Retail Confessions

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FastChapter
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Retail Confessions

#1 Post by FastChapter »

Well, it's that time of the year again. Time for middle-aged moms to get light jail sentences over Tickle-Me Elmos, fathers to compulsively buy every shiny discount TV they see at Sears and for children of all ages to scream like banshees in strip malls across the country.

It's also time for retail employees to tighten their ties, roll up their sleeves and suffer the abuses of hundreds of strangers for the next month. :)

Now, none of us are perfect employees. Especially not during this season. Nor are we perfect customers. The purpose of this thread is for you to relay your retail horror stories, spill the beans on your laziest moments at work during the holiday season, and generally fess up to all the terrible crap you have either committed or witnessed during this lovely time of the year.

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Talaisan
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Re: Retail Confessions

#2 Post by Talaisan »

I throw every box of Abercrombie and Fitch or American Eagle merchandise as hard as I can. My little rebellion against the sheep clothiers.
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Cessna Skyhawk
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Re: Retail Confessions

#3 Post by Cessna Skyhawk »

Can this thread be for confessions at any job? I don't work retail, but I know I'll have some fun stories from my job as a line tech.
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Re: Retail Confessions

#4 Post by Talaisan »

I'm a step removed from retail, but I figured I'd confess too. Logistics.
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KyeRaor
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Re: Retail Confessions

#5 Post by KyeRaor »

People get ridiculous whenever this time of year comes around, more than usual anyways. Working in a grocery I've definitely had my share of people who needed to simmer the F down. Used to be a cashier at the store I work at, and it was about a week before Christmas.

One lady comes up to my till with 5 items (chestnuts, oranges, some Xmas decorations, and a movie), about 10 minutes away from closing time. I scan every through through, and she is meticulously eyeballing the monitor where the cost of everything appears. She snaps her fingers and says "The price of the chestnuts is wrong. It's not right. Fix it". I pause a moment and comply, like a good employee does, and called the appropriate department to my till for a price check. The department clerk brings up the tag, and the price that the computer said is correct. She looks back at the monitor and says that the price of the oranges is wrong. We go get the price tag for the oranges, and show her that it is again the right price.

She complains about the price of everything. The store has now closed and she is still angry about how "ridiculous our prices are". It got so bad we had to get our manager down from the office to try and kick her out. She just wouldn't leave, and I'm stuck at the store because her order is still being processed and I can't sign out, because I'm the one processing it.

This goes on for half an hour more and she is still arguing. She looks at her watch and says "This is B.S. I have to go but you bet I'll be back tomorrow. Your prices are wrong and that is false advertising blah blah blah" She doesn't buy anything and just storms out. I put everything in her order back on the shelves and can finally go home.

As I'm walking out to my car I notice that she is still there. Giving an earful to someone on her phone. She notices me and gets out. I think "Awe.... $*&^". She spazzes out on me for the whole situation. Asks me if I'm proud of working for such a greedy corporation. I had to just walk away to my car and ignore what she was saying or else I wouldn't be able to have gone home. As I'm walking away she tells me she'll be telling my manager about my rude and offensive behaviour. As I pull out I roll down my window and say "Lady, go right ahead. Merry Christmas" But it wasn't said politely. I refrained myself from swearing or giving her the finger... But that was so hard to do.


I also find some of those kiosks that set up inside malls annoying. Especially the ones that don't take no for an answer. Yes, I know you're trying to sell Tupperware and bakery supplies, but I'm 18 year old guy, not a 30 year old mother. I don't need that.

*sigh* Well I'm done. :/
I'm sure I'll have more stories in the next few coming weeks. Good thread Fast.
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Re: Retail Confessions

#6 Post by FastChapter »

During the Christmas season we get a lot of people asking us whether we have "more in the back." I'm stealing a little from Penny Arcade's newest comic. The problem with the request is that we put everything on the floor that we possibly can, just so we don't have to constantly go into the stock rooms. So when you do ask us to go in the back, or me at least, I just walk into the stock room and stand around for a few minutes before walking back out and saying we don't have something. :P Kind of a retail sin, but eh.

Same goes for people who ask if they can have what the mannequin is wearing. It's a pain in the [censored] unpinning and redressing mannequins, so I usually just tell the customer that the garment is only for display since it's "usually ruined" by the amount of pinning and stretching it gets. That's kind of a lie since our pins are intended not to damage the material, but eh, they buy it 99% of the time and order off the website instead.

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Re: Retail Confessions

#7 Post by Talaisan »

I think I've been sinned against. Last year I went to Home Depot looking for a new front door. We found one that was just awesome, and asked if we could buy one. No more in stock. Can we buy the display? No, they've discontinued the line, so we have to ship it back.

A year later? The display's still there. And they still won't let me buy it.
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Re: Retail Confessions

#8 Post by FastChapter »

:P "Discontinuing the line" is a fancy way of saying they don't have a UPC for it, so they won't know how to scan it into their system as a sale. Most likely they don't even have an up-to-date price from their planograms, so whatever it's priced at right now may be wrong.

I'd pester their manager about it.

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Re: Retail Confessions

#9 Post by Wolven Carnus »

Site completely relevant to this thread from me to all others (for once it's good S:P )
http://notalwaysright.com/
Enjoy.
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Re: Retail Confessions

#10 Post by Saki »

Wolven Carnus wrote:Site completely relevant to this thread from me to all others (for once it's good S:P )
http://notalwaysright.com/
Enjoy.
XD Im always on that site and failblog.
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Re: Retail Confessions

#11 Post by Wolven Carnus »

Saki wrote:
Wolven Carnus wrote:Site completely relevant to this thread from me to all others (for once it's good S:P )
http://notalwaysright.com/
Enjoy.
XD Im always on that site and failblog.
Awesome! That site rules! :grin:
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Re: Retail Confessions

#12 Post by Alexander Black »

Yea, the stressful time of gift shopping has begun. Where it is a race to get what you want in a surprisingly short time. Some customers seem to go for a record for how fast they can get their items and be checked out. It's ridiculous.

I work a J.C.Penney's, and when I first started I was in the home department as a cashier. A customer walks up to me, and presents me with their selected shirts, a belt, and their Temporary credit card (I think they forgot it at home or lost it...). After ringing up their merchandise, I had to type in the credit card number. It failed to go through, so i tried again thinking that I might have mistyped a number some how. After it failed again, I told the customer that they would have to go to Customer Service and credit to have it fixed. Sometimes a card fails if its not active, frozen, or the payment wasn't made. Whatever the reason, the customer constantly bashed on me saying that she "just got it 15 minutes ago." Even my co-worker said that she had to go to customer service and credit to have it be fixed. She threw a fit and left without purchasing the items. It was funny, kinda, to see them again a few months later. Though it was at a much calmer time, and no rush was needed.

The other customer that came into contact with this guy, was more of a b-. I was standing in for another associate at the children's department. Working in that department made me feel uncomfortable as I didn't really know that area at the time. I only did cashier for like 6 months before I asked to work in stock, since I felt I was becoming less customer-friendly. Anyway, this woman came to me asking about "young boys towel sets." Since I only worked in the home department, and knew only of the home department, I didn't know where anything was. I told her that I was only sitting in for another associate, but she complained and told me that she was to report me to a manager. I simply looked at her and watched her walk off.

Now that I looked back on it, There have been ways that I could have just called the manager on duty, or supervisor to help remedy the situation. I just didn't think of it because I was new. A minor mistake, but not big enough to really worry about...Considering I still work for JCP and have been there for 4 years.

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Re: Retail Confessions

#13 Post by epion04 »

I used to work in the electronics department at a Kmart. Store policy was all customers not buying electronics were to check out at the front registers, but it was a fairly common practice to check out small things like a mom just coming in for some cereal or something because the store was alway on skeleton crew, (think 4 people running the whole store counting management) so the checkout was usually a little backed up. Now being electronics Dpt, I was also in charge of layaway, and being understaffed, usually ended up helping with toys and sporting goods as well. During Christmas season you can imagine how busy that was.
Well this lady comes up to the electronics counter with a pair of shoes, some gloves, and a few random things from grocery while I was back in layaway. When I get done with the customer there and come up to the counter she yells about how long it took me to get there then demands I check her out. At this I just ask her to take the items up front because at this time the electronics register is for electronics purchases only. ( had she been nice I would have let her but not with that attitude ) so she gets mad and walked into the dept and picks up a pair of 3 dollar cheepy headphones sits them on the counter with the other stuff then says " There, I am getting electronics, check me out now"

Of course I have no choice at this point, but she was so pissed off she was not even paying attention anymore, ran up the headphones, she swiped her card without so much as reading the screen and payed for just the headphones, so I put them in a small bag, stapled the receipt to the bag and the bag shut and asked to go to the front checkouts for the rest of her items.
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Re: Retail Confessions

#14 Post by Wolven Carnus »

epion04 wrote:I used to work in the electronics department at a Kmart. Store policy was all customers not buying electronics were to check out at the front registers, but it was a fairly common practice to check out small things like a mom just coming in for some cereal or something because the store was alway on skeleton crew, (think 4 people running the whole store counting management) so the checkout was usually a little backed up. Now being electronics Dpt, I was also in charge of layaway, and being understaffed, usually ended up helping with toys and sporting goods as well. During Christmas season you can imagine how busy that was.
Well this lady comes up to the electronics counter with a pair of shoes, some gloves, and a few random things from grocery while I was back in layaway. When I get done with the customer there and come up to the counter she yells about how long it took me to get there then demands I check her out. At this I just ask her to take the items up front because at this time the electronics register is for electronics purchases only. ( had she been nice I would have let her but not with that attitude ) so she gets mad and walked into the dept and picks up a pair of 3 dollar cheepy headphones sits them on the counter with the other stuff then says " There, I am getting electronics, check me out now"

Of course I have no choice at this point, but she was so pissed off she was not even paying attention anymore, ran up the headphones, she swiped her card without so much as reading the screen and payed for just the headphones, so I put them in a small bag, stapled the receipt to the bag and the bag shut and asked to go to the front checkouts for the rest of her items.
Well handled. I would've gotten fired over the incidents that occurred thereafter.
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Re: Retail Confessions

#15 Post by Reichu »

I got Modern Warfare 2 for X360. Then when I found out that people hacked it to support private servers, I got it for PC.

Because there is a Steam sale on right now for Thanksgiving... I got Battlefield 2 too.

Doh... :potatoes:

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