Retail sucks...

[sportsbud]

One memory I will always remember was when I was working at the Covington Walmart, and I was in electronics cleaning the place up and I look out in the distance and I see a BIG black lady walking very fast towards my general direction and the one thing we all know about really BIG women is that they only move fast when there is food involved or they are pissed... realizing there was no food in electronics I thought the latter, so I bailed and snuck into the backroom before her arrival... after a couple minutes I walked back out to the floor and saw here just laying in to one of my co-workers about something stupid, and I mean yelling right in his face! at first I felt bad for him then I realized that I dodged one hell of a bullet on that one... I think I bought him a candy bar after that one lol...

 

[Pas Tout La]

I never worked retail, but after a few years of working road jobs for my old man and having to deal with ridiculous request from company men, my favorite saying became, "I'm a welder, not a magician." Apparently I was a magician. I always found a way to get the job done. When I had to say those words, I knew I was really going to enjoy that first beer that night.

 

[RedStickChick]

Every kid in high school should work in the service industry, retail or restaurant, and see what these employees deal with. I did, and to this day I still refold or rehang clothes I decide against buying, say take your time if I'm not in a rush to go anywhere, and normally leave a cushion tip on the bill.

Society would be so much more peas and carrots, rainbows and butterflies, if people were just nicer.

Ah, but this is all just a dream of course.

 

[DAVE_M]

Every kid in high school should work in the service industry, retail or restaurant, and see what these employees deal with. I did, and to this day I still refold or rehang clothes I decide against buying, say take your time if I'm not in a rush to go anywhere, and normally leave a cushion tip on the bill.

Society would be so much more peas and carrots, rainbows and butterflies, if people were just nicer.

Ah, but this is all just a dream of course.

I disagree. I never worked retail a day in my life and I still refold/rehang clothes at a store or place and item back where it belongs if I don't want it. I also ask legitimate questions, keep it simple, and only ask for help if I need it. When I do ask for help, I ask politely if they can help me. I don't demand what I want, like some hooligans do.

Asking... "Mam, can you help me find these shoes in a size 14?"
Is Polar Opposite of the Hooligans asking... "Yea, I need dem Jordans right there!"

Working retail sucks, being polite to a retail worker might just make their day.

My parents raised me right. Like the member, that worked in the movie theater, said earlier, people get upset when the ICEE machine breaks and blame it on him. People like that are just stupid and weren't raised right. If the lawn mower, that my father so kindly bought for me, broke one day, I'm not going to call him and chew him out for it breaking. He didn't have anything to do with it.

 

[dougstump]

I used to own a *99 Cents Plus* store right off the end of Martin Luther King Drive. I packed an HK USP .45 under a photographers vest every day.

One day I had a frequent lady customer in the store. On her first visit she asked if I had any objection to her CCW in my store, I said no & told her what I was packing and she told me what she had. (Why is it that CCW’s are some of the most polite people you meet?)

Another frequent customer, an older lady, comes in walking very quickly and comes right up to the cash register and asks *Have you got a gun, HAVE YOU GOT A GUN?* I started reaching for the HK & did a threat scan, no one had followed her into the store (fortunately) and the sidewalk outside was clear. (I noticed the other customer reaching for her firearm too). I said *Yes Ma’am, what’s the problem?’ She said, *My grandson wants a toy cowboy gun*. I pointer her to the toy aisle, she had no idea what she almost stirred up. Now I wish I had kept that surveillance tape!

 

[Kraut]

I worked at Mervyn's while I was in college, and people really would walk up to the glass and do that "Open! Open! Open!" crap from the commercials.

My least and most favorite day of the year to work was the day after Christmas. Least because the store would be destroyed by the end of the day, but most because you got to tell people how little their relatives thought of them (at least in their greedy, materialistic minds).

Example: Customer comes up carrying a sweater that is easily recognized by any employee with more than a year's time as last year's merchandise, long since clearanced out past the sub-$5 range. Automatically grab the SKU binder that is going to be necessary to find the code to enter into the register to process the return/exchange.
Customer: I'd like to return this please.
Me, after finding code, entering it, and learning the last sale price was $3.98: It's $3.98.
Customer: That can't be right, I just got it.
Me: It's last year's merchandise, on a return without receipt I can only give you the last sale price which was $3.98 on clearance.
Customer: No, you don't understand, my aunt gave me this as a gift, and she wouldn't shop clearance to give as a gift.
Me: She might have bought it full price last year, but if you're returning it without a receipt this year I can only give you $3.98.
Customer: I want to speak to a manager.
***This was the crapshoot, because we had some managers that had balls, and then we had some that were the biggest pussies and could never tell a customer no, but hey, that was their call, not mine, although it was really aggravating when you knew you were 100% right and they would cave and make you override for the now smug ******* that got their way. It was always great to see their reaction when they learned their family member bought on the cheap or re-gifted or gave them something that had been shoved away in a closet for a year or two waiting for that last minute "Oh, I guess I have to give Bob SOMETHING" situation.

It baffled me the way some people were with their purchases, like they were compelled to buy a bunch of stuff that they didn't really know if they wanted or needed, then they returned it days or weeks later and bought more crap to return even later. One lady brought in a pair of shoes that had been in her attic, never worn, for over two years with the receipt still in the box, now yellowed from age. It was an odd color of a common, and very popular, style that sold steadily, gladly refunded her money but then had to put this one pair of shoes on the display for $2.98 and go a hundred or more times through the explanation routine that "No, we don't have any more, no, it's not a new color, yes, that's the only pair, no, we can't order another size, no, we won't be getting any more tomorrow," etc., etc. until one person in the right size bought the damned things.

The spineless managers caving were the worst. A woman came in with a pair of Nikes insisting they were defective and just fell apart when her husband wore them. The stench of whatever chemicals he'd stepped in was wafting ahead of her when she approached and before she had even opened the box, and when she did it was plain to see that there was discoloration and the exposed foam had been dissolved away by something caustic, and there was evident wear on the soles and fraying on the laces. Completely obvious what happened, declined to accept them for return or exchange, "I want to speak to a manager," and bad luck of the draw, the wet noodle manager responds and agrees to exchange them which I have to do. I'd rather deal with someone who just tried to outright steal from the store than people who grab onto that ridiculous, insulting lie they concoct and won't let go.