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Have you ever noticed, when something goes wrong sometimes, it goes absolutely tits up, fubared?
I snuck out the back door of the store tonight to avoid dealing with a customer.
I really don't blame him for being angry, but I did not want to deal with him.
His wife called first thing Monday to arrange for delivery of her appliances. She wanted them that day.
I told her that we do not do deliveries on Monday or Tuesday, but I could arrange for delivery any time from Wednesday to Saturday.
They came in to the store to pay, and when I was talking to them, I had a slip of the tongue. It was my mistake, and I admit it.
I said, "There is a delivery going your way tomorrow..." (That would have meant Tuesday, but I had just finished saying we don't deliver on Tuesday.) I corrected myself and said, "I mean Wednesday," but he must not have heard it. Either that, or I had another slip of the tongue and I said "tomorrow" again in the conversation and didn't catch myself.
I got an angry phone call from him yesterday, asking where his appliances were. He claimed that I told him they would be there yesterday morning. I explained to him that we do not do deliveries on Tuesday. I said that they would be coming out today (Wednesday), and added, "I told you we don't deliver on Monday or Tuesdays."
He said, "Yes, you told me you don't deliver those days, but then you said you had a delivery going my way today and you could add my appliances to that delivery."
I said, "Sir, that delivery was for today. I had already said to you that there were no deliveries today.
He admitted again that I had told him there were no deliveries, but then insisted that I had said there was one going out in the morning.
That's when I kind of remembered saying, "tomorrow," but I clearly remember correcting myself.
He swore a bit because he had gone to all the trouble of moving the old fridge and unhooking everything.
I apologized to him for the obvious misunderstanding, but there wasn't anything else I could do.
I told the manager in case the guy called to complain.
At about 2:00 this afternoon, I got paged to the phone.
"Where are my appliances?"
I radioed the guys and they said they were on their way now.
Even though they told me last week that they do the out of town deliveries first, for some reason, they chose to do the ones that were on the south of town, then the in town ones, rather than the ones to the north, which were a lot farther away.
I had to call her back and apologize again and explain that the morning deliveries took much longer, and because we share a truck with our furniture store, their deliveries take priority. (The guy on the truck never even talked to me, so he had no way of knowing the booking had been done first thing Monday with only one other delivery booked for today.)
If that wasn't bad enough, when the fridge got there, the delivery guy broke the grounding prong on the plug.
He called back and asked the dept manager what to do, and he said to leave it, because it would still run, but we would send a repairman out to fix the plug.
So, when I was leaving, the guy had driven to the store and was at the front, demanding a new fridge.
I really don't blame him.
I had already punched out, though, and had forgotten my newspaper, or else I would have already been gone.
There was no way I wanted to face the wrath of the customer, so I snuck out the back door like a coward.
Really, though, I had done my part, aside from the slip of the tongue, so why should I have had to take any heat?
Even with the slip I made, the guy clearly admitted, twice, that I did tell him we do not deliver on Tuesday, so why wouldn't he question it when I said, "tomorrow"?
I have no idea how they handled it. No doubt the mess will end up in my lap anyway.
I need a drink.
I snuck out the back door of the store tonight to avoid dealing with a customer.
I really don't blame him for being angry, but I did not want to deal with him.
His wife called first thing Monday to arrange for delivery of her appliances. She wanted them that day.
I told her that we do not do deliveries on Monday or Tuesday, but I could arrange for delivery any time from Wednesday to Saturday.
They came in to the store to pay, and when I was talking to them, I had a slip of the tongue. It was my mistake, and I admit it.
I said, "There is a delivery going your way tomorrow..." (That would have meant Tuesday, but I had just finished saying we don't deliver on Tuesday.) I corrected myself and said, "I mean Wednesday," but he must not have heard it. Either that, or I had another slip of the tongue and I said "tomorrow" again in the conversation and didn't catch myself.
I got an angry phone call from him yesterday, asking where his appliances were. He claimed that I told him they would be there yesterday morning. I explained to him that we do not do deliveries on Tuesday. I said that they would be coming out today (Wednesday), and added, "I told you we don't deliver on Monday or Tuesdays."
He said, "Yes, you told me you don't deliver those days, but then you said you had a delivery going my way today and you could add my appliances to that delivery."
I said, "Sir, that delivery was for today. I had already said to you that there were no deliveries today.
He admitted again that I had told him there were no deliveries, but then insisted that I had said there was one going out in the morning.
That's when I kind of remembered saying, "tomorrow," but I clearly remember correcting myself.
He swore a bit because he had gone to all the trouble of moving the old fridge and unhooking everything.
I apologized to him for the obvious misunderstanding, but there wasn't anything else I could do.
I told the manager in case the guy called to complain.
At about 2:00 this afternoon, I got paged to the phone.
"Where are my appliances?"
I radioed the guys and they said they were on their way now.
Even though they told me last week that they do the out of town deliveries first, for some reason, they chose to do the ones that were on the south of town, then the in town ones, rather than the ones to the north, which were a lot farther away.
I had to call her back and apologize again and explain that the morning deliveries took much longer, and because we share a truck with our furniture store, their deliveries take priority. (The guy on the truck never even talked to me, so he had no way of knowing the booking had been done first thing Monday with only one other delivery booked for today.)
If that wasn't bad enough, when the fridge got there, the delivery guy broke the grounding prong on the plug.
He called back and asked the dept manager what to do, and he said to leave it, because it would still run, but we would send a repairman out to fix the plug.
So, when I was leaving, the guy had driven to the store and was at the front, demanding a new fridge.
I really don't blame him.
I had already punched out, though, and had forgotten my newspaper, or else I would have already been gone.
There was no way I wanted to face the wrath of the customer, so I snuck out the back door like a coward.
Really, though, I had done my part, aside from the slip of the tongue, so why should I have had to take any heat?
Even with the slip I made, the guy clearly admitted, twice, that I did tell him we do not deliver on Tuesday, so why wouldn't he question it when I said, "tomorrow"?
I have no idea how they handled it. No doubt the mess will end up in my lap anyway.
I need a drink.
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