Fellow CSers, is there a time where one can be justified in being an SC? I think there are times when it can happen. I'm fairly certain what happened last Saturday was in fact justified. However, I'll leave it to you to decide.
I spent most of Christmas trying to decide what to get DaDairyDruid. He's a guy, and as such, can be difficult. Of course, I know what he likes so it could have just as been easy to go to Barnes and Noble and get him a gift card. But I also know he'd been complaining about his shoes and I decided to get him new ones.
Cue Payless (where we usually go) to find the style he likes. He bought another style and it wasn't working out for him. After much searching online, it was clear that I couldn't just walk in and buy them. I'd have to order them. So I did, opting for ship to store for free shipping.
Never. Again. At least not at the particular store that I had them shipped to, anyway.
I get the call last Friday that they're in and we plan to stop by the following day to get them. When we arrive, I tell the employee that I'm there to pick up the shoes and that's where the niceties end.
The employee asks for my ID and I figure he's just going to check to make sure I am who I say I am. Instead, he brings out a large 3" ring binder and pulls the printed ticket out and starts to write down my drivers license number.
Oh. Hell. No.
This is important to pause here for a moment - When I first moved to Missouri, I became a victim of ID Theft. Hell ensued for many years and still does every now and then. I've been adamant in my pursuit to ensure that nothing ever ends up on anyone's hands again (including having my debit card replaced twice in the past year due to security issues - namely a local grocery store and Target).
When he started writing down the info, I stopped him and asked why he was doing that.
"It's to prove you picked up the shoes."
How does that prove it exactly, other than expose me to potential fraud? No, says I. I will not allow this, please find another way for me to verify that I have picked up the shoes.
He then tries to either fine me the manual about why they do this, or something. But that binder was full of people who weren't suspect in the least that a store was taking down their drivers license number. The pages had their full address as well.
People, that's just screaming for fraud! All it takes is the store being broken into, someone finding the binder and making fake IDs. Nope, I wasn't having it and insisted again that he find another way to verify this. Finally he asks if I want to talk to the manager.
Yes, I do. "Oh, she's not here, but I can call her." I'm slowly losing my cool. DaDairyDruid can see it, and he's just trying to keep out of it (trust me, this is smart. I've been known to turn on him when nothing is his fault. Patience of a saint he has). I could tell he was unhappy on my behalf though. He has a way of carrying himself and he knew I was right in my crusade to protect my personal information.
So he calls the manager on his personal cell. Meanwhile, I'm trying to explain to the clueless other employee about how their "policy" is a bad bad idea. She demurs with the "Oh I understand..."
Me: Oh, so you know what kind of hell you go through when every law office calls you demanding payment for fraudulent accounts opened and you have to continually provide proof that they might or might not accept?
Employee: *deer in headlights* well, I haven't had my identity stolen...
Me: You have no idea what you're talking about then.
I ignored anything else she said to me because honestly anyone who pretends to understand has no clue what they're talking about. The other employee gets the manager on the speaker phone and she tries to explain to me their "policy" and she's clueless too about why I'm upset.
Finally she tells the employee to give me the shoes and then says "and if she doesn't like the policy, she doesn't have to buy from us again." Yeah, that got my blood boiling. I had wanted to let DaDairyDruid try the shoes on, but decided that if they didn't fit, I'd return them to another Payless and we'd get him shoes somewhere else.
/end part 1
I spent most of Christmas trying to decide what to get DaDairyDruid. He's a guy, and as such, can be difficult. Of course, I know what he likes so it could have just as been easy to go to Barnes and Noble and get him a gift card. But I also know he'd been complaining about his shoes and I decided to get him new ones.
Cue Payless (where we usually go) to find the style he likes. He bought another style and it wasn't working out for him. After much searching online, it was clear that I couldn't just walk in and buy them. I'd have to order them. So I did, opting for ship to store for free shipping.
Never. Again. At least not at the particular store that I had them shipped to, anyway.
I get the call last Friday that they're in and we plan to stop by the following day to get them. When we arrive, I tell the employee that I'm there to pick up the shoes and that's where the niceties end.
The employee asks for my ID and I figure he's just going to check to make sure I am who I say I am. Instead, he brings out a large 3" ring binder and pulls the printed ticket out and starts to write down my drivers license number.
Oh. Hell. No.
This is important to pause here for a moment - When I first moved to Missouri, I became a victim of ID Theft. Hell ensued for many years and still does every now and then. I've been adamant in my pursuit to ensure that nothing ever ends up on anyone's hands again (including having my debit card replaced twice in the past year due to security issues - namely a local grocery store and Target).
When he started writing down the info, I stopped him and asked why he was doing that.
"It's to prove you picked up the shoes."
How does that prove it exactly, other than expose me to potential fraud? No, says I. I will not allow this, please find another way for me to verify that I have picked up the shoes.
He then tries to either fine me the manual about why they do this, or something. But that binder was full of people who weren't suspect in the least that a store was taking down their drivers license number. The pages had their full address as well.
People, that's just screaming for fraud! All it takes is the store being broken into, someone finding the binder and making fake IDs. Nope, I wasn't having it and insisted again that he find another way to verify this. Finally he asks if I want to talk to the manager.
Yes, I do. "Oh, she's not here, but I can call her." I'm slowly losing my cool. DaDairyDruid can see it, and he's just trying to keep out of it (trust me, this is smart. I've been known to turn on him when nothing is his fault. Patience of a saint he has). I could tell he was unhappy on my behalf though. He has a way of carrying himself and he knew I was right in my crusade to protect my personal information.
So he calls the manager on his personal cell. Meanwhile, I'm trying to explain to the clueless other employee about how their "policy" is a bad bad idea. She demurs with the "Oh I understand..."
Me: Oh, so you know what kind of hell you go through when every law office calls you demanding payment for fraudulent accounts opened and you have to continually provide proof that they might or might not accept?
Employee: *deer in headlights* well, I haven't had my identity stolen...
Me: You have no idea what you're talking about then.
I ignored anything else she said to me because honestly anyone who pretends to understand has no clue what they're talking about. The other employee gets the manager on the speaker phone and she tries to explain to me their "policy" and she's clueless too about why I'm upset.
Finally she tells the employee to give me the shoes and then says "and if she doesn't like the policy, she doesn't have to buy from us again." Yeah, that got my blood boiling. I had wanted to let DaDairyDruid try the shoes on, but decided that if they didn't fit, I'd return them to another Payless and we'd get him shoes somewhere else.
/end part 1
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