, but in my opinion if you are coming into a new potentially dangerous activity, throwing yourself in the deep end is just pants on head stupid.

And you can cry racist if you want, and in all honesty it is racist. But this racism saves lives.

[Lefty]

Hey my TAZ kid just knocked off the 5,000 post ...

almost none of which were made in my or his Uncle Donnies threads

[jdcnow]

One thing that I get a lot of, and it irritates me to no end, is issues of race and skin color, and people's inherently racist perceptions when they first meet me in person. I've been told by a former therapist and several others that how I actually am as a person is not at all how I physically look, on multiple levels.

So yesterday (Wednesday), about 3pm, Loomis, our armored car service, had to make a delivery of physical cash money to our store. The armed guard, a Hispanic guy came in, and I immediately knew what to do - It's after 2pm so our cash office clerk has gone home for the day. So I radio management over the walkie to come to Customer Service for Loomis, and management responds that they're on their way. "Management will be with you shortly," I say.

I look at the schedule clipboard to check if any of my cashiers are due for a break at the moment, when the Loomis guard asks me if I'm Hispanic. No, I reply. "Well, what are you?" he asks.

I don't mind telling you that that question pisses me off inside, but I've learned to restrain that, when it's asked of me. People really think I'm lying when I say that I don't know what I am. No, really, I actually don't. People also think both that I'm Hispanic and that I speak Spanish. Some folks are absolutely shocked to find out - Not Guilty, on both counts. When the "What are you?" question gets asked of me, I secretly so want to yell back that them,

"I'm fucking Martian, you racist cunt! AAAHHHHHH!!!"


But I give thought to armed guard's question about ethnically, what am I. I come back with this quick-witted reply, "Honestly, the most accurate term would be, 'Rainbow'."

I could see visible smoke come out of his ears as his stereotyping brain tried to process what I had just told him. I love my job, sometimes.

Sidenote >> On various traffic tickets and various other items/situations where race/ethnicity were required questions that had to be answered one way or the other, I have passed for white, black, Hispanic, and even Asian (WTF?). To me, personally, race, ethnicity and skin color are, or at least should be issues from and of a bygone era, that no longer exist. The old hatreds and classifications of how we treat other people, based on race, ethnicity, and skin color...those old hatreds and old classifications need to die off with time. I belive one way we can make it happen is to not to see a person, take one look at him or her, and automatically assume this or that. And I guess that's what pisses me off the most - that people I meet in my job and in my line of work **do** take one look at me and automatically assume that I'm Hispanic, and that I speak fluent Spanish. I'm not, to my knowledge, Hispanic (I truly don't know what I am, and frankly I don't give a good god damned about it, either), and I failed Spanish in high school.

I truly am sick and tired of getting asked what am I.

[counterspade]

I didn't realize this thread existed! I'll have to post in it more often.

I'm sure about 90% of the posters in this forum know I now work at Walmart in the toy department (I'm not sure if I made the department known). I deal with interesting people daily, and kids all over the place. Since it's pointless to backtrack , I'll just start from today:

Currently, I'm helping my department manager, zone merchandise supervisor (or a ZMS as we call them) and assistant manager reset our counters (and we call that our modular) for the 2013 toys coming in. Everyone had left as I had come in for a short shift this evening and will be going overnight soon to get the product stocked. I'm moving shelves, putting up hooks for hanging items and just generally doing a lot of 'move this here, move that there' type stuff.

So as I'm moving a set of shelves, and when in a stack metal shelves are heavy and awkward, a lady flags me down in a fit of rage because we don't carry ice cream cakes at my store. First she asks if I know if we do. Hint to all customers: we are not given a briefing on the entire store's inventory. The bakery is on the opposite side of the store than the toy department, and she's coming at me, arms filled with about 50lbs of metal, up in arms because we don't carry ice cream cakes. I recommended stores she could purchase one at, but it was too inconvenient to go there. I can understand your grief, but why are you yelling at me? What have I done? I didn't tell my store manager not to keep ice cream cakes in stock. By this time I had to set the shelves down as my arms were exhausted. That prompted her to make a snappy remark as to how feeble my generation is, and if we weren't behind our smartphones all the time, we would be stronger.

At this point, I wished her a good evening, grabbed my cart which had my price scanner (which is a godsend for its ability to do soooooo much), loaded the shelves one by one into the cart and walked to the back.

Then on my way back from the back, I found an empty box that housed condoms on the service desk counter where paint is mixed. The hardware associate had left, so I cover hardware when no one is there along with other departments such as electronics, automotive, sporting goods and fabrics & crafts. Anyway, the empty box wouldn't have been s problem...had there not been a used condom inside, semen leaking from it into the empty space. I almost gagged. Semen is hot when you don't find it lying around in a Walmart. I'm glad this workday is over. I believe I've rambled on enough here, too.

[holeconfusion]

I didn't realize this thread existed! I'll have to post in it more often.

I'm sure about 90% of the posters in this forum know I now work at Walmart in the toy department (I'm not sure if I made the department known). I deal with interesting people daily, and kids all over the place. Since it's pointless to backtrack , I'll just start from today:

Currently, I'm helping my department manager, zone merchandise supervisor (or a ZMS as we call them) and assistant manager reset our counters (and we call that our modular) for the 2013 toys coming in. Everyone had left as I had come in for a short shift this evening and will be going overnight soon to get the product stocked. I'm moving shelves, putting up hooks for hanging items and just generally doing a lot of 'move this here, move that there' type stuff.

So as I'm moving a set of shelves, and when in a stack metal shelves are heavy and awkward, a lady flags me down in a fit of rage because we don't carry ice cream cakes at my store. First she asks if I know if we do. Hint to all customers: we are not given a briefing on the entire store's inventory. The bakery is on the opposite side of the store than the toy department, and she's coming at me, arms filled with about 50lbs of metal, up in arms because we don't carry ice cream cakes. I recommended stores she could purchase one at, but it was too inconvenient to go there. I can understand your grief, but why are you yelling at me? What have I done? I didn't tell my store manager not to keep ice cream cakes in stock. By this time I had to set the shelves down as my arms were exhausted. That prompted her to make a snappy remark as to how feeble my generation is, and if we weren't behind our smartphones all the time, we would be stronger.

At this point, I wished her a good evening, grabbed my cart which had my price scanner (which is a godsend for its ability to do soooooo much), loaded the shelves one by one into the cart and walked to the back.

Then on my way back from the back, I found an empty box that housed condoms on the service desk counter where paint is mixed. The hardware associate had left, so I cover hardware when no one is there along with other departments such as electronics, automotive, sporting goods and fabrics & crafts. Anyway, the empty box wouldn't have been s problem...had there not been a used condom inside, semen leaking from it into the empty space. I almost gagged. Semen is hot when you don't find it lying around in a Walmart. I'm glad this workday is over. I believe I've rambled on enough here, too.

Over in the fetish thread there are some guys who would've been lapping that up .

It does make me think about the back story of how it got there.

[jdcnow]

A few notes I've gleaned over the years:

1. Customers cannot read.

OK, so the other night, my friends that I housekeep for treated me to an up-scale burger restaurant we have here, called Fudruckers. After we ate, I went back to the counter to get a to-go box for all that I didn't finish eating. I'm at the counter and I overhear an employee telling a customer how to use the soda fountain. No, really! They have one of these high-end ones, called the Coca-Cola Freestyle...



It's so friggin' easy - you touch the screen for the brand of soda or drink you want, say Powerade. Then you select the flavor of Powerade you want - Fruit Punch, Orange, Grape, etc. Then hit the "Push" button to make your drink.

Why, oh, why do you need this actually explained to you, as if you're just now discovering fire, for the first time???

4. It is always the retail worker's fault if your credit card/debit card/check is declined. Always. I'm doing this to piss you off.

And why do people come in with the dingy-ass credit/debit card, that is bent up, the magnetic strip is half-rubbed off, and the poor card just needs to be cut up and thrown into the trash and put out of its misery. The card has obviously seen better days, the card owner/customer refuses to take proper care of the card, and then the customer honestly wonders why we won't take, or can't run the card. Take care of your shit. Please. "Well, I meant to call and get it replaced last week..."

Again...


Meaning to get your card replaced, because you didn't take proper care of the card, and actually doing it - calling to get your card replace and actually taking good and proper care of your money and financial instruments such as cards - are two different things! Get off your good intentions! Please!

[roadtripboy]

^ My favorite...there seems to be an urban myth that says if you put your card in one of the store's plastic bags, then use it with bag around it, it will work better. It doesn't. Just go by the bank and ask for a new one. Most banks replace them for free.