Another fun week at work!

[XCashier]

Had to close one night, and clean the bathrooms. Found soaking wet underpants in the tampon disposal, and feces smeared on the floor. I am so glad we're supplied with rubber gloves and plenty of cleaning supplies.

*****
We sign people up to receive our coupons via mail, e-mail, text message and smartphone app. We also hand out fliers and have newspaper coupons on Sunday. We do everything we can to supply our customers with coupons. Yet they never remember to bring them to the store! And of course, it's our fault that they didn't bring their coupons and we don't have any left to give out. Customers, your coupons are your responsibility! You do not have an inalienable right to them, and once they are gone, we cannot create more out of thin air. Giving me the puppy dog eyes and pleading grin will not work, nor will yelling at me. And if you ring up your order and pay for it, then dig out the coupons…well, yes, we can refund your order and re-ring it with the coupons, but we're not going to be too thrilled about it, nor will the people in the line you're holding up. Please get your act together before coming to the store!

*****
A mother and two children came to my register. The oldest boy was nice and quiet; wish I could say the same for the younger. First, he coughs open mouthed all over my counter. Then, he keeps saying, "Whadaya DO-ing, whadaya DO-ing, whadaya DO-ing, whadaya DO-ing, whadaya DO-ing," over and over and over, with an irritating, shrill, sing-song voice like the love child of Jerry Lewis and Gilbert Gottfried. When I told him, "I'm scanning the barcodes to ring up the items, he squawked, "What?! What?! What?! What?! What?! What?!" then back to, "Whadaya DO-ing, whadaya DO-ing, whadaya DO-ing, whadaya DO-ing, whadaya DO-ing," interrupted briefly by another open-mouthed coughing fit all over the counter, then the old song again. I was very glad to finish that transaction and send them on their way!

*****
Why is it, when I'm re-stocking one area of the store, every customer in the store just HAS to visit that one area?! Great big humongous fabric and craft store with thousands of interesting items, and they all congregate at the one spot I'm trying to reorganize! And since I can't stock with five customers and two carts right in that area, I leave the area and let them browse. Oh my gosh, those quilting solids must've been amazingly fascinating; they were there nearly an hour.

[Food Lady]

It's like we work at the same store, but we don't. O.o

[EricKei]

Why is it, when I'm re-stocking one area of the store, every customer in the store just HAS to visit that one area?!

Simple. It's the "Oooo! Treasure!" effect (ever played Overlord? ^_^) -- anything being restocked is automatically new and shiney, and therefore desirable...After all, they NEED to get those new fabric swatches! Who wants to use old cloth that's been hanging around the store for three whole weeks?

[wolfie]

Why is it, when I'm re-stocking one area of the store, every customer in the store just HAS to visit that one area?! Great big humongous fabric and craft store with thousands of interesting items, and they all congregate at the one spot I'm trying to reorganize!

Sounds like you're dealing with the retail version of the "4-wheeler beacon". A road can have absolutely NO traffic, but as soon as a semi starts manouvering into the loading bay (thank you, architect, for designing a building where you have to manouver in the street to get to the loading bay), it broadcasts a signal "big rig manouvering - come on out and get in the way", and in a couple minutes you're dealing with a few dozen cars.

[vaxtorino]

I'm 99.9% sure that we work for the same store, in which case:

- YES, a thousand times yes, though I'm guilty of forgetting my own coupons half the time. My favorite is when people say "Do you have any coupons for me?" and I want to say "well yes! We have an envelope full of coupons here with your name on it best day ever"
We also get people who are willing to go through the whole return-then-purchase-again to use a coupon, which we've been instructed to NOT tell a customer is an option, but people do it anyway (coworker suck)...or we just get people who will return everything when told that coupons don't apply to previous purchases, which I don't totally understand.

- I mostly cover the cutting counter, and so many little kids like to stand there and watch me cut fabric, which is totally fine! It's when they start going "why is she cutting? why is she cutting the fabric? WHY IS SHE CUTTING? she needs to cut the fabric? why is she cutting the fabric? are we getting the whole thing? why can't we get the whole thing? why does she need to cut it?" that I feel bad for the parents who try to explain it in ways that will sink in but never do.

- I swear, every time I try to just clean an area, people will just flock from all over. Especially Red Tag, they must think I'm putting out some new stuff or something when I'm just trying to make it look less like a huge mess, which is impossible when people will shop through the section I just cleaned and mess it up again!
I've also tried putting away carts (of fabric) in quilting and the people will follow me from section to section. I even had two women - swear to god - literally wedge themselves in between me and the wall to look at fat quarters. I'm talking maybe a foot between me and the wall of fabric, if I had a personal bubble they would have punctured and deflated it. I just gave up and took the cart back to the counter because I wasn't going to get anything done.

[BowserKoopa1]

Don't worry about the customers who go to the same area that you are in, they will get what's coming to them, because they "reap what they sew"

[EricKei]

because they "reap what they sew"

Ouch >_< ...Uhm, poked my finger on a needle there. Yeah, that's it...

- YES, a thousand times yes, though I'm guilty of forgetting my own coupons half the time

That's why I love what <grocerychain> here does...They let you download coupons to their discount card. I'm usually too lazy to bring in actual paper coupons

...or we just get people who will return everything when told that coupons don't apply to previous purchases, which I don't totally understand.

People often seek out an purchase a specific item simply because it's on sale (which, to be fair, is the entire POINT of a coupon -- to get them to come in and hopefully buy other stuff, too). No discount = no sale, even if it's something like 5% off.

Well, anyhoo ~ to ! You're in good company here!

[XCashier]

I'm 99.9% sure that we work for the same store,

Sounds like we do (though at opposite ends of the country). There was another regular here for a while named flutes_and_fabric who also worked at another branch. You may want to check out some of her stories; this one is my personal favorite.

My customers are quite tame in comparison!

[Jay 2K Winger]

Why is it, when I'm re-stocking one area of the store, every customer in the store just HAS to visit that one area?! Great big humongous fabric and craft store with thousands of interesting items, and they all congregate at the one spot I'm trying to reorganize! And since I can't stock with five customers and two carts right in that area, I leave the area and let them browse. Oh my gosh, those quilting solids must've been amazingly fascinating; they were there nearly an hour.

When the cashiers/day crew at the wholesale club were still responsible for making sure the clothing department (or at least the tables) was straightened up, we'd get that kind of problem. One of my coworkers mentions she finished straightening one table, and when she moved to the next, some young jackass (teenager, I think) zipped over, stuffed his hands to the bottom of a bunch of stacks, then upended the lot, before turning to leave.

Said CW stopped him with a sharp "Hey!" and somehow managed to get him to come back and clean up the mess he'd made.

[Food Lady]

My favorite is when people say "Do you have any coupons for me?"

I have posted before that I do not play that passive-aggressive game and give a straight answer, such as "We had some last week but they're gone." And I have been called grumpy or rude for not finding their "joke" funny.

[retailsweetie]

Why is it, when I'm re-stocking one area of the store, every customer in the store just HAS to visit that one area?!

Story of my life! As soon as I organize the clearance, *everyone* wants to be in the exact size range I'm working on.

[KellyHabersham]

Story of my life! As soon as I organize the clearance, *everyone* wants to be in the exact size range I'm working on.

That happens at the library a lot.....mostly in the DVD section, but I remember one time when I was trying to straighten something in the children's non-fiction area, and this woman and her kids decided they "had" to browse in that exact spot.

[Halo_miles]

I have posted before that I do not play that passive-aggressive game and give a straight answer, such as "We had some last week but they're gone." And I have been called grumpy or rude for not finding their "joke" funny.

I can imagine that when you hear said, "joke" 40 times in a day, it gets a little old.