Why I hate working retail during the holidays...

Mousey Girl · 12-23-2006, 05:08 AM

Whenever I take an order I let my customer know that we close at 5:30. This was especially true of yesterday, since we are closed until the day after Christmas. This chick comes in at 5:25 to pick up some chairs. she is dragging a guy with her, who immediatly heads to the bathroom.

This should have been an easy one, since I already processed the payment. All we had to do was print out the contract and send her around to have the chairs loaded.

Nope. She then decides that she wants linens for 2 tables. Not just any linens, but specialty linen overlays. These 2 tables would have cost her $80 to cover. However, we only had enough linens for 1 table. She said to forget it, and was pretty bitchy about it.

She knew we were now closed. Her pet idiot was still in the bathroom, where he was talking on his cell phone (one of the guys in the warehouse had heard him).

I handed her the contract and told her she needed to pull around to the side to have the chairs loaded. She said she had to wait for her friend. I told her again that we were closed and we needed to get the chairs loaded and she really needed to pull around to the side. She flat out refused to leave. I told her that I would tell her friend where she was, but that it was now 5:40 and we had been closed for 10 minutes and it was time for her to either get her chairs or load them herself.

She glared at me and went and pounded on the men's room dooor yealling that we were kicking them out.

By the time I clocked out it was 5:45.

Normally the owner, who was listening to this entire thing, would have been ticked with me for rushing a customer. He didn't say a word. I was totally professional and curteous about it. What I really wanted to say was, "Look Bitch, I told you we closed at 5:30. If you want he damn chairs then drive around. If not I will cancel your order. We don't need your $30 bad enough to cater to your Hummer driving attitude."

lindyhop · 12-23-2006, 02:40 PM

I spent about a dozen years in retail so I could go on for days. It's been 20 years but I still have the dream where customers start wandering in even though we're not open yet. The worst part was the day after the day after Christmas because that's when we would get all the returns, one after another all day long.

There was the woman who returned the outfit for her newborn because he didn't look good in that color.
There was the woman who returned the bathrobe because it clashed with her bathroom.
There was the woman who put a curse on me because I wouldn't (couldn't!) do what she wanted. She didn't speak English so her grandson got to translate her special message to me.
There was the family who bought their fast food lunch in the mall and then set up their picnic on the (until that moment) lovely display in front of our department.
There was the customer who asked "Are these sunglasses guaranteed?" and the exasperated salesperson (me) who replied, "Guaranteed to do what?"

So extra good wishes to all of you serving in the trenches of retail this time of year.

sleepyjeff · 12-23-2006, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mousey Girl

Whenever I take an order I let my customer know that we close at 5:30. This was especially true of yesterday, since we are closed until the day after Christmas. This chick comes in at 5:25 to pick up some chairs. she is dragging a guy with her, who immediatly heads to the bathroom.

Heh heh.....I got so fed up with a series of similar situations at my store that about two years ago I started locking the bathroom a half hour before closing time.

Today is my last day of business until next Wednesday.....I just know that 15 mintues before closing time someone will call and say they're "on their way in" and "could you please wait"......

2 hours to go...

12-23-2006, 05:08 AM	#1
Mousey Girl Just Me Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: In The Flagon With The Dragon Posts: 2,437	Whenever I take an order I let my customer know that we close at 5:30. This was especially true of yesterday, since we are closed until the day after Christmas. This chick comes in at 5:25 to pick up some chairs. she is dragging a guy with her, who immediatly heads to the bathroom. This should have been an easy one, since I already processed the payment. All we had to do was print out the contract and send her around to have the chairs loaded. Nope. She then decides that she wants linens for 2 tables. Not just any linens, but specialty linen overlays. These 2 tables would have cost her $80 to cover. However, we only had enough linens for 1 table. She said to forget it, and was pretty bitchy about it. She knew we were now closed. Her pet idiot was still in the bathroom, where he was talking on his cell phone (one of the guys in the warehouse had heard him). I handed her the contract and told her she needed to pull around to the side to have the chairs loaded. She said she had to wait for her friend. I told her again that we were closed and we needed to get the chairs loaded and she really needed to pull around to the side. She flat out refused to leave. I told her that I would tell her friend where she was, but that it was now 5:40 and we had been closed for 10 minutes and it was time for her to either get her chairs or load them herself. She glared at me and went and pounded on the men's room dooor yealling that we were kicking them out. By the time I clocked out it was 5:45. Normally the owner, who was listening to this entire thing, would have been ticked with me for rushing a customer. He didn't say a word. I was totally professional and curteous about it. What I really wanted to say was, "Look Bitch, I told you we closed at 5:30. If you want he damn chairs then drive around. If not I will cancel your order. We don't need your $30 bad enough to cater to your Hummer driving attitude."
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12-23-2006, 02:40 PM	#2
lindyhop Swing Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Long Beach Posts: 997	I spent about a dozen years in retail so I could go on for days. It's been 20 years but I still have the dream where customers start wandering in even though we're not open yet. The worst part was the day after the day after Christmas because that's when we would get all the returns, one after another all day long. There was the woman who returned the outfit for her newborn because he didn't look good in that color. There was the woman who returned the bathrobe because it clashed with her bathroom. There was the woman who put a curse on me because I wouldn't (couldn't!) do what she wanted. She didn't speak English so her grandson got to translate her special message to me. There was the family who bought their fast food lunch in the mall and then set up their picnic on the (until that moment) lovely display in front of our department. There was the customer who asked "Are these sunglasses guaranteed?" and the exasperated salesperson (me) who replied, "Guaranteed to do what?" So extra good wishes to all of you serving in the trenches of retail this time of year. __________________ Hyperbole is the best thing ever!
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