Some people are unbelievable

[King BBCB]

I remember a SC getting annoyed once because "she drove all the way down" to go to this sale we occasionally have where we stay open late on Sunday nights, then saw that we had closed due to a major snowstorm. Not only is this stupid for being annoyed that the store's employees weren't willing to risk their lives (the ones that would have shown up), but also for her own sake, as she obviously didn't bother to call before making the voyage.

A few years later, a generator crashed (or something did, I'm still not entirely sure), causing the store to shut down for a day. The power was gone, sparks were flying everywhere, and the building was simply unsafe to be in. As we evacuated the customers, I heard one lady grunt because she couldn't get her yarn. I even told her we'd be glad to hold it for her, but it's not good enough, because she came all the way from one of the rings of Saturn (or some other far away distance).

The inconvenience of wasted time and travel should be vastly outweighed in these people's minds by their safety and, in the first case, the safety of others. While these admittedly do not compare to some of the other responses, it goes to show that these people are everywhere!

If I'm ever in a store and we have to evacuate due to emergency, I think I'll start complaning about not being able to buy my merchandise, and screaming at one of the cashiers. Maybe I'll read about myself on this very board!

[tignish]

two different ones here, one for SC the other for company policy.

the store I work in is one of two anchor stores, with a hair school a movie theater and drug store. thats it, our mall is dying.
last winter we had a huge blizzard coming through so our managers tried to get the DM to let us close early. he told them if the other anchor store closed early so could we. problem was, the other anchor stores DM told them the same thing. ie: if WE close early they could. none of the managers in either store were smart enough to get together and just tell the DMs that the other store was closing early so everybody got to stay til normal closing time with 2 feet of snow on the roads when they got out.

the SC one is a big rant of mine.
we get fire alarms all the time in our mall (old system with lots of issues) a couple have been real emergencies so we never know if they are real.
the rant is for the IDIOTS who pull IN FRONT OF the fire engine in the fire lane park their cars then try to go around the firemen in full gear so they can buy an ink cartridge.
you think the 300 people standing in front of the mall, or the piercing alarms or all the associates from the store standing outside would give them SOME clue. and then they get pissed when you tell them its at least 20 minutes before they can go in but we have another store 5 miles away that is still open.
is it really that important to get your $2 pens that you're willing to risk your life walking into a possibly burning building???
and NO I am not going to finish ringing you out before we evacuate, your stuff isn't going anywhere it will still be at the register when they let us back in. I am not getting killed for your $25 sale thank you very much!!!!

sorry had to rant on that last one, customers are just TOO stupid.

[Dips]

I have two stories.

The first has to do with a fire alarm. Eugene was on the phone with a customer who didn't understand that the (painfully loud) fire alarm meant that he had to end the call and get out. So he hung his headseat on the alarm box on his way out the door. I guess so she had something to argue with louder than her.

The other happened many years ago, when I worked at McDonalds. Our store had closed early the previous day because of a huge blizzard. We had no customers, the governer had declared a state of emergency, and our manager actually cared enough to make sure we got home before the roads became impassible.

The day after the storm, we had a very irate SC who had "driven all the way [there] in a horrible snowstorm" to use a coupon, only to find the store had closed early without warning on the last day the coupon was good for. I mean, how dare we do that?

I guess we were supposed to call everyone in eastern Massachusetts to warn them we were closing early, just in case they had that coupon.

It was no problem honoring the coupon. We would have done so, even if he hadn't been a bellowing maniac.

But who the heck risks his life to go out in one of the worst blizzards to hit New England that decade to make sure he uses a coupon he's had for weeks?

By the way, it saved him a whopping 70 cents.

[MamaMootz]

I am sadly not surprised at the people who got abusive over the paychecks.

On 9/11, I worked in a call center. My husband was home that day and called me around 9:15 or so, yelling that a plane hit one of the twin towers. I put him on hold and told my co-workers. One guy, who was a real idiot, told me I was lying because if a big plane had hit one of the towers, it would be gone.
I told him to pull up CNN.com and went to the nearest TV to see what was going on - a bunch of us logged off the phones and went to the fitness center where they had a cable tv hookup. Most of our company was in there, and we saw the second plane hit.

As we went back to our desks, our boss told us to go home and be with our families. Problem was, there were 20 calls in queue that we had to clear out.
As I'm talking to customers on the phone and telling them about the tragedy,
quite a few of them were like "So what?" or one guy who was a regular customer and always purported to be a born again Christian" - he said, and I quote "So what? It has nothing to do with me!" - yeah, buddy nice Christian attitude you got there. Nothing against people who are born again, but I found it quite telling that someone who professed to be soooo good had such callous opinions of people dying when it interfered with his ability to get equipment.

Sorry for the rant - but I also understand why there are people bitching that a fast food place will be closed during a disaster. Because people think they are entitled to anything and everything and they don't care what that might cost others.

Sure there are a few good people out there, but I've met far too many with the entitlement attitude. I'm glad corporate is backing you guys up, though.

[Crow The Robot]

Oh, yes, We had a blizzard one time and closed early when the governor declared a state of emergency. As we nwere closing the doors, fighting the nasty wind and snow a custome strolled in.
M: Ma'am we are closing.
SC: What?? It's not 10!! see????? (shoves her watch in manager's face) i will not leve and I WILL be checked out, and I will not be rushed. YOUR JOB IS TO SERVE THE CUSTOMER. AND NOT TO WORRY ABOUT WEATHER. IF YOU GET STUCK HERE TOO BAD, I AM a CUTOMER." Yes, she creamed this loud enough that we heard her.
M:<sighs deeply> (to us) Anyone who wants to can go home I'll take care of her.
My friend and I stood by the entrance, which was locked to tell people we were CLOSED, and basically everyone understood. The woman then came out(1 hour later), she asked one of us to help her to he car because "the snow is so bad ! I could get hurt Why are you all still open? If I get hurt I'll sue!" man , you can't win. Oh, BTW: she bought Sunny Delight and 2 Calliou DVDs. Oy. Some people.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

MamaMootz, karma is a boomerang. Mr. Born Again will get his eventually. What a loathsome failure of a human being that guy is. It must be lonely to have your very own planet to live on.

I worked in the control room of an ABC affiliate during the Gulf War. I will never forget this one Superbowl Sunday I worked when New Kids on the Block were scheduled to perform for halftime. Our station decided, and rightly so, I think, to cut into the halftime show with video messages from deployed soldiers to their families. Very nice, very appropriate.

This one stupid cow actually called me on the phone to bitch to me that her 13 year old daughter really wanted to see her boy band. (yeah, I know, you all would never have guessed this, eh? ) To hell with all these deployed men and women, to hell with their families, Little Suzy wanted to see her favorite band at halftime.

I said, "Ma'am, are you aware we are at war and these military families haven't seen their loved ones for months?"

I dont' know what she said to that because my boss, who was sitting right next to me, figured out what was going on on the phone and said "WHAAT? Gimmee that!" and took the phone out of my hand. "Look, ma'am, we don't really give a damn about your kid not getting her way, we are at WAR. Are you KIDDING me? What's wrong with you? Sheesh!" And hung up.

He was pretty much one of my favorite bosses.

[Jester]

SC: What?? It's not 10!! see????? (shoves her watch in manager's face) i will not leve and I WILL be checked out, and I will not be rushed. YOUR JOB IS TO SERVE THE CUSTOMER. AND NOT TO WORRY ABOUT WEATHER. IF YOU GET STUCK HERE TOO BAD, I AM a CUTOMER."

It is a good thing I have never been a manager. Because had I been that manager at that store at that time with that customer, I would have very impolitely imparted to her the fact that to myself and my company and the state government, my employees' safety and well-being were far more important than her patronage and the sale she may or may not make. And then...then I would have gotten nasty!