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https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3823485&pagenumber=8&perpage=40#post473397101
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Jun 17, 2017 17:57
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My Rhythmic Crotch posted:your username, av, and text are amazing https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3823485&perpage=40&pagenumber=8#post473395764 E: wow beaten. Starman Super DX fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Jun 17, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 17:59
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When I was in retail pharmacy I was helping a guy who was high as a kite. Per board of pharmacy laws we're legally allowed to refuse service to people obviously intoxicated, although that would probably end up in being fired. Anyways he had a crazy insurance plan I'd never seen before and it was taking me a few minutes to get it to work. I apologized to him and tried to make some small talk while we're both standing there awkwardly when he says "What's your name?" I answer "Are you going to file a complaint with my manager?" he told me yes. I backed out of all the work I'd done on his plan, told him "then I'm done here" did a 180 and walked away. Told my manager what happened, who sure as poo poo had no idea how to enter an insurance plan into the system, and good luck with that guy.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:07
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kazr posted:When I was in retail pharmacy I was helping a guy who was high as a kite. Per board of pharmacy laws we're legally allowed to refuse service to people obviously intoxicated, although that would probably end up in being fired. Anyways he had a crazy insurance plan I'd never seen before and it was taking me a few minutes to get it to work. I apologized to him and tried to make some small talk while we're both standing there awkwardly when he says "What's your name?" The only leverage we have as employees is based in this pain in the rear end trend of management limiting hours and forcing a skeleton crew of part-time workers to overextend. There was a small riff between me and woman covering my lunch right now because she's stressed for getting stuck here and extra hour and a half, and beyond the necessity for hours, she's telling me she wants to go home and I said "why don't you?" "Well it was just so crazy up front!" "Who cares?" We didn't make the schedule. Why should employees miss breaks and stay late because the managers hosed up? And I'm not referring to me pissing and moaning about my own, more like the poor kids running around trying to get online orders done and skipping their legally required half hour lunch because "The online order might not get finished!" People are so worried about losing their jobs that they'll do things that aren't even apart of it in the first place, and they'll even start taking it out on each other. Let the customers line up and get pissed I say, take your lunch and let management deal with the poo poo. E: I mean more to your point if it came to them telling me some bullshit that "no one can cover you" when there are managers who totally can, then I'm closing my department for half an hour and getting my break.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:30
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The mention of people pulling up to gas stations after hours made me think of when I was managing a little second-hand movie/game store. We had two doors, the store hours were clearly posted at eye level on both of them. In addition, we had a sign that was lit when we were open and off when we weren't Every morning, without fail, we would see people show up a half-hour to an hour before the store opened, walk up, tug on the door. They'd get a confused look on their face, go to the other door, try that one, go back to the first door, try it again. Eventually they would either bang on the window and try to shout at us to ask when we opened or just scratch their head in confusion and leave.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:31
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Starman Super DX posted:The only leverage we have as employees is based in this pain in the rear end trend of management limiting hours and forcing a skeleton crew of part-time workers to overextend. There was a small riff between me and woman covering my lunch right now because she's stressed for getting stuck here and extra hour and a half, and beyond the necessity for hours, she's telling me she wants to go home and I said "why don't you?" What are you, a commie? This is America, the company is literally a person and it has needs!
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Jun 17, 2017 18:31
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Chomp8645 posted:What are you, a commie? We have surrendered our humanity to the customer service hive mind. We are one. *a gargatuan mass of moaning flesh and bone staggers itself before you, sloughing off bits of evaporating skin and polo uniforms. It smacks some organs together in a way that seems to sound as though it's speaking to you.* "HAVE YOU FOUND EVERYTHING YOU WERE LOOKING FOR TODAY??"
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Jun 17, 2017 18:37
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That feel when you hear the phrase "my pleasure" more than once inside an establishment/on a phone line and you know it's because management has ordered the staff to say that instead of "you're welcome".
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Jun 17, 2017 18:39
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Speaking of required speeches, the stuff that's been asked of me is nothing compared to some other businesses. Can someone confirm for me that if this rule at Game Stop ever existed- having to make eye contact and shout at the 6th or 7th person in line "HAVING FUN YET?" I can see that playing over super well in the city.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:42
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I used to work retail but then I discovered the glorious world of Security. Same qualifications (zero) but you get to sit around doing jack poo poo all day instead of working your butt off.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:42
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I can't tell you how many times I take my lunch, and in uniform, go shopping. My uniform is just black pants and a branded shirt, but every loving Walmart or Target or pet store I step into, people look at the shirt, see the company on it, then ask me if I work here instead. Yes. Yes, I work at Target, I am UNDERCOVER. It is kinda hard to turn off that vibe. I am here to help you, your needs matter to me! Meanwhile I work with an animal rescue/volunteer/foster cats, and I also help answer emails. I've been told by the higher ups in the rescue I can in fact delete garbage emails, and I don't have to be super nice when people are clearly assholes. Polite, yes, professional, yes, but not having to be a bootlicker is new.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:45
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Starman Super DX posted:The only leverage we have as employees is based in this pain in the rear end trend of management limiting hours and forcing a skeleton crew of part-time workers to overextend. There was a small riff between me and woman covering my lunch right now because she's stressed for getting stuck here and extra hour and a half, and beyond the necessity for hours, she's telling me she wants to go home and I said "why don't you?" The place I work at now is union, it's great being able to walk the gently caress out after my 8 hours regardless of what is going on around me and not have my job be threatened. Luckily the place I work at now is rarely busy, my coworkers are for the most part excellent at their job and the environment is mega relaxed. My best advice is get out of retail. Obviously easier said than done. I didn't realize how truly awful my last job was until I was out, and the mental toll it took on me. If I had to start my work experience over I'd do something like plumber apprentice mucking poo poo all day than go back to soul crushing retail. People poo poo on retail and food service, saying how easy their job is. The word they're looking for is unskilled, most anyone can do it but lol if you think that it's easy. It 100% means you've never worked a job where you got poo poo on every single day by the general public. The more money I make the vastly easier my work experience has become.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:45
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i got fired from a retail job when i was a teenager. some woman called in to find out when we closed, then showed up after that point. it turned out that she somehow expected that call to mean the store would stay open until she got there, so she spent a while banging on the door while i closed out the till and such. i could never get a straight answer of exactly why i was being fired or what the complaint was, but i can certainly guess.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:46
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Arven posted:You don't even have to have to be wearing anything close to the store uniform, just be dressed in business casual and look like you're in your twenties. Stopping anywhere on the way home from work sucks. I've had people not believe me when I tell them I don't work there and threaten to get my manager. I was at a Value Village once and had not one, but two people mistake me for staff while I was browsing clothes or wandering around. One guy wanted me to clean up the mess his daughter made when she dropped her drink on the floor and a lady kept yelling at me trying to get my attention. She came up to me real mad that I was ignoring her, but I was all, "Uh... I don't work here."
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Jun 17, 2017 18:47
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kazr posted:The more money I make the vastly easier my work experience has become. 1000x this, also more perks and kickbacks.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:49
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kazr posted:The place I work at now is union, it's great being able to walk the gently caress out after my 8 hours regardless of what is going on around me and not have my job be threatened. Luckily the place I work at now is rarely busy, my coworkers are for the most part excellent at their job and the environment is mega relaxed. Oh yeah, like I said I'm just so close to the end and I've built up enough raises and good will + my department is actually pretty awesome that it's reason enough for me to stay for just a little longer. After the whole stalking incident I would have left immediately if I thought I was going to be stuck here for too much longer. It's more or less a general complaint about the mindset and that kids just trying to work a part time job and focus on school too shouldn't be expected for this stupid cashier position they were given to mean life or death.
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Jun 17, 2017 18:51
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Nessa posted:I was at a Value Village once and had not one, but two people mistake me for staff while I was browsing clothes or wandering around. One guy wanted me to clean up the mess his daughter made when she dropped her drink on the floor and a lady kept yelling at me trying to get my attention. She came up to me real mad that I was ignoring her, but I was all, "Uh... I don't work here." I go shopping frequently after work but my uniform is straight up "Auto Mechanic" (even though that's not what I actually am) so nobody bothers me when I hit up the grocery store or whatever on the way home. Get on my level, scrubs!
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Jun 17, 2017 18:52
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Starman Super DX posted:Oh yeah, like I said I'm just so close to the end and I've built up enough raises and good will + my department is actually pretty awesome that it's reason enough for me to stay for just a little longer. After the whole stalking incident I would have left immediately if I thought I was going to be stuck here for too much longer. It's more or less a general complaint about the mindset and that kids just trying to work a part time job and focus on school too shouldn't be expected for this stupid cashier position they were given to mean life or death. I worked with a lady who got her 20 year employment pin with the company right before I left. She was a cashier. They capped at $12 an hour 
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Jun 17, 2017 18:54
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Chomp8645 posted:I go shopping frequently after work but my uniform is straight up "Auto Mechanic" (even though that's not what I actually am) so nobody bothers me when I hit up the grocery store or whatever on the way home. I had to wear actual scrubs and I'd get people asking me if I was a surgeon if I had to go somewhere after work. Most of the time I'd say yes
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Jun 17, 2017 18:55
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Here's a retail habit I'm thankful for: I read tags and signs VERY closely now
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Jun 17, 2017 19:38
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Mad Lupine posted:I used to work for an electric company in Texas who sold prepaid electricity. In parts of Arizona, they do electricity through a card system, you have a meter in your house that reads cards you go and put money on from a kiosk.
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Jun 17, 2017 19:55
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Nessa posted:I was at a Value Village once and had not one, but two people mistake me for staff while I was browsing clothes or wandering around. One guy wanted me to clean up the mess his daughter made when she dropped her drink on the floor and a lady kept yelling at me trying to get my attention. She came up to me real mad that I was ignoring her, but I was all, "Uh... I don't work here." Yup, it's real weird. I've been stopped in Kroger/Whole Foods/Dollar General/Walmart/etc on the way home from work so many times before and asked for help as if I work at the store. Apparently wearing a typical polo shirt and dress pants that my office prefers means I work retail. I don't understand the thought process because business casual compromises the vast majority of office workers out there. Working in any IT support role I've had has been 9999x easier than working retail. I'll agree to that.
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Jun 17, 2017 20:20
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I actually think it's a trend with how they want uniforms to look now because the office business casual look seems "professional". I used to wear an apron
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Jun 17, 2017 20:27
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Starman Super DX posted:I actually think it's a trend with how they want uniforms to look now because the office business casual look seems "professional". I used to wear an apron "Professionals" get paid a living wage.
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Jun 17, 2017 21:03
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Starman Super DX posted:Maybe I'm misunderstanding, and I'm not contesting whether or not the guy is a douche, but I think I can kind of see what he means about customer service. People are totally capable of understanding this if they've never worked retail or food service of course, but if they have, and they were good at it, I know they do. On my zombie squad, give me really excellent waiters.
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Jun 17, 2017 21:21
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spite house posted:I'm certainly not talking about over-the-top saccharine obsequiousness. I mean a willingness to be generally pleasant and neutral and roll with the punches and not see it as a betrayal of personal integrity, and also not take it personally when someone you're trying to help starts cutting up and being a demanding, unreasonable rear end in a top hat, which they often do in our industry. Retail and other service work gives you armor, and, like the post I quoted pointed out, a lot of intangibles that come to bear on stressful interactions. Yeah okay! we're completely on the same page then lol. It's almost like the other end of the spectrum where you really are that pissy, sullen worker who resents having to do anything for anyone at all- like you said though they normally don't last long at even the simplest of jobs involving customer interaction. I mean I would say I have days like this but it never comes to actively screwing over the people around me. VideoTapir posted:"Professionals" get paid a living wage. I said seem professional. It's funny how in the 'biz, professional basically means "don't ever talk back to another person who has power over you." My worst manager tried to get me a quit through various means including taking me off the schedule for three weeks and I'm fairly certain that particular incident began by me essentially "hurting another manager's feelings" i.e. pointing out that she sucked at her job. 
Starman Super DX fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Jun 17, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 21:43
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I was at target on Superbowl Sunday and saw some lady flipping her loving poo poo because they couldn't get the superbowl on the display TVs. She actually demanded the store employee hand her his phone so she could find a stream on his data. She could not comprehend that they were not refusing to comply, but literally could not fulfill her demands. It was pretty tasty to watch but I felt bad for the employees.
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Jun 17, 2017 21:57
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Applesnots posted:There was one guy who would get blackout drunk in the theater and then piss in the ash can in there, I caught him one night and banned him from the store. A few months later I found him working a kroger pushing carts and I yelled Pisser! for a good twenty minutes at him. I appreciate how this story could also readily be posted in the thread from the Kroger perspective "I was heading out on break to take a smoke when I saw this crazy rear end in a top hat screaming at one of my coworkers in the parking lot. It sounded like he was yelling 'PISSER!' or something for like twenty minutes straight, no prompting at all? My coworker was just wrangling in the carts from the parking lot, not even interacting with this guy. loving customers are crazy."
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Jun 17, 2017 22:30
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bag em and tag em posted:I was at target on Superbowl Sunday and saw some lady flipping her loving poo poo because they couldn't get the superbowl on the display TVs. She actually demanded the store employee hand her his phone so she could find a stream on his data. She could not comprehend that they were not refusing to comply, but literally could not fulfill her demands. It was pretty tasty to watch but I felt bad for the employees. Target sucks. When I lived in Atlanta I went to one to get a can of Murray's pomade and they didn't have it so I knocked over a display and then pissed all over the men's room.
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Jun 17, 2017 22:33
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Antivehicular posted:I appreciate how this story could also readily be posted in the thread from the Kroger perspective I love your av/title. what is the av from though? berth ell pup posted:Target sucks. When I lived in Atlanta I went to one to get a can of Murray's pomade and they didn't have it so I knocked over a display and then pissed all over the men's room. 
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Jun 17, 2017 22:33
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When I worked at a library a lady dressed all in purple came in and asked me if we had "Pram Scooter's Trakula stuff". After the initial bewilderment I realized what she meant, took her to the horror section and handed her Dracula by Bram Stoker. She examined it and went "Hmm, yes. Scooter. I've heard this is a bit like Interview with the Vampire. I'll take it." A vampire fan who's never heard of Dracula? OK. Gargamel Gibson fucked around with this message at 23:07 on Jun 17, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 22:49
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berth ell pup posted:Target sucks. When I lived in Atlanta I went to one to get a can of Murray's pomade and they didn't have it so I knocked over a display and then pissed all over the men's room.
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Jun 17, 2017 22:51
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spite house posted:Implausible as hell, there's no loving way Target in Atlanta doesn't have Murray's I know that's why it baffled me. It wasn't even "metro Atlanta" it was city of Atlanta, North Druid Hills Road. I had to go to the Kroger in Toco Hills to get it.
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Jun 17, 2017 22:57
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Does retail travel agency count? Cause that job has some real poo poo customers. The lady preparing her honeymoon who wants six different options for hotels in Bali, I spend a really solid amount of time and put together a really freaking nice package in her stated budget, and she comes back with a series of TripAdvisor reviews from obviously insane people as justification for why she can't stay at any of the options I gave her, and finally admits that she had wanted to stay at one particular place the whole time... Why she couldn't tell me that before I put in all the work  Or the guy that was so aspergers that it hurts, who is planning a three month adventure in Europe. Having done similar trips myself, I recommended that he buy flights and maybe the first hotel, then just wing it, it's super fun to go with the flow. Silly me. Clearly that wouldn't work for this guy. Instead, he proceeded to spend multiple (at least 4, from memory), hours long appointments where we went through his entire daily schedule, and I booked in the flights, transfers, tours, hotels, etc, that he had thoroughly researched himself, for every single day of his trip. Dream customer, right? Booking everything through a travel agent? Except no, because he had researched everything so much that he chose the cheapest poo poo for all of it, so I made sweet gently caress all money off all these hours of work. My agency had a price beat guarantee, so I couldn't turn him down for any of it. And all the people that would come in for us to do the price beat guarantee on a 200 buck flight, so they save themselves 2 (two) dollars compared to booking it online instantly themselves. Like, these were people that worked in banks in a financial district, their hourly pay would mean that 2$ was beyond pointless, for everyone involved (except the travel agency, which is why they did it). I know I never made any money off it
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Jun 18, 2017 09:47
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And I'm still in travel, but now I work for a supplier, we sell and run bicycle tours. Now I get the double fun, my customers are both the public, and travel agents! The public are generally ok, except they're incapable of following basic instructions like "this is the start point of the tour, type this address into Google maps and be there on time". Travel agents can be great, can be annoying as hell. I loved this conversation on the phone with someone the other day: Them: "I see on the website here you have a 1pm tour?" Me: "we did, back in 2015, but not recently. Can I ask what website you're looking at?" Them: "the website" Me: "... Which particular website?" (Ours definitely doesn't say that time, I made it myself) Them: "bicycle sightseeing tours" Me: "bicycle sightseeing tours dot com?" Them: "bicycle sightseeing tours" Me: "what is the URL of the site you're looking at?" And it went on, for like 2-3 minutes
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Jun 18, 2017 10:09
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Gargamel Gibson posted:When I worked at a library a lady dressed all in purple came in and asked me if we had "Pram Scooter's Trakula stuff". After the initial bewilderment I realized what she meant, took her to the horror section and handed her Dracula by Bram Stoker. She examined it and went "Hmm, yes. Scooter. I've heard this is a bit like Interview with the Vampire. I'll take it." Have you actually read Dracula? I know I haven't. I don't even think I've seen a copy.
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Jun 18, 2017 10:28
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My Rhythmic Crotch posted:your username, av, and text are amazing 
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Jun 18, 2017 11:23
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Jerry Cotton posted:Have you actually read Dracula? I know I haven't. I don't even think I've seen a copy. Yes. It's a pretty well known book. Check it out.
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Jun 18, 2017 13:05
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ZombieJesus posted:Does retail travel agency count? Cause that job has some real poo poo customers. I did not find these stories to be in the spirit of the thread. Like you flippantly told someone with asberger's, who was intentionally using your service to plan a trip, to "wing it, it worked for me!." If they wanted to wing it, why the hell would they need a travel atent? Then it was implied that its somehow his fault for being a prudent shopper and not the fault of your useless middleman company's ridiculous commision scheme. None of these people were rude, nor particularly more demanding than, "please provide a travel research service from your travel research company." Drunk Nerds fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Jun 18, 2017 |
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Jun 18, 2017 14:37
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Rutibex posted:buck up mate, there is an end in sight. keep at it!
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Jun 18, 2017 14:42
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