Tales from the retail world...

[PanzerIV]

Bump for more stories...

 

[Maetryx]

Originally posted by: MaverickBP
when i use to work at a store that rhymed with target...i actually had a couple people try and get something from our store..find it was out of stock..and ask me to call walmart to check and see if they got it in stock...stupid

Actually, you should have made the call. If Wal-Mart *didn't* have it, then those guys would not waste their time going to Wal-Mart where they would likely spend some of their disposable income at your competition.

Whether or not they have it, you would have demonstrated great customer service and the customers would have a good experience at your store.

 

[NuclearNed]

When I worked at Sears in the electronics department, during the Christmas rush I had a guy try to shoplift a really expensive walkman right in front of me. I was on my way out of the department to go to a stock room when I noticed a guy standing in front of the walkmans (walkmen?) looking around and acting suspicious. He obviously didn't see me because he had his back to me, so I walked over and stood just a couple of feet behind him just as he picked up our most expensive model (@ $99) and put it in a bag he was carrying. In my loudest most intimidating voice I said "Get that out of your bag right now and don't ever let me see you in this store again". The guy nearly jumped out of his skin. He immediately dropped the walkman and stammered out some sort of apology, and then virtually ran for the door.

 

[Aquila76]

I remembered another Pizza Hut story. I was the cook (more like assembler/toss-it-in-the-oven-guy) there. The toppings and stuff are about 15 feet behind the register, which isn't right behind the cash register but pretty close. I'd been working for about 6 hours, so I had a good collection of dough, grease, sauce, various toppings, etc. on my apron. Some lady walks up to the cash register and asks if I can ring her up. I respond, "The cashier should be back in a couple minutes. She's seating a large party and taking their drink order." She keeps asking if I'm sure I can't ring her up. I keep saying stuff like, "No I wasn't trained for that," "The cashier will be here shortly," etc. She grabs the manager who just took his first three steps out of the bathroom and tells him she's appalled at the service here and "that young man" (pointing at me) has been very rude. I'm about to defend myself when this little old guy I didn't even see pipes up with: "Miss, He told you very nicely to wait for the cashier and it's only been 3 minutes. I'm legally blind in my right eye and I can clearly see that this he is just the cook."
I paid for that guy's pizza.

 

[MaverickBP]

Originally posted by: Aquila76
I remembered another Pizza Hut story. I was the cook (more like assembler/toss-it-in-the-oven-guy) there. The toppings and stuff are about 15 feet behind the register, which isn't right behind the cash register but pretty close. I'd been working for about 6 hours, so I had a good collection of dough, grease, sauce, various toppings, etc. on my apron. Some lady walks up to the cash register and asks if I can ring her up. I respond, "The cashier should be back in a couple minutes. She's seating a large party and taking their drink order." She keeps asking if I'm sure I can't ring her up. I keep saying stuff like, "No I wasn't trained for that," "The cashier will be here shortly," etc. She grabs the manager who just took his first three steps out of the bathroom and tells him she's appalled at the service here and "that young man" (pointing at me) has been very rude. I'm about to defend myself when this little old guy I didn't even see pipes up with: "Miss, He told you very nicely to wait for the cashier and it's only been 3 minutes. I'm legally blind in my right eye and I can clearly see that this he is just the cook."
I paid for that guy's pizza.

good man

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Aquila76
I remembered another Pizza Hut story. I was the cook (more like assembler/toss-it-in-the-oven-guy) there. The toppings and stuff are about 15 feet behind the register, which isn't right behind the cash register but pretty close. I'd been working for about 6 hours, so I had a good collection of dough, grease, sauce, various toppings, etc. on my apron. Some lady walks up to the cash register and asks if I can ring her up. I respond, "The cashier should be back in a couple minutes. She's seating a large party and taking their drink order." She keeps asking if I'm sure I can't ring her up. I keep saying stuff like, "No I wasn't trained for that," "The cashier will be here shortly," etc. She grabs the manager who just took his first three steps out of the bathroom and tells him she's appalled at the service here and "that young man" (pointing at me) has been very rude. I'm about to defend myself when this little old guy I didn't even see pipes up with: "Miss, He told you very nicely to wait for the cashier and it's only been 3 minutes. I'm legally blind in my right eye and I can clearly see that this he is just the cook."
I paid for that guy's pizza.

:thumbsup:

 

[Rapidskies]

While in college I was a store detective at Target. As most of you probably know this involves walking around in plain clothes, watching camera's, playing the latest video games on the floor etc., to catch shoplifters. Most days I usually worked by myself, but on this day another store detective named Mark was working with me. I was up in the office zooming the camera here and there, playing around mostly, when I got a quick message from Mark over the walkietalkie "Got one meet me at the entrance!". You have to understand that this job was pretty boring about 95% of the time, boring almost all the time until you have a potential stop. So I jumped out of my chair and headed out.

Well the security office in this store was at the back of the store, and on the 2nd floor, but I hauled butt up to the front of the store and started looking for Mark. I couldn't see him anywhere and thought maybe, the lifter was having second thoughts, or maybe scoping out his exit. Then I got another walkie talkie message with Mark breathing pretty heavy "...outside <pant> ...store <pant>...running <pant>..." . So I ran out to the front of the store and saw both of them run out of the Target parking lot, across a street and towards the Mall.

The lifter was in pretty good shape, as he was smoking Mark (who wasn't in bad shape either) in their little foot race, and was at least 75 feet in front of him and he was heading straight for the main Mall entrance. Once in the Mall we would be hard pressed to find him and it would give him a chance to dump the loot. I started running towards the Mall and after getting in to the Mall parking lot I realized that with all the running around they had done in the Target parking lot, I had a much better angle on the Mall doors than they did. Another factor was the lifter didn't realize that he had 2 guys after him yet, Mark was over his right shoulder and I was coming at an angle on his left. The lifter kept looking over his right shoulder to gauge if Mark was closing or not, and poor Mark wasn't .

The lifter was about 50 feet from the door and gave one last glance over his right shoulder at Mark and actually gave him a big cheezy smile as Mark was at least 150 feet back at this point. Then he looked in front of him at the doors, and that's when he saw me, out of the corner of his eye running towards the same doors. His smile vanished from his face and was replaced by an "Oh !*&#!!" look, and he sprinted towards the door. Just has he put his hand on the Mall front door handle, I caught up with him. As he started opening the door, I grabbed him around his midsection and pulled him up and away from the door then towards the ground. This guy had a death grip on the door though, as I threw him to the ground, the door handle to the mall when flying out into the Mall parking lot. I pushed him down to the ground and got my cuffs out. At this point he pretty much gave up and went limp "Alright allright man..". I slipped the cuffs on him as Mark came jogging up "...<pant>...good <pant>....job ...<pant>...". At this point a crowd started to gather, and Mark whipped out his badge "It's ok store security, everything's fine now" (Cheesy I know but hey we were rent-a-cops)

Cliff notes

Shoplifter lifted
Shoplifter ran
Shoplifter pulled handle off door
Shoplifter caught

 

[ZowieHowie]

Okay, another story from my Walgreens.

So it is my 2nd day on the job, and this guy comes into our store, walks straight to the pharmacy with a prescription for Oxy-Contin. The pharmacist thought it was shady, and therefore told the customer that he would have to contact the doctor before filling the script. The man was irate, and asked for the manager. My manager, who was part hispanic tried to calm this man down. The guy then made a derogatory comment to my manager. We asked the customer to leave the store. He walked to the front, but would not leave the store. He tried to then fight my manager. My manager tackled this guy to the floor, grabbed him by the arms, I grabbed his legs, and we THREW HIM TO THE CURB. Literally, the front cashier opened the front door, and we threw this guy out. We then locked the front door and called the cops

The funniest part though was that the guy who we had just thrown out was trying to get back into the store. He tried to jump through the front door (I'm not sure how he DID NOT break the glass), but he bounced off the window and purposely fell into the steel garbage can in the front of the store. The garbage can rolled through the parking lot, and garbage was flying out of it and was all over the parking lot.

So the cop shows up like 10 minutes later, gets the guy's information, and issues him a no tresspass citation, or whatever they call it. The cop then asked the guy to pick up the garbage since technically he knocked over the garbage can. The guy started yelling at the cop, so the cop took him away. The cop booked this guy at the station, and then give him a citation for LITTERING!

My store manager (who was not there when the incident occurred) was cracking up when we told him about the incident the following day.

 

[Dominionion]

We had four fairly big teenagers (17 - 18, 6ft+ ) in the store that had all the obvious tell tale signs that they were up to something. I saw one stick a used $1.99 cassette in his pocket so I went outside to confront him if tried to leave with it. When he came out I told him I saw him taking it and to give it back. His three other friends came over and started intimidating me. I couldn't do much as there was four of them. They turned and went into a hallway you had to take to get to the back parking lot. I went into the store and I started getting more and more pissed. Another employee had seen thier attitude with me and was also pissed. With out saying anything we both walked through the store to the back employee exit, we both took a galvanized (2" wide, 4 ft long) that we used to bar the back door and stepped out into the parking. The four kids had just got into their car. I got behind them and said "Don't move!". They clearly saw me and started backing up anyway. I jumped out of the way. At this point my fellow employee and I both lost it and started swinging. I took the front windshield and he took the rear. Before they could turn into the alley we were working on the side windows. The driver had his window down so he took a couple of shots to the head and the shoulders before they they raced away.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Rapidskies
While in college I was a store detective at Target. As most of you probably know this involves walking around in plain clothes, watching camera's, playing the latest video games on the floor etc., to catch shoplifters. Most days I usually worked by myself, but on this day another store detective named Mark was working with me. I was up in the office zooming the camera here and there, playing around mostly, when I got a quick message from Mark over the walkietalkie "Got one meet me at the entrance!". You have to understand that this job was pretty boring about 95% of the time, boring almost all the time until you have a potential stop. So I jumped out of my chair and headed out.

Well the security office in this store was at the back of the store, and on the 2nd floor, but I hauled butt up to the front of the store and started looking for Mark. I couldn't see him anywhere and thought maybe, the lifter was having second thoughts, or maybe scoping out his exit. Then I got another walkie talkie message with Mark breathing pretty heavy "...outside <pant> ...store <pant>...running <pant>..." . So I ran out to the front of the store and saw both of them run out of the Target parking lot, across a street and towards the Mall.

The lifter was in pretty good shape, as he was smoking Mark (who wasn't in bad shape either) in their little foot race, and was at least 75 feet in front of him and he was heading straight for the main Mall entrance. Once in the Mall we would be hard pressed to find him and it would give him a chance to dump the loot. I started running towards the Mall and after getting in to the Mall parking lot I realized that with all the running around they had done in the Target parking lot, I had a much better angle on the Mall doors than they did. Another factor was the lifter didn't realize that he had 2 guys after him yet, Mark was over his right shoulder and I was coming at an angle on his left. The lifter kept looking over his right shoulder to gauge if Mark was closing or not, and poor Mark wasn't .

The lifter was about 50 feet from the door and gave one last glance over his right shoulder at Mark and actually gave him a big cheezy smile as Mark was at least 150 feet back at this point. Then he looked in front of him at the doors, and that's when he saw me, out of the corner of his eye running towards the same doors. His smile vanished from his face and was replaced by an "Oh !*&#!!" look, and he sprinted towards the door. Just has he put his hand on the Mall front door handle, I caught up with him. As he started opening the door, I grabbed him around his midsection and pulled him up and away from the door then towards the ground. This guy had a death grip on the door though, as I threw him to the ground, the door handle to the mall when flying out into the Mall parking lot. I pushed him down to the ground and got my cuffs out. At this point he pretty much gave up and went limp "Alright allright man..". I slipped the cuffs on him as Mark came jogging up "...<pant>...good <pant>....job ...<pant>...". At this point a crowd started to gather, and Mark whipped out his badge "It's ok store security, everything's fine now" (Cheesy I know but hey we were rent-a-cops)

Cliff notes

Shoplifter lifted
Shoplifter ran
Shoplifter pulled handle off door
Shoplifter caught

Nice :thumbsup:

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Dominionion
We had four fairly big teenagers (17 - 18, 6ft+ ) in the that had all the obvious tell tale signs that they were up to something. I saw one stick a used $1.99 cassette in his pocket so I went outside to confront him if tried to leave with it. When he came out I told him I saw him taking it and to give it back. His three other friends came over and started intimidating me. I couldn't do much as there was four of them. They turned and went into a hallway you had to take to get to the back parking lot. I went into the store and I started getting more and more pissed. Another employee had seen thier attitude with me and was also pissed. With out saying anything we both walked through the store to the back employee exit, we both took a galvanized (2" wide, 4 ft long) that we used to bar the back door and stepped out into the parking. The four kids had just got into their car. I got behind them and said "Don't move!". They clearly saw me and started backing up anyway. I jumped out of the way. At this point my fellow employee and I both lost it and started swinging. I took the front windshield and he took the rear. Before they could turn into the alley we were working on the side windows. The driver had his window down so he took a couple of shots to the head and the shoulders before they they raced away.

Hahahahahahahahaha

 

[markgm]

Originally posted by: broon
Can't beat PawNtheSandman's stories.

Best stories ever.

One of mine comes from working 3rd shift at Sheetz (best convenience store ever, and probably the most fun I've had at a job.) At closing time in PA the drunks would start to roll in. The stores are designed pretty well so we can see what's going on. I see this lady with her boyfriend walking down the aisles opening up food and eating it and then putting it down. When she finally came up to pay for her drink and sub, I hit the quantity key and charged her for a few drinks and her food. Her bill was triple what it should have been but she was too drunk to notice.

I never mind people being "clever", I just hate when people have the attitude where think they're getting away with stuff.

I did a stint at the BB tech bench but I actually don't have many good stories.

 

[alm4rr]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
At Blockbuster:

Me: You have a balance of $4.50
Customer: What!? That's impossible! I returned it on time!
Me: The computer shows this item being returned 3 days late.
Customer: Do you know who I am!? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!!
Me: No, who the hell are you?
Customer: I want the number for your corporate office. I am going to call your CEO and have you and all your other managers fired.
Me: Here's the number, your total is $9 even.
Customer: Forget it, I'm never coming here again.


He sends his wife in now to pick up his movies. I still don't know who the hell this guy is. Spawn of Satan perhaps?

yea not like BLockbuster ever scams people for late fees.......

 

[Rufio]

if you're store security, can you touch customer's nowadays for shoplifting?

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Rufio
if you're store security, can you touch customer's nowadays for shoplifting?

I think technically you can't until they touch you, but it depends on the company

 

[Slacker]

Retail is for suckers.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: Aquila76
I remembered another Pizza Hut story. I was the cook (more like assembler/toss-it-in-the-oven-guy) there. The toppings and stuff are about 15 feet behind the register, which isn't right behind the cash register but pretty close. I'd been working for about 6 hours, so I had a good collection of dough, grease, sauce, various toppings, etc. on my apron. Some lady walks up to the cash register and asks if I can ring her up. I respond, "The cashier should be back in a couple minutes. She's seating a large party and taking their drink order." She keeps asking if I'm sure I can't ring her up. I keep saying stuff like, "No I wasn't trained for that," "The cashier will be here shortly," etc. She grabs the manager who just took his first three steps out of the bathroom and tells him she's appalled at the service here and "that young man" (pointing at me) has been very rude. I'm about to defend myself when this little old guy I didn't even see pipes up with: "Miss, He told you very nicely to wait for the cashier and it's only been 3 minutes. I'm legally blind in my right eye and I can clearly see that this he is just the cook."
I paid for that guy's pizza.

:thumbsup:

Word.

 

[MaverickBP]

Originally posted by: Slacker
Retail is for suckers.

i was gonna defend us..but it's true lol. but it's a good lesson to learn

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: Excelsior

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: Aquila76
I remembered another Pizza Hut story. I was the cook (more like assembler/toss-it-in-the-oven-guy) there. The toppings and stuff are about 15 feet behind the register, which isn't right behind the cash register but pretty close. I'd been working for about 6 hours, so I had a good collection of dough, grease, sauce, various toppings, etc. on my apron. Some lady walks up to the cash register and asks if I can ring her up. I respond, "The cashier should be back in a couple minutes. She's seating a large party and taking their drink order." She keeps asking if I'm sure I can't ring her up. I keep saying stuff like, "No I wasn't trained for that," "The cashier will be here shortly," etc. She grabs the manager who just took his first three steps out of the bathroom and tells him she's appalled at the service here and "that young man" (pointing at me) has been very rude. I'm about to defend myself when this little old guy I didn't even see pipes up with: "Miss, He told you very nicely to wait for the cashier and it's only been 3 minutes. I'm legally blind in my right eye and I can clearly see that this he is just the cook."
I paid for that guy's pizza.

:thumbsup:

Word.

diddo...love guys like that

 

[MaverickBP]

lol i remember this one lady around 45 came in and asking for the new Justin Timberlake cd for her "daughter". i said sure and walked her over to show her where it was. She even acted like she wasn't sure what his name was.

So we get there and it's one of the last few copies, and she GRABS it and holds it to her chest letting out a sigh of relief/lust and kinds pets the cd. I gave her a look and she's like, "what? it's for my daughter." with a stutter...

mmhmm

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: alm4rr

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
At Blockbuster:

Me: You have a balance of $4.50
Customer: What!? That's impossible! I returned it on time!
Me: The computer shows this item being returned 3 days late.
Customer: Do you know who I am!? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!!
Me: No, who the hell are you?
Customer: I want the number for your corporate office. I am going to call your CEO and have you and all your other managers fired.
Me: Here's the number, your total is $9 even.
Customer: Forget it, I'm never coming here again.


He sends his wife in now to pick up his movies. I still don't know who the hell this guy is. Spawn of Satan perhaps?

yea not like BLockbuster ever scams people for late fees.......

I would have gladly taken it off if the guy wasn't a complete tool.

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: Dominionion
We had four fairly big teenagers (17 - 18, 6ft+ ) in the store that had all the obvious tell tale signs that they were up to something. I saw one stick a used $1.99 cassette in his pocket so I went outside to confront him if tried to leave with it. When he came out I told him I saw him taking it and to give it back. His three other friends came over and started intimidating me. I couldn't do much as there was four of them. They turned and went into a hallway you had to take to get to the back parking lot. I went into the store and I started getting more and more pissed. Another employee had seen thier attitude with me and was also pissed. With out saying anything we both walked through the store to the back employee exit, we both took a galvanized (2" wide, 4 ft long) that we used to bar the back door and stepped out into the parking. The four kids had just got into their car. I got behind them and said "Don't move!". They clearly saw me and started backing up anyway. I jumped out of the way. At this point my fellow employee and I both lost it and started swinging. I took the front windshield and he took the rear. Before they could turn into the alley we were working on the side windows. The driver had his window down so he took a couple of shots to the head and the shoulders before they they raced away.

LOL! Untold amounts of damage over a $2 tape. Probably illegal, but OH SO SWEET.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing

Originally posted by: Dominionion
We had four fairly big teenagers (17 - 18, 6ft+ ) in the store that had all the obvious tell tale signs that they were up to something. I saw one stick a used $1.99 cassette in his pocket so I went outside to confront him if tried to leave with it. When he came out I told him I saw him taking it and to give it back. His three other friends came over and started intimidating me. I couldn't do much as there was four of them. They turned and went into a hallway you had to take to get to the back parking lot. I went into the store and I started getting more and more pissed. Another employee had seen thier attitude with me and was also pissed. With out saying anything we both walked through the store to the back employee exit, we both took a galvanized (2" wide, 4 ft long) that we used to bar the back door and stepped out into the parking. The four kids had just got into their car. I got behind them and said "Don't move!". They clearly saw me and started backing up anyway. I jumped out of the way. At this point my fellow employee and I both lost it and started swinging. I took the front windshield and he took the rear. Before they could turn into the alley we were working on the side windows. The driver had his window down so he took a couple of shots to the head and the shoulders before they they raced away.

LOL! Untold amounts of damage over a $2 tape. Probably illegal, but OH SO SWEET.

yeah. what would have been even funnier is if he they got arrested for assult!


Some of the stories i think are BS. such as this one. but most are great. i worked at wal-mart part time and thought i seen everything. But crapping on the floor? haha eww.

 

[franksta]

I worked at an office supply store one summer during my college days. It seems everybody that came in was looking for something about the size of 1 cubic foot and they would never hesitate to use their hands in explaining the size. "You know about this long, and this tall, maybe this deep".


We often have to re-shrinkwrap items that the original shrinkwrap has been torn in shipping. Well on a pack of notecards one day we (co-worker/friend) took out all the loose change we had in our pockets, only about 42 cents and slid it into the middle of the stack. Then added in a note that said "Instant 42 cent rebate!" We thought it was hillarious.

 

[MaverickBP]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: EyeMWing

Originally posted by: Dominionion
We had four fairly big teenagers (17 - 18, 6ft+ ) in the store that had all the obvious tell tale signs that they were up to something. I saw one stick a used $1.99 cassette in his pocket so I went outside to confront him if tried to leave with it. When he came out I told him I saw him taking it and to give it back. His three other friends came over and started intimidating me. I couldn't do much as there was four of them. They turned and went into a hallway you had to take to get to the back parking lot. I went into the store and I started getting more and more pissed. Another employee had seen thier attitude with me and was also pissed. With out saying anything we both walked through the store to the back employee exit, we both took a galvanized (2" wide, 4 ft long) that we used to bar the back door and stepped out into the parking. The four kids had just got into their car. I got behind them and said "Don't move!". They clearly saw me and started backing up anyway. I jumped out of the way. At this point my fellow employee and I both lost it and started swinging. I took the front windshield and he took the rear. Before they could turn into the alley we were working on the side windows. The driver had his window down so he took a couple of shots to the head and the shoulders before they they raced away.

LOL! Untold amounts of damage over a $2 tape. Probably illegal, but OH SO SWEET.

yeah. what would have been even funnier is if he they got arrested for assult!


Some of the stories i think are BS. such as this one. but most are great. i worked at wal-mart part time and thought i seen everything. But crapping on the floor? haha eww.

ya some of these stories seem a bit farfetched...but entertaining nonetheless