Dumbest things you have heard from customers?
05-15-02, 02:56 PM
#1
Dumbest things you have heard from customers?
This board often has stories about stupid clerks who say and do the dumbest things, but you know, there are those of us who work those counters, and to tell you the truth, there is an intelligence shortage on the other side of that counter as well.
These are all true....they happened to me! These are all based on true customer experiences I have had. I tell ya, the customers Kevin Smith depicts in Clerks are rocket scientists compared to customers I have had to put up with!
One afternoon at the first grocery store I worked at, I was at the register when an old man came in with a box of cereal. He said he wanted his money back because the cereal was bad. I looked at the date on the cereal and it wasn't expired, and he had bought it recently according to his reciept, so I didn't think it could have gone stale. I asked him what was wrong with it. He said it had all this white stuff all over it. What was the cereal?? FROSTED FLAKES. I swear on all holy, that is a true story.
Our dairy distributor in Minnesota is Kemps. Kemps shipped us all our milk and most of our ice cream, among other products. And if you work in grocery, you know that there are private lables that will contract Kemps (and others) to put their lable on their product. Generic products, for example, are often the same as name brands with just a different lable on it. Hy Vee will contract various companies to put their lable on products, for example. (If you look at the canning/packaging information on generic products, you will often find the name brand from the same place right there on the shelf). Well, Kemps bottled milk for several private lables. We carried Kemps milk and one of the private lables. Now, Kemps doesn't change the milk when they bottle the private lables; it comes from the same vat...............................
....that said, there was an elderly couple (I swear 99% of my stories involve OLD PEOPLE) who came in who had purchased the private lable milk. It was 2%, the same kind they always drink. He threw the milk on the register and hardly any of it had been drank, and he insisted he could not drink that crap and wanted to exchange it for Kemps. IT'S THE SAME FRIGGIN THING!!!!!
Then there was the plastic bag lady. She had taken all these small plastic bags from the produce section and she brought them to the register to place each individual item in before she put them in the brown sacks. Even canned goods....each INDIVIDUAL item went in it's own plastic bag then into the brown bag. I just looked on in amazement.
And I cannot tell my customer stories without telling you about the toilet paper lady. We had this massive end cap display up of Charmin 4 roll packs and this lady started to dismantle it in search of the perfect toilet paper rolls. She would pick up packages of the toilet paper and hold up them up on the end and look thru the rolls. I haven't the foggiest idea what the hell she was doing, but the best we could figure out, she was looking for the rolls that were PEREFECTLY ROUND. I am not exaggerating when I tell you she must have spent about 15 minutes at that end cap literally taking it apart one by one before she finally found a package of toilet paper that met her required needs. And did she put the unwanted packages back? Hell, no! She left it dismantled. But I got my clerk's revenge. She came thru my line at the register and as I scanned that toilet paper, I squeezed HARD down on the package to crush those perfectly round rolls. Thankfully, she didn't even notice it, or she would have probably gone back to the display to find another perfect roll. Honestly, I am suprised somebody that wound up about toilet paper can actually crap.
One of our favorite customers was the lady who always filled up her cart to the max and would NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER have enough money for her order. And she never once told the cashier how much money she had or when to stop ringing stuff up. She would watch that total keep growing then once all was totaled out, she would go, "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't have enough money." And she would hand back one item, make the cashier void it off and hit total again, not have enough money, hand back one item, make the cashier void it off and hit total again, not have enough money.....And she would keep that up until she decided she had enough money. She never came up to the register with enough money for what she had, and she never had the cashier void off more than one item before she decided if she had enough money or not.
When we got in products like Charmin Free and Tide Free, the elderly customers would come to the register and pitch a fit when the cashier scanned the item and it rang up for normal price. They pitched a fit because the package said it was FREE!!!!
Seniors never take change very well, either. When the laundry detergent companies started to put out the concentrated soap, where you no longer had to use a cup of the stuff but a small cap full, our elderly customers hated it. "How are we supposed to do our laundry now?" one asked me once.
There are also lazy customers, the ones who decide not to get something and will not put it back where it belongs but just throws it on the nearest shelf. NEWS FLASH: if you are too freaking lazy to put it back, then just tell the cashier you changed your mind at the register and give it to them. They will gladly take it for you. But it wasn't even the fact that customers would put back items on the shelf where they did not belong if they decided not to get them. It would be when they would put perishable products on regular shelves or vice versa. Here is a list of things I have found on the shelf that royally pissed me off:
« Produce thrown in the freezer. By the time I found bananas once, they were grey and had to be thrown out.
« A frozen turkey tossed on the shelf in the diaper aisle. And it had already started to thaw by the time I found it.
« Canned goods thrown into freezers. It happens all the time. And usually the contents freeze and bloat the can before anybody finds them.
« Milk, yogurt, eggs, your dairy product of choice just tossed anywhere on the shelf where there is no refrigeration and it‘¦s spoiled before somebody finds it.
« Popsicles thrown on the shelf in the pop aisle. And when I picked it up, it had totally melted and dripped on my apron. I was ready to kill the first customer I saw.
« And I know there are more, A LOT MORE, but it just goes to show the laziness of customers and their disregard for the very place they shop at. And when we have to throw out the food and as a result the affected departments have to raise their prices, who are the first in line to complain about the higher prices, but the dumb ass customers who caused the losses in the first place!
Oh, I am sure I have more stories to tell, and I have yet to tap into my video store and banking customer stories. But I will just end this post with this: Maybe there wouldn't be such a problem with poor customer service if the customers themselves did not make the jobs so hellish. Honestly, it was the customers who drove me away from ever wanting to work in a grocery store again. If they didn't make the job so hellish, perhaps some people with an education and who cared would stick with it and make their experiences there better, but the customers who make the job so awful force the good employees to come to their senses and get out while they still have some sanity left and the store is left with high turn over and inexperienced help.
These are all true....they happened to me! These are all based on true customer experiences I have had. I tell ya, the customers Kevin Smith depicts in Clerks are rocket scientists compared to customers I have had to put up with!
One afternoon at the first grocery store I worked at, I was at the register when an old man came in with a box of cereal. He said he wanted his money back because the cereal was bad. I looked at the date on the cereal and it wasn't expired, and he had bought it recently according to his reciept, so I didn't think it could have gone stale. I asked him what was wrong with it. He said it had all this white stuff all over it. What was the cereal?? FROSTED FLAKES. I swear on all holy, that is a true story.
Our dairy distributor in Minnesota is Kemps. Kemps shipped us all our milk and most of our ice cream, among other products. And if you work in grocery, you know that there are private lables that will contract Kemps (and others) to put their lable on their product. Generic products, for example, are often the same as name brands with just a different lable on it. Hy Vee will contract various companies to put their lable on products, for example. (If you look at the canning/packaging information on generic products, you will often find the name brand from the same place right there on the shelf). Well, Kemps bottled milk for several private lables. We carried Kemps milk and one of the private lables. Now, Kemps doesn't change the milk when they bottle the private lables; it comes from the same vat...............................
....that said, there was an elderly couple (I swear 99% of my stories involve OLD PEOPLE) who came in who had purchased the private lable milk. It was 2%, the same kind they always drink. He threw the milk on the register and hardly any of it had been drank, and he insisted he could not drink that crap and wanted to exchange it for Kemps. IT'S THE SAME FRIGGIN THING!!!!!
Then there was the plastic bag lady. She had taken all these small plastic bags from the produce section and she brought them to the register to place each individual item in before she put them in the brown sacks. Even canned goods....each INDIVIDUAL item went in it's own plastic bag then into the brown bag. I just looked on in amazement.
And I cannot tell my customer stories without telling you about the toilet paper lady. We had this massive end cap display up of Charmin 4 roll packs and this lady started to dismantle it in search of the perfect toilet paper rolls. She would pick up packages of the toilet paper and hold up them up on the end and look thru the rolls. I haven't the foggiest idea what the hell she was doing, but the best we could figure out, she was looking for the rolls that were PEREFECTLY ROUND. I am not exaggerating when I tell you she must have spent about 15 minutes at that end cap literally taking it apart one by one before she finally found a package of toilet paper that met her required needs. And did she put the unwanted packages back? Hell, no! She left it dismantled. But I got my clerk's revenge. She came thru my line at the register and as I scanned that toilet paper, I squeezed HARD down on the package to crush those perfectly round rolls. Thankfully, she didn't even notice it, or she would have probably gone back to the display to find another perfect roll. Honestly, I am suprised somebody that wound up about toilet paper can actually crap.
One of our favorite customers was the lady who always filled up her cart to the max and would NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER have enough money for her order. And she never once told the cashier how much money she had or when to stop ringing stuff up. She would watch that total keep growing then once all was totaled out, she would go, "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't have enough money." And she would hand back one item, make the cashier void it off and hit total again, not have enough money, hand back one item, make the cashier void it off and hit total again, not have enough money.....And she would keep that up until she decided she had enough money. She never came up to the register with enough money for what she had, and she never had the cashier void off more than one item before she decided if she had enough money or not.
When we got in products like Charmin Free and Tide Free, the elderly customers would come to the register and pitch a fit when the cashier scanned the item and it rang up for normal price. They pitched a fit because the package said it was FREE!!!!
Seniors never take change very well, either. When the laundry detergent companies started to put out the concentrated soap, where you no longer had to use a cup of the stuff but a small cap full, our elderly customers hated it. "How are we supposed to do our laundry now?" one asked me once.
There are also lazy customers, the ones who decide not to get something and will not put it back where it belongs but just throws it on the nearest shelf. NEWS FLASH: if you are too freaking lazy to put it back, then just tell the cashier you changed your mind at the register and give it to them. They will gladly take it for you. But it wasn't even the fact that customers would put back items on the shelf where they did not belong if they decided not to get them. It would be when they would put perishable products on regular shelves or vice versa. Here is a list of things I have found on the shelf that royally pissed me off:
« Produce thrown in the freezer. By the time I found bananas once, they were grey and had to be thrown out.
« A frozen turkey tossed on the shelf in the diaper aisle. And it had already started to thaw by the time I found it.
« Canned goods thrown into freezers. It happens all the time. And usually the contents freeze and bloat the can before anybody finds them.
« Milk, yogurt, eggs, your dairy product of choice just tossed anywhere on the shelf where there is no refrigeration and it‘¦s spoiled before somebody finds it.
« Popsicles thrown on the shelf in the pop aisle. And when I picked it up, it had totally melted and dripped on my apron. I was ready to kill the first customer I saw.
« And I know there are more, A LOT MORE, but it just goes to show the laziness of customers and their disregard for the very place they shop at. And when we have to throw out the food and as a result the affected departments have to raise their prices, who are the first in line to complain about the higher prices, but the dumb ass customers who caused the losses in the first place!
Oh, I am sure I have more stories to tell, and I have yet to tap into my video store and banking customer stories. But I will just end this post with this: Maybe there wouldn't be such a problem with poor customer service if the customers themselves did not make the jobs so hellish. Honestly, it was the customers who drove me away from ever wanting to work in a grocery store again. If they didn't make the job so hellish, perhaps some people with an education and who cared would stick with it and make their experiences there better, but the customers who make the job so awful force the good employees to come to their senses and get out while they still have some sanity left and the store is left with high turn over and inexperienced help.
05-15-02, 04:31 PM
#2
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Those are some wacky stories.
The worst part of doing anything with the public is this paragraph right here. Employee stupidity is bad, people being lazy is much much worse.
Originally posted by calhoun07
There are also lazy customers, the ones who decide not to get something and will not put it back where it belongs but just throws it on the nearest shelf. NEWS FLASH: if you are too freaking lazy to put it back, then just tell the cashier you changed your mind at the register and give it to them. They will gladly take it for you. But it wasn't even the fact that customers would put back items on the shelf where they did not belong if they decided not to get them. It would be when they would put perishable products on regular shelves or vice versa.
There are also lazy customers, the ones who decide not to get something and will not put it back where it belongs but just throws it on the nearest shelf. NEWS FLASH: if you are too freaking lazy to put it back, then just tell the cashier you changed your mind at the register and give it to them. They will gladly take it for you. But it wasn't even the fact that customers would put back items on the shelf where they did not belong if they decided not to get them. It would be when they would put perishable products on regular shelves or vice versa.
The worst part of doing anything with the public is this paragraph right here. Employee stupidity is bad, people being lazy is much much worse.
05-15-02, 04:51 PM
#3
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I still believe everyone should work a mandatory year in retail just to see the nonsense retailers have to put up. Thank God I've moved on with my life, but once upon a time, I used to work at CompUSA:
The customer who needs a printer ribbon and gets upset because he just wants the "standard" ribbon. As I'm sure any of you know, there are about 10,000 different printer ribbons. No, this guy just wants the "Standard" one that will work in his POS at home. My brilliant assistant hands him one and says "this is the one you need".
We couldn't stop laughing for hours after that. I wonder if he ever returned it.
Another customer doesn't like the mouse pad I gave him because "this one is for IBMs, I need one for a Mac". Again, my faithful assistant replies "oh, we don't carry Mac mouse pads".
Still, our revenge on the customer was when we put a walkie talkie behind the display of diskettes, and we would talk to the customers. Something like "help me, I'm stuck behind these diskettes and I can't get out!"
The customer who needs a printer ribbon and gets upset because he just wants the "standard" ribbon. As I'm sure any of you know, there are about 10,000 different printer ribbons. No, this guy just wants the "Standard" one that will work in his POS at home. My brilliant assistant hands him one and says "this is the one you need".
We couldn't stop laughing for hours after that. I wonder if he ever returned it.Another customer doesn't like the mouse pad I gave him because "this one is for IBMs, I need one for a Mac". Again, my faithful assistant replies "oh, we don't carry Mac mouse pads".
Still, our revenge on the customer was when we put a walkie talkie behind the display of diskettes, and we would talk to the customers. Something like "help me, I'm stuck behind these diskettes and I can't get out!"
05-15-02, 05:40 PM
#4
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by Movie_Man
I still believe everyone should work a mandatory year in retail just to see the nonsense retailers have to put up. Thank God I've moved on with my life, but once upon a time, I used to work at CompUSA:
The customer who needs a printer ribbon and gets upset because he just wants the "standard" ribbon. As I'm sure any of you know, there are about 10,000 different printer ribbons. No, this guy just wants the "Standard" one that will work in his POS at home. My brilliant assistant hands him one and says "this is the one you need". We couldn't stop laughing for hours after that. I wonder if he ever returned it.
Another customer doesn't like the mouse pad I gave him because "this one is for IBMs, I need one for a Mac". Again, my faithful assistant replies "oh, we don't carry Mac mouse pads".
Still, our revenge on the customer was when we put a walkie talkie behind the display of diskettes, and we would talk to the customers. Something like "help me, I'm stuck behind these diskettes and I can't get out!"
I still believe everyone should work a mandatory year in retail just to see the nonsense retailers have to put up. Thank God I've moved on with my life, but once upon a time, I used to work at CompUSA:
The customer who needs a printer ribbon and gets upset because he just wants the "standard" ribbon. As I'm sure any of you know, there are about 10,000 different printer ribbons. No, this guy just wants the "Standard" one that will work in his POS at home. My brilliant assistant hands him one and says "this is the one you need".
We couldn't stop laughing for hours after that. I wonder if he ever returned it.Another customer doesn't like the mouse pad I gave him because "this one is for IBMs, I need one for a Mac". Again, my faithful assistant replies "oh, we don't carry Mac mouse pads".
Still, our revenge on the customer was when we put a walkie talkie behind the display of diskettes, and we would talk to the customers. Something like "help me, I'm stuck behind these diskettes and I can't get out!"
Best way to get rid of an annoying anything is to just tell them that everything they say is right 
05-15-02, 07:51 PM
#5
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"Do you work in this department?"
I get that all the time. Even when I am visibly holding a box in my hand and putting something on the shelf!
Or how about:
"Do you know where (so and so) item is?"
And it's either right next to them or right in front of their face!
"If it was a snake it woulda bit me!"
Oy!
I get that all the time. Even when I am visibly holding a box in my hand and putting something on the shelf!
Or how about:
"Do you know where (so and so) item is?"
And it's either right next to them or right in front of their face!
"If it was a snake it woulda bit me!"
Oy!
Last edited by Wormwood; 05-15-02 at 07:58 PM.
05-15-02, 11:28 PM
#6
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Probably the dumbest customer question I have recieved is
"Do you work here?" while clearly standing in front of them with my work uniform on with the store name on it, name badge in clear sight also with store name on it, and holding a big @#%@#% box of products putting it up on the shelf!
Another one is: "The sign said it was so-and-so price." even though it is the wrong product.
And: "Where is so-and-so item?" it being right behind/in front of/next to/beside them
"Do you work here?" while clearly standing in front of them with my work uniform on with the store name on it, name badge in clear sight also with store name on it, and holding a big @#%@#% box of products putting it up on the shelf!
Another one is: "The sign said it was so-and-so price." even though it is the wrong product.
And: "Where is so-and-so item?" it being right behind/in front of/next to/beside them
05-16-02, 12:45 AM
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ok, this is the one thing that always p*sses me off...
(i work at staples so...)
we close at 8 pm, and we use the intercom to let the customers know that we close then. there is always at least one person who disregards all the messages and keeps on shopping. its not too rare that we dont get all the customers out by 8:45 or later.
For instance, there was a customer that was looking af furniture, and by 8:10, we got all the other customers out of the building. We started asking him if he needed help, one by one, and we used the intercom to let him know that we closed. he still wouldnt move from the furniture section. finally, i went over there, and asked him if he needed help, i looked at my watch for about a minute or two, and he said
"oh, you are closed, arent you?"
i said yeah, we close at 8, and he said that he is sorry, but that was a loooonnnng night :/
sometimes i can strike up a conversation with a knowledgeable customer and just talk for a few minutes, but that doesnt really happen too often.
also, we close the gates and after we close, its hilarious to watch people go up to the door, with the bars sealing the windows AND the front door, and check what time we close. They proceed to look to the hours that we are open, look down at their watch, look at it AGAIN, then proceed to bang on the door saying that they only need 1 thing. By this time its 8:30 or so, and we just tell them that the registers are closed, even if they arent. The customer proceeds to say things like im gonna talk to your manager and get your fired, blah blah blah. retail sucks
oh, and calhoun07, i too worked at a grocery store, bilo, and your post was very entertaining. and i know just what you went through word for word. And about the bag lady, I had somebody like that too. she wanted each item in a plastic bag to "protect" it, then put it in a paper bag, and then ANOTHER plastic bag because it had handles *sigh*
(i work at staples so...)
we close at 8 pm, and we use the intercom to let the customers know that we close then. there is always at least one person who disregards all the messages and keeps on shopping. its not too rare that we dont get all the customers out by 8:45 or later.
For instance, there was a customer that was looking af furniture, and by 8:10, we got all the other customers out of the building. We started asking him if he needed help, one by one, and we used the intercom to let him know that we closed. he still wouldnt move from the furniture section. finally, i went over there, and asked him if he needed help, i looked at my watch for about a minute or two, and he said
"oh, you are closed, arent you?"
i said yeah, we close at 8, and he said that he is sorry, but that was a loooonnnng night :/
sometimes i can strike up a conversation with a knowledgeable customer and just talk for a few minutes, but that doesnt really happen too often.
also, we close the gates and after we close, its hilarious to watch people go up to the door, with the bars sealing the windows AND the front door, and check what time we close. They proceed to look to the hours that we are open, look down at their watch, look at it AGAIN, then proceed to bang on the door saying that they only need 1 thing. By this time its 8:30 or so, and we just tell them that the registers are closed, even if they arent. The customer proceeds to say things like im gonna talk to your manager and get your fired, blah blah blah. retail sucks
oh, and calhoun07, i too worked at a grocery store, bilo, and your post was very entertaining
. and i know just what you went through word for word. And about the bag lady, I had somebody like that too. she wanted each item in a plastic bag to "protect" it, then put it in a paper bag, and then ANOTHER plastic bag because it had handles *sigh*
Last edited by mwestep; 05-16-02 at 12:55 AM.
05-16-02, 01:18 AM
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I can't wait to be old and retired so I can spend my golden years irritating grocery store employees.
05-16-02, 01:30 AM
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My favorite:
Woman comes in to exchange rented DVD for another. She says it wouldn't play, and that the bottom looked funny. So, we look at the data side, and it's flawless. For some bizarre reason, this DVD has managed to escape any scratches. We ask what she means by wrong, and she says:
"It's gold-colored. None of my other DVDs are gold-colored, so that must be a bad disc."
I blink, pause, and then try to explain that a fairly decent portion of DVDs are gold colored. The exchange isn't a problem, but I'm worried she'll end up with another gold disc and get mad. She's having none of it. It's clearly the different color, and I'm just lying to her. I gave up, and left the manager to do the exchange.
Woman comes in to exchange rented DVD for another. She says it wouldn't play, and that the bottom looked funny. So, we look at the data side, and it's flawless. For some bizarre reason, this DVD has managed to escape any scratches. We ask what she means by wrong, and she says:
"It's gold-colored. None of my other DVDs are gold-colored, so that must be a bad disc."
I blink, pause, and then try to explain that a fairly decent portion of DVDs are gold colored. The exchange isn't a problem, but I'm worried she'll end up with another gold disc and get mad. She's having none of it. It's clearly the different color, and I'm just lying to her. I gave up, and left the manager to do the exchange.
05-16-02, 08:53 AM
#11
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Don't even get me started on 8 years worth of Blockbuster management stories...
I realize that BBV is very much hated by the majority of the members here, but if you made it through that employment experience and remained sane then you deserve a big pat on the back! I'm just glad that I was able to escape...and yes it bugged me how little my own employees knew about the product (I tried my best).
I will say this: it's funny that customers can make it out in the middle of terrible weather to rent 10 movies/games, but then their street/driveway becomes impassable for days as soon as they get back home?!?
I realize that BBV is very much hated by the majority of the members here, but if you made it through that employment experience and remained sane then you deserve a big pat on the back! I'm just glad that I was able to escape...and yes it bugged me how little my own employees knew about the product (I tried my best).
I will say this: it's funny that customers can make it out in the middle of terrible weather to rent 10 movies/games, but then their street/driveway becomes impassable for days as soon as they get back home?!?
05-16-02, 09:54 AM
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Good one
I hope I don't offend anyone here but:
1. Put yourself in the seniors' shoe. Keep in mind that some of them are living on fixed income, losing memories, and often times doing things that they would never do when young.
2. Customers putting things all over. This is typical of how inconsiderate we are as a society. It happens all over. Look around you in every things happened on your day.
Cheers.
1. Put yourself in the seniors' shoe. Keep in mind that some of them are living on fixed income, losing memories, and often times doing things that they would never do when young.
2. Customers putting things all over. This is typical of how inconsiderate we are as a society. It happens all over. Look around you in every things happened on your day.
Cheers.
05-16-02, 11:44 AM
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This is my favorite story ever:
I used to work for A&B Sound in the CD department. I noticed a man standing in the "J" section looking very confused. I asked him if he needed help.
Customer: Yeah, I'm looking for Jackson Browne.
Me: Oh, that's filed under "B" for Browne, we file under last names here [like most other record stores, but that's a whole other rant].
C: [for whatever reason suddenly very annoyed]. Oh really? Is that so? Then why the hell is Joe Jackson under "J" then?
He actually waited for a response and when I was struck speechless, stomped off.
I hope he tells that story to all of his friends....
I used to work for A&B Sound in the CD department. I noticed a man standing in the "J" section looking very confused. I asked him if he needed help.
Customer: Yeah, I'm looking for Jackson Browne.
Me: Oh, that's filed under "B" for Browne, we file under last names here [like most other record stores, but that's a whole other rant].
C: [for whatever reason suddenly very annoyed]. Oh really? Is that so? Then why the hell is Joe Jackson under "J" then?
He actually waited for a response and when I was struck speechless, stomped off.
I hope he tells that story to all of his friends....
05-16-02, 12:42 PM
#14
DVD Talk Legend
Well, we get quite a few howlers in the travel business, too.
Like the sweet young thing looking at a cruise brochure who asked "What time is the midnight buffet?"
Or this one: "I know you said that the the airfare requires a 7-day stay - but does that have to include a weekend?"
Like the sweet young thing looking at a cruise brochure who asked "What time is the midnight buffet?"
Or this one: "I know you said that the the airfare requires a 7-day stay - but does that have to include a weekend?"
05-16-02, 01:11 PM
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I've never had any sympathy for customers since my first job during high school. I sold all the crap at the movie theatre and got to hear, "you've got to be #$%^ing kidding me" every time I told someone the price. Granted stuff is expensive at movie theaters, but that's not some big secret, the price is on the wall. I would just ask them if they wanted a loan application.
Also, when you are selling tickets, you hear the same joke told over and over again.
Also, when you are selling tickets, you hear the same joke told over and over again.
05-16-02, 01:37 PM
#16
DVD Talk Legend
No one in this thread has caught on that most of these "dumb" comments are deliberate attempts to get something-for-nothing.
While there may be some Senior Citizens who do indeed have reduced mental capacities, a majority of them play off this assumption that Seniors are dottering old fools to be humored.
Others are willing to let store personnel believe they're dumb if it will save 'em a few bucks. They have no regard for store clerks anyways, so who cares what they think.
Retail is a battle between the retailers (whose pricing errors virtually ALWAYS favor them) and consumers who try to keep their out-of-pocket costs to a minimum.
While there may be some Senior Citizens who do indeed have reduced mental capacities, a majority of them play off this assumption that Seniors are dottering old fools to be humored.
Others are willing to let store personnel believe they're dumb if it will save 'em a few bucks. They have no regard for store clerks anyways, so who cares what they think.
Retail is a battle between the retailers (whose pricing errors virtually ALWAYS favor them) and consumers who try to keep their out-of-pocket costs to a minimum.
05-16-02, 03:09 PM
#18
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by gondorspit
...Also, when you are selling tickets, you hear the same joke told over and over again.
...Also, when you are selling tickets, you hear the same joke told over and over again.
05-16-02, 03:27 PM
#19
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Here's two of my favorite emails:
"Well you just went down from 4.8 to 4.6, I went to your dot com, seen your were still selling the item that you cancelled me on. Your web address then crashed my system, I was so angry I went and did a whois on you and I now know about at least the woman with the last name of Cohen. Obviously she is fronting for a you, for women are not stupid at all I have great respect for
women.
Did you know that your dot com when I was ordering the Hang em High DVD was the only movie selling page that *ever* crashed my system. It came back on for me to have to choose my user name, you know that it's the web address that has crashed me. If it was the unit it wouldn't have came on at all.
Since I am on a ISP other than webtv, I have learned a lot. This will give me new things to do, you won't let sleeping dogs lie. Okay neither will I, when DSL comes to my area you can expect me to go off webtv. I have learned a lot, bouncing your cancelling e-mail with the..uu..redirect in it was a mistake. Now I know who to leave bad feedback until you change your name again like you have called me. You won't believe which direct
subscriber line I am waiting for, but then again you might.
My spelling has improved and I cap my I whenever it is by itself. I can also do vid caps that hardly anyone knows how it's done (from movie Hackers) you can see the black bars are quite small and it *isn't* from my HDTV digital choice cablevision. TTFN...."
and this classic:
"Dear sir or madam,
If it is not too late please cancell this order.
I really wanted the video but cannot come to grips with ordering it from an establishment that has a masochistic name like "hitmenow".
I think you guys are pretty sick.Using a theme of violence to sell tapes. If I watch this tape it will make me think of your sick name and upset me. Please understand.
If it is too late to stop the order I will trash it if and when I receive
it.Maybe I'll get lucky and it will get lost in the mail. Hopefully with time I will forget about the whole thing."
"Well you just went down from 4.8 to 4.6, I went to your dot com, seen your were still selling the item that you cancelled me on. Your web address then crashed my system, I was so angry I went and did a whois on you and I now know about at least the woman with the last name of Cohen. Obviously she is fronting for a you, for women are not stupid at all I have great respect for
women.
Did you know that your dot com when I was ordering the Hang em High DVD was the only movie selling page that *ever* crashed my system. It came back on for me to have to choose my user name, you know that it's the web address that has crashed me. If it was the unit it wouldn't have came on at all.
Since I am on a ISP other than webtv, I have learned a lot. This will give me new things to do, you won't let sleeping dogs lie. Okay neither will I, when DSL comes to my area you can expect me to go off webtv. I have learned a lot, bouncing your cancelling e-mail with the..uu..redirect in it was a mistake. Now I know who to leave bad feedback until you change your name again like you have called me. You won't believe which direct
subscriber line I am waiting for, but then again you might.
My spelling has improved and I cap my I whenever it is by itself. I can also do vid caps that hardly anyone knows how it's done (from movie Hackers) you can see the black bars are quite small and it *isn't* from my HDTV digital choice cablevision. TTFN...."
and this classic:
"Dear sir or madam,
If it is not too late please cancell this order.
I really wanted the video but cannot come to grips with ordering it from an establishment that has a masochistic name like "hitmenow".
I think you guys are pretty sick.Using a theme of violence to sell tapes. If I watch this tape it will make me think of your sick name and upset me. Please understand.
If it is too late to stop the order I will trash it if and when I receive
it.Maybe I'll get lucky and it will get lost in the mail. Hopefully with time I will forget about the whole thing."
05-16-02, 03:37 PM
#20
Originally posted by Wormwood
"Do you work in this department?"
I get that all the time. Even when I am visibly holding a box in my hand and putting something on the shelf!
"Do you work in this department?"
I get that all the time. Even when I am visibly holding a box in my hand and putting something on the shelf!
05-16-02, 04:03 PM
#21
More stories
This is one of my all time personal favorites that happened to me when I was the frozen foods manager:
One of the problems that would plague us are customers who would come in and waste my time insisting we carried something when I know full and well the product doesn't exist or I know they are talking about the grocery store on the other side of town (heck, they would even describe their workers! In fact, this happens at Blockbuster all the time, also, but that's for my video customers post!) and no matter what I would tell them, they would insist up and down they were at our store and NEVER SHOPPED ANYWHERE ELSE! (Then why did you just describe the physical appearance of the grocery manager from our competitor? )
Well, one time, I was about to get off my shift. This was in a store I worked at where I was the frozen/dairy manager, and I point that out cuz I also did the ordering for the entire department and that comes into play in this story. I was walking to go and clock out when this lady stops me and asks me if we carry a certain kind of frozen Banquet TV dinner. I look on the shelf and emphatically assure her that, no, we do not carry that particular variety of frozen dinners in our Banquet line.
"Can you go to the back and look?"
We don't have any in the back.
"How do you know unless you go back and look."
Ma'am, I do the ordering for this department and I know we don't have it.
"Could you just go back and look?"
I suppose I could have humored her and gone in back, but I thought I would try to educate her and show her how I knew we did not carry it. I pointed out our tags on the shelves and numbers under the bar codes on the tags. I explained when we order, we order off of those tags, and I pointed out that there was no tag for the kind of dinner she was looking for, and if there was no tag, there was no ordering of that product.
"But I've gotten it here before."
Maybe you got it at Hy-Vee? I asked, trying to be genuinely helpful.
"No, this is the only place I shop."
Well, we don't have it.
"But I just bought it here the other week."
I don't recall ever seeing that kind, ma'am. I could check and see if it's something we could get in.
And we went on this way for about 15 minutes. Her husband finally comes down the frozen aisle (probably to see what is taking her so long!) and she says, "Well, they don't have it." "Yeah," he said, "We haven't been able to find that kind for a couple years now."
MAYBE BANQUET DISCONTINUED IT!!!!!!
I just threw up my hands and turned and walked away. I clocked out and went home.
I have people who never cease to amaze me, and they tend to be the same kind every time. Such as the person at Blockbuster (it's my part time job) who argues the heck out of a 1.99 late fee and insists he won't pay it then pays for his one movie with a fifty dollar bill after you take the fee off. And I've seen people bring back embarassing porn movies before. I really have to wonder about them. Seriously, do you happen to have that many porn movies just laying around that it's that easy for you to accidently slip one in a video store case???? And then there are the people who never can get their story straight on why they shouldn't have to pay their late fee. They start out with one story, then it changes, and before you know it, you can't figure out when or how they dropped it off because their story has changed three or four times. I never take off the fees for those people. If you are going to lie to me, at least tell me the same lie over and over again so it sounds like it might be true.
I have to say the worst customer experiences I've had are at the grocery store. The video store is a cake walk compared to the grocery store. I really believe that people bring in all their demons from the day and all the problems they have with humanity into the grocery store and unload all their anger and frustration and stupidity on the clerks who work there. Of all the jobs I have had, I've seen the worst behavior of customers to clerks at grocery stores. I am sure people in fast food places get it too (there is a reason they spit in your food!) but I just saw a lot when working at the grocery store. Customers getting in fist fights over who should go out the door first (actually happened! They both pushed their carts to the door and neither of them would give the other one the right of way, so what do they do? Start hitting each other!) to customers getting purses stolen (I cannot tell you how many women I would see leave their purse in the cart and turn their back or just walk off to look at produce or whatever. STUPID STUPID STUPID! Purse snatchers were prominent where I worked) and even an all out race riot at one grocery store in the chain I worked for, not far from our store. After that, the moron changing his stories about his late fees and the porn tapes inside our tapes doesn't really have that much of an impact on me.
Another thing I hated about grocery stores are the parents who let their kids eat while shopping. I would be ringing up their groceries and some mom would hand me a apple core dripping with her kid's spit and tell me her kid ate it while they were shopping. Well, apples are rung up PER POUND, so do I just throw your kid on the scale and ring him up????
And for good measure, here are two of my favorite video store stories to end this post off with:
This guy came in one night to rent and I told him he had a late fee on the account. He asked what it was for, and I looked up the movie and told him it was for the Sixth Sense. Without much thought or intent to be a smart ass (I could tell by his demeanor he wasn't tying to be smart about it, he was an older gentleman who knew he had a fee to pay), he reaches in his pocket and puts down a nickle and a penny on the counter. SIX CENTS!!! I tried not to laugh as I told him no, the late fee is for the MOVIE the SIXTH SENSE. The balance due is 3.99!
Tonight a couple came in looking for The Bear. Of course, I am thinking automatically of The Bear:
"That will be in our family section in the last two aisles right after drama."
He comes back a bit later and says, "I am looking for the Bear starring Sean Connery." Well, I haven't a clue who is in The Bear, not in the slightest, but apparently that was not what he was looking for. I look up The Bear in the computer and show him we only have the one listing for it. His wife is now with him and she is also going on about how it has Sean Connery in it and they rented it here before. So I hand them a video guide book where they can look it up by actor.
After perusing the Sean Connery movies, they realize the Bear stars an actor like Sean Connery but it's not Sean Connery. Well, I can't help them much at that point so they go off into the store in hopes of finding this ellusive movie called The Bear.
They come back a bit later and have realized the movie is THE EDGE (which stars Anthony Hopkins by the way)
The lady tells me she thought it was called the Bear because it had a bear in the movie.
I can see them renting movies in the future. "Do you have that movie The Car?" I'm sorry we don't have a listing for that. "Oh, we think it's called the Car because it has a car in it." Oh, you must mean the Fast and the Furious? "Yeah, that's it!" Or, "Do you have the movie The Ship?" Who is in it? Freddie Prinze Jr. I'm sorry but we have no listing for the Ship or any movies with him in it called that. "Oh, here it is. It's the Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio."
HOW DO CUSTOMERS SURVIVE??????
And to top it off, I had people rent Blade only to bring it back twenty minutes later because it wasn't the sequel. And I cannot tell you how many people I had to issue credits for because they rented the Spider Man ultimate Villian Showdown cartoon DVD only to bring it back bitching that it wasn't the movie with Tobey Maguire. I mean GEE ZUZ, we are not a video store in Malasia!
One of the problems that would plague us are customers who would come in and waste my time insisting we carried something when I know full and well the product doesn't exist or I know they are talking about the grocery store on the other side of town (heck, they would even describe their workers! In fact, this happens at Blockbuster all the time, also, but that's for my video customers post!) and no matter what I would tell them, they would insist up and down they were at our store and NEVER SHOPPED ANYWHERE ELSE! (Then why did you just describe the physical appearance of the grocery manager from our competitor? )
Well, one time, I was about to get off my shift. This was in a store I worked at where I was the frozen/dairy manager, and I point that out cuz I also did the ordering for the entire department and that comes into play in this story. I was walking to go and clock out when this lady stops me and asks me if we carry a certain kind of frozen Banquet TV dinner. I look on the shelf and emphatically assure her that, no, we do not carry that particular variety of frozen dinners in our Banquet line.
"Can you go to the back and look?"
We don't have any in the back.
"How do you know unless you go back and look."
Ma'am, I do the ordering for this department and I know we don't have it.
"Could you just go back and look?"
I suppose I could have humored her and gone in back, but I thought I would try to educate her and show her how I knew we did not carry it. I pointed out our tags on the shelves and numbers under the bar codes on the tags. I explained when we order, we order off of those tags, and I pointed out that there was no tag for the kind of dinner she was looking for, and if there was no tag, there was no ordering of that product.
"But I've gotten it here before."
Maybe you got it at Hy-Vee? I asked, trying to be genuinely helpful.
"No, this is the only place I shop."
Well, we don't have it.
"But I just bought it here the other week."
I don't recall ever seeing that kind, ma'am. I could check and see if it's something we could get in.
And we went on this way for about 15 minutes. Her husband finally comes down the frozen aisle (probably to see what is taking her so long!) and she says, "Well, they don't have it." "Yeah," he said, "We haven't been able to find that kind for a couple years now."
MAYBE BANQUET DISCONTINUED IT!!!!!!
I just threw up my hands and turned and walked away. I clocked out and went home.
I have people who never cease to amaze me, and they tend to be the same kind every time. Such as the person at Blockbuster (it's my part time job) who argues the heck out of a 1.99 late fee and insists he won't pay it then pays for his one movie with a fifty dollar bill after you take the fee off. And I've seen people bring back embarassing porn movies before. I really have to wonder about them. Seriously, do you happen to have that many porn movies just laying around that it's that easy for you to accidently slip one in a video store case???? And then there are the people who never can get their story straight on why they shouldn't have to pay their late fee. They start out with one story, then it changes, and before you know it, you can't figure out when or how they dropped it off because their story has changed three or four times. I never take off the fees for those people. If you are going to lie to me, at least tell me the same lie over and over again so it sounds like it might be true.
I have to say the worst customer experiences I've had are at the grocery store. The video store is a cake walk compared to the grocery store. I really believe that people bring in all their demons from the day and all the problems they have with humanity into the grocery store and unload all their anger and frustration and stupidity on the clerks who work there. Of all the jobs I have had, I've seen the worst behavior of customers to clerks at grocery stores. I am sure people in fast food places get it too (there is a reason they spit in your food!) but I just saw a lot when working at the grocery store. Customers getting in fist fights over who should go out the door first (actually happened! They both pushed their carts to the door and neither of them would give the other one the right of way, so what do they do? Start hitting each other!) to customers getting purses stolen (I cannot tell you how many women I would see leave their purse in the cart and turn their back or just walk off to look at produce or whatever. STUPID STUPID STUPID! Purse snatchers were prominent where I worked) and even an all out race riot at one grocery store in the chain I worked for, not far from our store. After that, the moron changing his stories about his late fees and the porn tapes inside our tapes doesn't really have that much of an impact on me.
Another thing I hated about grocery stores are the parents who let their kids eat while shopping. I would be ringing up their groceries and some mom would hand me a apple core dripping with her kid's spit and tell me her kid ate it while they were shopping. Well, apples are rung up PER POUND, so do I just throw your kid on the scale and ring him up????
And for good measure, here are two of my favorite video store stories to end this post off with:
This guy came in one night to rent and I told him he had a late fee on the account. He asked what it was for, and I looked up the movie and told him it was for the Sixth Sense. Without much thought or intent to be a smart ass (I could tell by his demeanor he wasn't tying to be smart about it, he was an older gentleman who knew he had a fee to pay), he reaches in his pocket and puts down a nickle and a penny on the counter. SIX CENTS!!! I tried not to laugh as I told him no, the late fee is for the MOVIE the SIXTH SENSE. The balance due is 3.99!
Tonight a couple came in looking for The Bear. Of course, I am thinking automatically of The Bear:
"That will be in our family section in the last two aisles right after drama."
He comes back a bit later and says, "I am looking for the Bear starring Sean Connery." Well, I haven't a clue who is in The Bear, not in the slightest, but apparently that was not what he was looking for. I look up The Bear in the computer and show him we only have the one listing for it. His wife is now with him and she is also going on about how it has Sean Connery in it and they rented it here before. So I hand them a video guide book where they can look it up by actor.
After perusing the Sean Connery movies, they realize the Bear stars an actor like Sean Connery but it's not Sean Connery. Well, I can't help them much at that point so they go off into the store in hopes of finding this ellusive movie called The Bear.
They come back a bit later and have realized the movie is THE EDGE (which stars Anthony Hopkins by the way)
The lady tells me she thought it was called the Bear because it had a bear in the movie.
I can see them renting movies in the future. "Do you have that movie The Car?" I'm sorry we don't have a listing for that. "Oh, we think it's called the Car because it has a car in it." Oh, you must mean the Fast and the Furious? "Yeah, that's it!" Or, "Do you have the movie The Ship?" Who is in it? Freddie Prinze Jr. I'm sorry but we have no listing for the Ship or any movies with him in it called that. "Oh, here it is. It's the Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio."
HOW DO CUSTOMERS SURVIVE??????
And to top it off, I had people rent Blade only to bring it back twenty minutes later because it wasn't the sequel. And I cannot tell you how many people I had to issue credits for because they rented the Spider Man ultimate Villian Showdown cartoon DVD only to bring it back bitching that it wasn't the movie with Tobey Maguire. I mean GEE ZUZ, we are not a video store in Malasia!
05-16-02, 04:10 PM
#22
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Sorry calhoun, maybe I should have clarfied that. At my store the employees do wear vests with the stores name on it while the sales reps and managers are in plain clothes. So it's not hard to tell the difference.
05-16-02, 04:35 PM
#23
Originally posted by Wormwood
Sorry calhoun, maybe I should have clarfied that. At my store the employees do wear vests with the stores name on it while the sales reps and managers are in plain clothes. So it's not hard to tell the difference.
Sorry calhoun, maybe I should have clarfied that. At my store the employees do wear vests with the stores name on it while the sales reps and managers are in plain clothes. So it's not hard to tell the difference.
I mentioned I work part time at Blockbuster (the employee discount is amazing, and I get paid well, and its three days a week so I am able to maintain my sanity!) and one day I went to Wal Mart after work and I have my blue BB shirt on with the yellow collar and I must have been asked by half a dozen people if I worked at Wal Mart. Some didn't even ask....they just came up and started on with their question/problem! And at Best Buy....forget it. The customers were on me like flies on a horse. I couldn't fault them too much...Best Buy shirts and Blockbuster shirts are both blue....but wow...I never expected that. I just took off my BB shirt and walked around in my t shirt for the rest of my stay in the store!
05-16-02, 04:48 PM
#24
DVD Talk Special Edition
Originally posted by calhoun07
I agree that it's stupidity for people to walk up to people in store clothing and ask them if they work there, but I was wondering if any of you have been asked if you worked in a store when you were just there shopping?
I agree that it's stupidity for people to walk up to people in store clothing and ask them if they work there, but I was wondering if any of you have been asked if you worked in a store when you were just there shopping?
05-16-02, 05:15 PM
#25
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Originally posted by calhoun07
I was wondering if any of you have been asked if you worked in a store when you were just there shopping?
I was wondering if any of you have been asked if you worked in a store when you were just there shopping?
My most recent incident was at Best Buy. I was browsing DVD players just to see what's new, when a 30-ish couple were looking at a box and wondering outloud what progressive scan is. So I jump in just to be helpful and answered all their questions, including telling them they didn't need it since they only had a "regular" TV. She then asks me if I work there, to which I respond "No, if I worked here I wouldn't have known the answer to your question".