Tales from the retail world...

[clamum]

Originally posted by: Exterous
I have a lot of stories but this was a new one on me:

I guy came in with the HP tower he had bought a couple of days ago. I noticed he was giving one of our customer service girls a hard time so I walked over to see if I could help out. It turns out that he opened his case to see what was inside and noticed that the hard drive was made by Western Digital. He made a point of emphasizing that he bought an HP computer so he expected a HP hard drive. I explained to him that HP does not make hard drives, that they buy them from other companies. He disagreed. He had decided that we stole the higher quality HP HDD out of his computer and put in a "janky offbrand" HDD in its place. I told him that that wasn't the case and to illustrate my point to pointed out to him that his ram was made by Hynix as well

Bad move

So apparently we stole his ram as well.

He was getting more and more agitated. I told him that he should call HP or go online and confirm what I had told him if he didn't want to believe me. He didn't want to do that because I was trying to get him out of the store without giving him the stuff we stole from him. I told him "Well, sir, I'm sorry but if you dont want to believe me, my associate or contact the manufacturer for confirmation then there is nothing else I can help you with tonight."

"Pft, you're just about as helpful as the little wise and beautiful woman bitch you got behind the counter there." he replied gesturing angrily at the girl

Any patience I had for the man stopped there. I informed him that his attitude and language were not welcome here and I recommended that he go outside, cool down and return after he had talked to HP.

"Fuck that. I'm not fucking leaving until I get whats mine! Now give me my hard drive and ram or ill just go and take it from one of your other computers!"

Me: "I'm going to have to ask you to leave now sir."

He refused. I told him that if he didn't leave the store I was going to call the police. He said "Good, then they can talk to you about your thieving employees."
I shrugged, told him "Go right ahead" and called the police. He waited, fuming in the corner until they arrived. He walked right up to them and talked to them for about 30 mins. He did not seem happy. They came up to me and I told them what happened. We talked for about 2 minutes. They went back over to the man and told him he had to leave. He diddn't want to but they were firm (although much more polite than I would be.) He left and I have not seen him back

Jesus. When he would've let out the "wise and beautiful woman bitch" line I dunno how I would've handled that. I bet you wanted to punch the fucker in the mouth once or twice, or maybe that's just me.

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: clamum
Jesus. When he would've let out the "wise and beautiful woman bitch" line I dunno how I would've handled that. I bet you wanted to punch the fucker in the mouth once or twice, or maybe that's just me.

Yes - I wanted to remove him from the store by very unfriendly means. Sadly though it is not an uncommon occurance. It is very common for customers to think that insulting and being vulgar towards low level, hourly associates will get them what they want. I do my best to make sure that that is exactly what DOES NOT happen. Depending on the situation I will even go so far as to say "They do give managers the discretion to do this, however because of your choice in language and attitude I dont think I will be able to help you out."

 

[WA261]

Great thread.

 

[Cuda1447]

So I'm selling phones at T-Mob the other day. This girl comes in, obviously high as a kite. Her friend doesn't seem as bad, but obviously stupid. I am selling them two G1's but they can't afford them both. Instead of selling them two G1's they wanted to get just one and get one free phoen. The free phone they decided on is a flip phone. Samsung T229. About the only thing it has in common with the G1 is that they are both black. Everything else is pretty much different in every way imaginable. So the one girl picks up the T229 and goes


"Wow, your G1 looks a lot nicer than mine"

She was completely serious and it took her friend about 30 seconds to realize and tell her that it wasn't a G1.

 

[Kalmah]

Here's a classic:

customer: Can you tell me what battery I need for my camera?
me: What is your camera?
customer: I don't know.. it's uh.. uh sony coolpix I think.
me: Do you know the model number?
customer: no, but it looks kind of like this one here. (pointing at an Olympus)
me: You need to get the model number from your camera.
customer: So you don't know!??
me: I have to know the model of your camera
customer: I'll go someplace else then
me: good luck with that.

 

[WelshBloke]

Originally posted by: Exterous

Originally posted by: clamum
Jesus. When he would've let out the "wise and beautiful woman bitch" line I dunno how I would've handled that. I bet you wanted to punch the fucker in the mouth once or twice, or maybe that's just me.

Yes - I wanted to remove him from the store by very unfriendly means. Sadly though it is not an uncommon occurance. It is very common for customers to think that insulting and being vulgar towards low level, hourly associates will get them what they want. I do my best to make sure that that is exactly what DOES NOT happen. Depending on the situation I will even go so far as to say "They do give managers the discretion to do this, however because of your choice in language and attitude I dont think I will be able to help you out."

You I need to buy a beer for :thumbsup:

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Kalmah
Here's a classic:

customer: Can you tell me what battery I need for my camera?
me: What is your camera?
customer: I don't know.. it's uh.. uh sony coolpix I think.
me: Do you know the model number?
customer: no, but it looks kind of like this one here. (pointing at an Olympus)
me: You need to get the model number from your camera.
customer: So you don't know!??
me: I have to know the model of your camera
customer: I'll go someplace else then
me: good luck with that.

I heard something similar at a computer show quite some years back. A guy went to a memory vendor, but got insulting when they couldn't sell him the right RAM for his computer. He knew only the brand name, and absolutely nothing else.
He left after yelling, "I don't know what kind it is, you guys are supposed to be the computer experts!"


I don't remember many specific things from my time in retail.

I do remember once some dickheads shit in one of the store aisles. One of the maintenance guys quit that night as a result.


Or someone asked me, "Which toaster is the best one?" Because I am simply the toaster expert. I know this much: The one that costs $6.43 and weighs as much as a candybar is probably not it.


Fortunately, I've rarely had to deal with irate customers. Plenty of stupid ones though.

 

[Kalmah]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Kalmah
Here's a classic:

customer: Can you tell me what battery I need for my camera?
me: What is your camera?
customer: I don't know.. it's uh.. uh sony coolpix I think.
me: Do you know the model number?
customer: no, but it looks kind of like this one here. (pointing at an Olympus)
me: You need to get the model number from your camera.
customer: So you don't know!??
me: I have to know the model of your camera
customer: I'll go someplace else then
me: good luck with that.

I heard something similar at a computer show quite some years back. A guy went to a memory vendor, but got insulting when they couldn't sell him the right RAM for his computer. He knew only the brand name, and absolutely nothing else.
He left after yelling, "I don't know what kind it is, you guys are supposed to be the computer experts!"

Yeah, that's pretty common as well. People come in to buy parts for something and they don't even know what they are buying the part for is.

On a side note, she said she thinks her camera is a sony coolpix...
Sony Cybershot
Nikon Coolpix...
And then pointed at an Olympus.
So is it, sony, nikon, or olympus? And even so, you still need the model number.

 

[Icepick]

Bump for a classic thread.

 

[alfa147x]

i will never work at CVS again

 

[Locut0s]

In no particular order. I'll add more if I can think of them and if the thread gets popular.

-Customer comes to till. Finds he has no money. "uhh shoot can I pay you with stamps?"...."uhh no sir sorry we only accept money"... customer is upset.

-Customer has a hard time getting a bottle out of a bundled 6 pack. Takes it to the counter. "sorry miss we only sell those in packs" ... Customer is irate "well you should have a sign then!"

-Customer buys a milk walks out. Comes back angry, shouts into the store "this milks gone bad I want a refund!"... Uhh sir that's whipping cream you bought.

-Teen wants to buy a candy cup that's $2.49. Only has a buck or so. Asks 100% seriously, "can I have it for buck anyway?".

-Drunk man goes to the ATM in the back of our store and withdraws $400. Comes to me after counting it several times. "Here caannnyou countthis for me.. I'm too thrunk....".

Thousands of other stupid encounters with drunks and street people.

Millions of people angry at being IDed fro cigs despite prominent signage that we ID anyone under 30! This happens daily and often turns into shouting.

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
Millions of people angry at being IDed fro cigs despite prominent signage that we ID anyone under 30! This happens daily and often turns into shouting.

Lordy I can only imagine.....

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: Exterous

Originally posted by: Locut0s
Millions of people angry at being IDed fro cigs despite prominent signage that we ID anyone under 30! This happens daily and often turns into shouting.

Lordy I can only imagine.....

It's gotten better over the 3 years I've worked there for some reason. Maybe because they have gotten stricter across the market about this? The company is VERY clear about making sure you ID anyone who looks 25-30 years old or younger. The company and the government sends out shoppers to check on you. If you fail a government shop you are fined 500 bucks! You are NOT to look for whether the person is of age or not but whether they are over 30 or not. Customers just don't get this at all!! "Yes I know your 24, no you don't look 17, yes yes I know but we ID under 30".

The worst part is when they say "OK I'll get my friend to buy them then". "No sorry you can't do that. Sorry it doesn't matter if you have proper ID. She asked first you can't buy them for her. No not even for yourself now. No not a different brand. She asked first then asked you now both of you can't buy because she doesn't have ID, doesn't matter if you do". Had some doosers over that!....

 

[Locut0s]

Old lady comes in with her son guiding her. She has trouble seeing he helps her. They bring in a SMALL gray poodle. "Sorry mam dogs aren't allowed in the store". The son yells angrily at us "It's her seeing eye dog". She has come in several times since and we have argued with them. If it's a seeing eye dog, which of course it isn't, show us the papers. Next time they try to come in I'm threatening to call the cops.

I wouldn't make a deal about it except it's a food store and they guy has a real attitude!

 

[ModerateRepZero]

bump

sadly I left retail in the fall so I can't contribute stories of my own anymore.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I think a common theme among these stories is that customers walk in with a sense of entitlement. I worked at BB for 3 years in computer sales so I can relate a lot to these stories.

 

[PingSpike]

I don't have any real doozies myself. I remember people were dinks a lot at this one rich town grocery store I worked at for awhile.

I remember this one guy giving me a huge raft of shit because he couldn't find any "baggies" brand bags or something. They weren't there, we didn't have them. He insisted I check out back. All the crap comes on this shrink wrapped pallets, there's no easy way to tell which one a particular item came in, assuming we actually carried in the first place. I just sat on a stack of dog food for 5 minutes and then went and told him there wasn't any out back.

I was kind of a dink there too, kind of an odd time in my life and the job sucked.

 

[Ticky]

TTT

 

[KoolDrew]

I got a call the other day from a lady wanting to know why she could not get Wii Sports to play. She just purchased it that day and couldn't get it to work at all. I ask her which way she's putting the disc in, what exactly is happening etc. and she says "I don't know why it doesn't work, it plays DVD's and music CD's fine." So I ask her what she's putting it in and she told me her DVD player (was even specific as to which model). I informed her that she needed a Wii console to play it and after telling her how much it cost she said it was ridiculous and it was our fault nobody ever told her she needed the console as well.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
I got a call the other day from a lady wanting to know why she could not get Wii Sports to play. She just purchased it that day and couldn't get it to work at all. I ask her which way she's putting the disc in, what exactly is happening etc. and she says "I don't know why it doesn't work, it plays DVD's and music CD's fine." So I ask her what she's putting it in and she told me her DVD player (was even specific as to which model). I informed her that she needed a Wii console to play it and after telling her how much it cost she said it was ridiculous and it was our fault nobody ever told her she needed the console as well.

I'm talking to some dipshits at Exxon. I bought some of their gas, but it won't get me home and back. I have to carry the full tank of gas, but I only move at normal walking speed.
No one ever told me I also needed a car to go with it.:|

 

[ModerateRepZero]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
I got a call the other day from a lady wanting to know why she could not get Wii Sports to play. She just purchased it that day and couldn't get it to work at all. I ask her which way she's putting the disc in, what exactly is happening etc. and she says "I don't know why it doesn't work, it plays DVD's and music CD's fine." So I ask her what she's putting it in and she told me her DVD player (was even specific as to which model). I informed her that she needed a Wii console to play it and after telling her how much it cost she said it was ridiculous and it was our fault nobody ever told her she needed the console as well.

http://www.marcforrest.com/wp-...-cdcovers_cc-front.jpg

if the cover looks anything like the game how could she not notice the back which says 'important: for use with the PAL version of the wii only"


if she somehow got just the disc, she apparently doesn't know that nintendo makes *console/video games* not computer games (in which case it would say PC/Windows/Mac)....

http://www.covergalaxy.com/for...disc-wii-sports-cd.jpg

 

[sundev]

DONE! Amazing.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
I got a call the other day from a lady wanting to know why she could not get Wii Sports to play. She just purchased it that day and couldn't get it to work at all. I ask her which way she's putting the disc in, what exactly is happening etc. and she says "I don't know why it doesn't work, it plays DVD's and music CD's fine." So I ask her what she's putting it in and she told me her DVD player (was even specific as to which model). I informed her that she needed a Wii console to play it and after telling her how much it cost she said it was ridiculous and it was our fault nobody ever told her she needed the console as well.

you're in NY according to your profile.. when'd they start selling wii sports on it's own?

 

[MotF Bane]

Bump.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
I got a call the other day from a lady wanting to know why she could not get Wii Sports to play. She just purchased it that day and couldn't get it to work at all. I ask her which way she's putting the disc in, what exactly is happening etc. and she says "I don't know why it doesn't work, it plays DVD's and music CD's fine." So I ask her what she's putting it in and she told me her DVD player (was even specific as to which model). I informed her that she needed a Wii console to play it and after telling her how much it cost she said it was ridiculous and it was our fault nobody ever told her she needed the console as well.

you're in NY according to your profile.. when'd they start selling wii sports on it's own?

I was HOPING they'd sell it on its own.
Mom was foolish enough to buy a Wii used. No Wii Sports. (She was trying to save a couple bucks, which I approve of.)
Now I cant get one of the best games for it unless its used and I dont trust those. Too many bad experiences.


Back on topic: Not everybody knows about console games. Especially folks above 40.