#i hate rude customers

Phone calls at our store aren’t typically a matter of giving people directions to our location, providing our store hours or pretty much any quick style question you could have for a retailer. Nah, our average phone order takes between 15 and 30 minutes depending on how many questions the customer has about the bedding they want to buy or price out… or depending on how old and lonely the customer is and how much they really need to vent about their life problems.

The phones where we take phone orders are located in our register ring; and if you’re on the phone and happen to be the only associate in immediate sight, the customer will just walk up and stand in front of you waiting… and waiting… and waiting…

I’ll make eye contact with the customer, smile, nod my head, and maybe hold up my index finger… or something…

…just to indicate it may be a moment before I can get to them. Really, I’m just hoping another associate walks by so I can flag them down because let’s be honest… I’m not going to be off the phone in time to help this customer in front  of me. I’m too busy listening to this old woman ramble and rant about how the immigrants in her building are stealing her packages, and that’s why she needs us to send her orders via some mailing method we can’t actually guarantee because she can’t physically make it down to the mail room.

Customer walks up to the register holding a novelty coin purse (clearance item), two kitchen towels and a matching oven mitt (full priced items); she’s an older woman - probably in her 70s, short white hair, maybe only 5′2″ in height. I ask her if she found everything she was looking for; she replies that she did. I ring up her order, give her the total, she hands me her credit card, I charge her for the purchase, print out and hand her the receipt to sign along with her copy.

The woman then looks at me and asks, “Were those items 20% off?”

“No, Ma’am. They are full priced items.“

“But the sign says they’re 20% off.”

I realize that my associates had missed one of the Memorial Day weekend sale signs and explain, “I’m sorry, Ma’am. That sale ended yesterday. Someone must have missed taking down that sign.”

She immediately snaps at me, “You have to give me that sale price! The sign says the items are 20% off!”

I snap back, “The sign says the sale price applies through Friday the 22nd through Monday the 25th. It’s Tuesday; the sale no longer applies.”

“Thesign says…”

“The sign says the sale only applies through yesterday.”

“Thelawsays you have to give me the sale price because the sign is still there.”

I know there’s nothing in our state law that says I have to give you this sale price because we left up a sign. This isn’t false advertising because the sign says the dates the sales are applicable through… in size 20 font directly under the “Memorial Day Sale” header. It’s not my fault you didn’t read the sign. I just stand there for a second looking at her like, really? You’re really doing this? I already charged you for the sale. You just paid me $30 and change. You’re really arguing with me over six dollars?

We’re bickering back and forth for a couple more seconds with the “the sign says…,” and the “the sign says you need to stfu because you’re just making shit up now” when she simultaneously blurts out, “Just cancel the entire order,” waving angrily at me adding, “Is your manager here? I want to speak to your manager.” Manager’s not in, and I’m not about to bother my good supervisor with this foolishness (and our lazy supervisor who’s straightening the sleepwear section won’t do jack shit for the situation anyway), so I inform the customer, “I have to fully return your order at the price I charged you and then conduct the price adjustment by charging you again. Do you agree to these terms?”

The woman again stupidly looks at me demanding to speak to my manager, to which I retaliate with, “I’m giving you the price adjustment. Do you still want the items or not?!” She says yes, I finalize the transaction, explain to her that I need her to sign “this receipt for the original purchase, this receipt for the return, and then this receipt for the price adjustment order to show that you authorized these transactions.” I staple the stack of customer receipts, hand them off to her and bid her a nice afternoon.

I turn around to see my coworker standing behind me like, “What was that all about?”

“Lady was a bitch. We left up a sale sign from yesterday. She thinks the law was on her side with this one.”

Coworker says I probably could have gotten away with not giving the customer the price adjustment… because really, what’s she gonna do? I’m starting my new job in a week, so what’s she gonna do? Have me fired? Hahahaha… oh… I hate retail.

So, there’s this business that opened a few months ago in my town that combines the “dinner and a movie” experience. It’s a movie theater that has tables and serves pub style food and beverages. The pub theater advises customers arrive at least half an hour early since, you know, it takes time to cook the food… and not just cook for your table but for the forty other people there to view that particular movie… and the people in the other four theater rooms that are also ordering food at the same time. Boyfriend and I got there kind of late (as in right as the trailers began rolling), but no big deal. Movie’s an hour and a half long; worst case scenario, we’ll get twenty minutes into the film and then get food.

Anyway, we’re there to see Inside Out, and aside from the handful of young couples there to see it there’s four or five families. Animated film - kids expected for that 5:30pm showing. Kids aren’t the problem in this situation.

I’m busy watching the beginning of the movie when my boyfriend leans over and says, “Wow… what a biiiiiitch. Did you hear that?” I’m thinking he was reacting to something a character said, so I’m a little confused. “No,” I say, “I missed it. What happened?”

“That woman in front of us, whose family just got their food. She was just bitching to the waitress about how her kids’ food came during the movie…“

“What was she expecting? It’s a theater…that serves food… when did she expect the food would arrive? The whole selling point of this place is to eat food while you’re watching a movie.”

Yeah… the woman complained about the food coming during the movie (because apparently she didn’t want her kids to eat during the movie?), and she demanded that she not be charged for the meals… 

We had the same waitress. We gave her a substantial tip for having to deal with that bullshit.