So Yeah, I Cried at Work.

[Headset Hellion]

SourRobot, it was because of a customer. Well, TBH there was a series of bad customers, but the final one was the straw that broke the camel's back. There was an error where a merchant credit had posted to an old account number, one that was closed out as lost/stolen, instead of the current account number. Of course this is proof that The Bank is trying to steal his money and we are just a bunch of Crooks and Thieves!!!11!!

This guy was just screaming at me, and nothing I said could calm him down at all. I put him on hold to get a manager's assistance and the thought of getting back on the phone brought me, literally, to tears. Then I could not stop crying; I was hyperventilating and my nose was running and I'm sure it was very ugly. I was sent home early to get some rest. I took the next day off as well.

[Anakah]

I've cried at work too. It's okay. It's NOT okay for your manager to say give them whatever and WALK AWAY. I don't know if his or her boss would like it too much that the manager just gives the store away...

I've been in customer service for like ten years and shit still gets to me. Does this manager do this to you all the time? Ugh what a jerk and those people sucked too!

[The_Cook]

Being a cook, I've had people try to to pull a few over on me. A semi-regular fed me the line "you should know better," to which, without delay I let loose some hearty laughter retorting with; "That's a good one, it'll be the joke of the day." There are ways of getting around sc's like that, but it takes a bit of creative finesse with your words.

I think its a safe bet to say we've all been there and I suppose the best piece of advice I could give to you is; make time for yourself to vent/de-stress/etc. where you feel most safe and comfortable and preferably with someone you're close with if possible.

[SourRobot]

I would immediately try that on shirts and say "well you allowed this customer to do it... you must for me!!" It might make you a SC.. but it would HOPEFULLY show the logic to the manager. If he refuses.. go to corporate and state "as a customer, you noticed a manager to this.. and he gave it to them for $5.. yet didn't allow you to get it for $5".

I wanted to do that, but...there was nothing there I wanted. :P

You know, I might understand the manager overriding the first one, to appease the customer, but I wouldn't understand the other two since it is apparent the customers were just taking advantage of the situation. I am surprised she didn't pick up ALL the misplaced clothes on that rack to get them for $5.

I only get upset about situations like this when there is a sign on a rack and says all of the things are on sale for a certain price, and you pick up two things of the same kind (exactly the same except in color) and one rings up on sale, the other doesn't, and the sales rep says it's only on certain ones. If the sign says all of a certain item, and the only difference is color, how are you going to figure out which ones are on sale and which aren't?

She probably did that. I wasn't paying too much attention to where she was picking stuff up because the clearance racks were very close together, and I was busy looking around for where the merchandise should have been. I was pretty frazzled at that point and just trying to hurry so that I could finish the transaction.

Well, at my store the thing with the shirts/handbags/socks/etc happens a lot, but we get certain colors at certain times of the year. I have to explain to customers all the time that even though two bags are the same, the colors determine when we got them, which is why the prices are different. I can understand why they don't know (heck, I didn't even know before I worked in retail), but I don't like it when they argue with me and ask me to change the price anyway. Uh, no?

Vent all need, sweetie, that's what we're here for. What they did was uncalled for and the fact that they were rewarded for it is infuriating. Karma will get them back, until then, vent all you want.

Thank you! I just hope I never have to deal with them again. If I have someone working with me I'll just pass the customer off to them (after explaining that I can't deal with those customers).

I had one like that when I worked at Walgreen's. A guy had a large high ticket item (something like $50 to $75 range) that he claimed should be like two dollars because that's what the sign said.

I went to the table and pointed out that the sign stated "X item Sale $1.99", that there were about a hundred of X item on the table and that the item he had was actually on a shelf about five feet away from the table with the correct price. I offered to take 10% off the item as a courtesy but there was no way I could sell it to him at $1.99.

Then the guy went off on me screaming and swearing that I HAD to give it to him for two dollars because HE FOUND IT ON THE TABLE WITH THE SIGN BLARG!

I warned him several times to watch his language then finally told him to get out of the store or I would call the police. He grudgingly realized I wasn't going to budge and said he would take the 10% off.

Man, if he had been mad before I think he nearly had a coronary when I told him that the 10% I had offered was off the table as soon as he started swearing at me and at this point he needed to leave the store immediately.

He never did ask for a manager (IDK maybe he thought I was a manager since I had the authority to offer the 10% off or maybe he realized even the most spineless manager wasn't about to give him a high priced item for a pittance).

That's amazing! It must have been good to be able to do that. I hate how some customers will try to intimidate the cashier into giving them what they don't deserve, just because they can't read well.

SourRobot, it was because of a customer. Well, TBH there was a series of bad customers, but the final one was the straw that broke the camel's back. There was an error where a merchant credit had posted to an old account number, one that was closed out as lost/stolen, instead of the current account number. Of course this is proof that The Bank is trying to steal his money and we are just a bunch of Crooks and Thieves!!!11!!

This guy was just screaming at me, and nothing I said could calm him down at all. I put him on hold to get a manager's assistance and the thought of getting back on the phone brought me, literally, to tears. Then I could not stop crying; I was hyperventilating and my nose was running and I'm sure it was very ugly. I was sent home early to get some rest. I took the next day off as well.

Oh no. That really sucks. It is one of those things where you can only take that kind of behavior for so long before you finally snap. Just when you think you can just brush it off like you usually do. I almost considered calling out the next day, but I just went in anyway. I didn't want to call too much attention to my behavior, and I'm sure that calling out would have meant having to answer a bunch of questions from the managers the next day.

I've cried at work too. It's okay. It's NOT okay for your manager to say give them whatever and WALK AWAY. I don't know if his or her boss would like it too much that the manager just gives the store away...

I've been in customer service for like ten years and shit still gets to me. Does this manager do this to you all the time? Ugh what a jerk and those people sucked too!

All the managers do it to get the customer out of the store, but I only have about one or two who actually explain to the customer why we're doing it and that it's not something they always do (my dept. manager is one of those cool ones). The only other time a manager has pissed me off like this one did was during the holidays where she was letting a lot of crap slide in my department.

The funny thing about it is that she was a sales associate like me less than two years ago and has less patience than me, so you'd think she would remember how it feels.

[XCashier]

Thanks a lot for reading and replying, guys. I just needed some input from other people on the situation, because I've thought it over again and again how something like that could set me off when I've dealt with the same situation many times before.

You've heard the story about the straw that broke the camel's back? This was it for you.

We can put up with SC's crap from day to day, then one day, one asshole pushes it too far and that's all it takes. Nearly all of us have been there. Some of us have cried or screamed, others went into the back and punched the hell out of boxes and backstock and walls. All of us are human and can only take so much.

and cookies, and I hope you're feeling better.

[retailninja]

Ugh! It always pisses me off when management gives you the responsibility of upholding corporate policies only to undermine you!