Retail-Sucks

The irony of the christian bookstore...

Anonymous — 2010-03-04T23:51:27-05:00

Alright, so i work at a Christian based book and teacher supply store. And i find the antics that go on here to be very ironic...if not disturbing.

I'll tell you about the manager. He is a self-important ass who cares only about money. He will regularly yell at employee's in front of the customers. Once he made this poor girl cry, and then refused to let her be excused to the restroom to clean up before dealing with customers. Here's my favorit story to tell though: One slow weekday, there were no customers and i decided to "zone". This is what managment calls it when you are straightening up the store in between customers, etc. I had only been with the company for a few months, but the disorginized state of the "teacher's supply" section always bothered me. I spent the majority of my day cleaning/organizing that area. I was so proud of how perfect it looked. At the end of the day, my manager calls me to his office, and informes me that I shouldn't have don't that because all it does is create "unnesisary added work"...what the hell?? It's not like i was ignoring customers or anything...there weren't any! And it's not as if there was anything else for me to do. To this day i don't understand his logic, and the next day when i asked the assistant manager what exactly the problem was, he said to "just calm down...he get's that way sometimes, you didn't do anything wrong." And actually thanked me for doing it.

The janitor (who is probably in his mid to late 40's) regulary sexualy harrases the girls, who's ages range from 16 to about 23. At first his comments seemed harmless enough "you look pretty today", etc. But then he would say things about the way my ass looked in those pants...and so on. I tryed to just ingnore it, but one day he actually gropped me. I asked the other female cashier's/customer service employee's about this, and they said it happens all the time. One girl complained to the manager, and all he did was "have a word" with the janitor (who obviously denyed everything), and said that there was nothing he could do because we couldn't prove that it was happening.

I spoke to the assistant manager about this one day, wanting to know why nothing more was done (we're ALL more comfortable with him than our actual manager), i assumed he knew. He got a shocked looked on his face...seemed to stare off into the distance (he was thinking) for a moment, and then said "Are you serious??". "no...i'm having this awkward convorsation with you for fun" was what i was thinking. So Jeff (the Assistant Manager) talked to some of the other girls, and he said we should all report both of them to corporate, and that he would back us up.

Crossing our fingers that something productive actually happens this time. I'm not in a postition where i can just quit my job.

Disenchanted retail slaves' tales of woe...

Anonymous — 2010-02-25T22:17:33-05:00

I’ve been working in retail since I was 18. I’m 24 now and am really regretting letting it go on for so long. I hate it. I mean seriously, I HATE IT! It sucks. Customers are insufferable arse holes, head office is ran by brown nosing pricks who look down their noses at the people who actually generate the income for the company. This isn’t just what I’ve experienced from my current company, its what I’ve noticed going on at every single company I’ve worked for and it truly is soul destroying.

Now, my current job isn’t the worst I’ve ever had. I’ve been working here for nearly 3 years and I’m currently an assistant store manager (having stepped down from my managerial role due to stress). The money isn’t great, but it is better than most other retail jobs I’ve had or seen advertised. The money I make, which is just enough to live on, doesn’t offer me much chance to indulge and certainly doesn’t warrant the amount of rubbish I have to endure at the hands of self righteous customers and idiotic company policies.

I don’t really want to get too in depth about how much the company sucks, as obviously only I, or my fellow employees can relate. But I’ll give you a little background. I was working a sales job when I was 20/21 and truly hated it. The targets were impossible and the stress unrelenting. I actually longed to be back on a shop floor and not have to pressure sell to ensure I got my pay check. So, I began looking for vacancies and found a add for a full time sales assistant for a video game retailer. I began working there as a stop gap to give me time to figure out what I REALLY wanted to do with my life. Now, 3 years later, after accepting various pointless promotions (more hours, no real pay increase, more hassle), I’ve became so jaded and hateful towards the company, the customers and a huge proportion of my colleagues. Because of this I decided to share with you my…

Top 5 reasons working in retail is a complete waste of time:

1. The money sucks

Your average sales assistant makes between £5 - £6 an hour. Now, I’m sure that is fine for a 16 year old still living at home. But paying someone in their twenties (or older!) that amount and expecting them to put in a decent amount of effort is ludicrous. No one can afford to live on £700 - £800 a month if you factor in the cost of rent/mortgage repayments, bills, tax, running a car and buying food. So, how do these companies expect to get good, educated and well informed staff? The answer is, they generally don’t. My personal situation isn’t THAT bad, but many of my fellow employees suffer this on a daily basis.

2. The customers are generally intolerable wastes of oxygen

Ah, the customer. The entire reason we get paid and what keeps the economy afloat. First of all I am grateful that I have a job and I have enough money to pay my bills. But, working retail seriously makes you despair for mankind. The general malaise and retarded attitude that the ‘customer is always right’ is laughable, when quite clearly the ‘customer is generally wrong’. You have never experienced true hatred until you’ve had to apologise for something that’s well out of your own control to a benefit cheating, unhygienic, bottom feeding scumbag.

3. The brown nosing and back stabbing fellow retail slaves get up to

Some people truly enjoy their job. And I’m fine by that. What I REALLY cannot stomach is high and mighty idiots who think its some kind of important job. You put stock on a shelf and put money into a till. That’s it. But then you get these brown nosing douche bags who will do anything to discredit or make another employee look bad. I know many people in my company (and others) who have gotten promotions, not based on their quality of work (I.e. running a profitable well managed store) but purely their ability to kiss arse or suck dick. Its so sad and pathetic. What goes around comes around people.

4. The hours suck

Enjoy working weekends, evenings and the holidays for shitty money? Go work in retail. For the rest of humanity don’t bother. Thanks to retail, I now fucking hate Christmas.

5. The work is soul destroying

The worst part of it all. Picking up after unruly children, cleaning up vomit, pandering to the whiney bastard customers who need their ego stroked by some lowly sales assistant is just not worth the money. Listening to idiotic customers’ drama regarding a price mistake, having them refuse to pay and then put a complaint into head office. Really? Over £1? Seriously? Oh yeah, I’m dead serious. What kind of sad loser has that much time on their hands? Or maybe demanding your money back even though you were told before purchase you’d only get a refund if you A. Kept the receipt and B. Didn’t open the item. What do you fucking expect when you try to return the fucking item but have totally disregarded the two things were told prior to handing over your ‘hard earned money’? Do you really expect me or any other associate to give a flying fuck when you can’t listen? How about being told you are incompetent by some deluded twat who can’t get his thick as pig shit head around a simple store policy? Like the time I ordered in a pre owned silver Playstation 2 for a customer who wanted to swap his old black one for a silver one. There’s nothing wrong with that, it was only when I inspecting his old console (which had no security seal and no controller) that World War 3 kicked off. Obviously I refused to buy his console as no security seal generally indicates it has been chipped to play bootleg software, but this idiot couldn’t get his fucking head around that concept. So after complaining about having to get the bus in the rain (LIKE I FUCKING GIVE A SHIT!) and wanting compensation (SERIOUSLY? FUCKING IDIOT! LOOK AFTER YOUR FUCKING SHIT IF YOU WANT TO SELL IT!) he eventually left, not before imploring others to never shop here and calling me incompetent, obviously forgetting he was an absolute retarded scumbag who has lived off handouts his entire life. I could go on and on with how much retail will suck the spirit out of you, but I’m sure anyone reading knows this already.

Good manners costs nothing

Now, I know not everyone is like this and I have had some great times and experiences working in retail. But unfortunately the negatives far outweigh the positives. I’m also sure most people hate their job, but from my experience no other employment sector offers the amount of drama and idiocy that retail does. Anyone who has seen the movie Clerks and works retail will be able to relate to the stupid fucking questions we get asked. ‘IS THIS NEW?’ or ‘HOW MUCH IS THIS?’. The answer to both being OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES, THERES A STICKER WITH ALL RELEVENT INFORMATION STARING YOU IN THE FACE. Or how about impatient customers tapping their foot and tutting at you when they can clearly see you are busy? I say, ‘I’m sorry madam I’ll be with you in a moment’. I think, FUCK YOU! WHO THE FUCK NEEDS REASSURING OF THEIR OWN IMPORTANCE, YOU’LL GET YOUR SHITTY £3 GAME IN ABOUT HALF A MINUTE, SHOW SOME FUCKING MANNERS! Speaking of manners, GET OFF YOUR FUCKING MOBILE WHEN YOU’RE GETTING SERVED. That makes me sick, it is so rude. As if your life is that important that you can’t wait 5 SECONDS to continue your conversation. WANKERS! How about having the item they are buying thrown on the counter or people who cant put the money in your hand and instead dump in onto the counter and expect you to pick it up for them. I FUCKING HATE THAT! But the best example of bad manners comes from this true story which happened in December 2009.

Good reflexes are a must in video game retail…

The day was generally going well. The manager wasn’t in, so I was in charge. I was playing some good tunes and the store was generally quiet. No dramas to report, that was until around 5:15pm when the store telephone rang. I wouldn’t usually answer the phone so late, as I wanted to get out on time, but for whatever reason, this time I did. It was a disgruntled customer who’s son had purchased a brand new XBOX 360 game earlier in the day. It turned out the game had become scratched by her sons console (known as laser burning… a common fault with 360 units) but she was adamant the game was in that condition at time of purchase. So, I asked her what title the game was and to give me a description of her son. She did and I remembered serving the kid and that the game was factory sealed when I handed it over (thus making her story a fucking lie). I explained I was sorry, but it was her sons console that caused the damage (probably because he moved the machine during operation) and that I would attempt to repair the disk for her at no charge, which I didn’t have to do, but I said I would out of good faith. This wasn’t good enough, she wanted it replaced and she wanted it doing now. Bare in mind, its now 5:30 and the store is closed. She kept shouting and going crazy until I eventually relented and said if she got here in ten minutes I’d still be here (I hadn’t cashed up yet) and I’d run it through the disk cleaner. Anyway, 15 minutes passed and I was outside putting the shutter down and locking up when here she comes running towards me with her screaming little shit in tow. I told her I was going home but she basically followed me and badgered me until I went back to the store. I grudgingly put the shutter up, opened the door, turned on the lights and went behind the counter. Her little tearaway fucking kid then proceeds to demolish my displays which I’d prepared for the following day which literally made my piss boil, that was until the following happened. The mother was rummaging through her bag looking for the scratched game, which upon finding, she threw at me with force. If I hadn’t been watching her it would’ve smacked me in the face, luckily my catlike reflexes saved the day and I dodged that bullet. Even at the best of times, I don’t react well to having shit thrown at me so I basically completely lost my cool and physically threw this horrible bitch and her bastard offspring out the door. Where would anyone get the impression that they can treat another human being who is only doing his job in such a way? Anyway, this bitch puts a complaint and I got a warning. WHERE IS THE FUCKING JUSTICE? On the plus side, I never saw her again, as I doubt I would be able to hold my tongue if I was to encounter that piece of pond life ever again.

I apologise this is so long, its been building up for some time. Thanks for reading!

Ian x

Consciously Exploiting & Scamming The Stores- Why Am I So Angry At Them??

dadasgirl — 2010-02-23T22:52:38-05:00

Ok I get it- there will always be customers whose main objective is to "stick it to the stores" any way they can - be it via shoplifting or trying to take advantage of sale prices & return policies.

Example: Customers who INSIST on returning merch Waaaaay beyond the return date, customers who take a ONE TIME USE ONLY coupon & try to use it 20+ times., customers who shop during a promotion & then want a price adjustment when they see the same item reduced 3 WEEKS LATER....
mind you rules of dos/donts are posted EVERYWHERE - still these customers show no shame in trying to "get over"....

I'm talking about the wonderful world of clothing retail - & I dont know WHY their antics upset me so...its not my MONEY, or my store - I'm just the lowly employee they asked to endure the never ending crap from the public....

BUT - my venting has a purpose - I work at a retail clothing chain geared towards "middle America" I'm wondering do these shenannigans happen at the finer retail stores too?I know times are tough but these kinds of customers are truly 3 degrees from being grifters.....

Also - my hubby says I get angry because these customers are getting away with bending rules that I NEVER could get away with...does anybody else feel my pain...I mean principles are all but lost...and yes I know its not my money or store but I cant believe the audacity of these people....

Best Buy Sucks

Anonymous — 2010-02-22T07:59:12-05:00

I work at Best Buy, have for 6 months. I previously worked at Home Depot and Radio Shack, so I know retail, but nothing beats the suckiness of this job. I work in computers, and I am probably the most knowledgeable computer associate in our store. But I have to deal with people--customers and managers--all day long who treat me like an idiot.

One day I had this douche come into the department and ask me for a printer card. "You know, one of those cards you put into a printer." Befuddled, I asked if he meant an SD card or another camera card for the printer card readers. Angrily, he asked me if I even knew what a printer was. I shot him a death glare and informed him that yes, I do indeed know what a printer is, and that he's the one not making any sense. We went round and round about what he needed for about ten minutes, when it dawned on me that he was talking about a PCI parallel card for old parallel printers. The best part? His printer was USB.

I have had people ask me for an "internet USB," and then get angry when I ask for clarification (air card? USB wireless adapter?).

I have had customers insist that they are buying the $329 Acer laptop in the ad this week for playing Aion, no matter how many times I tell them this is a bad idea.

I have had a customer haughtily inform me that he knows much more about computers than I do, and then ask whether this desktop comes with a built-in webcam (?) or if it has a telobyte hdd. Yes, a teLobyte.

Worst of all, I am expected to attach the following to every computer sale: MS Office, Geek Squad services, subscription software and antivirus, extended warranties, bag and mouse (for laptops), in home setup (for desktops), internet services (wimax or 3g), UPS/surge protection, credit applications, RAM upgrades, printer, printer cable, ink, paper, etc.

When a customer is buying a computer and using their every last dime, I'm supposed to get a credit app so they can spend money they don't have on overpriced attachments.

When I informed my manager that we can't do RAM upgrades because everything is DDR3 and we have no DDR3 RAM, and also no 8gb kits, he was like, "they make 8gb kits?"

I'm expected to stay 2 hours after my closing shift because we have a shipment to unload when I have an 8am class. I have to account for customers who don't buy attachments. I have to do role-play sales, do the stupid cheers every morning, and get in trouble for talking to fellow associates--for any reason, ever.

In short, retail sucks, but Best Buy is suckier than average. Thank god I put in my notice...they just lost a very knowledgeable employee. Then again, I don't scam people, so I guess that doesn't matter.

NO we DON'T have a public restroom!!!!

Anonymous — 2010-02-19T00:26:15-05:00

What the hell is with customers demanding to use our bathrooms even after we tell them we DON'T have a freakin public restroom!! Go to the damn bathroom BEFORE you go shopping, don't take it out on us poor retail slaves because you are too stupid!

I love it when they say there is a law requiring that we let them! Love it even more when I tell them "said" law states only when the person has a medical condition and they MUST have valid doctors note on them stating such!

Customers suck!

Bonus Trade-In Item

Anonymous — 2010-02-18T00:06:21-05:00

I used to work at an EB Games store. One day this couple walked in the door with a stack of games to trade. We have to check each case to ensure the game is inside and that the manual is there. They seemed nice enough and were waiting patiently for me to finish checking the games. I opened the last case, and to my horror there was a used condom staring back at me. I stared dumbfounded at it while my manager and the customer pieced it all together. The customer lunged for it and shoved it in his pocket while his girlfriend turned a number of red shades and hid in the corner. At this point I was over the initial shock, and was trying not to laugh at the poor guy. My manager had already disappeared into the back and you could hear his laughter through the wall. I was biting my lip and covering my mouth with my hands while the customer tried to converse with me about upcoming games. I almost touched his filthy condom and he was trying to talk games with me. WTF? How does that even happen? I don't really want to know... but really?

What...?!

Anonymous — 2010-02-12T00:08:12-05:00

I work at a Books-A-Million in Metro - Atlanta. i just got the job almost three weeks ago, so I'm fairly new. You'd think the fact that I work in a book store, the customers would nice and more respectful, right? Wrong! the other day i had a guy come in, and right away you know something is up. Regardless to what feeling I had about him, I greeted him and asked if I could help him find anything. " No!", he says to me. I then said " Okay, feel free to ask for my assistance if you run in to any problems." That's not rude, right? I kid you not he stares at me for what feel like two minutes, then stomps off like I just groped him or something. After that I paid it no attention, I figured he had a bad day or something and was taking it out on anyone who got in his way. No big deal. About twenty minutes go by and he comes up to the front registers to pay. He gets to my register and tosses his book at me, which is something I hate for customers to do, I'm not a dog! But I kept my cool. It's part of my job to push our discount card's regardless to whether I feel like it or not, so I ask if he would be interested in purchasing one. His response was, " No! I have no intention on coming back to this store, you have the worst customer service!" I told him I was sorry that it wasn't my intention to offend him, and if I had in anyway done just that, I was very sorry. He then throws his credit card on the counter for me to swipe, the problem with that was the pin pad is on the other side of the register for the customer to swipe. When I informed him of this he seemed pissed beyond belief, his entire face was red. When I finished his transaction and told him to a wonderful day. He turned quickly and stormed out of the store.

Sorry it's so detailed but I jut wanted everyone to see exactly what happend to that someone can tell me what I did that was extraordinarily wrong for this guy to flip out on me like that!

How to get out of retail?

Demetris — 2010-02-10T23:20:17-05:00

This is more of a question than anything, but I've been working in retail since I was sixteen years old, I'm twenty-three now. I don't want to keep doing this at thirty. I pretty much live pay check to pay check. Nothing is dependable in retail. If sales aren't doing so well, then you won't get any hours, you don't know which customer is going to freak the hell out and get you fired, you don't know which one of you co-workers is after your job, or if you managers are truly plotting against you for what ever reason and they want you gone. That happend to me last year. i worked at Hot Topic for two years as a 3rd key and they let me go because my car broke down and I had no way to get to work that morning. After two years my manager let me go because of that?! I'm tired of not being able to have anything, because I have enough money to pay rent and thats it.
I have no college experience but I'm a hard worker and every office or warehouse job I apply for won't give my the time of day. I really frustrated with this. Then my aunt thinks it's so easy to find a job in this economy. She thinks I want to be stuck in retail and she's constantly nagging me about it but. All can do is apply for jobs and do the interview that all I can do!
Does anyone have any tips on how to get out retail?

Bad Bosses and Shift leaders

Anonymous — 2010-02-09T23:59:13-05:00

I work for a prominent retailer who has hired people that are so bad
We have a shift supervisor who treats people like crap and will just "call the manager if anything on her shift goes wrong." There are too many people trying to manage the place rather then just working the place.

I am full time with no authority power and feeling threatened by this woman who is just awful.

The customers get better treatment then the worker that comes in to work. What should I do? I feel like starting my own business.

I am tired of hearing about the manager and her dogs that is all she talks about and she really does not have any use for people. She looks at people as her slaves with power over them. I am really in a rock and a hard place. I figure it is not my store so why do I care so much?

Eventually I am going to leave she acts like she owns all the merchandise and all the employees. She doesn'nt. She is just well paid to do this job.
You can tell this is all she has in her life she micromanages to the point where you cannot breath. What do I do? There is even a policy if we order something it has to be run by her first. Everything has to be run by her first which in turn is pretty scary. What happened to privacy?
She is the full glory of bad corporate witch. It is kind of scary that she plays god with peoples lives. She knows who is on her schedule and when the person works. She would take a customers word over the employee.

She is the type that would throw me under the bus in a second.
An example one of our Assistant Managers left and as a token of appreciation I gave the woman a small parting gift. The manager found out and was really angry that I had done that is because she did'nt know about it. She then took the Assistant out for lunch and told the other woman to "run" the store.

It was my bosses way of showing authority. She looked like an asshole doing it. Management backs management.

I never meant for her to be upset because I gave a small token gift to an employee. My boss is the type who likes to snuff out any happiness one may have or joy. She finds fault with her staff.

She is not kind. I don't trust her at all. What do I do?

Courtesy Is Awesome

Anonymous — 2010-02-03T21:28:27-05:00

Unlike many horror stories most Courtesy Clerks bitch about, I love my job. I think I got lucky with my store, because I'm sure it could be a lot worse. So I'm pretty new at Albertsons, 3 months, passed my 60-day probation period (which means I go from a white polo to a blue polo, that's it) with flying colors. Being new and over 18, they have me closing a lot, which isn't even that bad, the latest closing shift ends at 10, and when I start my closing job, checkers don't call for bagging. I spruce up the employee bathrooms, clean the breakroom, and organize the bottle room and I'm done. Piece of cake, but I do a good job, and my store is really nice and new, the only Albertsons I would want to work at. Frequently, the GM managers will ask if I want to stay and do grocery for a few more hours, to help me make more money.

I love the people I work with. Our 4th and 5th Managers are my age (18-19), and are really chill, but also professional. Those two managers along with about 10 other people from different departments all go to the same parties just about every other day, its so awesome. And the front end managers are also really cool. During breaks in school, they consistently give me 30-40 hours, and are REALLY good about working around my school schedule. And as long as it's not too bad, they really don't care about small dresscode infractions or piercings. My store also houses regional headquarters, so a lot of big shots are around. They seem intimidating, but if you just look busy, no one really bothers you. Starting pay is good, $8.50 an hour. The way I see it, if I'm productive and willing to work with them, they'll send the love back and work with me. Everybody who works there knows working there can be bland, repetitive, and boring, so we all do our best to make it the opposite of that and just have lots of fun, and it works.

why do they blame me for their stupidity?

Anonymous — 2010-02-02T23:10:19-05:00

I work for 7-eleven. The company treats us fairly well but some of the customers need a rock thrown at their head. My favorite is when their card won't work at the gas pump and the come in angry. "Whats wrong with your gas pumps?" or "Whats wrong with my card?" Nothing is wrong with the pumps and I'm not your bank so how would I know why your card won't work? Then ask them what pump # they are at, 9 times outta 10 they will not know. After a rousing game of guess the pump number, ask how much gas they want to pay for. This will always get you an exasperated look like you're the stupid one which is always followed by "I don't know. I was gonna fill it up." Ask them about how many gallons and they are totally befuddled. How much did you spend last time you filled it up? Now you are just a smart ass. Usually they will leave for another store at this point and are gonna call your boss because you obviously don't know how to do your job and are rude.

This story had to be shared

observation — 2010-01-31T15:01:45-05:00

I don't understand how this lady even got this into her head!!

So I am a cashier at a target, well Super Target. Only some days, other days I work in my department, electronics. But this day I was on a lane. A lady comes through and is emptying her cart onto the belt. I scan only a few things when some frozen shrimp come through. I had never seen them before and I commented on their taste versus the hefty price of 7.49$. She informed me that she had not tried them but they were on sale for two for 10$. So I changed the price to 5.00$ each. At target we have the 20$ rule that if its within 20$ no need to get a manager involved and waste time. I informed her of the price correction and she said, "Oh then since your scanner rang it up wrong that means I get one free."

Now I chuckle to myself because people do this kind of joking all the time.
After she has placed all her items on the belt she proceeds to the area in front of me where she can wait to pay. Then she says "Aren't you gonna turn your light on and get a manager?"

"Why?" I ask

"Because of the shrimp, honey."

I explain to her that I have been with target for a year and that the policy is to fix the problem but not to provide free merchandise.
So she replies, "Honey your to young to remember, you see when the scanners first came out there was a guarantee that they would not mess up, and if they did you would get it for free. but your to young to remember." (im 23, she must of been in her mid 50's)
But wait, why would my age matter? This is not a matter of age, its a matter of store policy.. simply.
None of this makes in different because I am still to young to remember some guarantee.
Apparently Albertsons and Safeway do it for her all the time. But who cares that we are not them!
Ugh! She cant really be serious. So I put my damn light on and wait for a manager. While I am waiting she gets the person in line behind her on her side, because this lady is from where target started and thinks she remembers that. They being to insult me and say well its those people putting it in wrong. I tell them "Wait, How dare you sit in front of me and say that I am doing me job wrong? I have a 2 year old to support don't you dare put this on me? I have been nothing but helpful all along and now you point the finger at me?"
"no, no we mean the people out there (the point to the sales floor)
they put it in wrong. well guess what I work on the sales floor too.
Now the price accuracy people are doing there jobs wrong. She even said that at the grocery stores she has gotten free steaks, shrimp (All I can think is what a freaking scammer!)

The GSTL comes and tells her no. Pretty much the same way I do but says the LOD had the final say, so here comes Kayla the LOD.

Poor Kayla is only a few years older than me and gets the same thing... guarantee guarantee... your to young to remember.. It was very insulting to us all. So as soon as Kayla told her no, she was not going to get it free she informed us all that she was calling the corporate office the next day.
All this for 5$ mind you. because they were 7.49 each but 2 for 10 made them 5$ each. So right there taking 2.50$ off 7.49$ saved her 5$. Now because the price came up wrong she wants one free.. another 5$.

I almost wish I had just given it to her but every time I think that I just get mad because people like that should be locked into there house for trying to scam companies into giving them free shit. Why are you so damn special? because you watch the price so carefully? guess what..so do I.

Next time I go grocery shopping.. I am using my guarantee. Free food here I come. LOL!

Former boss is refusing to give me a reference

Anonymous — 2010-01-25T23:10:58-05:00

I just got let go from CVS 3 weeks ago as a cashier due to my lack of customer service skills quote on quote. I feel they are up to no good by bad mouthing me but I have no proof. I have had 2 interviews but were turned down by both after the interview process. My former boss is refusing to answer questions about former employees. I had a friend of mine call CVS and talk to my former boss, pretending that they were looking to hire me and they wanted some information about me. My ex boss refused to give any information saying that he doesn't give out information about former employees. Instead put this person on hold forever so he can find corporate's phone number to give to the friend of mine.

After 5 minutes or so, someone else came on the phone to give my friend the right phone number. I feel my ex boss is hiding stuff and is preventing me from getting another job because I can't get a reference. It is really making me upset that I am being turned down for a couple of jobs that I know that I was qualified for. These other companies didn't even bother calling me back. I had to call for myself to find out that they filled there positions. I feel something is not right about my former company cvs but im not sure if its true. After being fired, I have come to realize how much of a jerk my ex boss is. The customer is always right thing its a total joke with this company. Its a three strikes and your out thing. I am really upset that I have not gotten a job yet after 3 weeks. CVS and my ex boss might be hiding something since they won't provide a reference check for me. What do I put on my applications about if they have a right to contact my former company, I feel I should put yes, but I feel I shouldn't as well. If I put no, the company that is interviewing me would think that something bad happened at the old job. I don't want to tell them I was fired due to lack of customer service. It was not all about that. How do I get around this. Let me say again, CVS and my ex boss are a damn joke and I need to know what to do on my applications that I am filling out. What to I need to say in the interview so that I will get a new customer service job without telling them I was fired.

Dollar General Makes You Jump Through Hoops

sweetietweet — 2010-01-25T00:25:35-05:00

I have been with DG for almost 6 months as a 3rd key. I have come to realize that there are a lot of things that this company does that make zero sense (or possibly it's just my DM or RM...I'd be interested to know what other DG regions do).
For instance, we are required to fill out paperwork that shows each cashiers over/short (this is the only one that makes good sense), their total number or transactions on a shift, the average basket of those transactions, the average number of seconds in between items in a transaction and the amount of voids. If a cashier rings up more than 50 customers and their average basket is 50 cents or more lower than the store's average basket they get highlighted and circled. If this happens on 50% or more of their shifts they get written up. We have a lady that works for us that only works once or twice a week. Usually a night shift where the sales are lower, she's gotten written up a bunch of times.

Now typically when you think of a write up you think something along the lines of "3 strikes and you're out", am I correct? My manager asked my DM about it since she keeps getting written up. His response was that they're allowed to get 50 "write ups" before any action is taken.
Well then please tell me why we even bother with it then?? It can't be that important!
Also, the average seconds between items and the average basket. Apparently if the average seconds are high and the average basket is low then that is an indicator of a cashier stealing. Now, I can somewhat understand the logic...but to have to focus on it like we do is a little silly. I wonder just how many cashiers they have busted by looking at those numbers. You can't force a customer to spend an extra $5.00, you can't count your customers and then turn the rest away before you get to 50, it's impractical to wait for every item to be placed on your counter while you're ringing in order to get the fastest scan time. Things don't always work out that way.
My boss, who is a devot Christian, great guy, his scan rate the other day was 12.3 seconds (very high) and his average basket was $4.23 (very low)...so I should automatically assume that he was stealing??? I think not.
My boss also got into trouble by the DM because he spends too much time watching the cashiers at the front. And that we should rely more on the chart. Tell me how much sense that makes. Isn't it a better practice for a manager to be involved with his staff and watching them, and them knowing that he's watching them then for them to have free roam and hope that the numbers pick something up????

Being a Retail Worker AND Consumer

Anonymous — 2010-01-21T22:24:41-05:00

I have been working in retail since I decided to go back to school in 2008. The store I work for places the highest importance on customer service, which pretty much means giving the customer whatever they want. This was hard at first, because I didn't want to give the discounts and fake happy face to the angry customers. But as I realized that it wasn't my money - and lost sleep over situations I wished I'd handled differently - my job made me happier. I now take this customer service thing VERY seriously and, as I give it to all of my own customers, expect it in return when I am on the other side of the register.

I have been going to my community college for almost 10 years now. I have never been a fan of the bookstore - the employees are never happy to be there, don't even try to care about students, and have NEVER asked me if I needed help or if they could help me locate or recommend something.

Last week, I made my what are now my final trips to the bookstore.

I was purchasing my books for classes, which totaled around $800 for the new ones. I placed more value in having my books right then and there than paying half price to rent or buy used and having to wait for shipment.

After waiting 20 minutes in line, I arrived at the counter. I had to remind myself to breathe when I saw the total. I rummage in my bag and whip out my mom's shiny new credit card, with a nice note telling me she loves me and is proud of me - and here is my money for books! The clerk asks for my ID and I politely explain that it is not mine, because I am a student and money doesn't grow on trees. I then attempt to pull at her heartstrings by sharing my mother's hand-written note with her. I also ask her if I can pay the used price for my Chemistry book, which no longer has the plastic wrap on it.

First she says that the Chemistry book is not used. And I said, but there is no difference between this book and the used books from last semester - there IS a difference between the new books and this one - no plastic wrap. I wasn't really expecting a discount, but I was a little peeved when she couldn't at least back up her argument and try to explain why I couldn't have the book at the used price.

Anyway, back to the credit card... The manager comes out to make a big scene and tell me that I can't use it in the store because it isn't signed and it's not mine. She tells me that I can go and order my books online and pick them up in the bookstore later. So I said "You mean that I can go outside to the public computers - right outside the bookstore - and order my books with my mom's credit card and come pick them up right after. But I can't just pay for them here, right now in the same way?"

"Yes," she says.

I leave in frustration, go home and rent all my books online for less than half the cost at the bookstore. I now have to wait 5-7 business days for all my books.

Two days later, I go back to the bookstore to purchase a lab book (since those aren't able to be rented or used). When I get to the counter, the clerk rings up my purchases, and doesn't say a SINGLE word to me - not "Hi how are you today?" "Hello, is this all for you? Did you need help finding anything else?" Not even a total. I give the clerk my credit card. It is not signed, and she DOES NOT ask for my ID, but swipes my card anyway. I give the clerk my most incredulous look, take my books and leave.

Perhaps I am the sucky customer in this scenario, but I have never felt less valued, especially after offering up $800 of business.

I'm back....

LPHardcore — 2010-01-19T23:46:40-05:00

I'm back.

For those of you who may or may not remember, I'm the LP side of retail sucks lol.

I took a sabbatical to deal with some personal issues that came up suddenly but I'm back.

Bright side is...I got fired from Gap. I know some people wonder why I call that a bright side of anything, but getting fired from Gap meant I got picked up by Nordstrom.

And, let me tell you, there's a world of difference. These guys seem to actually CARE about their employees. I've been there a month and already grabbed 3 internals, 7 externals, and my regional LP manager and Investigations director really want to meet me and talk future.

So I found it to be a bright side.

Least at Nordstrom they won't fire you for hurting a customer's feelings.

Over Qualified

Anonymous — 2010-01-18T21:49:10-05:00

I was just wondering how many people out there presently working in retail are extraordinarily overqualified. I have a master degree, other sales associates in my store have MBA's, law degrees, etc. I am presently earning less than I paid my maid. I am grateful to be employed and have a paycheck - be it a laughable one, I find it exceedingly depressing, demoralzing and crushing. I was wondering how many others share the same sentiments and experience.

I need to rant...Customers SUCK!

Anonymous — 2010-01-17T11:51:25-05:00

New user to this site. Excuse me but I need a rant so bad! I've been working at a dollar store for the past eighteen months. Granted I appreciate my job more than ever due to the economy, CUSTOMERS DRIVE ME ABSOLUTELY INSANE! Here is a list of stupid costumer practices that have driven me stupid: (Sadly, this happens to me EVERY DAY at work)

-Debit/Credit Card Machine: A fairly simple machine right? WRONG!

1. Although the debit machine clearly labels which way to slide your card, you still get it fucking wrong, even after I tell you which way to slide it through once, twice, three times! READ!

2. The machine is right in front of your face and you still hand the card to me. It says in bold letters "please slide card through slot." I sigh and slide the card through opposite to my standing. (MORON...)

3. You slide your card through and do nothing. You look around like a fucking dumbass in la-la land until I have to tell you to enter your pin or press a button completing the transaction.

-"Excuse me, do you work here?" (I love this one!) You ask me this when:

1. I am cleaning the store, scanning out items, stocking, etc. on the floor, not to mention wearing the company apron, nametag, and promotional buttoms. NO, I DON'T FUCKING WORK HERE!

2. I am behind the register checking people out (ahhh, the public...).

-"Excuse me, can you help me find..." You ask me this when:

1. The item is either one foot to your left, right, or in front of your face.

-"Is there another cashier open?"

1. Working at a dollar store, we are often understaffed. You would think people would understand this. WRONG again. Many days my managers have left me to chill out on the office (asses) while I am left on the register ALL BY MYSELF. I am going as fast as I can on a busy day and people are still such assholes about it like its my fucking fault that the store doesn't have the hours to pay more than one cashier/manager at a time. It's a fucking dollar store, what do you expect?!

-The Go-Backs/Damages in the Store

1. I fucking hate some customers. I work my fucking ass off for 8 dollars an hour, not to mention going to school full-time, to have my dollar store looking clean, organized, and stocked at night for the next day, only to come in the next day with the same fucking mess all over again.

2. Customers, I will fucking hate you if I see you put an item where it doesn't belong because you're too fucking lazy to put it back 3 feet away after deciding that you don't want it! I will hate you even more if it is frozen food. WE LOSE MONEY WHEN YOU DO THAT, which cuts hours, and hence makes lines longer.

3. Customers, I will fucking hate you if you put an item where it doesn't belong right in front of me as I am checking you out. Wow, you can't just give it to me.

OUR STORE HAS HUNDREDS OF GO-BACKS BECAUSE PEOPLE CAN'T PUT THINGS BACK WHERE THEY BELONG! HOW HARD IS IT?!

4. Customers, I will fucking hate you if you eat our food in the store and then put in back in the shelf, drink our products and put them back on the shelf, and put your trash (i.e. tissues, soda drinks, etc.) on our shelves.

-Children. I can't stress this enough: CONTROL YOUR FUCKING KIDS. It's not my responsilibity or the company's, IT'S YOURS! I hate it when your kids throw things all over the place and create even more damages to add to the pile.

-Fifty and one hundred dollar bills. Hell. You are my first customer in the morning and you buy a card, which totals to 55 cents after sales tax in my store. You give me a one hundred dollar bill. You bitch when I say I don't have change and have to get the manager, who has to go to the bank, for change. GO FUCK YOURSELF! Why do people get these bills? ATM machines spill out twenties. You must really want to look "rich" carrying around those bills.

-Bathrooms. Go before... Why? In the past month, my store has paid thousands of dollars to repair the fucking bathrooms. Three times I have had to clean up dried-up shit all over the toilet, walls, and floors of the bathroom. The bathrooms are so bad sometimes that I can't take a fucking piss for 9 hours at a time.

That's about it for now. Sorry, I just need to get this all out before I go nuts

Family Dollar blows the big one

Anonymous — 2010-01-13T23:33:50-05:00

Let me just say, everything you've read about this company is true.
All the managers do is breathe down your neck and give you a major headache.

Now, the story.

First day, 5 hour shift. I have to master the cash register in 10 minutes, I got it 80% mastered I guess. I have to go around the entire store and "recover".
You're constantly reaching to the back of their narrow shelves and knocking everything over to "bring everything to the front".

Some stores might now have to "recover" as bad as I had to, and I hope no one has to. First you have to stack everything in a messed up pattern if there is nothing else in the back to bring forward. EVERYTHING, and I mean everything has to have NO gaps in between products. They have to be straight from the front to back, and top to bottom. And the first product has to meet the beginning of the shelf. Which takes a VERY long time, and if I can't keep doing it perfectly 4 hours out of a day, everyday that I work. I am no longer a slave for Family Dollar.

I am constantly watched on the CCTV cameras, how do I know? Every time I don't "recover" something right, here comes the dumb lazy ass manager to tell me how it HAS to be done.

Then, there's the breaks. Whenever the manager decides I, or anyone else can have a break, NEVER, from what I heard. If you work 9 hours you can get a break ONLY if this dumb ass manager says so. Which, from what I've heard, doesn't happen.

Oh and did I mention I get bitched out if a customer takes to long to give me the money they owe me? If I don't speed walk for everything I need to do, I get bitched at. I'm not going to speed walk until I am freely available to go and get something to drink when I please. There's no such thing as a rest room break either.

And how does this store rely on getting a managers help for something, like a return? A little bell. That they've openly admitted that they don't answer to.
And how the hell are they suppose to hear a bell when they're locked up in the back watching me on CCTV?

I've worked at Family Dollar for 1 day, and I'm already looking for another job.
Oh, and the debit cards they give you as your check, some how can't be activated.

Do not work for them. Trust me.

Customers suck when....

Anonymous — 2010-01-12T21:44:56-05:00

Customers suck when they...
1. Have a sense of entitlement about them just because they are in your store.
2.When they ask you how much this costs even when the price tag is in plain sight on the item.
3.When they can't even figure out what 50% off something is.
4.When they don't understand why they can't return something that has deordorant stains and a what the hell is this stain on it.
5.When they get pissed that you can't break a $100 bill 5 mts after opening! Ever hear of $20 bills you morons???
6.When they try on 30 different things, don't hang any of it back up and then don't buy anything! Get a life you idiots!

Anyone have others they like to add?

Sales, Coupons, SALES. UGH!

Anonymous — 2010-01-12T00:12:44-05:00

Seriously. Our signs are NOT that hard to read. I work at a store that always has some kind of sale going on. I constantly get people bringing things to the register, waiting for the item to ring up, and then looking all confused and getting downright bitchy about the item "not" being on sale or being the wrong price for the sale posted.

Like today, I had at least 3 people bring items to the register with the idea in their heads that the item was on sale when in fact it was not. A lady and her daughter brought up an item and said it was supposed to be 50% off. Now, I am a reasonable person, and if there is a signage error (and there have been), I will give them the discount and remove the sign after.

So I checked where these people got the item, and the sign had 50% in bold letters (all the signs have the percentage in bold to attract customers), and right underneath, in large, clear lettering, was the brand name that the sale applied to. What they had picked out was not the sale brand. I told them that and they went to leave the store, but came back a few minutes later, all smiles, saying that my manager said to go ahead and do the discount.

I'm like, WHAT?? So I got on my headset and asked, and the guy that had helped them said to do it. And I'm like, no, I need to hear it from a MANAGER. So the manager gets on and says to do it.

And I'm cussing under my breath the whole time because these idiots got what they wanted when they shouldn't have. And this happens WAY more than it should. People don't know how to read signs, and they act like the store should compensate them for their stupidity.

We had a bunch of Christmas items on sale last month. There was an endcap that was next to the Christmas stuff. This endcap had NO sale sign on it, and everything was regular price. I cannot TELL you how many people brought something to the register from that endcap and INSISTED that it should be on sale because everything around it is on sale.

It's like, well, why don't we just give you the whole damn STORE for 50% off? Hell, take it all for FREE! What do I care? My job doesn't depend on the store making money or anything!

And by the way, no, I DON'T have a coupon for you. It was sent to your HOUSE in the mail from the list YOU signed up for. Bring it with you next time.

Doom either way!

Anonymous — 2010-01-08T03:09:12-05:00

I'm a pt mgr a luxury store. We close at 9pm. I locked the door and had a group of 7 customers finishing up. I hear banging on the door. Look up some woman wants to come in. I look and saying cllloooosseed sorry. she walks away. Two minutes later a little girl in the store comes up to me, the lady is at your door again. I'm like crap seriously, she wants to come in it was 9:03 and the group was headed out. I didn't want my associate to let the other woman in so I headed up there to let them out with her. The woman says I drove 45minutes to come to your store I know what I need. I'm like ma'm we're closed. She replies umm you locked your door before 9 o'clock. I was like I have 9:05 on my phone right now. (not wanting to piss this bitch off and get a complaint I let her in to shop). I said look i don't have time to argue with you I have to count my registers come get what you need. She gets her stuff and checks out. I go up to the door to let her out and say tis the season to be jolly! The next day, i answer the phone and its a customer who wants my DMs phone number! Instead she talked to another MGR because she wanted me to learn a lesson. And I did! I'm not letting anyone in after 9pm! Imagine if I denied this woman service! she'd be pissed! Instead I actually let her in and still no respect! I had worked 8.5 hrs that day and I wanted to go home! some people! fyi: I DIDN'T GET IN TROUBLE THOUGH, BUT NO ONE IS EVER COMING IN AFTER 9PM IF I'M WORKING!

Just Read the Tag Dammit!

konpaku — 2010-01-04T20:47:55-05:00

At our store, we have tickets or stickers on each item that not only have the price WE sell the item for, but also the price when it is sold at another department store. Here is an example of what a normal ticket at our store would look like:

Compare at: $25.00
Our Price: $14.99

This means that the price we sell it for is obviously $14.99. In fact our tickets have our price typed in larger and bolder numbers so customers can understand how much the item is. However, our store has a few signs that says "Up to 20-60% off" which can confuse customers. But this means that the merchandise that we sell at our store is 20-60% off compared to when it is sold at other stores. Naturally, we explain it further and the customer understands. But there is a rare case when a customer can't wrap their head around any of this. Something like this happened today.

Customer: (walks up to my register, with some gift set for babies) How much is this?
ME: (I check for a price tag and find one that says, "Compare at $60.00, Our Price $29.99) It's $29.99.
Customer: But there was a sign that says 45% off.
ME: Oh yes, that's compared to when it's sold at another department store. Here it's $29.99. (points at the larger number that says "Our Price")
Customer: (stands there)
ME: See if the item is $29.99, but at another store it's $60.00.
Customer: So I can't get 45% off?
ME: Not off our price.
Customer: Are you sure?
Me: I'm sure.
Another customer: (gently pushes the first customer out of the way) Okay okay, you got what you were asking for.
(First customer walks away)

Now I know what you're thinking: the second customer was very rude. However, the second customer told me that the first customer cut in front of her. When the second customer took note on it, the first customer said that she only wanted to know the price of the item. I guess the second customer went ahead with it, thinking it wouldn't take long. Hmm, guess it didn't work out that way?

So who is the bigger issue, first customer or second customer?

Is A Bit Of Organisation Too Much To Ask For?

Anonymous — 2010-01-01T21:30:13-05:00

You'd think mangers would make sure their staff leave on time, even more so when that member of staff is stuck on fitting room duty on the last hour of their shift. So why was it today I was left on there for half an hour longer-making me do half hour overtime that might just go unpaid? Is it so hard to check who is on fitting room duty and what time they finish their shift so there would be someone there to take over in good time? Instead all the managers do is sit in their office drinking coffee and not caring a bit about the poor staff members who are waiting to go home. Not even when said staff member has moaned at them every five minutes from the time their shift ended until the time they got to finally leave to go and get someone to take over! In the end I ended up just walking out of there and went home. I am now dreading going back on Thursday in case they call me up on walking out and leaving the fitting rooms unattended. But it's their fault for not having some sort of organisation in the whole shop to stop the staff having to do unpaid overtime.

People are retarded!

Anonymous — 2009-12-30T23:26:27-05:00

ME: everything on this table is 75% off
Customers around table: really!? great! awesome! ::digging through stuff::
ME: ::welcome more ppl in:: Hi, welcome to **** & **** *****
Customers: hi!
Customers @ table: Ma'm excuse me, is this 75% off?
Me: yep everythingggg on the table is
Customer: is this 75% off
Me: all the products in the bins on this 75% table are?
:: yells from another table::
Customer: Ma'm excuse, how much is this going to be
Me: well this is the 50% off table and that item is marked $10 sooo
Customer: sooo how much?
IN MY HEAD: REALLLLLLLY HOW MUCH!? SERIOUSLY!? THANK THE LORD I'M IN COLLEGE & HOPEFULLY WILL NEVER WORK IN RETAIL AFTER THIS
ME: $5 ma'm

Once there was a crazy manager...

rainbows — 2009-12-28T23:13:48-05:00

I worked for a certain retail store in a mall. I've been working there for about 7 months and was promoted to part-time key holder. Shortly after the holidays, my position was cut. I didn't really care, I still had my job. About a month after that, my awesome manager was transfered to another store...That is everything went down hill.

We ended up getting a new store manager, and at first, she was ok; she would mess with me, I'll mess with her back, all was good. Mind you, I will get everything that I need to get done fast and neat while having a good time (dancing to songs as I did my work). The day I saw her for who she really was happened about a month or two after she became our SM. It was an opening shift at the mall and we had NO ONE IN THE F***ING STORE. I was folding some clothes and dancing and singing along to a song that was playing ("dancing" in the sense I was moving my hips side to side, and singing to myself in a whisper voice). Across the store I heard this SM yell "STOP DANCING! YOU DON'T GET PAID TO DANCE AROUND THE STORE!" I did what I was told thinking that she might of had a night, whatever.

Sometime went by and I was sorting clothes, while I was doing my little jig, when I noticed a customer come in (SM was nowhere to be found). I helped her find some tops and bottoms, then we went over to the lingerie section. We couldn't find her size in the style she wanted, so I offered to look in the back. I announced it over the radio and went into the back. I wasn't able to find her size so I went back to tell her that we didn't have it. The SM that was NOWHERE to found, came out of the back told the lady to start trying on clothes (which was fine), but when I came back empty handed, she ended up taking over my entire sell by offering to call another store or looking online for it. At the time of check out, the SM rang her out under her name (even though I spent a half hour with her compared to her 10 minutes), and I was out a $200 sell.

Another month or so went by, and a couple of co-workers came up to me telling me of the crazy things the SM was telling them. I heard everything from sly comments she would make about my work ethics, to the out right verbal attacks she would say about me. I could careless; I knew she was fake and only putting a friendly face out to people to cover up the demon that hid behind it.

During the summer, I had a family emergancy to attened to in California. I told the manager that was working the night I had to leave that I woun't be able to show up to my shift and asked if I need to call anyone in. She said no and that she and another associte would be fine without me. I then told my SM about the family emergancy, and she had the nerve to say something along the lines of "I don't see how that effects you, but ok."

The last straw was when she cut my hours from a normal 12-20 hours a week to only 4 (meanwhile, I was already looking for another job and was hired instantly at the job I'm at now). As soon as I got my new job, I sent in my two-weeks notice and didn't look back. I heard from a co-worker that as soon as the SM saw my notice, she told EVERYONE how excited she was that I was going.

Joke's on her; not even three months later, not only was I was asked to come back to the company, but she quit two-weeks after they got a new district manager.

Merry Christmas!

Anonymous — 2009-12-25T12:08:35-05:00

Every Christmas, I thank god that I'm out of retail :) Especially when I see the mobs at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or worst of all, the mall. For those still in retail, hang in there, and for those stuck working on Christmas (i.e. CVS employees or anyone else in a 24/7/365 establishment), I pity and can empathize with you. Merry Christmas and have a safe and happy New Year!

It's ok if a customer calls your bagger stupid.

Anonymous — 2009-12-23T23:03:27-05:00

Several years back, I'd been working as a cashier for Safeway in Anchorage. I had relatively few complaints: awesome co-workers, reasonable hours, managers with manageable egos, etc.

I'd been assigned a new bagger "Lizzy." Perky and always willing to help. A good kid with a good head on her shoulders, albeit somewhat emotional.

I was checking out a customer with an excess of 'fragile goods' i.e: produce, eggs and food from the bakery. Check out was easy enough. Customer seemed irate and pissed so I went quickly about it; no point getting sucked into that maelstrom of ire.

Shit hit the fan when this customer noticed Lizzy putting a carton of eggs in the same bag as the milk. She turned to Lizzy and said in the most snide voice I've ever heard "BAG the eggs separately! I don't need you cleaning broken egg shells in my car!" Lizzy apologized and bagged the eggs separately.

New employees will make mistakes, its inevitable; as a veteran employee, you have to be prepared for any mishap or hiccup. Correct the employee in a polite and helpful manner. A happy employee is a hard-working employee and it doesn't pay to be a tyrant.

What happened next I will never forget.

Lizzy had removed the eggs from the milk bag and PUT a pie in. Before I could correct her, this customer flies into a rage only surpassed by the Hulk.

"Are you stupid?" She asked snidely. Lizzy went silent and shook her head

"No Ma'am." She slowly responded.

"Are you retarded?" She asked again.

"N-no Ma'am." I saw the tears welling up in Lizzy's eyes.

"You should know better than to put a pie in the same bag with milk! Anyone with half a brain knows that! Are you a bagger because you're too stupid to do anything else?"

Lizzy began crying. If there's one thing I detest, it's seeing an employee being walked on so I donned my chivalry armor and said:

"Ma'am, please leave the store now."

This hag then turned on me, calling me everything from grossly incompetent to retarded. In retail we're trained to just bite the bit and be professional but I couldnt, seeing as how she made Lizzy cry. At the end of her verbal tirade she demanded to see the Manager.

I explained what'd happened verbatim, Lizzy collated the same incident. We expected the influential manager stand up for us but...

He APOLOGIZED for our "gross disservice." The customer swore she'd never shop at our store again and stomped off. He informed us both to visit his 'office.'

Back in the manager's "dungeon" we were given a reprimanding speech about how we are NOT to pester or annoy customers.

The manager folded his arms and tweeked his mustache "What you two should have done was remain silent."

"As she insulted Lizzy? Calling her stupid, retarded?"

In an executive weasly manner he dodged my retort "We must provide STERLING customer service, even if it involves being shouted at."

Lizzy gave her two weeks notice on the spot and I had lost all respect for the manager. I quit several weeks later.

STERLING CUSTOMER SERVICE benefits only a elite few: the executives, managers, district supervisors. Safeway is a fortune 500 company: even a Team Leader in the Produce section knows if he/she plays the cards right by stomping on the necks of a lowly worker, they can escape the 11$/hour pay and become Produce Manager! All it takes is a little indifference!

The hypocrisy is absolutely astounding: go out of your way to appease and kiss the customer's arse yet heaven forbid you do the same for an employee being mistreated or insulted.

Is it too much to ask? That managers, supervisors and the executive branch look out for their employees? Stick up for them when they're being mistreated? I felt betrayed by this man's lack of compassion or concern for Lizzy. He's more concerned with jumping up the totem pole of executive promotion than having any sense to protect his employees.

Why is it a unanimous happenstance? That managers give two fucks about an employee but will bring heaven to earth just so the store makes an extra buck?

So next time you're in Anchorage, head to Safeway #1806 and ask for Store Manager Daniel Murakami, tell him to remember, remember the 2nd of November 2005 when "Lizzy" got passed over for some goddamn milk and pie.

impossible, sometimes really is impossible

Anonymous — 2009-12-21T23:02:35-05:00

I worked for a large retail company (not the evil one) in several departments, and in the summer I worked garden center a lot. We sold retaining wall bricks, the odd-shaped kind with a lip on the back to hold them in place. We had two sizes, the smaller of which cost us 79 cents apiece and the larger 99 cents apiece. Of course we had a markup, it's retail.

Anyway, a guy came in and looked at a pallet, which had about a hundred of these bricks on it. Asked how much they retailed for, and I told him- I don't remember what it was now. He said "I'll give you 20 bucks for the whole pallet."

I told him sorry, we can't take that much of a loss on it. "Why?" Because that would be us selling them for far less than what it cost us to buy them. He kept insisting, I kept putting him off. Finally he said he'd be back. I called the manager and he told me I was right, and to not sell for that price.

I mean, it's not like an expired product that we simply have to get rid of so bad that we would take a loss. In the wintertime we just put them in storage and tried again next year.

And the guy wouldn't shut up! He kept coming back, asking to get the whole pallet for 20 bucks. He brought his girlfriend too. He really thought he could get almost 80 dollars worth of product for 20 bucks.

Glad I quit. I have real authority in my job now.

Outed by my own mother

Anonymous — 2009-12-21T13:38:52-05:00

I once went into the store I worked at with my mom, on my day off. I was working odd shifts 6 days a week at that time.

A customer asked me a question, there was a long line and he was desperate for help. Look, I'm not salaried, if I'm not on the clock forget it. I put him off, then mom said "Actually he works here, it's his day off."

"My ONLY day off!" I said to mom. She thought she knew retail because she worked in two different small drugstores, one in 1966, one in 1970. This incident took place near black Friday 1998.

My own mother wanted me to work for no pay.

So...WHY are you telling ME? And WHY did you let the shoplifters go?????

Anonymous — 2009-12-17T22:55:59-05:00

So, every morning we have our little meeting right before we open, as all clothing stores do in my experience. This meeting was kind of retarded:

Loss Prevention Dude: 80 pairs of earrings stolen last week. Just wanted to make you aware of it because we think they will be back.

Employee1: What did they look like?

Employee2: Scuzzy?

(Laughter all around)

Loss Prevention Dude: Yeah, you could say that...no, seriously...

Old Lady Manager: No, a shoplifter can look like anyone. They wouldn't necessarily look scuzzy.

Loss Prevention Dude: They looked to be about 18-19 and they were wearing pajama bottoms.

Employee: Pajama bottoms? Why?

Loss Prevention Dude: That's what the kids are wearing.

Old Lady Manager: It's trendy.

Okay...my question...if you knew what they looked like, WTF didn't you effin stop them?!?!?! WTF are you putting this on us? Perhaps you people should stop bitching at me for things that are not my fault, and focus on the skanks who are stealing from your store! Better yet...stop ordering & stocking so much crap that you're never gonna sell anyway! Idiots!

(By "you people", I'm referring to every bitch and douchebag in every place I have ever worked who has made my life hell, not just the above workplace.)

The customer is always right

Anonymous — 2009-12-16T22:41:58-05:00

Customer: Why have you charged me an extra $10?
Me: This is a charge for replacing your lost SIM card.
Customer: Well, I wasn't told about the charge.
Me: I'm sorry you weren't told sir, but it is in your terms and conditions.
Customer: Well, I'm not going to pay it.
Me: That's up to you sir, but it will affect your credit rating if you don't pay us!
Customer: Oh, you have an answer for EVERYTHING, don't you?
Me: I'm just answering your questions.
Me: Would you prefer it if I didn't have an answer to your questions?
Customer: Yes, I would.
Customer: OK, I'm just going to cancel and go somewhere else.
Customer: How can I do that?
Customer: Are you still there?
Customer: Hello?

My life as a cashier/customer Service.

Anonymous — 2009-12-14T22:06:46-05:00

Retail seems to be one of those things that customers just never seem to understand. You can tell them over and over again about things and they just sit there and stare at you. I swear we should all get together and write a book, called, "The Rules of Retail." I work at a very popular drug store, that gets a lot of crazy people.

I had a customer come in once and complain about the counter size and that they are too small. Hello, I really don't care. I just looked at her and answered, "Well, that may be, but I didn't make the counters." And continued cashing her out. The other day, I was cashing a customer out, and half way through she informed me that she also wanted to do a return, I said that's fine and finished up with her. She then pulled out the 2 items she wanted to return, along with the recipt. The items were still packaged and not used, but the bottom of the receipt said "June 20th 2009." I looked up at her and said, " can't do this, you only have a month,"and pointed out to her where it says that on the receipt. Clear as day it informs the customer about the 30 day return policy, but ignorant people like her don't get it. She said, "So, you can't return it?" I said, "no, the only thing I could do is an exchange where you'd have to buy something of equal or greater value." She looked at me and said, "But I just did, you want me to buy something else?" I gave her this look and said, "You told me about the return in the middle of the 1st transation, I couldn't stop the transaction half way through." She didn't seem to get it and just kept going on and on. I looked at her and said ''It's the rules of retail, I don't make them. I'm just doing my job." I finally didn't feel like listening to her anymore, so I called the manager, she came and said to her "We can do it this time, but not again because we can get into trouble." I could tell the manager didn't want to deal with her either. I could keep going on and on with the amount of stories I have. I just pray one day customers will understand retail. Not going to happen though!!

I Got Out

Anonymous — 2009-12-12T16:47:56-05:00

Through four years in retail I was rapidly promoted from sales floor associate to assistant manager. I left one company for another and was promoted to store manager in four weeks. It was always just a job for me, one I took seriously but not to an extreme. I saved money and grew sales but didn't have to drastically slash anybody's hours and got a lot accomplished with a professional mentoring approach rather than intimidation.

However, there are always people who get stuck in retail jobs and you quickly learn that they are in these positions because they could not work anywhere else. Which brings me to this past September. By this point my store has averaged a 30% sales increase with very low labor. My management team is informed and involved and most of my staff are self-reliant. My sales floor looks better than any other store's in the region. By the way, I'm also very exhausted and getting a little bitter about how hard I have to work to please my DM and those above her.

It's the last week of September and we are expecting a big visit from the company's director of operations. This is a big guy who wears tacky suits and loves to shout at and order people around. He comes in and sees a pallet of merchandise is still shrink-wrapped and sitting in a corner of my stock room. This causes him to go ballistic. He starts shouting, "Where is your office? Let's go talk!" I open the door and he forcefully grabs a chair and screams, "You want to do this?! You really want to do this?! Sit down! No, seriously, SIT DOWN!"

I calmly take my seat, at this point my blood is boiling and I'm hoping he hits me. Would be a great lawsuit. Seriously, I thought he wanted to punch me at this point. He begins shouting that this company has lost money all year and he's got a manager who can't push product out on the floor and one who's costing him money. Then he found a spreadsheet that didn't have a date on it. "How the hell am I supposed to know what period this covers? I DESIGNED THESE SHEETS TO HELP YOU BUT YOU'RE JUST MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT! If you think I'm doing something wrong, please, tell me! I'm open to suggestions!"

I calmly explained to him that I just didn't put the date on the spreadsheet and I meant no disrespect. He kept yelling, "Maybe you need to look at doing something else! Obviously this is not the job for you!" Then he walked out, took a look around my floor and shook my hand and said, "I'll see you again in a week or so."

Immediately after this my entire team told me that I didn't deserve this and urged me to quit. So I quietly got my resume together, started applying, and landed myself a great, high-paying government job. As soon as I passed the background check I called the company I was working for and gave them a three-day notice.

My RM was very upset and began saying things like, "I don't know, this job doesn't sound very positive." At the end of the three days I had to call and remind her to get my check (of course) and arrange a time to pick it up. When I did she just handed it to me and said, "Sounds like it will be an adventure" turned, and walked back to her office.

As far as I'm concerned, whatever. My time in retail was miserable. I hated it and I'm glad it's over.

Thirty-Frigging-Seconds

ClassyCashy — 2009-12-10T23:26:19-05:00

Here's a little back story.

I work at a grocery store. I get 2 fifteen minute breaks or one Half hour break, the option is up to me. So I take the 2 breaks, and the store I work in, is essentially a Costco or Sams Club in size.

So they come up to my till, or call my till to tell me I'm going on my break. I'm often in the middle of a customer so I finish and then try to find the Super to tell them I just got off. Then I have to run ACROSS the store to get the premade sammiches and the cheap soda (50 cents as opposed to 3 dollars.) That's my lunch, sometimes I'm in the mood for desert so I need to go ACROSS the store again to the Bakery and pick up a donut or what have you. This process can take 5 minutes. Give or take a few minutes if I say hi to my friends in the other departments or get stopped by a customer.

I try to go as quick as possible though.

Anyway, I then most of the time need to wait in a line. This can take up to 3 minutes depending on cashier speed. So I have essentially a 7 minute break when everything is said and done.

There's the back story.

So I was on my break, and I'm having a less then stellar day. So I really want to go relax and rub my head. I bolt to get my sandwich, bolt across again to get my dessert. I see lines at every till but Till 1 directly in front of me has one person getting the order done and one person waiting. So I haul over there and set my stuff down, and a split second later this middle aged couple gets to the till and I said "Photo Finish Eh?" then smiled (I was completely joking around, evidenced by the fact he chuckled). Then looked around waiting for the orders in front to be finished, (My three items would have taken 30 seconds to ring through and get paid for.) The guy behind me says "That was kind of rude." I look back and say "Sorry sir." Figuring he'd understand I was on break. A girl IN FRONT of the girl in front of me comes up to me and says "I'm so embarrassed by the way you treated these people, you should go behind them." I look at her and say "I got Three Items!" she then ran off in a huff looking back angry like. The man behind me came up to me, not quite getting into my face but making his presence felt, his wife just looking on. He says "Do I look like an Idiot to you?" I say "I never said that sir, I just have three items and I need to get off the floor for my break, it'll take thirty seconds." he says "No, Do I look like an idiot?" so of course, "No sir, you don't look like an idiot." then in a roundabout way he calls ME an idiot and states that's he'll call the manager if I don't leave the line right now. I was so close to telling him to do it, it would have taken one more word.

So I moved my three items to a different till on the otherside of the tills, (a n00b cashier) and tell her how to process a good portion of the transaction. Which still only took 45 seconds.

I ended up coming off so late they counted it as my half hour, I was ready to cuff the super in the face. I was held up because a customer didn't want to wait 30 seconds and raised hell, no to mention running all over the store to get my food. Right after that, in my second order I apparently mishandled a customers food and they told me not to take my bad day out on them. Sure, fair enough, but 1) Your holding up the line and 2) Your butchering the English language.

Shortly after that I ended up hurting my arm (moving boxes around) and I'll need to get it looked at soon as my Forearm and Elbow get shooting pains when I move them a certain way.

All because this clown couldn't wait thirty extra seconds. I'm not trying to sound like an asshole or anything It just pisses me off that half a minute was taxing someone too much. I get a 7 minute fucking break let me get my shit and get out.

Owner

Anonymous — 2009-12-09T23:05:03-05:00

I own a small retail pet store. A few months back a woman in her sixties with long black and metallic green fingernails walks in and asks for a small kitty litter box. She stands out to me because not many women in my section of the northeast have nails like past their twenties or thirties and she is acting like white trash. As I am ringing her out, she asks if she can return the litter box when she is finished with it as her one cat has a urinary tract infection and she needs to obtain a clean urine sample. I laugh at what I assume is a joke because who in their right mind would bother to return a $2.00 item, let alone a used litter box, right?

The same woman walks into the store two months later with a dirty kitty litter box to return. She walks up to the counter with the disgusting item and tells me she wants to return it. I was so shocked and disgusted, I laughed in her face again. She kept coming to the counter trying to return it and I kept laughing like it was a huge joke she was telling me. I was being extremely friendly but laughing in her face like "Oh that is hilarious. Good one!" She kept hanging around the store with this vile thing in her hand for 15 minutes. Eventually, her boyfriend came in and tried to help her return it to which I replied again "Oh that is so funny! Good one!" Fortunately, she has not been back and I hope she never returns. I hope she also tells her friends to stay away because I don't want to deal with anyone who befriends someone like that. I shudder to think that one of our employees may have been forced to touch that scumbag's used kitty litter box. Not all owners will whore themselves or their employees for a buck. If more people were shamed because of their bad behavior/lack of character, the world might be a better place.

Hypocritical Boss

Anonymous — 2009-12-08T22:59:25-05:00

I work for a company that operates 28 Newstand/Souveniers shops at one of the Chicago airports (hint the busiest one). The General Manager was always preaching that we needed to be a team, that we needed to work together, blah blah blah. We did bust our asses with limited resources because he never wanted to order things like bags to put the customers purchases in, journal tape for the registers, etc. He was more concerned with screwing the customers over by jacking up the prices ($3.00 for a bottle of water, $1.89 for a couple of rolaids, etc) and favoring certain managers (especially two that he was suspected of sleeping with). Well, surprise surprise when he was recently escorted out of the airport by Loss Prevention after being terminated for tampering with the inventory results all so he could secure HIS FREAKING BONUS and to hell with the rest of us!! Payback is AWESOME!!!!!!

Close Didn't Count

eusuchian — 2009-12-07T22:50:44-05:00

Here is a story from a while back when I was doing inventories....

It was January, which is inventory hell. You know how retail is in December? That's January in the inventory business. Everyone wants inventory during the first three weeks of the year, because many businesses are closing out their fiscal year, stock levels are low (hopefully), and it's a good way to measure the success (or lack thereof) of the holiday season.

This particular week, we were doing one of the national discount chains, and we already had an issue with one of their DMs. He wanted 30 people scheduled for each of his stores, but based on past history and expected productivity, we knew that 20 people would be enough. We ended up compromising and scheduling 24 per store.

Now here's another thing about January: Because we need so many more people that month, we hire a LOT of people in December to get ready. And as you know, new people often don't work out in any job. Some never show up at all. Others work a day or two and then decide they don't like the job and then disappear. So when we got to the first night of counting these stores, my 24 people ended up being 19. However, I could see that we were still in good shape, and since we were making progress, the store manager was happy.

Then the DM showed up.

He was NOT happy, although it seemed fairly obvious that this was his normal state -- an assessment that I learned to be accurate by talking to several of his store managers during the week.

As it happened, at this particular point in time I was also in charge of staffing for our district. This means I was the unfortunate soul who constantly got the 6 am phone calls whenever a crew was short-handed. It also meant that I knew exactly who was scheduled where, who was available for fill-ins, and how to reach every auditor in the district.

So, I started making phone calls. I called EVERYONE. After about an hour, I tracked down a couple of missing people, pulled a person here and added one there, and went to tell Mr. DM where we stood. We were flying through the store, and I told him we had 23 people.

He wanted to know where was the 24th person.

By now, even if I did get another non-existent person, they wouldn't be there for more than maybe 2 hours, and at that time we had to pay them for a minimum of three hours. So I told Mr. DM that there was nobody left to call. I did not mention the part about the minimum pay, since that probably would just aggravate him more, and anyway it was irrelevant since there was nobody to call. Here is his exact response:

"I'M NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR PROBLEMS."

I seriously considered waiting until the Christmas rush so I could call him from one of his stores to complain the lines were too long and he needed more registers open, just so I could throw his line back at him. However I had heard that he was going to retire in a couple of months. The next January I found that wasn't true...but that's another story....

Death threats over costume jewelry

2009-12-03T21:34:08-05:00

During my lovely two-year tenure at a certain mall clothing/music retail store, I and my coworkers had a very interesting experience.

The story begins just before 10 PM, so we were right about to close and the last customers were going on their merry way. A group of three 20-somethings walked in and were advised by myself that they had but a few moments before closing, to which they replied something to the effect of "just looking".

Everyone was busy with closing duties so nobody noticed when a particularly meatheaded-looking member of this group slipped a ring into his pocket. Little did he know that the company had just started embedding sensors into the packaging of jewelry, so it goes without saying that when he tried to walk out and the alarm went nuts, a series of conflicting emotions twisted his already displeasing face, including shock, anger, and confusion.

Coworker A who happened to be right next to the door asked him to empty his pockets, whereupon a $4.00 plain silver ring was produced. The average story of "I was gonna buy it..." "I dunno how it got in there..." "I must have accidentally put it in my pocket..." ensued, and my manager asked him to stay right there while she calls mall security.

Up until this point, the guy was just your average pilferer, but right when the word "security" was mentioned he reacted as if that word triggered a series of repressed childhood memories of extensive sexual abuse where his drunken stepfather would put on a security costume and rape him and he FLIPPED OUT. He looked from side to side, trying to find an escape route, and upon not finding one, as it was being blocked by my manager, he started screaming expletives directly at her and making like he was going to cause her some sort of bodily harm. Coworker A and I ran up to the front of the store and positioned ourselves around him so he couldn't run and we all tried to distract him long enough for mall security to arrive while simultaneously giving each other non-verbal cues to the effect of "if he lays one fucking finger on manager A you come from the left, I come from the right and we take him down".

Right on cue mall security showed, a yelling match ensued and he was escorted out of the mall and told he was banned.

A couple days later, I was working an afternoon shift with one coworker I was particularly fond of. He's a complete space-case, makes "blond" comments that will make your head spin, and is generally a great source of entertainment in a stressful work environment. The phone rings and he picks it up, with the average greeting, "Thank you for calling cipoT toH this is __ how can I help you", whereupon he paused for a few seconds to listen to the caller speak, twisted his face in amused confusion and said with a defeated giggle, "huhhuh, alright...." and hung up. I inquired, "what was that?" to which he responded, "huhhuh, I dunno, it was like some dude, and he said some shit like, on (insert date) were like, all gonna die or something, huhhuh."

After mentally beating my head against the wall at said coworker's cluelessness, we notified the manager, who was the same one who was working the night we caught that guy stealing. It was obvious we were dealing with that same person and it wasn't a random prank call, so we had no choice but to call the police. The main thing that was worrying us was that the costume jewelry thief was quite obviously military, so he may easily have access to guns or other weapons. Also, we knew that he was prone to fits of rage, and if he was even just a little bit crazy, there may be some weight to his threat. Not to mention, he said a specific date, which was about a week from the day of the phone call. We were all kinda freaked out.

Needless to say, we all filled out statements and were advised to not park in the same spots we usually do or use usual routes walking into work. We received one more phone call a couple days later with the same message, but when we tried to get him talking he hung up. The grand schedule switcheroo was pretty fun; nobody wanted to be anywhere near that store on the day mentioned in the threat. I volunteered to work, which to this day makes me question my sanity, but I digress. On D-day the police set up a secure parameter and everybody was on the lookout for anything suspicious, but he never showed. I was almost hoping he would. In my head it went down just like this: crazy guy comes in the store and points a gun of some sort at my manager, I jump over a fixture and wrestle the gun from his hands, he begs for his life. That would have been sweet.

I want this cash register in my store!

eusuchian — 2009-12-02T23:28:43-05:00

There is surely a lot of overlap between this site and our friends at Failblog, but I had to share this one with you:

http://failblog.org/2009/12/01/the-most-used-button-on-the-register/#comments

No, I didn't submit the picture, and I don't know what store this is. I can only dream that pushing the button results in an electric shock, or maybe a painful rash being administered to the customer in question.

Rude women lack fulfillment in life

jailhousews — 2009-12-01T23:41:05-05:00

I work at one of the "Dollar Store" chains in a small but busy town. The area has seen a lot of growth lately which includes the building of a brand new store that I have now worked at since opening about eight months ago. There are many things about my job that irk me, but this one incident really takes the cake.

As I ran lead register an older lady stepped up with a relatively younger woman who was her daughter. I gave them both a standard greeting and small smile, then proceeded to ring up their items. Now, what I was ringing up appeared to be the entire stock of one brand of dog food. The daughter must have felt an explanation was in order because she said without my asking that she and her mother lived together and they had six dogs between them. So I said, "Oh yeah? That's a lot of dogs huh? But I guess I'd rather have six dogs than six kids though." Daughter-lady laughed and everything was cool, I finished, said have a nice day, whatever.

Sounds like a perfectly normal and enjoyable checkout right? Yeah...apparently not so much. Later that evening the manager on duty takes a call then informs me (with an incredulous look on her face) that someone had just made a complaint about a cashier named Justin, and said that she didn't appreciate the rude comment I'd made about her dogs, and was going to call the customer service number and file a formal complaint about me!

It was ok though because Justin is not my name, and my manager, knowing I have never been rude to anyone EVER, didn't correct her mistake. It was probably the daughter. Seems to me the mother is a grouchy old lady, and her daughter is insecure about the fact that she lives with her mother and six dogs. (and is a massive loser! ) I mean...erm. *cough* I mean really...come on. She's the one who volunteered the information I seriously didn't give a crap that she wanted to buy out all of our kibble.

Black Friday: A day in the life of a retail associate

RetailJourney — 2009-11-30T13:28:17-05:00

Black Friday… the bargain shopping day and what some call the “kick off” of the retail holiday season. If you work a 9-5 desk job chances are you have off work this day, men sleep in to digest that extra plate of turkey they ate the previous day… women get up at 2 a.m. to have breakfast with their girlfriends at Perkins before they get in line somewhere. Some are long from home at a family gathering enjoying the long holiday weekend, some could not… because they had to work… on Black Friday.

ONE alarm clock is not enough

You’d better set your regular alarm AND the ringer on your cell phone… because 3:30 a.m. is damn early. You’ll hit snooze on the first and not even realize it, leaving the second to actually wake you up. Chances are if you’re a manager… you’re definitely getting up this early. If you’re an associate or a cashier you might get lucky and sleep till 4 a.m… but still set two alarms… because you know it will be your ass if you’re late. I suggest a Krispy Kreme doughnut and a coffee with extra sugar… to get your day started. If you’re smart you’ll stretch… maybe do 20 or so jumping jacks to get the blood pumping, after all, you’re about spend 4+ hours in a retail mosh-pit.

TWO associates typically arrive before the others

A manager or two… possibly a manager and one rockstar employee, arrive at the store. Walking to the front door is always entertaining, seeing the line of lawn chairs and blankets. Sometimes I think to myself, “Are they crazy? All this for a few extra bucks off?” Then I remembered that Black Friday is WAY over-hyped and has become a holiday in it’s own right. I also remember my first Black Friday over a decade ago when it wasn’t AS big of a deal… we had some great sales… but nothing so amazing people had to die over it – you know what I’m talking about… thanks WalMart. As we prepare the register tills and wait for the other associates, we chatter about the people already in line… pondering which item on the front page of the Ad they need so badly they must wait in 30 degree crappy winter weather. Once the others arrive, we organize the crew that will go outside to assess the crowd and hand out early bird guarantee tickets.

THREE musketeers

In my store, we have a least three associates go outside to brave the crowd. We put together a ticket system as to minimize the craziness that ensues when the doors open, this way the people first in line, get what they came for. I always feel sorry for the few I send outside… I’ve done it quite few times myself so I know what its like. At first the customers are nice, joking about the cold and asking what we have available… like they don’t know? Did they forget why they got up this early to wait in line? Or are they just here for the heck of it? Stupid questions aside… eventually we hit the point in line where the front page item is already sold out… meaning all the tickets have been handed out. Believe it or not… people have a hard time grasping this. They ask, “How can you be sold out? You’re not even open yet?” Seems like a logical question until you use that God-given muscle in your head called a brain. After all, we are handing out tickets for the popular items… this indicates a limited quantity does it not?

FOURth Kind

You’d think from the way these customers act when they come storming in the doors, they were not human. Do people act like this? Yes, put a single nut in the center of the room with 30 squirrels and your bound to see something outlandish. Despite holding tickets the early birds STILL rush in and secure their place in the checkout line so they can make it to their next stop. What they don’t know is our goal is to present you with illusion of a speedy checkout when in fact we want to slow you down… so we can sell you more stuff. As I said earlier, the item your buying is probably losing us LOTS of money… and we want to suck as much out of you as we can. The first wave of customers on Black Friday are wild, they’ve been ‘abducted’ and replaced with alien bargain shopping monsters bent on associate annihilation. Non-stop questions, “Where is this? Where is that?… “What do you mean you’re out of stock?… “Can I get a rain check?”… Can you open more registers?”… “Can I get one of these?”… “Do you have a minute to tell me about this product?”… The answer to most of these is “NO”… but I try to keep things fun and optimistic… nobody wants to deal with a pissed off customer during this madness. You need to show people you are ridiculously busy… meaning NEVER STOP WALKING. Run if you have to… but as an employee… if you stop to talk… you’d better be selling something or you’ll be sucked in and never get out.

FIVE minute break

About three hours into the day, if you’re lucky… somebody will allow you to have a break. A few minutes to get a drink of water, sit down and breath… or head to the bathroom to vomit. You will probably be alone, as the floor cannot spare more than one associate at a time. Take this time to reflect upon that last few hours, pride yourself that you’re still alive. But remember that you still have a long day ahead of you, and it really only gets worse. As the hours pass people still expect those front page items to be available… and you have to sell them something else or nothing at all. If I were working this hard anywhere else I would treat myself to a shot of Rum or an ice cold beer… but at work they frown upon this… shame. When you’re done with your break you will head back into the madness… that short few minutes of tranquility is over.. get back out there, somebody else needs their break!

SIXty seconds per customer

This is a great rule to follow… I understand it doesn’t seem to be a very adequate amount of time to spend with a customer… but the other 499 customers in your store demand it. We find ourselves going one after the other… sometimes spending less than ten seconds in front of somebody. If you spend too little time with the wrong person… you lose opportunities, if you spend too MUCH time with somebody… you risk losing an opportunity on another. So stick to 60 seconds per customer… but only in the first 2 hours! After the initial onslaught you can start spending more valuable time. You’ll have to babysit some people… the customer that doesn’t realize it’s Black Friday… like the lady that doesn’t know anything about cameras and decided today was the day she should learn… from you. You have to triage the situation and decide if the customer that’s taking a lot of time… is worth that time. If not… be polite… but move on.

SEVEN days of Ad prep

Congratulations, you’ve just spend the last week working your ass off devising strategies, pulling Ad product, and reviewing register layouts… and now you get to see all your hard work explode in a shopping frenzy. If you have a manager like me… he/she has reviewed the Ad several times with every associate and pointed out the hot sellers. Just about every store has a notorious FREE item that always sells out despite the fact that it’s total crap. Not to be too cynical, there is also usually one really amazing deal - which will be sold out within 5 minutes of opening the doors… if not before you open the doors. I found it a good idea to simply put all the sale items in a single stretch of the store on tables and 4-way gondolas… saves me the time of searching the entire store for each item customers ask me for. All this and not to mention the 500 pricing tags to put out (surely on Wednesday night), the 20 bulk stacks, and the tape on the floor to guide the traffic. I sure hope customers realize the blood, sweat, and tears that go into planning Black Friday.

EIGHT customers will hate you

No matter what we do… as associates we all manage to tick somebody off on Black Friday. Unreasonable or not, these people are genuinely irritated… probably because they waited in line for 2 hours only to find out the product they wanted is now sold out. They’ll ask for a substitute, you reiterate that the ad items are limited quantities and first come – first serve… but it wont matter, they will still verbally spit in your face. Now I’m a pretty reasonable guy, I can understand frustration… but about eight ridiculous and unreasonable customers is my limit. After that, I wont get mad… but I’ll definitely NOT give a darn. Read the fine print buddy! Limited quantities, while supplies last, NO RAINCHECKS! I’m sure you read it more than once while you were reviewing the Ad on Thanksgiving… so why not cut me some slack and accept that somebody simply beat you to it? No matter… I’ll make the day fun despite these customers… the show must go on!

Incompetent Store Manager

Anonymous — 2009-11-29T10:41:01-05:00

I'm a stockperson and have been working for a furniture retail chain for over a year. We've all been trained, tested, and have experience.

So I'm in the basement waiting for the other stockperson to bring down the garbage cans and for me to bring up the cardboard bales via the street elevator. We were receiving a truck that morning and the street elevator is how we ferry merch down to the stockroom.

The STORE MANAGER walks down the stairs and sees me in front of the door of the street elevator.

She asks "What are you working on?"
I reply, "Waiting for the elevator to come down so I can send more bales up."
She replies back "Well you should be working on cleaning up the aisles since the truck won't be here in awhile."

Note that I am at the place where I should be, as per stockperson duties while receiving a truck. And she does not PERCEIVE that this is the preparation process we have been doing (and working efficiently) since the store opened. Basically, have everything staged on the street before the truck gets here.

So this store manager thinks I do not know what to do, that I'm goofing off, and I am unaware or cannot see that there is merch that still needs to be put on the shelves.

And, here's the kicker... she actually tells my immediate boss the same thing! "What are you guys doing, you guys should be working on the aisles." My immediate boss has been with the company for over 5 years and knows exactly what to do.

The store manager was promoted from asst manager from another store and apparently had no clue what went on in her own store back then.

I've had jobs where my managers would leave me alone since they knew my tasks would be done competently and on time.

This was an insult to my work ethic. And this is not the only disappointing experience from this store manager.

I'm presently looking for a new job.

Local plumbers suck as customers

Anonymous — 2009-11-28T11:24:02-05:00

I work at a large big box hardware store in a small town in Tennessee. We are about an hours drive away from three major cities. We get a lot of local plumbers who cannot believe we don't have the parts they want and, of course, don't want to drive to the larger cities.

Some of them don't even come in - they just send in their customer and give them advice over a cell phone of what they have to buy. 'Only buy a new toilet with a 3 inch flapper' or asking for single pieces of packaged kits, discontinued items we haven't had in years etc... It doesn't magically appear just because you want it. I can order it, but that usually means at least a week of waiting time. It's doubly annoying that they often say 'Mike's hardware store has it, why don't you?' and I look at my watch and it is 5:15 and we both know Mike's closes at 4:30 pm on Friday and doesn't open again until Monday morning.

No, I am not going to open this new faucet package that 'looks like yours' and sell/give you pieces out of it as repair parts. I am not going to get up on every display and pry open the silicone-glued top (or open a new box) and measure the flapper on every model of toilet. I have too much other work to do like helping the customers who are not being as difficult as you are.

Also, if you are a licensed plumber and want your customers to buy a specific kind of toilet then why don't you keep some on stock at your business? Better yet - get on the Internet, find out which models have features that fit your requirements and tell the customer a name or model number instead. Or, best of all, use your brain and tell the customer the job might have to wait until Monday because you can't get the parts you want and can't/don't want to work with what is available.

Danger! Black Friday is imminent!

Alucard — 2009-11-25T00:40:17-05:00

As always, make sure to send in your Black Friday stories. Whether you had to work at 5 AM, stood in line for a doorbuster, or experienced any sort of craziness, we wanna hear about it! Hang in there and good luck!

Maybe We Shoud Just Stop Carrying Newspapers

eusuchian — 2009-11-22T23:47:26-05:00

Not surprisingly, bookstores have a pretty low profit margin on newspapers. We can return the copies we don't sell, but they have to be pretty much intact. By the time we pay someone to take the old copies out to the drop box, log them, bring in the new copies, and put them on the rack, we probably wouldn't do any better than break even. However, we surely lose money with what we throw out or can't get credit for.

People do things to newspapers that you aren't allowed to do to criminals. Yes, I'm talking about newspapers they HAVEN'T PAID FOR. They write in them, tear out articles or ads they want, and generally leave them in pieces, sometimes scattered all over the store.

Look, if you want to sit in the cafe and read the paper for free, fine. But don't you think you should leave it in a condition where we can still sell it? Would you tear pages out of a book without paying for it? Solve puzzles in a crossword magazine while sitting in the store?

Today we had a customer who asked if he could have a discount on the newspaper because he already did the crossword puzzle. I suppose if he ate an entire candy bar, he would think we should give it to him for free.

Being an emotional punching bag...

Anonymous — 2009-11-21T07:47:57-05:00

So, I work for a particular retail store... I won't say which one because this story actually has nothing to do with the policies or managerial quality of my place of work. I actually really enjoy the company of my higher ups and my co-workers. I've worked for this company in the past for 4 years, took a year off, only to find myself right back where I started. :p I admit that I wasn't a huge fan of working at this retail chain in the past because of idiotic corporate policies and not having enough help at my disposal. At the time, I was a low ranking manager and I found it incredibly difficult to get my work done because of said corporate nonsense. Anyway, now that I'm back, I am no longer a manager... just your average lowly photo technician (: which I do enjoy. Being a photo tech usually means that I have to ring and process film at the same time... typically, this isn't too big of a deal considering that my store doesn't get a whole lot of film to develop. And I usually don't mind cashiering... although, I admit, I'd much rather be out on the floor doing work then standing at the register all night. But, beggars can't be choosers and you gotta do what ya gotta do sometimes. This store is a fairly low volume store and most of the customers are easy to get along with. But, of course, you run into your "problem people" every once in a while. The following story happened to me a few nights ago and is still baffling the hell out of me as I write this. So, it would be prudent to state that the following exchange occurred between myself and a customer who I had waited on for two consecutive days. The first time, he even thanked me for being so nice. (I didn't do anything out of the ordinary but, the compliment, nonetheless, was appreciated.)

I had just come back from my break and I was standing at my register and I noticed this particular customer up near the front of the store. He appeared to be perusing the check out candy so, I left him to it, figuring he would approach my register when he had made his choice. He was literally standing there for less than a minute when I hear him say.

"I guess I'm not allowed to buy anything."

I didn't assume he was directing his comment at me since his tone was low and almost incoherent. Anyway, he then approaches me and says, "I'm not allowed to buy anything here?"

I said, "I'm sorry?"

He then asked me if he could make an "emergency phone call". I said of course and dialed the number for him.

He talked the person on the other end of the phone for a few minutes and I tended to the customers I had in between.

After he was done, he repeated his original "I'm not allowed to buy anything here" rant, which was still completely confusing to me.

Once again, I uttered "I'm sorry?"

And he continued to mutter incoherent things. I was only able to understand what he was referring to after he made his selections and put his items on the counter. He then said, "I guess I'm just not good enough for you! I know I may just be like an ordinary customer and that's just not good enough for you!"

I was then able to somewhat piece together what he was talking about. I can only assume he was talking about the less than one minute period that he was standing near the registers, seemingly mulling about the candy aisle, deciding on what to buy. So, I said in response:

"I would never say or even hint at anything like that. I have no problem tendering your sale. It is, after all, my job."

He continued to say. "I guess I'm just not good enough for you!"

And everytime I opened my mouth to say something, he would cut me off once again. So, I resolved to just not say anything at all. I rang up the items and politely stated his total. And typically, I say the total and begin to bag the items since the customer is usually digging for their money. But, I didn't have a chance to start bagging his items because he THREW the money at me. So, I took the money and gave him his change. Just as I was about to start bagging his items, he yells, "AND A BAG, TOO! YOU KNOW IT'S CUSTOMARY TO GIVE SOMEONE A BAG WITH THEIR PURCHASE!"

I said, "I was getting to it. Once again, I realize this is all part of my job as a cashier. I didn't have time to do it initially because you seemed to be in some sort of a rush when you forcefully handed the money over to me."

I really was not trying to be condescending because I could obviously see this man was mentally disturbed. But, I certainly wasn't going to entertain the notion of having a compliant filed against me especially since I was upholding the duties of my job. I also wanted to make it clear to him that I wasn't attempting to be rude in any way, shape, or form.

I still see this guy in the store almost every time I work. And somehow, I'm ALWAYS the one who winds up ringing him up. Everytime after that incident, he has been nothing but nice to me and I am always pleasant to him. After discussing this with a few people, it seems as though he suffers from some kind of mental illness, perhaps Bipolar disorder.

I forgot to mention the very first time I came into contact with this guy... he was talking to one of my managers and he said something along the lines of, "There's just nowhere for lost souls like me to go." I felt terrible for him when I heard that. Remembering that, it is clear to me that this man has some sort of mental debility that inhibits his interpersonal skills. While I do feel sorry for him, I still wonder how the title of "cashier" has been redefined to "unsuspecting emotional punching bag".

The Intoxicated Customer

RetailJourney — 2009-11-19T21:18:20-05:00

I first noticed the customer, a man in his mid 40’s maybe, wondering an aisle obviously looking for something…
ME – “Hello sir, can I help you find anything today?”
CUSTOMER – “Yup… the pisser.”
ME - wow… “Well okay then, very back corner of the store you will see a hallway.”
CUSTOMER – “Thanks partner” The customer then looked the corner I did not imply the restroom was… and proceeded in that direction…
ME – “Sir, I’m sorry… it’s the other corner…”
CUSTOMER – confused… “Ah… right” …he turned and headed the right direction… as he passed by I could smell the pleasant yet disgusting odor of Captain Morgan.
The customer was in the restroom for approximately 10 minutes as I notified a few employees about the possibility of a drunk customer in our store. After he was finished in the restroom, it become more apparent he was wasted… and more entertaining.

CUSTOMER - loudly... “Hey, aaaasssociate, hehe… I need a surge protekor, got ‘em.”
ME – “Yes sir, we have many surge protectors.” Which I admit I may have said in a sarcastic tone… “Follow me.”
CUSTOMER – “I need one with a modem.”
ME – “I see, maybe you mean one with a phone jack to protect your modem?”
CUSTOMER – “That’s what I said…. modem.”
ME - what the?? “Sure… right here is one with modem protection, can I ask what your plugging into this surge protector?”
CUSTOMER – with a grin… “Sure can…”
silence…
ME - you’ve got to be kidding… “… What are you plugging into this surge protector?”
CUSTOMER – still with a grin… and stumbled and slurred… “An interactive DVD player”
ME – “An interactive DVD player?”
CUSTOMER – “Yeah you know, the ones that let you do interactive things with women… adult things… maybe you wouldn’t understand.”
ME – was I just insulted? … “I got ya… but I’ve never seen such a thing… I’m sure this model will work for you.” …as I picked up a surge protector…
CUSTOMER – very loudly... “Model… no… THAT girl is a model!” … as he leaned and pointed at an attractive female customer down the aisle…
now it’s getting real…
ME – “Sir… please, that’s not appropriate.” I said very calmly.
CUSTOMER – his grin turned to a look of pure anger… “Boy… I know what’s appropriate and that woman is it!”
ME – okay… he’s gotta go... “Okay, I’m sorry sir but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
CUSTOMER – with a surprisingly convincing look of shock… “What? Why the hell for?”
ME - “Sir, it seems to me that you’re a bit intoxicated and you’re harassing a customer, so I must ask you to leave the store.”
CUSTOMER – “And if I don’t?”
ME – how amazingly typical… but I love it... “Simple, I contact the police and they arrest you for public intoxication… any other questions before you leave?”
CUSTOMER – “F%&K you…” he said as he walked down the aisle… around the register… knocking off a display of gift cards… and out the door.

Unusable Sick Days

Anonymous — 2009-11-17T23:03:04-05:00

I am a MGT for Walgreens. I started right after college, because the options for employment weren't awesome at the time and I have lots of retail experience. I figured i wouldn't be that bad, that I could work there for awhile until a better opportunity came along. I am happy to report that I have reached my breaking point with this company and put in my two weeks.

I have had lots of bad experiences with this company- I have been shuffled between stores numerous times in my year and a half with the company, I have worked for idiots who deserve to be fired, I have seen my overtime taken away and been denied any kind of advancement. I have performed duties well outside my job description on a regular basis. I have worked with stupid bitches who get away with showing up and leaving whenever they feel like it and talking on their cell phones all day. These seem to be fairly common occurrences in the retail field, and I have accepted that.

However, this week has taken the cake...

I was transferred again, to work under yet another idiot. Fine. My schedule was completely changed, I now have been scheduled for 6 straight weekends and been told I have to work Christmas. Fine. I became severely ill this week, and called in as there was no way I could make it through work. I was told no.

I have 6 sick days available, because I NEVER call in. In fact, I even have all my vacation, because we are not 'allowed' to take it for a good third of the year. I called hours before my scheduled shift. These things don't matter, because I am apparently not allowed to call in.

I spent about 4 hours on and off talking on the phone with both the other MGT and the store manager. I called other MGTs to see if anyone could cover my shift and got no help. I was told to get over it and come in. I was told to get some pain meds and show up. I was told I had no other option but to come in and work. I ended these negotiations by saying I was not coming, I was not coming the next day because I intended to go to the doctor, and that they could consider this my two weeks notice.

After 7 years in various retail positions, I think this takes the cake for being treated badly by the company you work for. I just hope the two weeks goes by quick.

A Bad Joke, A Stupid Customer

Anonymous — 2009-11-16T23:54:08-05:00

This one is short, but sweet.

Customers are stupid. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever worked in retail.

Well, one fine night I was ringing up your typical ditsy young girl probably no younger than me (I'm 20). She came in to buy some tea we had on special for two for $5---nothing else.

***Post-useless-smalltalk***

Me: All right, your total's five dollars.

Girl: Oh. There's no tax?

Me: Heh. If there was we'd have to have another Boston Tea Party.

Girl: ...

Me *thinking to myself*: (Okay, it wasn't -that- bad of a joke...)

Girl: ... Um...?

*This is when I start furrowing my brows, the realization dawning...*

Girl: ... I don't get it.

*Sigh* Good times.