Dh told a woman merry Christmas the other day and she got pissed and snarled "I think you mean happy holidays." Before dh could say anything a guy in line behind her replied "nope, he said merry Christmas; pretty sure that's what he meant."
We both agreed that had he said happy holidays she probably would have gotten mad that he hadn't said merry christmas.
Who are these people that actually get pissed when people say one or the other? I don't think I've ever seen this scenario play out in real life, just by assholes on social media.
You obviously haven't talked to my mother or my MIL. Oh...my...GAWD the War Against Christmas. I had to put my mom on mute while I was shopping the other day because I called GD2's last-day-before-winter-break a "Holiday Party." And yes, she's like this with strangers and randoms, not just me. "This is a CHRISTIAN nation!" and you can bet my mom hasn't been to church of her own volition in at least 20 years.
I worked retail throughout high school and college. Part of that was at a store that sold beanie babies during the height of the craze. I SMH at all the grown women who would be lined up out of the store for hours for little stuffed animals they thought would make them rich some day. Theft was a huge problem at that store, particularly by tweens. After I left we found out a long time employee had been busted for stealing many thousands of dollars in merchandise throughout the years. She'd often walk out with bags of stuff but with shift changes we'd assume she'd paid for it. Her husband was a security guard at the mall.
I also worked at a high end department store with a generous return policy. I had a woman return an old, smelly, obviously worn, bold patterned sweater. My manager came over and helped. After she told me they had not sold a sweater like that in 10 years. People would return bras and underwear all the time and say they only washed it once and it didn't wear well, when it looked like it had been worn and washed 60 times. Full refunds to all. Most of the worn returns went to charity, but don't worry we had special bags to dispose of the worn underwear!
I worked at Victoria's Secret for a year or so in my 20's. The job had great perks actually, each month, we got a free bra and panty set. Flexible hours, and I worked with a great staff. But the customers? Those people suck. We used to have these leacherous men come in. I'd ask what they were looking for and it was ALWAYS a sexy bra. Id ask the size and the men would look me up and down, stare at my chest for a long few seconds and then go "about your size" wink wink. Blech. We'd also have the guys who would get off on wearing women's clothing (sexual fetish, not transgender) and beat off onto a stack of expensive merchandise in the dressing room. I have to say, the men who honestly just liked wearing women's undergarments were the nicest, most respectful customers we had.
We also had a ton of theft and if you came in with a 32 aa and looked like a 38 DD after walking out of the dressing room, I'd call security. Our bras were good, but not that good.
I had one lady who used to demand personal one-on-one attention for hours, try everything in the damned store on, leave it all a mess, and then go home and order online.
You could always tell when men were in trouble because they'd just follow the woman around the store, saying nothing, and then fork over the credit card with a sheepish smile.
Store associates don't want to pitch the credit card to you any more than you want to hear it. People would SCREAM about it. Dude, I'm required. Shut up.
The beauty associate would come through the store each hour and spray Love Spell everywhere. I cannot tell you how much I despise that perfume, even ten years later.
We'd have massive amounts of returns after prom season. No, we can't take your strapless bra back because it smells like sweat, has deodorant marks on it, and clearly has been worn. Also not our fault that you can't find a strapless bra that works perfectly for your 38 DDD frame. We cant perform magic, lady.
I haaaaaated in te pharmacy when doctors would make promises about the pharmacy that we couldn't keep. "Your RX will be ready when you get there. They'll definitely have this in stock. Your insurance will cover this with no copay."
Also, I think one of my least favorite phrases is becoming "so what are you going to do for me???" Lady, it's not my fault you waited until the last minute to order your eyeliner when you're "going to be out of the country for three months" and didn't say that when placing the order. Ugh.
I haaaaaated in te pharmacy when doctors would make promises about the pharmacy that we couldn't keep. "Your RX will be ready when you get there. They'll definitely have this in stock. Your insurance will cover this with no copay."
RAGE
I can't imagine working at a pharmacy. The last time I got a script filled I had to wait forty minutes because the woman in front of me was arguing about early refills of her pain medication.
I really enjoyed it, 95% of the time. It was a fantastic job in college and honestly, I would probably so it again now. But yeah, people were crazy especially addicts.
Post by spellingbea on Dec 20, 2015 9:29:18 GMT -5
I worked at an amusement park and various retail stores for most of my teens and twenties. I have loads of weirdo stories, but I did sell Sidney Poitier a pair of toenail clippers, so I guess it all evens out.
Also, I think one of my least favorite phrases is becoming "so what are you going to do for me???" Lady, it's not my fault you waited until the last minute to order your eyeliner when you're "going to be out of the country for three months" and didn't say that when placing the order. Ugh.
My dh would agree with you so much. He'll warn someone "it's too cold/wet to stain your deck now" and they'll say "Well I need it done now." They go home, do it and it doesn't set right and then they come back bitching "well what are you going to do for me now to fix this?"
He's also had people get mad when they don't have something for a brand they don't carry. "I need a new battery for this tool" "um, that's a Sears brand tool and I'm afraid we don't carry that" "Well I need it now!" ::stomps feet::
My favorite is when some giant ass is mad about something they can't help (like not carrying a brand for example) and throws a giant fit and ends with "well I'll just go to Competitor" and then they pause like they expect them to beg them to stay and suddenly pull the item out of thin air when really the employee wants to be like "here, let me give you directions there...."
My most hated sentence in the world: "Is that your best price?" Go to Tiffany and see if they'll haggle with you. The price is the price. You want it or you don't.
Also, I think one of my least favorite phrases is becoming "so what are you going to do for me???" Lady, it's not my fault you waited until the last minute to order your eyeliner when you're "going to be out of the country for three months" and didn't say that when placing the order. Ugh.
My dh would agree with you so much. He'll warn someone "it's too cold/wet to stain your deck now" and they'll say "Well I need it done now." They go home, do it and it doesn't set right and then they come back bitching "well what are you going to do for me now to fix this?"
He's also had people get mad when they don't have something for a brand they don't carry. "I need a new battery for this tool" "um, that's a Sears brand tool and I'm afraid we don't carry that" "Well I need it now!" ::stomps feet::
My favorite is when some giant ass is mad about something they can't help (like not carrying a brand for example) and throws a giant fit and ends with "well I'll just go to Competitor" and then they pause like they expect them to beg them to stay and suddenly pull the item out of thin air when really the employee wants to be like "here, let me give you directions there...."
Yes! H works in automotive parts and I hear stories like this all the time.
My most hated sentence in the world: "Is that your best price?" Go to Tiffany and see if they'll haggle with you. The price is the price. You want it or you don't.
"I can get it online for cheaper!" So? See if you can get it here by tomorrow when you need it.
Post by stephm0188 on Dec 20, 2015 10:50:14 GMT -5
Another shoplifting story.
There were store fixture walls that would be configured like a T or a L. In the spots where the walls met, like the top of the T or the bottom of the L, there would be dead space between the fixture and the wall. The fixture walls were tall, 12 ft or so, so getting to the top of them required a pretty tall ladder.
The stock supervisor and one of his employees had recently been fired, and after they left another employee came to me and said "So did you guys ever find their stuff or did they get away with it?"
Turns out those guys had taken multiple dog leashes and hooked them together, then strung several thousand dollars worth of merchandise on the leashes. They dropped them into the dead spaces behind the merchandise walls and clip the end of one of the leashes to the eded of the wall so it could be pulled back up. Their plan was to wait almost a year until everything was pricekilled down to 97cents and then purchase it all to resell.
When I worked at a grocery store a man and woman came through my line with two carts full of groceries. The store was bag your own, but they weren't bagging. I asked the woman if she wanted help bagging since both belts were getting pretty full when all of a sudden a green pepper hit me in the head. The man was at the end of the line throwing produce at me and screaming that things were getting smashed. A manager rushed over to see what the screaming was about and offered to bag. The man told him to keep his hands off his groceries and kept throwing things. I told the manager he could finish the transaction and walked away.
Was it made clear to customers that there was a bag your own policy? Not that throwing produce at an employee is acceptable (lol) but I don't think I've ever been to a grocery store with that policy and if I wasn't aware of the policy, I can imagine being pretty annoyed if things weren't getting bagged and were being smushed.
A good friend works at Target every holiday season and she had a great incident last week at the returns counter. A lady tried to return something that was clearly not even from Target and when they refused to take it back, she plopped her ass down right there. She had her very own sit in. I guess it did not take long for the other customers behind her to get mad and start saying things to her. She finally got up and left.
Macys drastically cut back on stocking shopping bags, they were like gold. We had plenty of plastic bags. I had a women throw a screaming fit because I didn't have a shopping bag and couldn't find one anywhere in the store and I literally ran from register to register trying to find one. Not one in the store. She did a return on the merchandise right then - repeatedly yelling about "..what had Macy's come to, plastic bags!" and how she couldn't possibly walk in to the hotel she was staying at carrying a plastic bag, what would people think. It was a huge PITA how tight Macy's got regarding shopping bags.
What was really odd about people crapping in the one fitting room was that the restrooms were only about 20 feet away.
There is at least one ethenic group where the woman do not come in and shop. The men come in, buy tons of clothes for the women and take them home. The women try them on and decide what to keep, the men return what they don't want. The problem is they use a huge amount of curry in their cooking. The clothing comes back reeking of that curry. They cannot be resold, they are damaged out and the store loses that money. I had people come in and dump bags FULL of clothing like that, when a bag full is dumped on a counter the smell wafts up and and literally would make me almost throw up - stomach churn, vomit starting up the throat. That was my least favorite thing and it happened a lot and not just to me.
I was helping out in juniors one night, dad and daughter came in to buy her a homecoming dress. Fitting rooms were all along a hallway. All of a sudden I realized dad was in the fitting room with daughter while she was trying on clothes. There were other teenagers in the other fitting rooms too. I knocked on their door and told him he would have to wait outside and his daughter could come out and show him her outfits. He went off on me and I mean went off. Screamed, cussed etc. I was firm with him - get out of there, there are other teenage girls changing clothes here (and they weren't always careful about closing doors or walking between fitting rooms to show besties, etc). About 30 minutes later he came up to the register and I thought he was going to scream more. Instead he actually apologized. He said after he calmed down he realized - he wouldn't want a man back there if his daughter were by herself and he just didn't think about how it might be for the other girls.
We found a filthy Abercrombie & Fitch jacket in a fitting room - we could see the big round hole where they'd cut out the security tag when they stole it. We found the security tag from the new jacket they'd obviously stolen from Macy's to replace it.
I was an asst. manager at Vans shoes years ago and caught one of the part time workers stealing shoes by putting them in a bag. I reported him to my manager and the kid was fired. Then days later our district manager showed up to interview me and started asking me about giving out discounts to non employees. Turns out the kid I caught tried to get me fired by calling corporate and reporting me for unauthorized discounts I gave to his sister months before. The only reason I had done it was because my store manager was lax on policy and said we could give discounts to friends or family as long as they paid cash.
I ended up getting suspended and would have lost my job if my store manager wouldn't have fought to keep me employed.
Was it made clear to customers that there was a bag your own policy? Not that throwing produce at an employee is acceptable (lol) but I don't think I've ever been to a grocery store with that policy and if I wasn't aware of the policy, I can imagine being pretty annoyed if things weren't getting bagged and were being smushed.
I can't believe how hard some of you people work to find a way to defend assholes.
Was it made clear to customers that there was a bag your own policy? Not that throwing produce at an employee is acceptable (lol) but I don't think I've ever been to a grocery store with that policy and if I wasn't aware of the policy, I can imagine being pretty annoyed if things weren't getting bagged and were being smushed.
I can't believe how hard some of you people work to find a way to defend assholes.
Lol, not at all defending the customer's behavior.
JCPenney former employee #3 signing in. Man, I hated draw commission (where returns counted against commission.) August-December were great because school then Christmas but January returns meant checks of $.25 and was crap for supporting the family.
I don't remember any particular asshole customers, but I had a few asshole co-workers if that counts. Draw brings out the bitch in a lot of people. "Who was helping you today?" at the register meant that if the customer said "Nobody" means that the person ringing gets the sale; you better have your ass on the floor helping the customer so they know that *you* are the salesperson helping them and not some random who puts the clothes in the dressing room and disappears to gossip with co-workers on the next pad.
Post by RoxMonster on Dec 20, 2015 14:16:01 GMT -5
I have worked many retail jobs, including AE, The Loft and Macy's. Macy's was probably my favorite but there were still annoyances. My favorite customer line was "Well I could get that sweater for $20 less at Bergners," it took all my will power to not say "Ok then go there! Why are you at Macy's then?"
Was it made clear to customers that there was a bag your own policy? Not that throwing produce at an employee is acceptable (lol) but I don't think I've ever been to a grocery store with that policy and if I wasn't aware of the policy, I can imagine being pretty annoyed if things weren't getting bagged and were being smushed.
If a customer requests bagging assistance it is given, but otherwise most grocery stores where I live are bag your own. If they weren't from my area they could have just asked why I wasn't bagging instead of throwing things. I was a teenager and honestly didn't realize other places did bag groceries.
Was it made clear to customers that there was a bag your own policy? Not that throwing produce at an employee is acceptable (lol) but I don't think I've ever been to a grocery store with that policy and if I wasn't aware of the policy, I can imagine being pretty annoyed if things weren't getting bagged and were being smushed.
If a customer requests bagging assistance it is given, but otherwise most grocery stores where I live are bag your own. If they weren't from my area they could have just asked why I wasn't bagging instead of throwing things. I was a teenager and honestly didn't realize other places did bag groceries.
Definitely no excuse to yell or throw things at you. People are so crazy. At least you got a good story out of it?
Post by RamblingRose on Dec 20, 2015 15:15:12 GMT -5
One of my favorite stories was on a friend's last day at D*******. She had a customer walk up to the register and flop her stuff down, and friend said brightly, will this be on your D******* account? And the woman went off on a rant about it, using pronoun YOU repeatedly. Friend let her rant a second and then said (still brightly) I think you are confused, my last name is H******, not D****** and your anger isn't really directed at me personally, right? Then stood there waiting for a response. She was my hero that day.
I'm growing older but not up. My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck, let the winds of time blow over my head. I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead.
As a customer, I always try to be extra nice and patient this time of year. Sometimes I'm even tempted to compliment workers on how well they handle this season, but I don't want too sound patronizing.
Please give compliments to the employee and manager! We love hearing that we made someone happy, and as a manager I love hearing positive stories about my team. Better yet, write corporate Holiday season is tough. Long hours, fast paced, very little down time. I never feel patronized by kind words.
I just posted on Facebook that even after more than a decade of working in retail, I'll never get used to having complete strangers yell at me.
Last nutjob I encountered was a guy trying to return needles. He had opened the package so there was no way I was taking them back. After a lot of back and forth he pulled a needle out and put it in my face to show me that it hadn't been used. That got him a call to non-emergency police. Gtfo.
Post by cheeseandcrackers on Dec 20, 2015 22:21:42 GMT -5
I didn't really work in the retail end.. but I worked at dry cleaners for a while. So many awkward situations. People bringing in pants with ACTUAL poop in them, the manager would write a note that said something like "no fecal matter allowed" when they came back to pick up the clothes it would be so awkward explaining to them why the pants didn't get dry cleaned. People leaving drugs in their pockets, I would normally call them up and explain to them they left something in their pockets that needed to be picked up immediately lol.
I have so much respect for people that work in retail and I know December SUCKS right now, I try to be as nice as possible. This one time I was in the check out line and this lady was going off this on poor teenager for absolutely no reason, she was just treating him like complete trash and he was putting up with it. That lady needed to be kicked out the store for being such a raging bitch.