OutHouse
Lifer
- Jun 5, 2000
- 36,410
- 616
- 126
Originally posted by: SouthPaW1227
Originally posted by: Fritzo
I never worked retail, but when I wear my red polo shirt and go to Target, people always ask me questions to which I give the wrong answers.
"Do you carry "X" brand deodorant?"
"Oh, uh, yes! There's a display with in in the woman's clothing department on the other side of the store."
Holy crap! I haven't ever worked retail either, but I walked into a Toys R Us w/ a red polo that had a soccer logo or something on the right chest and this customer came up asking me about a bike. LOL I recognized right away what was goin' on, so I went with & told her where to look
a few years ago i went into a office depot for something on my lunch hour. as i was walking out some guy bent over looking at label makers asked me if this one (holding some brand of label maker)was any good. Im wearing my normal computer nerd work clothes. kakhi pants, button down short sleeve shirt, security badge hanging from my neck, black business shoes, pageer and cell hanging on my belt.
well me not thinking i look at him and said i have no idea, buy and let me know. HAHAHAH he got PISSED! he stood up and then he looked at my security badge and it dawned on him and he then ask, "do you work here"? hahahah i was laughing all the way back to the office.
i need stupid sh*t like that to happen to me once in a while to keep sane.
PawNtheSandman,
great stories, I can understand why people have no respect for retail people, not because how the retail people behave but because how their idiotic actions are confirmed to be good ones by stupid managers.
good luck
great stories, I can understand why people have no respect for retail people, not because how the retail people behave but because how their idiotic actions are confirmed to be good ones by stupid managers.
good luck
So
Lifer
- Jul 2, 2001
- 25,923
- 17
- 81
Originally posted by: Czar
PawNtheSandman,
great stories, I can understand why people have no respect for retail people, not because how the retail people behave but because how their idiotic actions are confirmed to be good ones by stupid managers.
good luck
Too true. :thumbsup:
Hah, now I know why I always get bewildered looks when I go in and say I drive a "GMC G2500, K engine, A/C, automatic." They aren't expecting to actually get any useful information.
kranky
Elite Member
- Oct 9, 1999
- 21,019
- 156
- 106
You almost did!
Great stories. I have a friend who works at HD and once he accepted a return on 10' long pieces of lumber - except when they got returned, they were only 1' long. The customer cut them down to 9', left the UPC barcode on the short piece, then had the incredible nerve to bring the 1' long stubs back for a friggin refund! The manager said to do it.
Pretty soon these stores are going to wake up and realize the customer isn't always right. If a moron like that decides to shop at Lowe's the rest of his life, you'd think HD would be thrilled!
Its a shame that stores have to pay for some total idiot's problems. He should have shat in the sink.
Working for Best Buy in Greenville, NC (Read hickville), had a young girl (12-14) come into the store w/her parents (might've been grandparents, they were pretty old, but they were her legal guardians it seemed). Girl is wearing short, short white skirt & black revealing tanktop, both with Playboy logos all over them. They want to buy a Playboy mousepad.........at Best Buy.........'cuz the little girl loves Playboy and wants to be a bunny someday.........:shocked:
I wanted to slap both of those parents and then wrap the child in a rug or something to cover her the fvck up :disgust:
I wanted to slap both of those parents and then wrap the child in a rug or something to cover her the fvck up :disgust:
Originally posted by: Czar
PawNtheSandman,
great stories, I can understand why people have no respect for retail people, not because how the retail people behave but because how their idiotic actions are confirmed to be good ones by stupid managers.
good luck
got any more stories?
Ever been in that situation before? I bet the people who would have had to clean that up were more than happy to give free pizza rather than clean up his $hit.
I've been the Kamikaze Crapper before. Except in my case, instead of ripping the guy off the toilet, I ran into the women's bathroom. I'd rather have 5 min. of embarassment from people I'll never see again than the humiliation of crap running down my leg while wondering how I'm going to make it the rest of the day without pants.
So
Lifer
- Jul 2, 2001
- 25,923
- 17
- 81
1. We're talking retail, they're MOSTLY 16year olds, even at auto parts stores.
2. see #1. Even the old dudes aren't mechanics and may not have been working there for long, aren't expected to know much about cars, they just need $ and are paid to sell sh!t.
3. See #1 & #2.
I just read your reply and I'm stuck in a never-ending loop. Read #1, finish, start #2, go back to #1, read and repeat. AHHH. Make it stop!:Q
who cares how old they are, So is right though...most of them don't know and don't care to know anything about your car. They're just looking it up by part #.
slag
Lifer
- Dec 14, 2000
- 10,473
- 81
- 101
I tell them the same info.. 96 nissan max, 3 liter engine, manual tranny.
What are the first words out of their mouths?
"Uhh, did you say nissan? or mazda? sentra?
I'm fully convinced that most of the worlds stupid people work in auto part stores. There is, however, this one really really good guy at advance auto who is truly a professional and can find darn near anything and you dont have to repeat yourself since he writes it all down when you tell him what you have and what you need. I EXPECT this kind of service from auto stores and am almost always disappointed.
slag
Lifer
- Dec 14, 2000
- 10,473
- 81
- 101
Excuses excuses. Whatever happened to having a little pride in your work? I worked 8 years in retail in high school and college and always learned about the products I sold, whether it was in electronics, hardware, sporting goods, etc.
Your excuses are just that, excuses. The freaking computer screen tells you all you need to know about the car. You mean to tell me I'm the first person in the world who asked them for a part on a 4th gen maxima? Give me a break. Even my 4 yr old with the attention span of a gnat would remember after 2 or 3 people came in with a 4th gen maxima that it only has 1 engine configuration. Its baffling, really, how these people remember how to drive their car, how to tie their shoes, etc.
So
Lifer
- Jul 2, 2001
- 25,923
- 17
- 81
Sounds like you are exactly the type of horrible customer and unpleasant human being everyone is railing against in this thread. I bet you'd even have hated yourself if you met your past self.
You expect customer service that, essentially requires someone make the job into a career, but you expect that they give you 'their best price'
P). Come on man, don't expect professionalism from people who get treated the way retail employees do today. Plus, you expect to call up, shoot off a few words to some kid on the other end of the phone about a specific model of car and have them make no errors, have a pen and pad ready (mind you, they are probably doing another job, other than answering the phone) and immediately pull it up.
This is a wide field we're talking about here. If someone calld you and said "I have a 96' compaq P233, I need a new printer" would you immediately know if the thing had USB ports? If it took EDO or SD ram? especially if we're talking about somone with no interest in the subject?
Originally posted by: So
Sounds like you are exactly the type of horrible customer and unpleasant human being everyone is railing against in this thread. I bet you'd even have hated yourself if you met your past self.
You expect customer service that, essentially requires someone make the job into a career, but you expect that they give you 'their best price'
Plus, you expect to call up, shoot off a few words to some kid on the other end of the phone about a specific model of car and have them make no errors, have a pen and pad ready (mind you, they are probably doing another job, other than answering the phone) and immediately pull it up.
This is a wide field we're talking about here. If someone calld you and said "I have a 96' compaq P233, I need a new printer" would you immediately know if the thing had USB ports? If it took EDO or SD ram? especially if we're talking about somone with no interest in the subject?
what i dont understand is why is it such a big deal that they ask you for the trim/transmission/whatever...bfd it takes 2 seconds to answer...
When I first started, I was pushing carts. Depot has a contractor pickup area where contractors can park. Because the store is located in a busy shopping mall, the road goes around the contractors pickup. Many lazy mall shoppers like to zoom through the contractor parking instead of going around. Numerous employees and customers have almost been hit. For a short time there was a cop who would just park and watch. He filled his ticket quota for the month in 1 day. Anyway, at night I started lining up the big lumber carts vertically across the contractor pickup so no one could cut through after hours. I did this for a week. Well eventually some idiot didn't notice they were there and in the middle of the night drove his car right into the line of lumber carts and damaged his car. He came to the store demanding we pay for the damage. Police were called, and the customer was arrested and was given tickets for traffic violations.
Also, on Sunday's, the store closes at 7. So one Sunday in the summer, it is 6:55 and I am lining the carts up. I had it 3/4 blocked off when a woman drived up honking her horn. She rolls down the window. Before she said anything I told her the store closed at 7. I grab the carts and walk away. She beeps again.
Her: Aren't you gonna move these carts?
Me: No, we are closed.
Her: Well how the hell am I suppose to get through.
Me: If you followed the road like you were suppose to, you would have went around the carts and been on your way.
Her: Well I'm not from this area and didn't know how the road worked. Now move these carts so I can get out.
now I'm thinking it doesn't take a genius and regardless where you are from, you follow the black road with the yellow line, not cut through a store pickup area to save 2 tenths of a second. I looked at her license plate and saw "Georgia".
Me: Welcome to New York bitch.
I pushed the remaining carts inside and punched out. She backed her car up and followed the road and magically, she drove away! Imagine that.
-----------------------------------
Working in tools is fun because people do anything to try to steal tools. So I notice a guy walking around with a $200 dewalt drill. He goes back to the secluded insulation asile. He gets the box open and stuffs the drill down his pants. He makes his way to the front of the store and tries to walk out the door. Now the drill was an 18volt drill so it was pretty big. He was walking like he had a hose up his butt. I then politely asked him if he needed any help as he was trying to walk. He said "no i found everything I need". I say "is that a drill in your pants or are you just happy to see me". He then started yelling saying "how dare you accuse me of shoplifting" etc. By this time the manager came down and the guy tried running out. The manager (a former cop), tackled him down from behind and got him in a nice arm submission as he dragged him to the back office.
----------------------------------
Working in garden I got a call to the register. I go up and the cashier starts talking.
"This gentleman wants this tractor cart for $0.01 because that is what the sticker says"
Note this is a $200 tractor cart. They were free when purchased with a Murray tractor. They aren't sold seperately, but were given a $0.01 price tag as it had to be kept in the inventory system. The guy was about 60+ and was arguring that the customer is always right and we should honor the price. I then informed him that all of these carts are boxed inside the tractor crate. The cart he had was the display model that was physically attached to the tractor. The cart also had a big orange sign that said "Get me free with the purchase of any new Murray Tractor". I then went back to the display, grabbed the disgarded sign, and showed the customer. He frowned. I asked if he wanted to buy the tractor. He said no. So I wheeled the cart back to the display and the old man went on his way.
------------------------------------
Every summer, Tony Stewart races dirt modified cars up at a local race track. The car is sponsered by GE Silicone II. The car was going to be at the store for the afternoon. I was the only person skinny enough to fit inside the window while it was in the trailer so I got to drive it out of the trailer which was awesome. At the end of the day, one of the department managers was getting all buddy buddy with the guy at the car booth. Somehow he convinced him to let him drive the dirt car in the parking lot. Well the manager drove it, and sidesiped a curb putting a nice dent in the car.
When the car came back at the end of the summer a new person was with the car. So I asked what happened to the other guy. "Oh he got fired for letting some schmuck drive the car"
------------------------------------
Pressure washers are awesome. Teaching the pressure washing clinic is fun because I get a free car wash. But some people shouldn't use them. A woman after taking part in my class purchased a 2400 psi pressure washer. She came back the following weekend with her foot all wrapped up, on crutches wanting to speak to a manager. My name gets called. Turns out the broad was powerwashing her deck wearing sandals. She was using the high pressure tip. Her feet got dirty with residue from the deck. She decided to rinse them off, and broke a few toes in the process.
----------------------------------
Another return story. Elderly woman wanted to return a minifridge. Manager asked the problem. Woman said the light would go out when she shut the door. Manager explained that that was an energy saving feature. He showed her the little stiwch at the top of the door and explained that the light will come on when the door is opened. The poor old woman turned red and was so embarassed. We helped load the fridge back in her husbands truck and they were on their way.
---------------------------------
When there was the huge SARS outbreak in asia, our store was bombarded with asians buying all our dustmasks. Well because of this, I bumped up all our orders. I guess every other store in the district had the same idea because the dustmasks were backordered for a month. EVERY DAY we had one asian gentleman whom we nicknamed "Dustmas". He would either call or walk in EVERY DAY for a month asking "where is dusmask" (picture Khan from King of the Hill). And every day we would have to explain what happened and they wouldn't be here for a month. End of the month we get tons of dust masks, and I see Dusmas. I told him I had cases of dustmasks for him. He turns and tells me "Sars outbreak over, don't need dusmas". I ordered 4 extra cases for this tard and now he doesn't need them. I think those dust masks lasted a year before I had to reorder.
-----------------------------------
A few months after 9/11, the View or 20/20 or someone else did a story on terrorists and how you NEED plastic sheeting and duct tape to protect your house. The day after we got trampled for plastic sheeting and duct tape. So I set up a endcap of plastic and duct tape. And I basically spent the next week flying through it as quick as I can order it. It was kinda of dishearting because people are like "What is the difference between 2mil and 6 min" and I kind had to explain that you needed to not only cover windows, but also cover electrical outlets. And it got to the point where I began telling people not to bother buying the stuff because your house naturally breathes and you wouldn't be able to properly seal it with the plastic and duct tape. I had to inform them that if they actually did it correctly, they only had a day or 2 of breathable air in their house and if a chemical attack did happen, you would be dead anyway. I felt bad. Eventually corporate sent a memo to every store saying not to encourage the sale of duct tape and plastic and to take down any wingstacks or endcaps set up to promote it. The fad died down. My parents still have boxes of plastic and duct tape in their basement.
------------------------------------
One guy I use to work in the lot with, would spend his lunch drinking and sleeping in his truck. one day he took his lunch at 11. The dept manager came outside asking where Dave was. I said check his car. 2pm, we go over to Dave's van. He is sleeping with a can of budweiser in his hand. We both laughed and just left him. Dave use to work in the flooring department. When we cut/sell carpet, it is written in square yards. Dave was writing everything in square feet so a ton of customers were mischarged and compalined about him. Dumb Dave was demoted to the lot. Dave's last day was when him and myself were outside the entrance greeting customers. A woman walked inside and Dave said "damn, look at the tits on her". She heard this. And continued inside. Turned out it was the district manager. Needless to day, Dave no longer works for Home Depot.
----------------------------------------
Also, on Sunday's, the store closes at 7. So one Sunday in the summer, it is 6:55 and I am lining the carts up. I had it 3/4 blocked off when a woman drived up honking her horn. She rolls down the window. Before she said anything I told her the store closed at 7. I grab the carts and walk away. She beeps again.
Her: Aren't you gonna move these carts?
Me: No, we are closed.
Her: Well how the hell am I suppose to get through.
Me: If you followed the road like you were suppose to, you would have went around the carts and been on your way.
Her: Well I'm not from this area and didn't know how the road worked. Now move these carts so I can get out.
now I'm thinking it doesn't take a genius and regardless where you are from, you follow the black road with the yellow line, not cut through a store pickup area to save 2 tenths of a second. I looked at her license plate and saw "Georgia".
Me: Welcome to New York bitch.
I pushed the remaining carts inside and punched out. She backed her car up and followed the road and magically, she drove away! Imagine that.
-----------------------------------
Working in tools is fun because people do anything to try to steal tools. So I notice a guy walking around with a $200 dewalt drill. He goes back to the secluded insulation asile. He gets the box open and stuffs the drill down his pants. He makes his way to the front of the store and tries to walk out the door. Now the drill was an 18volt drill so it was pretty big. He was walking like he had a hose up his butt. I then politely asked him if he needed any help as he was trying to walk. He said "no i found everything I need". I say "is that a drill in your pants or are you just happy to see me". He then started yelling saying "how dare you accuse me of shoplifting" etc. By this time the manager came down and the guy tried running out. The manager (a former cop), tackled him down from behind and got him in a nice arm submission as he dragged him to the back office.
----------------------------------
Working in garden I got a call to the register. I go up and the cashier starts talking.
"This gentleman wants this tractor cart for $0.01 because that is what the sticker says"
Note this is a $200 tractor cart. They were free when purchased with a Murray tractor. They aren't sold seperately, but were given a $0.01 price tag as it had to be kept in the inventory system. The guy was about 60+ and was arguring that the customer is always right and we should honor the price. I then informed him that all of these carts are boxed inside the tractor crate. The cart he had was the display model that was physically attached to the tractor. The cart also had a big orange sign that said "Get me free with the purchase of any new Murray Tractor". I then went back to the display, grabbed the disgarded sign, and showed the customer. He frowned. I asked if he wanted to buy the tractor. He said no. So I wheeled the cart back to the display and the old man went on his way.
------------------------------------
Every summer, Tony Stewart races dirt modified cars up at a local race track. The car is sponsered by GE Silicone II. The car was going to be at the store for the afternoon. I was the only person skinny enough to fit inside the window while it was in the trailer so I got to drive it out of the trailer which was awesome. At the end of the day, one of the department managers was getting all buddy buddy with the guy at the car booth. Somehow he convinced him to let him drive the dirt car in the parking lot. Well the manager drove it, and sidesiped a curb putting a nice dent in the car.
When the car came back at the end of the summer a new person was with the car. So I asked what happened to the other guy. "Oh he got fired for letting some schmuck drive the car"
------------------------------------
Pressure washers are awesome. Teaching the pressure washing clinic is fun because I get a free car wash. But some people shouldn't use them. A woman after taking part in my class purchased a 2400 psi pressure washer. She came back the following weekend with her foot all wrapped up, on crutches wanting to speak to a manager. My name gets called. Turns out the broad was powerwashing her deck wearing sandals. She was using the high pressure tip. Her feet got dirty with residue from the deck. She decided to rinse them off, and broke a few toes in the process.
----------------------------------
Another return story. Elderly woman wanted to return a minifridge. Manager asked the problem. Woman said the light would go out when she shut the door. Manager explained that that was an energy saving feature. He showed her the little stiwch at the top of the door and explained that the light will come on when the door is opened. The poor old woman turned red and was so embarassed. We helped load the fridge back in her husbands truck and they were on their way.
---------------------------------
When there was the huge SARS outbreak in asia, our store was bombarded with asians buying all our dustmasks. Well because of this, I bumped up all our orders. I guess every other store in the district had the same idea because the dustmasks were backordered for a month. EVERY DAY we had one asian gentleman whom we nicknamed "Dustmas". He would either call or walk in EVERY DAY for a month asking "where is dusmask" (picture Khan from King of the Hill). And every day we would have to explain what happened and they wouldn't be here for a month. End of the month we get tons of dust masks, and I see Dusmas. I told him I had cases of dustmasks for him. He turns and tells me "Sars outbreak over, don't need dusmas". I ordered 4 extra cases for this tard and now he doesn't need them. I think those dust masks lasted a year before I had to reorder.
-----------------------------------
A few months after 9/11, the View or 20/20 or someone else did a story on terrorists and how you NEED plastic sheeting and duct tape to protect your house. The day after we got trampled for plastic sheeting and duct tape. So I set up a endcap of plastic and duct tape. And I basically spent the next week flying through it as quick as I can order it. It was kinda of dishearting because people are like "What is the difference between 2mil and 6 min" and I kind had to explain that you needed to not only cover windows, but also cover electrical outlets. And it got to the point where I began telling people not to bother buying the stuff because your house naturally breathes and you wouldn't be able to properly seal it with the plastic and duct tape. I had to inform them that if they actually did it correctly, they only had a day or 2 of breathable air in their house and if a chemical attack did happen, you would be dead anyway. I felt bad. Eventually corporate sent a memo to every store saying not to encourage the sale of duct tape and plastic and to take down any wingstacks or endcaps set up to promote it. The fad died down. My parents still have boxes of plastic and duct tape in their basement.
------------------------------------
One guy I use to work in the lot with, would spend his lunch drinking and sleeping in his truck. one day he took his lunch at 11. The dept manager came outside asking where Dave was. I said check his car. 2pm, we go over to Dave's van. He is sleeping with a can of budweiser in his hand. We both laughed and just left him. Dave use to work in the flooring department. When we cut/sell carpet, it is written in square yards. Dave was writing everything in square feet so a ton of customers were mischarged and compalined about him. Dumb Dave was demoted to the lot. Dave's last day was when him and myself were outside the entrance greeting customers. A woman walked inside and Dave said "damn, look at the tits on her". She heard this. And continued inside. Turned out it was the district manager. Needless to day, Dave no longer works for Home Depot.
----------------------------------------
Another story at Blockbuster:
Customer: Do you guys have a display where it shows the New Releases?
Me: :oints to the large new release sign behind her::
Customer: Oh, haha!
Me: ::sigh::
Same customer 20 minutes later...
Customer: Here's my movies and I have a coupon
Me: This coupon is only good for movies in the middle sections of the store
Customer: What? What kind of scam are you guys running here?
Me: The coupon is good for items in the middle of our store, and is not good on New Releases
Customer: Well, you guys should have a sign that states these are new releases.
Me: -Points to the signs on the back walls that say New Release::
-----
Another customer who walks in through the exit door (It says EXIT! NOT ENTER!)
Customer: How do you rewind a DVD?
Me: :: Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it
Customer: Thanks!
------
3rd one:
Our exit door was broken so we had to tell people to go through the entrance door to exit:
As I'm finishing checking out movies for some customers...
Me: The exit door is broken, you'll have to use the entrance door to exit
....No response from the Customer, just a smile and they keep going towards the exit door. They also don't read the big sign I have on the door saying that the exit door is broken. But they ignore that too. At this point I'm thinking to myself, the hell with it, maybe they can fix the damn door. Then when they attempt to go through the exit door, it won't bulge, and they start slamming into it. They come through the door asking me "Why didn't you tell us it wouldn't open?" I told them I did, and so did the sign they walked directly past. They walked out beat-red laughing.
I deal with these types of people everyday. I especially like the people who drop off movies from Independent chains to our store, as if we're somehow universally connected. Postal Employees have it easy.
Customer: Do you guys have a display where it shows the New Releases?
Me: :
oints to the large new release sign behind her::Customer: Oh, haha!
Me: ::sigh::
Same customer 20 minutes later...
Customer: Here's my movies and I have a coupon
Me: This coupon is only good for movies in the middle sections of the store
Customer: What? What kind of scam are you guys running here?
Me: The coupon is good for items in the middle of our store, and is not good on New Releases
Customer: Well, you guys should have a sign that states these are new releases.
Me: -Points to the signs on the back walls that say New Release::
-----
Another customer who walks in through the exit door (It says EXIT! NOT ENTER!)
Customer: How do you rewind a DVD?
Me: :
: Don't worry about it, I'll take care of itCustomer: Thanks!
------
3rd one:
Our exit door was broken so we had to tell people to go through the entrance door to exit:
As I'm finishing checking out movies for some customers...
Me: The exit door is broken, you'll have to use the entrance door to exit
....No response from the Customer, just a smile and they keep going towards the exit door. They also don't read the big sign I have on the door saying that the exit door is broken. But they ignore that too. At this point I'm thinking to myself, the hell with it, maybe they can fix the damn door. Then when they attempt to go through the exit door, it won't bulge, and they start slamming into it. They come through the door asking me "Why didn't you tell us it wouldn't open?" I told them I did, and so did the sign they walked directly past. They walked out beat-red laughing.
I deal with these types of people everyday. I especially like the people who drop off movies from Independent chains to our store, as if we're somehow universally connected. Postal Employees have it easy.
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