Medium Story thread

Bits and Pieces, When It Rains It Pours

Coming soon a series of 'Did that just happen? Tales from Customer Service Land!' for Medium!

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 Coming soon a series of 'Did that just happen? Tales from Customer Service Land!' for Medium!

 

 

Bits and Pieces

For the last 27 years, I have worked in the food industry, retail, and customer service fields. I will be the first to say that these past 27 years have been adventurous, stressful, and rewarding. If you ask anyone who has worked in customer service, they will have a story. This series I am working on will be stories of working with the general public and the stories that I have had over the years.

This story is from my younger years when I worked at a Winn Dixie grocery store. At the time of this story, I worked as a deli clerk at a store in Florida. First, in Florida, you will meet people from all over the world. This part of working with the public has always been a great way of meeting people and learning just a bit about the world outside of Florida. However, this day was a very unique one. The location of this store was prominently elderly, younger families, and people passing through on vacation.

This particular day was a beautiful summer day. People were lined up at the deli counter getting food for travel and summer parties, and we were busy. One of the women working next to me just stopped. I asked her if she was okay. She leaned over to me and said, "That man's bits and pieces are hanging out of his bathing suit."

Looking up, I saw our floral manager running over with a large black plastic bag and asked that he cover himself. She tried explaining that there are children in the store. You would have thought you asked him to sacrifice his firstborn. He became irate and started yelling at her saying he was perfectly ok. The manager tried to be polite and pointed out that he was exposed and not completely covered. He stated that he was too big for his bathing suit, and it slipped out sometimes. The manager said he could not be exposed like this and offered the bag again to cover himself.

The gentleman, speaking with a French accent, told her he was not covering up. She had stated then he would have to leave. She did advise him that she would have to call the local police. She knows there are officers parked in the parking lot. It was only then he took the bag and wrapped it around himself. He then headed the deli counter and complained about how long the line was.

A little bit later, during my meal break, the manager told us that he did keep the bag on while he shopped in the store. However, after he purchased his items, he stood in front of the store, ripped off the bag to expose himself, and yelled, "You silly Americans should just learn to mind your own business."

He went to walk out of the doors and walked right into the awaiting police. Our department manager had been afraid he might cause a commotion and had called the non-emergency line. The sheriff's office alerted the officers in the area who were waiting outside the store. The police removed him from the store after being trespassed.

I still applaud the manager who did handle this situation like a pro. However, I wish the customer had more respect for the people around him. But that is just me. So have you ever had any similar experiences?

When It Rains It Pours!

When I was a department lead for Sears, we had a woman come in stating she needed assistance in shopping. This woman came in at 5 pm, and our clothing associates were always eager to help. The store closed at 8 pm that evening, so I had one of our best floor girls help her as we had three hours left till close. After a while, the associate found me and said I have an issue helping this customer. I asked what type of issue, and she said the woman did not like our plus-size clothing and wanted to purchase off the regular-sized racks. I asked what size the customer was trying to find, and she said extra-extra-large. I groaned as I knew we had very few clothing lines that had that size unless it was in our woman's section. 

Understanding the floor girl, I told her I would handle it and asked the customer if there was anything I could do to help her. She said she was unhappy as our woman's clothes are not as pretty as the misses sizes. I told her that the miss section would not go up to what she had requested, and I said there were many different products in the woman's department and offered to help her. She got irritated, saying she would handle it, and started throwing items into her cart. She filled her cart, going into the dressing room. She left the fitting room and the shopping cart empty and headed to the woman's area. My floor crew and I had to clean up the mess this woman had created in the fitting room.

Before anyone asks, we understand that there can be customers like this, and we made quick work of cleaning up the mess, and everyone on the floor made it a point to offer this customer assistance. We got the store ready for the next day, and about an hour before closing, a massive storm started to hit. I did a quick overhead announcement for departments to locate flashlights and prepare for close if they are slow. Then, the power in the store started to flicker. I did notice a few customers shopping, so I made a follow-up announcement that in case of the power went out, we would not be able to ring them out.

As I walked past her, the customer said, "I am not leaving until you check me out."

I politely advised her that if the power did go out, we could not run registers to check anyone out. Nor can people shop in the dark. They will have to come up front or leave. I was not mean or rude. The customer went back to shopping, and then poof lights out. My co-manager and I started going around the store with flashlights to help customers navigate the dark store and had people move to the front door areas. I heard the woman yelling at my floor people when they told her she would need to leave her items and go to the doors as it was a safety issue. I walked over and asked if there was a problem. She told me my floor people would not leave her alone. I told her she had to go to the front of the store and then said get me your manager. I politely told her I was the manager. She moved to the doors and told the cashier I better get a discount.

Fifteen minutes before the store closed, the lights came on, and she ran to the fitting room with a full cart. I had the cashier start pre-closing and start our closing announcements. She yelled from the fitting room, "I am not leaving till I check out." 

My co-manager told her we would shut registers down at 815 p.m., and if she had not entered the checkout line by then, we would not check her out. This whole time this was happening, it was storming outside. The woman huffed and headed to the cash register. We cleaned the mess she left in the fitting room as our closing cashier rang her up. We finished cleaning up the mess she left. Then, the cashier called a manager to the front of the store. The lady looked at me and said, "I want a discount."

I saw the total was $300.00, and as most of it was from the clearance section, I said that we could not give a discount on the clearance anymore.

After she checked out, she pulled out her phone and said, "Pull up to the store. I am ready to leave."

We went to unlock the door as her husband pulled up, and she turned to me and said, "Well."

"You have a good night," I said.

"You, load my bags into the car and get an umbrella. I do not want to get wet." She said, "It's your job to make me happy."

My co-manager said, "I am sorry you will have to load your items as we are not allowed to leave the store."

She slammed her shopping cart out the door. While standing under the entrance, she yelled to her husband, "Pull up on the sidewalk."

We watched as her husband backed up and pulled right onto the sidewalk. She threw all her bags into the truck, yelling at her husband about how he should get out and help her. We heard him say to her that he didn't want to be out driving in the middle of a rainstorm. When she finished unloading her bags, she flipped us off and slammed the shopping cart into the glass doors. We watched her climb into the truck, and her husband backed out and drove away. My co-manager grabbed the shopping cart as it rolled towards the road.

After we finished closing the store and left to go home, we saw the woman and her husband in the truck pulled over by a police officer. The following day, she called the store to file a complaint about me and my co-manager, stating that we did not offer an umbrella or help to get her into her husband's truck. A police officer saw her husband drive onto the sidewalk and gave them a ticket. She demanded the store pay for the traffic ticket they got. My manager told her no and told her he knew what had happened the night before. He hung up the phone after he said no as she started yelling at him.

I guess shopping in the rain did not go as she planned. 

 

 

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Chainsaw Man

So, when I worked at Sears, I had a back-to-back day off right before Thanksgiving. So what did I do? I decided to get my Christmas shopping done. But first, what did I do? I stopped at an Amscot in town because I needed a money order. So why am I mentioning this to you? When I left Amscot, I started talking to my golden retriever sitting in my SUV. Well, me being the klutz, I fell on the curb. My ankle twisted, but I didn't let that stop me. I went shopping for Christmas and food as we were low on things. I got home, put everything away, and wrapped all the gifts. After getting dinner started for the kids, I sat down, and my daughter said, "Mom, your ankle is purple." 

Well after a trip to the Er and dropping a note to my store that I could not work till the following Monday because I had fractured my ankle and was in a removeable cast. But like any one who works in retail knew the holidays go on. When I returned to work was when we would meet chainsaw man.

Now the department I was in charge of was across the store and I here a call for the Manager on Duty to the tool department. I ring over to the tool department and said it would take me a minute to get there due to the injury. When I get there I ask the associate what is going on. He explains the customer is wanting a brand new chainsaw since the one he has no longer works and it is no longer eligible for the exchange warranty. If anyone has ever purchased Craftsman tools you will understand there were different warranties depending on the item you got. This customer insisted that his item was a lifetime warranty with immediate exchanges. I took him to a computer and pulled up the craftsman website which had its warranty information listed for all items. 

This man was livid and pushed his receipt in my face showing proof of purchase. I took a picture of the receipt and said I will be back in a bit. He bragged to the associate I will get what I want and there is nothing you can do about it. I went in back and pulled up the service history on this particular item. The last service had notes this item was being used commercially and no more free service would be offered. I printed out his service history and hobbled my way back to the counter. Standing behind the counter I told the customer he had voided his warranty for using it commercially and also showed it was now 6 weeks outside of the three year time frame.

Now as you all know this was not going to end well. I gave him two options he could pay to have the item serviced or if he wanted I would be glad to offer twenty percent discount so he could buy a new one. I then gently remind him that the repair teams can tell if the items were being used commercially and if they were it voided the warranty. He started to scream and curse at me and I told him if he was going to act like this to get out of the store or I can call the police. As it was a Friday night the police were in the parking lot anyway. He called me a few more words and took the chainsaw and threw it at me. I caught the chainsaw mid air and said get out and took out my phone to call the police. At this time a lot of the men working in the store had gravitated to the tool department and this guy walked out. I took all the paperwork and the chainsaw and put it in the store managers office. I also called the store manager to give him the heads up and let him know that I did not call the police but documented the time so he could review the video cameras. 

The next day I was off and I get a text from a co worker who said that man came in and made a complaint about me. The store manager advised him that he had already spoken with me and had reviewed all the documentation as well as the video footage. He was then banned from the store and had to pay a deposit which may be refundable on any items he has to send out to service. 

Let this be a lesson to you and do not be chainsaw man. Do not try to scam a store because they will track you and most stores do have incorporated systems where they can communicate. Do not be a Ken or Karen and think you can get around the rules.

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Read Your Contracts

So as I work customer service I need to stress something, read your contracts or purchase agreements before you commit to anything. This will not only save you time, money and stress if you do this. Most people do not look at the terms and conditions, then they say it was never there. Well we go into the agreement and its literally line two or three. Customer service agents do not deserve to get yelled at because you decided to just click buy and not read anything.