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My manager returned from the bank the other day with a story about one of our regular SCs named "Carla." Sorry about the long history, but as you will see it all fits together.
The story on Carla..... where to begin on this piece of work.....
The State of Tennessee recently passed the Responsible Vendor Act which means that we are required to see ID on all alcohol sales regardless of age. For a short time, the state considered extending that restriction to all age-restricted sales. The bottom line is that any age-restricted sale -- alcohol, tobacco, lottery, ephedrine -- would require an ID to complete the transaction regardless of age. In keeping with that idea, our company decided for a short-time to require ID on all age-restricted sales.
So, Carla was the supreme queen of the entitlement whores when this policy was first put into practice. Shortly afterward, she happened to lose her driver's license. She was unable to get a replacement from the DMV for some mysterious reason (she never explained, and we never asked). The end result was that no one could sell her cigarettes per policy, and it became a big drama each time. She always went into temper tantrums about how she was so stressed out because she was a single mother of four kids, and none of their fathers paid child support. Yes, I imagine that would be stressful, but still the rule applies -- no ID, no cigarettes, no exceptions. Each time, she would call in a complaint to the manager and the office on whichever clerk refused the sale. I lost count of how many confrontations I had with Carla over the ID issue.
Then, there was the time that Carla had a pack of cigarettes she wanted to exchange, but they had a tax stamp for a neighboring state. We couldn't trade them. She'd sent someone else in to make the trade for her. I explained to this woman that I couldn't accept them because they are tax-stamped for another state. That woman was nice enough about it. Then, Carla came in with the same pack of cigarettes, and said her friend got them for her but they were the wrong kind. I already knew before I checked the stamp what was coming. So, I checked the stamp, and told her that I couldn't trade the cigarettes. She started ranting about how I sold her the wrong pack of cigarettes, and that it would make no sense for her to buy cigarettes she won't smoke. Of course, I agreed that it wouldn't make sense, but neither does her argument. After all, her ID had been "lost" for months by that time, so I wouldn't have sold HER cigarettes. It's unlikely her friend bought them from us given that they were tax-stamped from another state, and our cigarette inventory is checked regularly for compliance. Carla called the office to complain on me about that incident, but they ignored it. The manager even told me that several other customers called in on my behalf over that particular incident.
Another time, I was stuck in the position of breaking up an argument between Carla and another clerk. The other clerk, named "Emmy," was a grandmotherly type of sweet old lady, but she didn't take crap off anyone. If you were rude and obnoxious toward Emmy, she was equally firm about setting you straight. I was working in the cooler on that particular day, enjoying the break from customers. That's when I heard the dreaded voice of Carla yelling my name. She said Emmy was getting an attitude with her. Carla should know about getting an attitude. She's the queen of the entitlement whores. I didn't question Emmy about any of it because I figured that Carla probably had thrown one of her signature temper tantrums, and Emmy had enough before it went too far. Whatever had happened before Carla came back to the coolers, Emmy was refusing to wait on her. There were several other customers in the store, but they stayed in the background. I signed on to my register and rang up Carla's stuff. She kept making comments about Emmy's attitude. Emmy let loose on her, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Carla started smarting off again, and followed up with "See, I told you!" They started shouting at each other. I finally had enough of the argument. I told Emmy that I know that she didn't provoke it, but let it go as a favor to me. She did. I told Carla to shut up about it or get out. She did. She finally left. After she left, I asked Emmy about her side of the story. She calmly told me, and the customers who had witnessed the whole thing told me what they saw. I asked them if I could take the names and numbers just in case. They gave their info. Carla called in to complain on Emmy, but the office ignored it. A couple of days later, the human resource manager stopped in on her usual coffee run because she lived nearby. I asked her about it, and she told me the office wasn't taking Carla seriously. They decided that she had most likely provoked Emmy, and that we handled it the best way we could.
The funny part is that afterward, I noticed that Carla was less antagonistic toward me. She was sure to mention Emmy's "rotten attitude," though. I just told her that I don't want to hear it. "Take your stuff and leave."
Now, for the rest of the story....
The manager spotted Carla at the bank the other day. Carla was giving one of the tellers a bunch of grief over something. Another teller opened her window, and the manager stepped down there. The second teller made a comment that none of the other tellers will deal with Carla any longer because of her tantrums. The manager shared some insights about Carla from our store.
The story on Carla..... where to begin on this piece of work.....
The State of Tennessee recently passed the Responsible Vendor Act which means that we are required to see ID on all alcohol sales regardless of age. For a short time, the state considered extending that restriction to all age-restricted sales. The bottom line is that any age-restricted sale -- alcohol, tobacco, lottery, ephedrine -- would require an ID to complete the transaction regardless of age. In keeping with that idea, our company decided for a short-time to require ID on all age-restricted sales.
So, Carla was the supreme queen of the entitlement whores when this policy was first put into practice. Shortly afterward, she happened to lose her driver's license. She was unable to get a replacement from the DMV for some mysterious reason (she never explained, and we never asked). The end result was that no one could sell her cigarettes per policy, and it became a big drama each time. She always went into temper tantrums about how she was so stressed out because she was a single mother of four kids, and none of their fathers paid child support. Yes, I imagine that would be stressful, but still the rule applies -- no ID, no cigarettes, no exceptions. Each time, she would call in a complaint to the manager and the office on whichever clerk refused the sale. I lost count of how many confrontations I had with Carla over the ID issue.
Then, there was the time that Carla had a pack of cigarettes she wanted to exchange, but they had a tax stamp for a neighboring state. We couldn't trade them. She'd sent someone else in to make the trade for her. I explained to this woman that I couldn't accept them because they are tax-stamped for another state. That woman was nice enough about it. Then, Carla came in with the same pack of cigarettes, and said her friend got them for her but they were the wrong kind. I already knew before I checked the stamp what was coming. So, I checked the stamp, and told her that I couldn't trade the cigarettes. She started ranting about how I sold her the wrong pack of cigarettes, and that it would make no sense for her to buy cigarettes she won't smoke. Of course, I agreed that it wouldn't make sense, but neither does her argument. After all, her ID had been "lost" for months by that time, so I wouldn't have sold HER cigarettes. It's unlikely her friend bought them from us given that they were tax-stamped from another state, and our cigarette inventory is checked regularly for compliance. Carla called the office to complain on me about that incident, but they ignored it. The manager even told me that several other customers called in on my behalf over that particular incident.
Another time, I was stuck in the position of breaking up an argument between Carla and another clerk. The other clerk, named "Emmy," was a grandmotherly type of sweet old lady, but she didn't take crap off anyone. If you were rude and obnoxious toward Emmy, she was equally firm about setting you straight. I was working in the cooler on that particular day, enjoying the break from customers. That's when I heard the dreaded voice of Carla yelling my name. She said Emmy was getting an attitude with her. Carla should know about getting an attitude. She's the queen of the entitlement whores. I didn't question Emmy about any of it because I figured that Carla probably had thrown one of her signature temper tantrums, and Emmy had enough before it went too far. Whatever had happened before Carla came back to the coolers, Emmy was refusing to wait on her. There were several other customers in the store, but they stayed in the background. I signed on to my register and rang up Carla's stuff. She kept making comments about Emmy's attitude. Emmy let loose on her, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Carla started smarting off again, and followed up with "See, I told you!" They started shouting at each other. I finally had enough of the argument. I told Emmy that I know that she didn't provoke it, but let it go as a favor to me. She did. I told Carla to shut up about it or get out. She did. She finally left. After she left, I asked Emmy about her side of the story. She calmly told me, and the customers who had witnessed the whole thing told me what they saw. I asked them if I could take the names and numbers just in case. They gave their info. Carla called in to complain on Emmy, but the office ignored it. A couple of days later, the human resource manager stopped in on her usual coffee run because she lived nearby. I asked her about it, and she told me the office wasn't taking Carla seriously. They decided that she had most likely provoked Emmy, and that we handled it the best way we could.
The funny part is that afterward, I noticed that Carla was less antagonistic toward me. She was sure to mention Emmy's "rotten attitude," though. I just told her that I don't want to hear it. "Take your stuff and leave."
Now, for the rest of the story....
The manager spotted Carla at the bank the other day. Carla was giving one of the tellers a bunch of grief over something. Another teller opened her window, and the manager stepped down there. The second teller made a comment that none of the other tellers will deal with Carla any longer because of her tantrums. The manager shared some insights about Carla from our store.
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