WTF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!!!???

So.... I'm working this job for the holidays. It's at a major retail outlet whos colors are red and white, and whose logo is a series of concentric circles. People often times think it's cute to say the name as if it were French.

Anyway, as you can imagine, yesterday afternoon it was packed full of people. Absolutely a nuthouse.

This woman comes up and buys something that totals $17. We're supposed to offer credit cards to everyone, she declines the credit card and proceeds to write a check. She's one of those check writers that uses the top flap of her checkbook as a shield to, I guess, block my deathrays or something. Anyway, she writes the check for $27, and I tell her we can only take checks for the amount of purchase.

She's pissed, I apologize and tell her I should have seen it sooner (which of course was impossible because she was covering her check with the top flap). And she replies, "YA!, You should have!" In a tone of voice that sounded as though I had amputated the wrong leg or something!

I think to myself, 'Does this look like a bank to you!? It looks like Target to me...'

Anyway, she makes a big production about writing void on her check, writing me a new one etc. I glance at the rest of my line and there are a bunch of other people, the first in line is a younger woman, followed by a family.

Anyway, so we finish the transaction and start in on the next customer, I get her CD and because barcodes are never where they should be, I am paying attention to the barcode and not to the customer. I ask if she found everything ok, and ask her if she wants the credit card. I know she didn't want it, no on ever does when they're buying a single CD, but I have to ask or else they'll make me watch the DVD again explaining why credit card sales are so good for Target.

Anyway, the check woman asks me (she still hasn't left), "Do you regularly ask 12 year old girls if they want credit cards?"

I look up for a second puzzled. I look at the customer, and she's a little younger than I first thought, perhaps 17 or 18, then I look at the check woman even more puzzled.

I thought to myself, 'You can't be refering to the woman standing in front of me.'

I answer, "No..."

"THEN WHY DID YOU ASK MY TWELVE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER IF SHE WANTED A CREDIT CARD?"

At this point I'm at a loss for words. Do I tell her that her child doesn't look 12? Should I suggest to her that she not let her daughter emulate Britey Spears and perhaps dress less like a slut?

I say nothing.

That's check-woman's cue to start in again, "Were you just not thinking!? Why weren't you paying attention!? Were you not thinking? Can't you think!?"

I tell her daughter that it's $12.99.

Luckily the customer in line behind the daughter comes to my aid and tells her that it's customer policy to ask everyone if they want a credit card.

Check woman asks, "Even twelve year olds?"

My new friend says, "Everyone."

"I highly doubt that..." She finally leaves.

I thank my new friend. She says, "Twelve years old? My ass!" I laugh and agree, and thank her again.

Anyway, about 20 minutes later I get pulled aside by my manager and she asks how old I thought that that girl was. I told her around 17 or 18. My manager states the obvious and says, "Well her mom was really mad, and I told her we don't offer credit cards to minors."

I told her, "She didn't look 12 by any stretch of the imagination, plus the mom was pissed at me already and felt the need to badger me."

My manager laughed.

My question to the DU community is this? What's wrong with Christmas?

I could tell some really hidden things about this woman, something that only comes out with her Christmastime bad moods. She seemed awfully depressed. Not in a "it's cloudy out" way, but a "Jesus Christ what have I done with my life!?" kind of way. It's odd, she has a family, seemed to be well off, she lives in a nice town in a nice state. But it was like she was picking a fight. She seemed to take petty enjoyment out of badgering me.

It was obvious to me, and everyone else around me that her daughter didn't look 12, but she acted as though her daughter was in a stroller.

Why does she think that Christmas gives her a right to be a bitch? Why does she feel the need to take out her unhappiness on me? Just because I'm working retail doesn't mean I'm stupid....

Highest suicide rate of the year.

and it said that the highest suicide rates were around tax time, made sense to me...:-)

Dang it, my old person mind cannot remember where it was, sorry.

in a notoriouslty snooty neighborhood outside of Boston. She gets home from work with murder in her eyes, and tells these customer stories that would curl your hair.

is that the good friend only has to deal with those walking misery machines for a short while, whereas the miserable people are stuck with themselves 24/7. It's hard to feel grateful when those twits are trying to make a retailers life miserable but it helps to think that way as they walk away. Retail can definitely try one's faith in humanity.

In the intro it looks like you're trying not to give out the name, but then you give it away in the story!

EXCUSE ME I was just trying to HELP YOU. I THINK that I would APPRECIATE someone's HELP if I was trying not to get SUED or something.

Try to do someone a favor, and you just get laughed at. Real nice, pal.

:+

;)

I've been there plenty of times, this is just one of those things that gets under your skin. I wish that retail didn't require a manditory tongue removal..... She deserved a verbal smackdown.

"I believe you should take your business elsewhere, ma'am."

:evilgrin:

I did that a couple of weeks ago when a guy was hassling one of my employees. He was totally out of line, and she didn't have to take that kind of abuse.

luckily I was raised Southern, so I can do a verbal smackdown that sounds sweet as honey. Passive aggressive has been institutionalized down there!

I love retail meltdowns. I have come to the defense of cashiers a few times. I don't take bullshit either so it's usually entertaining. You were her person to shit on for the day. I can't say anything, I've been a shitter some times too. I just try not to be. It's bad considering she did it in front of her daughter.

Retail clerks are a captive audience. Everyone knows the old saying, "the customer is always right" and some people take advantage of that to take out all their frustrations on the hapless clerk. I know - I work in a grocery store.

It sounds like you handled the whole thing exactly right. Unfortunately, we are paid to deal with customers - even those who are unreasonable and rude. I take an awful lot of shit and do it in a calm and professional manner (never in an ass kissing or super apologetic manner) but I draw the line when it gets personal. That's when I will call my manager and have him deal with the person.

There are some people out there who feel so superior to those peons who work retail that they feel no compunction about being rude and nasty to them. It's a pain but it's unfortunately part of the job. Christmas does tend to bring out more of them because everyone is even more stressed than usual but it's a retail - or any service industry - phenomenon at any time.

....is the biggest lie in retail. Working in the hospitality service forever, I've seen the ugly side of human nature up close and personal, and it really made turn away from people in general.

And at Xmastime? 10,000 times worse. The stories I (or anyone in retail or hospitality) could tell...

I worked in a tiny grocery store in the small Massachusetts town I grew up in. The town, at the time, was 98% white, 95% middle-to-lower class, BUT...we had a 1% club. Bush's base-type 1%, old money, blue bloods, who came into town and shopped in this market.

There was one old woman who repeated everything I said and added an exaggerated, idiot-sounding accent to it.

She asked me one time if we carried a product I'd never heard of. I thought for a moment and said "Oh, wow.."

She looked sown her nose at me and said, "Oh, WOW..."

One time I was cleaning the shelves. I went underneath one shelf and pulled up a tin of kippers or something that had an inch of coal-black dust on it, as well as a heaping helping of dead insects and fragments of insects that were eaten by bigger insects. It had been under that shelf for a L-O-N-G time.

This woman had called in a phone order. I showed the can to the manager. He told me to stick it in her order and charge her for it.

I sincerely hope she enjoyed her kippers.

:evilgrin:

I've put a couple stories there myself..

"Nancy sometimes people are just no damn good."

on a regular basis. I swear, there are people who live to abuse those in weaker positions.

service employees. It is the most obnoxious form of abuse you'll probably ever encounter in your entire life.

As they say, remain polite with the customer at all times. "The customer is always right".

As you get older, you will realize that this experience has given you a wonderful lesson in life, ie, how to treate others well no matter what they may throw at you. It's actually quite valuable.

I'm glad "your friend" spoke up on your behalf.

and there ARE people who abuse retail clerks and wait staff
simply because they can.

One thing that helped me - just remember that you have no idea what sort of day these people have had..... maybe her husband just ran off with her daughter's best friend...maybe her mom is dying, or her dog got ran over....whatever. Don't take it personal....most of the time it's not about you.

One guy told me to "fuck off" and I said "and you have a nice day too sir!" My staff applauded......

Just remember that you are not paid to take abuse....that's what your managers are for...let them deal with it.

Whoever is 'lower' on the totem pole gets the brunt of the anger.

I hate people like that; some feel the need to take their crappy day, or their crappy life out on people in the service industry. The industry also helps it along by stressing you should be as polite as possible to these people. As if they'd stop shopping at Wal Mart or Target or whatever because of one incident. They're cheap, and the almighty (saved) buck is too important; of course they'd continue to shop there. For your $7 an hour, it isn't worth it.

If it's possible, have a laugh at their expense. They have no class, and need to stoop to harrassing cashiers or servers to feel any esteem at all.

treat waitresses and clerks

you can tell a lot about a person's true nature in how they handle service people

It really is a window into their true selves...

I tend to avoid people who can't be nice to waitstaff and retail clerks. I have no tolerance for it. I've done both, and just because I've moved on to higher-paying work, it doesn't mean I am any better or smarter than them.

How anyone could be cruel to a waitress is beyond me.

I went out a few times with a gal. She was a lawyer. (I don't date lawyers anymore but that is another story.) She was sweet as pie with me, but we went for a bite to a spot where the waitress was obviously new. Lawyer gal was awful to the waitress, sarcastic etc. I left like a 80% tip with "sorry" I wrote on a bill in the restroom.

Ive been in retail in my younger days, and its a tough job to be sure.

Yesterday I was in line behind an old man who was talking and pleasant enough to me, even put the separator between our purchases. Well, the kid doing the scanning couldn't get the coupons to work for the older couple in front of me and the old man, and he started giving the kid a hard time. I guess after five full minutes of register problems, and the check writing, the old man had had enough and put his things back into his basket, mumbling and cussing as he did it. I looked around and pointed to another register with no line. He thanked me, wished me Merry Christmas, gave the old couple and the kid a dirty look and got to the other register.

Now, I have NO idea why he was SO damn nice to me, and SO damn rude to the kid and older couple, but boy I tell ya...what a SEASON!

You've got a really hard job, and kudos to you for doing it~ I don't know if I could anymore. whew!

as the "Night before Christmas".

It could be included in a collection of stories on what Xmas means in the land of America.

self-involved jerks will take any excused to behave in a more self-involve, jerklike way. My husband and my brother are both in retail, and I was--until I started working for a customer service phone bank, and I've found that it isn't anyone thing that "gives her the right". She most likely believes it's her Gog-given right to be that way, and felt rather pleased that she had the opportunity to speak to a manager, and may have quite possibly, in the scenario she will envision as she recounts the story to bitchy galpals, got you in any kind of trouble. It's not that such people don't see customer service people as bright--I don't know they even see us as *human*. I cope with this kind of customer by just imagining how rotten it must be, what with that bug gnawing at her colon everyday of her life. Her lashing out with the stupid "offering credit cards to minors" deal was a payback for her feeling of stupidity about the check-thing. That she needed to do that...shows serious insecurity issues, at the least.

There's this site to vent on being in custormer service called customerssuck.com. Some of the stories make me laugh, but don't surprise me when they're really sad, too.

I worked retail at Christmastime about ten years back, and it certainly had its moments. I'm sorry that woman took out her frustrations and stress on you.

I try extra hard to be very pleasant to store employees (all the time, but espeically this time of year). I know it doesn't make up for the doozies, though.

I have to admit I don't especially like being asked EVERY time I go to Target if I want a credit card (actually, I already have the Target card. I pay it in full every month, so I rack up a lot of the 10% coupons), but I know that's not the checker's fault.

Tomorrow, I have to go to Target. I ran short of gift tins and would like to pick up a few more, if there are any left. Whoever checks me out, I'll remember your story.

It's bullshit, and hard sell at its worst. Credit card companies are predatory and among the most rotten I know of. But it's the damn store policy to ask if they want to sign up.

My first credit card was a Dayton's charge card, which you could also use at Target.

I personally like having the card, because I only use it for stuff I'm buying anyway and pay it off month to month. I like getting the 10% coupons. But I do hate that hard sell.

at least you don't have to ask them if they'de likr to try a new steak Fajita.

Makes no sense. I have a 12 year (who doesn't dress like Britney, but normal) but she happens to be 5'6" and rapidly taking after her mom in curvaceousness. People think she's 16 or 17 all the time. It doesn't offend me. People usually think we're sisters. She's tall. Such is life.

I'm glad I haven't worked retail in years. About the only thing more annoying than rude jerks is old people who count out dozens of pennies when paying for stuff. :crazy:

but not something as innocuous as this. It sounded more like it offended the mom's ego perhaps.

Besides, my daughter is one tough cookie who's not left in unsupervised situations. Plus, she's a strong girl (physically and mentally). Empowering your daughters goes a long way in keeping them safe.

I've worked in retail for 20 Christmases now.

The other day, I approached a woman and asked her if she'd been helped yet. She replied, "Well, I am in therapy but it doesn't seem to be working very well."

She wasn't kidding.

She couldn't talk for the rest of the transaction; her son handled everything. I felt bad for her, she had that look of the walking wounded. But I have to say, that's the weirdest response I've ever received to that innocuous question.

I think Americans should be required to spend two years either waiting tables or working retail. It should be a mandatory conscription. I suspect we'd see a much-needed attitude change from people. ;)

incredibly difficult, and those who've never had to do so have no clue how stressful it is.

I was a ticket agent at National Airport in Washington DC for ten years, and what you just described is in many ways typical of many passengers, the rudeness, the insensitivity, and so on.

The worst customers are invariably the ones who never had any kind of public contact job. My younger son got a job at a movie theater when he was 16, and learned very quickly how stupid and irritating customers can be. He'll never really get over it, and will always be nice to service personnel as a result.

Oh, and it has nothing to do with Christmas. It's just that there are so many more people out there shopping that you notice this kind of thing, but people are awful year round. What I mainly took away from my ten years at DCA was a strong dislike of people.

that 1 out of every 4 people one runs across in an average day has some sort of personality disorder. And you never know when their last button will get pushed and they then go ballistic for no reason at all. This is especially likely to happen during the stressful holiday season. (I work with the public too, and over the past couple of weeks I would swear that the above ratio is more like 1 of every 2!)

...and having a great day, even if you're pissy. The customer is always right, even when they're full of shit. It's very stressful, especially if you have a manager that is more difficult than most the customers.

I used to work in a pet store where the manager was beyond mean. I could tell you horror stories about what happened to the animals when the customers weren't around, but I don't want to get into that. I ended up playing veterinarian with no training: amputations, splints, euthanasia by hammer. It was awful. (Note: the euthanasia procedures were necessary due to the fact the animals had been mutilated beyond hope by rats that had worked their way loose from their cages and had terrorized the other animals in the middle of the night.)

I don't think I want to work in any more pet stores. :( :( :( :(

...of why I spend the lion's share of my leisure time either by myself at the college radio station where I host a show, or at home with just the dog and cat. :pals:

I worked retail for a summer, worst summer of my life. Never again I tell you. My mom on the other hand, LOVES working retail...perhaps it's a personality thing.

Does Target treat it's employees well in general? My mom's looking:)

It can't be purchased anywhere, at any price.

Her problem is that she didn't have it when she came in.

In the summer I have a job in a convenience store...not my first choice, and I fell victim to customer abuse...though nothing quite that bad.

It's a made up Holiday for the Retailers to make money.

That's one reason why we don't celebrate.

Christmas is a pagan holiday, co-opted by Christianity and then co-opted by retailers to make money.

:-)

:)

You're so right. Snort.

anyone would be lucky to have you working for them.You have the patience of a saint. I vote for a raise.

that the customer can and will, in some cases, get to treat you like shit. I left retail and customer contact because of the mean remarks and awful behavior that you can expect to get from people these days. Teaching is often pretty similar, with the added benefit of an even more invasive standard of behavior (for YOU) than retail.

It isn't just the Christmas rush. Watch out or you can get mugged on DU. Be sure to like popular stuff, collect the associated merchandise, and link up spiritually with the artist.

I have worked retail over the Christmas Holiday before, I would rather have my eyes gouged out with hot pokers.

People are stressed, they feel they have to provide gifts for loved ones they can't afford. Just add a bad economy into that for spice and you have the nasty woman that you dealt with.

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but there's no deeper meaning of Christmas in this story.

I've worked either in retail or some level of customer service for nearly 20 years now. Nothing has changed overall, not one single bit. The details are different in some respects, but not the big picture.

The thing with the check is a different detail. At one time almost no one accepted a check written for greater than the amount of purchase, and in many places it took manager approval for a check to be accepted at all. No "out of town checks," no checks without a major credit card, etc. Intense competition among banks and retail chains has altered this, to the detriment of both consumer and the businesses. Loss due to bad checks and the cost of collecting them is now factored into the price structure of many items, and the act of "floating" a check is now seen as an acceptable form of short-term loan.

As for her reaction, that's typical too. She was mad at you for some deeper reason relating to her own sense of self and how your rejection of her cash-back check made her feel. She used whatever tools she felt were available to her to get you back and try to cause you problems. It's really that simple, as complicated as it may actually be from a psychological perspective.

I've had people literally spend months carrying grudges against me for simply refusing a sale of alcohol without proper ID. And the funny part is that the person I have in mind while writing this was in fact under the age of 21. On at least two occasions of which I am aware, this person was stopped by police with an open container in his car and tried to finger me as the person responsible for selling it to him. SOP in the small town where this all took place was for cops to give the kid a break if he was reasonably sober and would participate in a sting operation of the place where he managed to acquire the alcohol. After the second time, I got wise to what was going on and had a little sit-down with the local DA, so it didn't happen again, as far as I know anyway.

The moral of that story is that if you do your job correctly, you will piss people off, and they will do stupid things to try to enact revenge.

Obviously she was a fucking cow.

It has become a conspicuous consumer buyfest. Frankly, that's the reason for the season in this corporate deathspiraling country and people have bought that (along with way too much stuff) because they think the stuff will make them happy. Stuff doesn't make people happy and can even contribute to the stress and depression that happens in epidemic proportions around this time of year.

I don't participate and in fact, from the day after Thanksgiving, I stay away from all large shopping establishments. When people find out I don't participate in the Christmas consumer frenzy, they call me a Scrooge, but I'll tell you that I'm happier than most people during this season. Happier and a lot less stressed.

I'm sorry you have to work for the bullseye this "joyous" season. And yes, unhappy people will take any excuse to be assholes. I think it's part of the "share the wealth" program. It's really the only part of trickle down economics that actually works.

HAH HAH!!! Tar-jay!

pedophilia out of Christmas

Never again.
I'm sorry DinoBoy. :hug: Keep your smile on no matter what. It's your best defense, really.

people are just downright ornery. I'm sorry she was so rude to you.