Horrible Customers: The Retailing

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Horrible Customers: The Retailing

Zil: Jun 4, 2011; Satanically Summoned Citrus

Sailor Viy posted:

Like, all of them? They get your license plate on camera so it's not hard to track you down if you don't pay.

Is this not a thing in the US?

Yeah plus when gas prices exploded in gangs in Texas were pulling up at night with fuel tanks, like what you would use to fill up a tractor in the field, fill it up and drive off.

That put an end to prepumping pretty fast after a few of those.

Though for my horror retail story is when a store manager approved the return of a used toilet on a Friday night and no one threw it in the trash over the weekend. So when the receiving crew showed up Monday morning, the whole store smelled of feces. :nexus:

Zil fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Jun 13, 2017

# ¿ Jun 13, 2017 14:28

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 17:38

Zil: Jun 4, 2011; Satanically Summoned Citrus

thomawesome posted:

I work at a homebrew supply shop and it is amazing how stressed out people get over their hobbies. We offer around 40 hops and 100+ different grains, hundreds of yeast strains, and god forbid we have the slightly wrong ingredient people go nuts. Keeping 2000+ different products evenly and well stocked is really difficult for a mom/pop shop, and honestly? with our selection, we always have a decent substitute.

On top of that, a lot of dudes would treat our female employees like crap and ask to talk to me instead. Some of them had been brewing for longer than I have and I just didn't understand why a woman can't answer questions about beer/brewing/wine. That, and all the know-it-alls we get who come in.

Women knowing more than them intimidate and emasculates them, see the same kind of poo poo in hardware and tech stores.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2017 01:31

Zil: Jun 4, 2011; Satanically Summoned Citrus

Starman Super DX posted:

Maybe the thread title needs to be changed to "Horrible Customers: Rise of the Incontinence"

Or I dunno something funnier and poop related.

Horrible Customers: No there are not more in the back, all of our poo poo is on the floor.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2017 00:31

Zil: Jun 4, 2011; Satanically Summoned Citrus

mostlygray posted:

I had a customer berate me over the phone for 45 minutes over nothing. When she called me a "little fucker" I asked her to please stay civil. She then insisted that she hadn't insulted me.

When I reminded her of the "little fucker" comment, she said "I call my kids that all the time. It's not an insult"

And for some reason an anonymous complaint led CPS to her house right? Sigh, one can dream.

Got yelled at by a parent because I asked their little angel to stop climbing into and up the steel racks at lowes. Never mind that someone was using power equipment in the next aisle over and could have knocked something off and crush the kid, I was in the wrong for not respecting his desire to explore. :jerkbag:

# ¿ Jun 21, 2017 12:59

Zil: Jun 4, 2011; Satanically Summoned Citrus

Starman Super DX posted:

See, I completely believe that, it's just that it seems counter-intuitive to me to call attention to it

e: it's the same thing that happened to BK's French fries

The idea behind it is to create self doubt in the consumer. "The company said it is is new and improved and I don't like it as much as I did before, there must be something wrong with me. I should continue to buy it and I may start to like it as much before."

Also there is the whole make a weakness a strength marketing strategy.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2017 02:46

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 17:38

Zil: Jun 4, 2011; Satanically Summoned Citrus

mind the walrus posted:

I actually worked in a Starbucks so I can field this one.

Starbucks is a fast food place that desperately wants you to think it's not a fast food place. The shifts are assembly-line affairs with little downtime unless you're crazy efficient and very agile about your tasks. You're simultaneously expected to give bespoke drink service to regulars and develop a relaxing atmosphere for the customers, the whole "neighborhood coffee shop" vibe. This dissonance really wears on you, until you find yourself snapping and getting pissy at customers who you know don't deserve it just because they're breaking your flow. If you're riding the wave, so to speak, it's actually a pretty good environment as far as fast food-- decent atmosphere and music, coffee doesn't usually smell like poo poo, part-time health insurance, etc. etc. If you're not, you want to start banging on everything behind the bar with a wrench and leave.

Like, we had this regular who would come in 10 minutes to close on totally random days and order a minimum of 6 drinks, which would require us to use nearly every drink-making apparatus in the bar. Frappucinos, lattes, coffee, smoothies, iced teas, all of it. We never knew when she was coming in, so every night where we were ahead of the game and had the place all clean and she came in, you honestly would rather have had her just take a poo poo on the floor and leave instead of coming to the register and order.

Plus y'know, there are always occasional customers who want you to remake their drink because they didn't realize 6 pumps of mocha would make their frappucino turn into a chocolate golem during the middle of a rush, so that creates bad association.

What an rear end in a top hat, surely they noticed the closing time on the door or did they just not care?

# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 00:36

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