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A Tilt-A-Whirl of a day

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  • A Tilt-A-Whirl of a day

    A few days ago my shift ran the gamut.

    First was this, which at least started my day off right.

    2) Then we get to the customer who came in to buy four HUUUGE bottles of vitamins which were on sale. I'd gotten three bottles rung up when ...

    Customer: "OMG I CAN'T FIND MY WALLET!"

    She thinks she left it in her car so out the door she rushes. I go over to the supervisor who is regulating the line and tell her what happened.

    Supervisor: "OMG SOMEBODY JUST TURNED IN A WALLET!"

    There is, of course, NO way to contact this woman now to tell her to check the office and see if the found wallet is hers. I void out her purchases but leave them in a bag at my station in case she comes back.

    Which she does, about two hours later. She had driven to [small town about half an hour away] where she'd had lunch to see if she'd left it there. The restaurant was closed. So back she comes, thinking frantically of all the things she'd have to replace, and thankfully ... she thought to check my store.

    One of our young staffers (likely one of the guys who collects the buggies) had found a wallet and turned it in. And sure enough, it was hers. From her reaction, I think he's gonna get a small cash reward for his honesty.

    Oh yes, and she was also happy that her purchases were sitting there waiting for her.

    3) I lost count of the number of people who wanted to dispute prices on things. "But the sign SAID ..." or "But the flyer SAID ..." and of course in most cases they hadn't read the sign OR the flyer properly. Most took it reasonably well.

    4) This is the polar opposite of the customer in the first story. She too comes up with maybe 10 gift cards (not nearly as many as the first customer, LOL) and they are each for a different recipient. She wants me to ring them through all at once and pay for them all at once, but somehow give her individual receipts.

    Now, there ARE some third-party gift cards that we can get gift receipts for ... you hit the "GR" key and then scan the card. Unfortunately, none of the ones she had chosen were among those. I explain the situation.

    She is not happy.

    I call over somebody more senior to see if maybe I've missed something. Senior person says no, there is no way to do what Increasingly Unhappy Customer (IUC) is asking.

    Then we get that old standby ...

    "But I did it this way LAST year!"

    Well, madam, I don't know what to say, except that you are not doing it that way THIS year. Finally she grumpily says never mind, she'll just send cash, and she buys the clothing items she'd also had with her, and off she goes.

    The senior person I'd called over asked another senior person if perchance we had both gotten something wrong, or missed something. New senior person says no, we didn't; our system will not allow us to do that.

    4) Customer comes up with a dozen clothing items and wants a gift receipt for each. Thankfully THIS is possible, although I had to grab a senior person (again) to ask how to do it. You just hit the aforementioned "GR" key and scan the item. At the end the machine spits out the full receipt and then a whole series of tiny little receipts, one per item.

    I see this is going to be quite the challenging holiday season ... I'm expecting a major uptick in purchases of gift cards, and endless questions about returns (we are selling, of all things, a set of wireless headphones and had somebody ask if THEY were returnable since they are a Christmas gift. I asked around and yes, they are, only PLEEEEEZE don't bring back ANY returns on Boxing Day ....)

    Also, we have a small wine shop in our store. It is not part of our company; the employees are not "our" employees. The mini-city in which "my store" is located sells "Town Bucks" which can be used at a multitude of businesses in the area, including our store. We run them through the system as cash. However, one customer asked if "wine shop" takes them.

    Me:

    Later, when I had a few spare minutes, I ran over to the wine store to ask the employee there.

    Wine store employee:

    So ... all I can is give the next person to ask this is a definite ... "maybe??"
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero

  • #2
    Wow. That was quite the day.
    Customers should always be served . . . to the nearest great white.

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth Kristev View Post
      Wow. That was quite the day.
      And here's one I'd forgotten ...

      Note: In Canada, we have bagged milk: three plastic bags of milk stuffed into an obviously larger plastic bag.

      Customer and her husband come through the line. They are bagging their own groceries. Suddenly ...

      Woman: "Uh, miss ... the milk is leaking."

      "Leaking" was an understatement.

      She'd put the milk into one of her bags, and put the bag into their buggy.

      The entire bottom of her bag was afloat. As she lifted it back onto the counter, it spilled onto the floor. She put it down on the counter and milk started to run all over the counter.

      Woman: "I'll ... I'll go get another one."

      Me: "Excellent and I'll clean this up."

      My first task was to triple-bag the milk in an attempt to stem the floodwaters.Then I yelled for somebody to come take it ... somewhere. Anywhere. A freezer would've been a good idea just so it would stop leaking.

      The husband was doing what he could with the mess on the floor and I used up a quarter of a roll of paper towelling (this is the huge roll, the industrial-sized roll that's often put in public washrooms for people to dry their hands on) to clean up the counter. AND mop out her bag as best I could.

      She came rushing back with the new container of milk and I told them their reusable bag could be hosed down (or something) but meanwhile I would put it into a plastic bag (no charge, obviously) because I wasn't sure I'd gotten it completely dry.

      Again, the customers were very good about it all. But on top of everything else ...

      Never mind the pandemic pay; corporate needs to give us gift cards to the local liquor stores.

      And this is one of several reasons why I stopped buying bagged milk some time ago.
      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
      ~ Mr Hero

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth Pixelated View Post
        Never mind the pandemic pay; corporate needs to give us gift cards to the local liquor stores.
        Fixed it for you.
        "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

        Comment


        • #5
          Dammit, Ironclad Alibi, why aren't YOU our boss??
          Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
          ~ Mr Hero

          Comment


          • #6
            I tried. I was passed over 87 times for promotion to a supervisor position. Then I retired.
            "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

            Comment


            • #7
              I remember the Tilt-A-Whirl! AKA "How to launch little kids over the horizon!"
              I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
              Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
              Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Ironclad Alibi View Post
                I tried. I was passed over 87 times for promotion to a supervisor position. Then I retired.
                That sucks. I would vote for you for Boss of the Year anytime.


                Quoth dalesys View Post
                I remember the Tilt-A-Whirl! AKA "How to launch little kids over the horizon!"
                I never heard that one, but I love it. The Tilt-A-Whirl was one of my favourite rides at those portable "fairs" that used to roll into town every year. I'd still go on one, if I could borrow somebody's kid so it would look legit, and not like some aged dingdong who probably broke out of the nursing home a few hours earlier.
                Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                ~ Mr Hero

                Comment

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