Hello all!!!
I had every intention of posting several posts this week but I've been busy working. When I wan't working I've been reading Fifty Shades of Grey (I know I'm late on this bandwagon, but I never actually wanted to read it). I've had every friend and coworker recommend this book to me and I hesitated but I can honestly say I'm glad that I finally did read it (better late than never). Funny story about the book, yesterday I was reading the book and realized I was about 95% done with it so I quickly downloaded the second book on my Kindle just so I could start it while on my break (thank you wireless). Can you say obsessed!!!!! I'm excited to see which actors they are going to get to play Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele for the movie, although I have no idea how they are going to be able to make it into a movie without having an NC-17 rating?
Enough about that book. This week I've had a taste of full-time employment because I worked 40 hours at my "lovely" retail job. I've always wanted a reality tv show crew to come to where I work because some of the people I work with are real characters and some of the customers we get are questionable at best. Without saying where I work, I'll give you a two clues. 1. It's an American company that is made up of 5 stores (2 are online stores) and 2. It was found in 1969. At times I L-O-V-E where I work while other times I hate it. This past week has been pure torture. I think as the summer goes on and the heat gets more intense customers just start to loose their minds. Here are the top moments I've had while working in retail:
1. Shoplifters... like most stores we get people that want to come in for the "five finger discount" and leave with merchandise that they haven't paid for. How someone can do this is beyond my grasp but that person has to live with that on their conscience. Maybe about 2 years ago we had a customer who came into the store with a huge empty purse. We watched her and realized she was there to shoplift. My manager went to ask her if she needed help and she brushed her off. Next I went over to my manager to ask her a question when the lady looks at me and shouts "I'm tired of you following me through the store... do you think I'm shoplifting?" I was completely caught off guard... I had no idea we were following this lady and I didn't even say anything to her, in fact that was the first time I saw her. Next thing I know the lady throws the clothes she has in her hands (not the ones she put in her purse) at me. My manager quickly calls security and the lady leaves with a final threat of "remember you have to leave the store sooner or later!" Umm, the clothes we sell aren't that expensive, just pay for them like everyone else does!
2. This past week has been a week of ups and downs for me. I had an elderly lady threaten to kill me. Yeah I kid you not, she said "I'm going to kill you" because I unfolded a reusable tote that she bought to use. Now your probably thinking she said it jokingly, nope she was fuming when she said this. I've also been called "un-American" by a customer. Where I work we get a lot of tourists. Now some of the tourist don't understand that you have to wait in line and you can't just walk up to the register and pay. I had just returned from my break and another employee told the next customer to come down to my register. I hadn't looked at the line to know who was next. These three tourists came up to my register and I began to ring them up because I assumed they were next in line. After they left, I made the mistake of looking to my left to call the next customer in line. The lady at the register next to me looks at me and says "Why did you help them, they weren't next in line." I looked at her like she was crazy (and frankly she was) and told her I was sorry. Clearly my answer wasn't good enough for her because she continued to berate me by saying that I don't care about American customers and why should they get special treatment. I was shocked, I pretty much did the only thing I could think of that would tick this lady off and I smirked and walked away. I was not going to give her the satisfaction of apologizing or even responding.
3. By far the most interesting events I've ever had come with returns. Our return policy is pretty liberal in the sense that you have 90 days (yes, 3 months to return something for a full refund). This past week this lady came in and told me she bought a pair of pj's in Florida and brought them home and realized they smelled funny. She washed them in the wash with the rest of her laundry and realized they still smelled. Instead of drying them in her washer or even laying them out to dry she put them in a plastic bag and left them there to get moldy. I didn't know what to do so I called my manager who in turn called customer service and asked them what we should do. After a long phone call, customer service told the lady we weren't going to return them because she was negligent with washing them and leaving them wet for 3 days before bringing them to the store. About an hour later the lady comes storming in and grabs another package of the same pj's a rips them open and shoves them in my managers face and says "smell them, they stink too!" This lady was clearly pissed and frankly the pj's did not smell that bad.
Similar to this situation I've had people try to return things that they've worn or have had for years. I hate returns because people just assume we have to take everything back and people always come up with the most ridiculous stories as to why they are returning things. News flash, as long as the tags are still on it and it wasn't worn, I don't really care why you're returning it.
Well I've rambled on long enough. Maybe in the future I'll write a post all about my crazy experiences in retail because I have plenty more crazy customer encounters.
Until next time....
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