Is this being an SC?

[Knightmare]

Was I being an SC here?

I was in a grocery store the other day. This place is known for it's high quality, high dollar items. (Rhymes with Rub-rix if you need to know).

It was after work, I was tired, and this was the closest place to shop. I'm dressed in jeans and a painted up T-shirt. I had about four things in my cart, nothing perishable.

I'm walking down the soft drink aisle, because I'm out of Mt. Dew. I arrive at said product which is next to a youngish mid-level manager (MLM) stocking the shelves.

I look down to grab a 12-pack when I notice the price. "Whoa. This place is expensive." I say to myself, very quietly. They were charging almost $2.00 more than every other place for Mt. Dew; almost $5.00 a 12-pack.

The MLM turns to me and looks me up and down. "Well, sir, there is a Wal-Mart down the street. They'll have your items cheaper."

I look at this punk MLM. The condescending tone, the look of disdain on his face.
"Yes, they will. They also won't have assholes like you working there." I push my cart to him and say "Here ya go. Have fun." At that point I wished my cart was filled to the top with very small items that he would have to put back. And I left. I didn't stop at customer service to complain, I just left.

I wasn't announcing in a loud SC voice about the price of the soft drink. I was just shocked when I saw the price. I mean it literally took me by surprise to see $5.00 for a case of Mt. Dew.

So was I an SC here? I know for a fact the MLM was an asshat. If he said anything different, like "Yeah, prices just keep going up," I would have paid for the Mt. Dew. But that tone he used, the look on his face as he said it just irked me.

The only reason I go to that store now is when I need quality meats. I wish we had a butcher in town so I wouldn't have to go there at all.

[trunks2k]

I don't think you were, I tend to do the same thing when shopping. If something is expensive I'll make a comment to myself but that's mostly because I think out loud a lot (drives the people at work crazy). But I think the guy took it as you being an SC. A lot of people here complain about customers making comments about prices. The manager probably thought you were directing the comments at him, and even worse, not directly telling him but saying it so that so he'd overhear it.

It doesn't really excuse his reaction though. Maybe he was just stressed out or something. *shrug* Who knows? Maybe he was generally trying to be helpful, but it came out really snarky. I probably would have also just left the items and left the store after he commented back to you.

[Boozy]

I can see the other guy's side of it too - the manager was probably just sick and tired of hearing people complain about prices, something I think we can all relate to. If their prices are that much higher than their competition's, he's likely taken all kinds of abuse about it.
BUT - he made a mistake when he immediately jumped to the conclusion that YOU would go all SC on him. Any decent retail employee should be able to recognize the difference between a quiet comment that wasn't even directed at him, and a full-blown SC temper tantrum. What he said, and the tone you say he used, really should have been reserved for the latter kind of customer.
So, no - I don't think you were being sucky. And you were right to point out that you were leaving because of his attitude instead of the prices.

[Jester]

Yes, you were.

Hate to be the voice of dissent, Knight, and I generally like you and your posts, but yeah, I think you were being an SC there.

Take yourself out of the story for a moment. Put yourself in the MLM's shoes. Customer is shopping as you are stocking. Customer makes disparaging remark about your store's prices. You suggest, as many of us have done or have wanted to do, that he would find his items cheaper at another establishment. Customer than blows his stop, mouths off to you about you being an asshole, and storms out, leaving his items for you and your staff to restock. That pretty much is SC behavior.

Do I think you are an SC? No. Not really. But we all, ALL of us, have moments where we do things that we are not proud of. We all have been the SC at some point in time. Personally, I don't think you were justified in your actions.

But the fact is, none of us were there. We don't know what actually happened, what the tone of the MLM was, how snarky your reaction was, etc. Only you know that. Maybe the dude really was a condescending prick. Maybe your mood colored your opinion of what the dude said. I don't know. But from all you described, you overreacted, in my opinion. Take it as a learning experience. I know I do when things like that happen to me.

[trunks2k]

Take yourself out of the story for a moment. Put yourself in the MLM's shoes. Customer is shopping as you are stocking. Customer makes disparaging remark about your store's prices. You suggest, as many of us have done or have wanted to do, that he would find his items cheaper at another establishment. Customer than blows his stop, mouths off to you about you being an asshole, and storms out, leaving his items for you and your staff to restock. That pretty much is SC behavior.

But I think the OP implies that the way it was said, it didn't sound like it was intended to be a helpful comment. It implied that the comment that wal-mart would be cheaper was snarky and unprofessional. That could be a fine line to walk tho.

[South Texan]

No, you most assuredly were NOT being an SC.

I look down to grab a 12-pack when I notice the price. "Whoa. This place is expensive." I say to myself, very quietly. They were charging almost $2.00 more than every other place for Mt. Dew; almost $5.00 a 12-pack.

As I read it, you made a comment to yourself about the price. I see nothing impolite or wrong in your doing so. You were considering purchasing the item, so why should you not be allowed to consider what you are going to pay for it? Would you have wondered about being an SC had you been looking at a shirt and said, “Oh, I don’t know if I like that shade of blue”?

You were not making a comment to the mid-level manager nor were you causing a scene in declaring your opinion of the price nor were you making any kind of a statement that should have been taken as an expectation for the MLM to do something about the price. It was your own comment that may have irritated the MLM, but it was not the sort of thing that makes you an SC.

The MLM turns to me and looks me up and down. "Well, sir, there is a Wal-Mart down the street. They'll have your items cheaper."

That was a totally uncalled for and blatantly rude comment by the MLM. Even if the MLM thought you were addressing him, there is a big difference between wanting to respond to a comment in a snappy way and actually doing so. The MLM was way out of line in what he did.

I look at this punk MLM. The condescending tone, the look of disdain on his face.
"Yes, they will. They also won't have assholes like you working there."

I would have responded the same way to such an out of line comment and snobbish attitude. I also would have refused to do business with that store just as you did.

The MLM was a fool in assuming you were "low quality" simply because you had dressed down to do grocery shopping. He also was a fool in chasing off as he did a customer who had not been causing a problem

[AFpheonix]

I would not say you were, and here's why:
My pharmacy tends to be expensive, I know it, a lot of our customers know it, and yet, they still come back, or transfer scripts from cheaper stores to us. What can I say? We rock.
I'm really ok if someone makes the observation that we can be spendy. If they make it to themselves, I say nothing. If they make it to me, I'll make a sympathetic noise.
If they go beyond the observation into a full-blown whine, THAT'S when I start listing off the cheaper pharmacies. Those people can either then sigh and have me fill it, or go away.

That MSM needs to learn phraseology that helps keep the yelling at him to a minimum. Frankly, every CSR needs to learn it. We all need to learn to pick our battles, what words tend to be calming and what doesn't, when a well-placed use of silence is the best answer, and the best time to get a manager involved.
This is very much a part of customer service, and the MSM totally sucked it up.

And I'll agree with you about $5.00/12 pack being insane. Yeesh.

[trunks2k]

And I'll agree with you about $5.00/12 pack being insane. Yeesh.

Yeah, that is expensive. But I guess if you think about it, that's less than 50 cents per can. Which is cheaper than a vending machine. *shrug* But I tend to rationalize things like that. I just spent $50 on a 12 pack of beer (pint bottles). I had to convince myself that it keeps me from having to go to a bar to buy them, which would be more expensive.

[AFpheonix]

Ah, but this is why I usually keep a case o' pop in my back seat, so I don't have to use a vending machine usually.

I usually wait for the 3/$9 specials at work and then load up, or if Safeway is having their super-cheap 24 pack sale I'll grab that.

[Seshat]

I tend to enunciate very clearly, and to separate my words a touch more than most people in my home region. To some people, this seems to come across as me being patronising and condescending: to me, it's just the way I speak.

(My friend who identified what my 'accent' really was, says she's noticed I have a very mild hearing disorder - I speak the way I wish other people would, it'd be much easier for me to understand them.)

None of us were there: we can never know what really happened. But if I'd been the MLM in the story, it's quite possible that Knightmare would have thought I was being sarcastic and patronising, even though I'd have just been being-me.

.... I guess this is just a plea for people not to assume. For all I know, the MLM was being intentionally annoying.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I agree with South Texan. If you weren't loudly complaining, but were just talking to yourself, it wasn't that guy's place to butt in. You weren't talking to him. He was being kind of a jerk.

I understand he might have been touchy, but he needs to learn the difference between a customer commenting to himself when considering prices, and someone who is being a genuine complainer. And he SURE needs to learn not be so rude.

[Food Lady]

Personally, I think whether you were a SC or not depends on the MLM's frame of mind at the time. I've been reading a lot of posts here and some of the stuff posted about probably wouldn't have bothered me at all if I was in a good mood. I guess it's just all perceptive on both sides. That's why I'm glad we can come here and post our true thoughts so we don't take it out on our customers. From your post it sounds like you were just commenting to yourself. I had someone do that the other day and while it wouldn't normally bother me, it did because I've been having a bad workweek. I don't think you did anything wrong in making a comment about the price, but were still labelled as an SC in that guy's mind. I don't think I would have left, but that's me.

[kibbles]

You were not a SC at all. You were speaking to yourself, and wasn't complaining or making rude comments to any employees or other customers. You just expressed sincere shock to yourself. The worker, however, was a Sucky Employee.