Horrible Customers: The Retailing

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Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

about two days after following the passed out wino (by the way, it turned out that a separate customer, probably upon hearing the man snoring in the stall, was the one who took a poo poo in the urinal and then promptly left without a word) an incontinent old man came in during yet another of my coworkers closing shifts and promptly poo poo all over the floor. I was told it was as though he just poo poo himself (which I think he did, he "didn't make it") and swung the underwear around. the underwear and pants supposedly had to be abandoned.

aside from that we were scammed by a sampler so that was entertaining

# ¿ Jul 26, 2017 08:35

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 03:26

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

at the very least I obviously hated it as a kid but now that I'm older I'm glad that when I was was about to make an rear end of myself in a public place my parents would pull me aside and furiously whisper to knock it off and threaten to beat the crap out of me. Now I'm the kind of person who does their best to not be in the way or waste as little of people's time as possible when out in public. I don't get why people stand directly in the paths of others, slowly put their poo poo away in their wallets/purses while a line forms behind them, stand and chat with other people in a doorway, etc. Idk what it took for that to be instilled in me but it would be nice if other people had that sense.

I mean, I'd rather not see a kid get whacked, but I'd appreciate if the parent can do something to get their rear end in a top hat kid under control.

to that end, I don't think I told this one- four loko lady seems to have grand children. She would bring them in pretty frequently, and one day one makes the other one cry by poking them in the eye. So the woman, with her long gross nails, pokes the eye of the offender and says:
"How does that feel??"

# ¿ Jul 26, 2017 17:14

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Festus The Fetus posted:

I had an uncle who worked retail at Albertsons in a really lovely neighborhood in Tacoma while he was in high school and for a while in college. Basically they had all the problems you'd expect in a grocery store in a high crime area, such as the bum who liked to drink aftershave or the times he was robbed at gun point. However the main that annoyed him about the customers is that every time they had a sale people would attempt to fill there carts with nothing but the product on sale. Because of this they had to put a limit on the amount each person could buy so everybody could get the sale price and it would do its job of getting people into the store to buy other stuff. The price was reduced to the point where they were losing money if the sale item was all the customer purchased

So he gets a new manager who is both a dick and inexperienced, he calls my uncle over "Mike we're doing a sale on coke and jiffy corn muffin mix, but I am getting rid of the limit that each customer can buy." Uncle Mike "Uh that's a terrible idea if we do that all people will do is buy a bunch of coke and jiffy corn muffin mix and the store will lose money." Store Manager "People won't do that! The most important thing is that we don't run out coke and jiffy corn muffin mix!" The manager then leaves after instructing uncle Mike to place an order for a sufficient amount. Keep in mind this happened on a Friday the sale was going to start on Saturday and go for a whole week. The manager would also not be back at the store until Monday.

My uncle takes this as an opportunity so he ordered two full semi's both stuffed to ceiling one with jiffy corn muffin mix and the other with coke. So Saturday morning the store opens and immediately people just start filling there carts to overflowing with coke and jiffy corn muffin mix. Some people even have like three or four carts, its loving chaos as word of the sale spreads and more and more people descend on the store like locusts. He said it reminded him of ship wreck victims clutching wreckage as family's clumsily maneuvered there over capacity packed carts. So at this point the sale had only been going on for a few hours and already they were down to one semi's worth of coke and corn muffin mix. Uncle Mike calls his manager "Hey it looks like I underestimated the demand for the sale items, I need to make another order so I need authorization." Manager "your a loving idiot, just get it done." So mike dutifully orders two more semi's of coke and muffin mix.

When it was all said and done the store lost like tens of thousands of dollars the manager was fired and Mike stayed in the same position mostly because he had been smart enough to see what was coming but vindictive enough to let it play out. He did eventually make manager though.

Edit: I forgot to mention that they never ran out of coke or jiffy corn muffin mix! But the sale unfortunately only lasted two days.

This is a great story and reinforces my "let things happen and let the management deal with it" mindset. Like with this thing with the passed out guy, the manager who was on as it was happening wouldn't call the cops and basically said "let the night crew guy do it" who wasn't going to either. It eventually fell to my coworker to do it. If it were me I would have just left because when the guy wakes up at 4am and steals another bottle of wine and the stabs someone at 6 when the store opens that should be the fault of the guy who's only responsibility is to call the police, had the chance to do so, and didn't.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2017 15:25

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

I've had many friends too nice to say no get put in awkward positions when customers come in a minute before closing, want to be rung out at a register that isn't self check out (when all of the tills have been put away) and demand to pay with a check. The choice is to either tell them to ring out before that, as is their prerogative because the store is in the process of closing and risk creating some sort of scene that eclipses that right in the eyes of management, or just suck it up and hear nothing about it the next day because nobody really cares how much of the closer's time that this person wasted.

Part of the problem, I think, is that most customers don't get that closing shifts end right as the store hours end- meaning that employees usually have to spend time doing close down processes before then. Lottery has to be shut down, the tills have to be put in the safe which needs to be counted too, and so on.

Really, this problem could be solved if management would just schedule people for fifteen minutes later, but chances are that will never happen because again, skeleton shifts, and they'd rather do that and force the uncomfortable closer to make a judgement call so people will continue to be aghast that they can't do Western Union at 11:30 at night.

E: honestly, customers can be horrible and entitled jackasses, but there are a lot of times where it's just the management making a situation possible that either causes or allows people to act that way. You could rename this thread "Horrible Customers (and the Incompetent Management that create them)"

Starman Super DX fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Jul 27, 2017

# ¿ Jul 27, 2017 17:43

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

OutOfPrint posted:

Starman, though. Starman was special.

Starman appeared one day, disheveled, reeking of crust punk, and was immediately shuffled into one of our meeting rooms. He was an old Russian man who paid for a design service that he never received and was finally ready to start building his site. Our supervisor brought one of my coworkers into the meeting room to take Starman's notes.

Starman was the head of, and first human member in, the Intergalactic Council. He needed a website so he could run for the Secretary General of the U.N. He studied cybernetics at Moscow University in the 70's, and, at the time of the meeting, lived in Brooklyn. He took the bus to get to the office. He had been missing for three days from his retirement home.

He eventually found his way home and started inundating us with content to add to his site. It started off with information about his run for SG, but got more unhinged. By the time I left, he was calling himself something like "Human Citizen 00000001."

I know this is only tangentially related to retail, although the support team was given mandatory sales quotas after I left, but customer service is customer service, and now that I have some time outside of it, I can really dig into how loving crazy that job was.

wtf I never went to anyone about building a website or have purported to be an intergalactic ambassador of any sort :mad:

remove this slander now sir

# ¿ Jul 27, 2017 20:56

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

OutOfPrint posted:

Honestly, I have no idea. I don't want to post links to any sites my team and I worked on to give myself some level of professional deniability. That said, I know Hat Man went with a different provider.

Also, Starman Super DX, that is an unfortunate coincidence. I did not mean to imply you ever bought such a lovely product as the sites we sold. I apologize fully and completely.

That's more like it! now I did have a brief stint as Saturn State Senator, but that's HARDLY intergalactic!

srsly tho nbd lol.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2017 17:05

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Drunk Nerds posted:

It's a lot harder to go to college now than it was in 2005. The economy crashed and upper education support was all but discontinued. Getting a retail store to schedule your hours around school schedule was common then, but pretty unheard of now. Retail salaries used to be able to pay for part time state schooling but now that costs more annually than a retail workers full time salary

"Just get an education while you work," is the modern "just go into a business and shake the manager's hand to get a job."

Last summer the then-manager fired every college student working on the front end because he was sick of having people on the payroll that could only work a few months out of the year. They wouldn't hire a perfectly competent friend of mine because she had to go back to school a few months later, even though she likely would have worked on the weekend.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2017 22:32

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Festus The Fetus posted:

Another story but this ones about a friend who was a sandwich "artist" at subway during our senior year in high school.

So Kevin got a job at subway and he was alone at the shop most nights and so he would make you a sub write it up as a chip or a drink only and pocket the 5 or 6 dollars you gave him for a however much meat or vegetable sub sandwich you wanted he was very generous with ingredients. Anyway Kevin would sell handmade subs for basically nothing at least as corporate was concerned, so his manager got wind of the chain losing money and so he instructed the sandwich artist's to use as few olives as possible. Olives were the most expensive ingredient. After that Kevin would always ask if the person wanted extra olives, he was always openly vindictive about this so I assume his manager made his life hell. Anyway one night Kevin is giving up subs for a dollar and he sells the entire contents of the fridge for like $20, so we could use them as mixers. He fully expected to be fired but instead the manager blames theft. Apparently the cameras weren't on (or more likely did not exist because the manager/owner is so cheap) in this particular subway so Kevin was allowed to quit in good will with corporate as he was never found out.

a lot of places are really, shockingly bad at controlling shrink

# ¿ Jul 30, 2017 16:30

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Million Ghosts posted:

lol if you don't steal everything you possibly can from work

everything broken down for the craft your own six is counted as loss

e: these two statements are entirely unrelated

# ¿ Jul 31, 2017 02:00

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

The Great Autismo! posted:

i guess if people don't want to hear about ways to improve their lives and just want to continue being a wage slave, then by all means, keep on keeping on.

hello, meet

Starman Super DX posted:

-This isn't the career advice thread. Nobody is asking for it. Nobody wants to hear it. Nobody is going to quit their job to hand write bibles for a living like a psychopath.

I get that you mean well, but I put this in the OP because people are here to read stories, not to read slap fights about how feasible or unfeasible their career prospects are.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2017 16:24

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

The Great Autismo! posted:

apologies, didn't see this and/or glossed over it. i'll bow out and sorry for the derail.

nbd! at least the derail has almost gotten me my first thread to get up to forty pages :kiddo:

Here's a story that may cause some debate, I wasn't sure if I wanted to share it at first but here we go-

Quarter to closing, two older (mid to late fifties) ladies come in, mostly drunk, etc. They do a number of small annoying things that rub me the wrong way, including one going to the bathroom for ten minutes before slowwwwwwwly making their purchase before closing. Of course I'm giving her (the lady paying, although both of them are annoying the hell out of me) the death stare. She gives me the whole "you should smile more" clich�. As I give her her change, she goes to give me two dollars.
Now I'll point out that I really am hard up for money. Every dollar in my wallet is a big deal to me at the moment, albeit only for a little extra spending money week to week.
Without missing a beat, I refused. She insisted in dismay, and again I said "no, thank you." She says the smile more thing again and leaves.

So I mean yeah, the store policy says I'm not supposed to take tips so for the most part, I don't unless I have some kind of good spirited report with the customer. This is of course after I deny it once and they continue to insist and shove it in my hand.

This, however, was one of the very rare occasions where someone tries to literally buy a smile off of me. I know that might sound ridiculous, but upon handing me her glorious two whole loving dollars I'm supposed to say "wow gee whiz thanks drunk ladies I like you now! Imma buy me a candy bar after work!"
I might take like five bucks. That's lunch at least and to me that's a fairly generous chunk of pocket change and thus a more genuine gesture on her part. But come on, two bucks? I would take two bucks if I just had a simple interaction with a normal, friendly customer who throws it at me and leaves, that's not the same situation. Plus if I took the money and didn't reciprocate in some friendly way you know she would have just complained to someone.

So that's that. Tell me I'm a dumb goon for not taking the two dollars.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2017 17:00

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Mammal Sauce posted:

rear end, gas or grass will get you where ever you want hitchhiking and move to Alaska and take care of the oil workers' needs.

Hate your job? One weird little trick to get you across the country to a better employment location.

it's prostitution

# ¿ Aug 1, 2017 21:39

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Glenn is like the mascot for the thread. Big foam costume that's an exaggerated caricature of a middle aged white lady waiving a receipt around with poo poo stains on her pants

# ¿ Aug 2, 2017 01:15

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

McGavin posted:

Finally, an employee with gumption!

I have Gumption.

It's twelve bucks for a six

# ¿ Aug 2, 2017 02:29

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Breadallelogram posted:

Him: "I DON'T LIKE YOUR ATTITUDE WHAT ARE YOUR NAMES I KNOW THE OWNERS* I'M GOING TO CALL THEM AND TELL THEM WHAT TERRIBLE SERVICE YOU GAVE ME TONIGHT"

*not the owner who took a poo poo on my shift - he sold some of the business (I don't know the details) to this rich conservative christian couple who refused to remember my name despite seeing me every day

Me: "okay man my name is ____ and you can tell them whatever you want about me, see you later"

I had an old guy give me that "attitude" bullshit the other night, and it's not like I was even in a particularly bad or annoyed mood either, I just didn't happen to greet him just right. Heaven forbid that my disposition doesn't constantly ooze joy and honey.

I do love it when they ask for my name and I proudly show them my name tag like "bring it on" because these days management sides with me nine times out of ten anyway.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2017 17:43

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Kelp Me! posted:

drat dude did it kind of sounds like she was giving you a tip because she realized you were in a bad mood, possibly because you were about to close and they took a long time? Yeah the whole "you should smile more" thing is annoying but I think it takes a specific already-determined mindset to look at that interaction and go "they were trying to buy a smile off you" and not just "they were giving you a tip for any number of reasons."

So yes, you're a dumb goon for not taking the two dollars.

I simply don't think I could have accepted the tip in earnest. Plus I find public drunkenness to be a bit of a faux pas.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2017 14:12

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

I think it just ties in with the fact that most people have rehearsed responses to most things and rarely use critical thinking during the cashier-customer interaction. One of my favorite actual conversations

: *end of ringing items* would you like to donate to [charity]?
:downs:

:No thank you I donated already
:confused:

:But sir we only started this morning??

# ¿ Aug 5, 2017 17:00

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

JnnyThndrs posted:

I always turn down the 'free poo poo' because there always seems to be a bunch of time-consuming bullshit to go through before I actually get free poo poo.

"Sir, would you like a free set of giraffe spats with your purchase of helium and plastic bags?"

'Uhhh.. yeah, I guess'

"Great! <big fake smile> just fill out this application for our loyalty card/credit card/etc. and we'll send you a coupon for the giraffe spats"

And at that point I hate saying 'gently caress that, way too much bullshit', especially because I know the poor employees don't want to be pushing this poo poo either and they probably get penalized in some way for not getting enough applications or whatever.

If they're obviously just reaching under the counter and handing out free stuff, sure, I'll take it, but it never seems to work out that way so I automatically refuse everything.

Yeah exactly. This is why people have those ready-to-go responses to stuff that sounds free because they're predisposed to be suspicious of any situation where it sounds like someone is saying they can get something for nothing. I mean I know I don't agree to anything like that unless something tangible is literally being handed to me and then am explicitly told "take this and pay us nothing".
In my non-professional opinion I think it would make more sense to just hand people gift cards or coupons out of the blue, alluding to promises that they'll see more things like it if they sign up for the card or if their loyalty continues or whatever. It's better than immediately bombarding a new face with applications they need to sign in blood and triplicate so they can immediately "join our family" and get exclusive access to coupons & deals.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2017 17:36

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Snowglobe of Doom posted:

... especially since you always know that all that personal info you're giving them is the actual reason they're running the promo at all and you're guaranteed to get a ton of junk mail for the rest of time.

The "Go on the draw to win a new car!" promos you see at the mall are the most blatant versions of this but you always see people filling out those forms

Yeah I don't disagree with that. All I'm saying is that people would be less suspicious if it at least seemed as though they were getting more than they're actually putting in as opposed to being asked to put up their info immediately. That's just from my :devil:

marketing perspective though

# ¿ Aug 5, 2017 18:53

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Fil5000 posted:

"You said you had some when I called!"

Bonus points if you know for a fact you took their call and you told them the opposite.

Can we add questions you couldn't possibly have exact answers for?

"Do you have beers that twist off?"

*scanning... scanning*

I am sorry sir but after scanning my data banks of the beer inventory I have found that the entry for twist off is not available.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2017 03:56

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Drunk Nerds posted:

idgi. It sounds like you can't name a beer that twists off, which is silly because I know you can?

I honestly can't off the top of my head. I reach for a bottle opener automatically with everything I drink twist-off or not. Even if I could, giving him the name of maybe one beer wasn't going to be particularly helpful. Again, it's the expectation that I should know every detail and be able to rattle it off on the spot. Plus the phrasing is what bugged me a little. I mean yeah obviously we have ones that twist off I just haven't a clue which are which. I mean the other day some lady asked "Do you have beer in cans? Which ones?" Which would be almost half the department.

Whatever, I've been a little tweaked lately so I'm probably just being overly sensitive.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2017 04:35

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Good news thread, I was told today that we are in the employ of a Mad Pooper. :woop:

# ¿ Aug 15, 2017 03:38

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

spog posted:

Was that a company-wide memo?

I was witness to the stall first hand although not the act itself. Later another coworker asked if I'd seen it and they said it's apparently been going on for a couple of days.

du -hast posted:

All I can think of when I read this is this ancient story: The Mad Shitter of Texas Instruments .

One of my high school English teachers once told us that when she was in school they had someone who called themselves "The Angry Dumper". Apparently disgruntled individuals smearing poo poo on the wall as a form of non violent protest is a surprisingly common and unoriginal thing. I'm also fairly certain that it's something that people do in prison.

e: whoops wrong quote

# ¿ Aug 15, 2017 13:21

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

World Kraid Center posted:

But you're so out of touch and historically ignorant that you can't differentiate between a 1930's German workers party and rejection of postmodernism.

Nazi spotted

# ¿ Aug 17, 2017 01:16

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

whip posted:

Those alcoholics take it to the limit. Wait until you see someone that physically becomes ill if they haven't drank in 8 hours. It's brutal

Four loko lady had some kind of horrendous surgery (I heard through the grape vine there was a possible gallbladder removal??) and now she's onto buying pounder packs of miller lite and then spreading out the rest of the day with tall boys. My manager is literally counting the ounces and announcing them to me as she comes in and out. Watching people destroy themselves with alcohol is really something else.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 06:49

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Gay Weed Dad posted:

No, I certainly appreciated this when I worked retail for the exact reasons you mentioned (I'm a human with a name). In fact, I live in a small town and still run into old customers on the regular so it makes me quite happy to be on a first name basis with so many people.

There's an extremely thin line between the regular who sees you often enough to catch your name and give you a casual "Hey so-and-so, how's it going?" And the stranger you've never seen who thinks that anyone who has a name tag is their bestest buddy and announces it immediately upon meeting you and insists on making pointless conversation.

Plus there are the "why do you never smile?" customers who can't take the hint that I stop smiling when I see them because they're terrible.
I've literally heard these people say that I'm unfriendly or unsociable because I refuse to pretend to be friendly to them.

Maybe I'm a freak idk but after a few poor reactions with a particular individual I assume that they have a problem with me personally and not that they must be a horrible rear end in a top hat for not being friendlier.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 18:04

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Glenn Quebec posted:

Today during lunch I called the server by their name every single time I interacted with him. Every. Time.

I too enjoy my food garnished with human saliva

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 19:02

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Glenn Quebec posted:

"Thanks for the menu..*squint* Derrick. What do you recommend? Nah, I'm not in the mood for that Derrick. Derrick, What else do you like?"

Admittedly I could see myself being amused by this if you were charismatic enough to pull it off in a comedic way.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 19:07

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Oh almost certainly.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 19:46

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

It's a real "chicken and the egg" thing tbh

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 20:31

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Miserable Maid posted:

Glenn, I trusted you

You fool! This is why I said to ignore him in the OP- if you acknowledge his existence he's made manifest and haunts this thread!

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 20:45

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Now we'll be cursed with incessant demons and ghosts saying things like "why don't you smiiiiiiile?" and "you look boooOOOOooored" :ghost:

Also our crops will likely whither and die.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 20:48

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

"BOOtstraps"

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 20:52

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Applesnots posted:

I remember some customers whistling at me in order to get my attention, Tweet Tweet! I ignored them until they walked up to me and talked to me and mentioned something about me not hearing them whistling. I just told them that I thought hey were calling a dog or something, why would they do that to me? This only happened about twice though.

Haha once a guy snapped at me to get my attention and I was already in a piss poor mood that day so when I turned around with a look of immense fury and indignantly said "Did you just snap at me??"
The guy immediately shrunk back and apologized. He probably wasn't even trying to be rude but I did appreciate that he recognized my annoyance.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 22:08

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

EugeneJ posted:

I think the worst was when some rich dude clapped in my face and said "chop chop!"

Who the hell does that in real life?

Holy poo poo that's agitating.

"Say that again, and I'll go out to Home Depot, buy a hatchet, return here, and 'chop chop' all of your goddamned fingers off. How does that sound, pal?"

# ¿ Aug 23, 2017 22:43

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn-wt8k9rb0

# ¿ Aug 24, 2017 06:06

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Inescapable Duck posted:

Yeah, the whole point if that there's one item of clothing worth dropping tons of money on, it's generally shoes.

This is definitely true, having a good pair of shoes makes a world of difference on your feet- especially if you're spending a lot of time on them. The soles were coming apart on my Vans for a few months and my right foot was killing me every day (I'd have to sit down every hour or so and normally I can walk around for hours before needing to), but after finally buying some "work Sketchers" they've never been better.

Never underestimate a comfortable pair of shoes.

I hope you all enjoyed my interesting shoe story :tipshat:

Starman Super DX fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Aug 24, 2017

# ¿ Aug 24, 2017 16:13

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

GBS: And with an inexplicable lack of hair, things start to fall apart � Horrible Customers: Proper Shoe Care

# ¿ Aug 24, 2017 19:55

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Murderion posted:

I recently learned to love my tiny goblin feet, because it means I can pick up doc martens on their website for 1/2 to 1/4 their usual price. Otoh, I just learned why suede shoes were on sale. It's because they're suede.

Working retail in a country with mandatory bag charges is a special hell, especially when we get tourists in.

Would you like a bag today?
*ignores me, possibly chattering away to his family in Foreign*
Would you like a bag today? (while ensuring I make eye contact and point at the bags)
*negative sounding grunt*
Lo and behold, after ringing everything up and leaving a pile of stuff in front of them...
AAAA! Bag! Bag!

I hate working in a tourist trap during peak season, it's turning me into the weirdest racist. Now let me tell you about the inscrutable oriental and his unnatural lust for toblerones...

Even with native speakers, this still doesn't change.

:what:

:Would you like a bag today?
:v:

: No thank you.
:what:

: *hands reciept* Okay then, have a good day
:v:

: Oh can I get a bag?

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 23:47

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 03:26

Starman Super DX: Oct 17, 2011; This title text is surprisingly sturdy.

Snowglobe of Doom posted:

The guy I work for has a great response for people who make ridiculous complaints, he just nods and says "Okay" in an agreeable but non-committal voice and then just stands there. It totally encapsulates "I have heard your complaint and acknowledge it but choose not to act upon it" in a single syllable. Customers never expect it and usually have no idea how to respond, it tends to totally deflate them. If they keep complaining he'll usually pull out something like "I hear what you're saying, I'll think about it and get back to you about it but I can't do anything right now because we're just about to start _____."

This is generally my token response to customers making comments about the bathroom. They always start by saying "I don't know if this is your job" and all I can think is "it's not but you're going to ask me anyway." then wait for them to leave and just assume that at some point I'll call someone.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2017 19:51

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

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