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My first story deals with, what just happens to be, the second worst insult a person can have about me. You can curse at me, yell at me, pretty much call me what you want, and I won't feel a thing. But so far, there are 2 very simple terms that have made me rather upset. The first, and worst, insult for me, is calling me lazy, or saying I'm not pulling my weight.
I am frequently the top seller in my suits department, am constantly working with customers, and when I'm not, I am straightening shirts, pants, ties, you name it. A few things I do have to deal with me standing in once place refolding shirts, or reorganizing a whole table. It may look like I'm not doing anything, but I assure you, I am.
But this is about the second worst insult... This situation happened on one of my stores "Big Humongous OMG" pre-Black Friday sales. I've always thought this was a little sucky, but it may just be me...
H= Me
W= SC wife
M= Husband of W
It is busy in suits, unusual for a normal day, but the fact that it is a big sale makes it not so unusual. I'm helping a man in the fitting room, who is trying on pants. He asks me to grab another color or size in the pants he is trying, so I head off to my slack section. This is where the suck starts.
W and M are looking at our leather blazer as I walk by. They stop me for a moment, and M asks if we have it in the brown, in a large. We don't, not on the floor, but the one on the mannequin is. I tell him to try on the large in a black, and if it fits we will take the other one down.
I then walk off, as I was helping my other customer, and I figure they will let me know how it fit. I get the pants, go back to my customer, and ring him out within ten minutes or so. I look up and notice that the two are nowhere to be found. I shrug, figuring they must not have liked the way it fit, and continue helping customers.
Later in the evening, things slow down, and I see them again, walking up with some things in a bag, but carrying a jacket.
W: We decided to ring up elsewhere, but we had to come back here to get alterations done.
H: No problem.
I then notice the one he had grabbed had a nasty looking snag on the back, so he runs and grabs another, taking the first back with him. He tries it on, we mark it up for alteration, then it hits me that I should charge the other back, but he put it away. I figure he knew exactly which one it was, so why not ask him to go grab it?
This is where things get a little rough. As a suits employee, I take a few liberties when it comes to the way I ask for things. I am the professional, and most people do as I ask simply because I know what I'm doing, this goes for customers as well as coworkers. I am always polite when asking, and usually say please. There are some times when I don't say please, either I simply don't think to say it, or it's one of those times when I instill politeness in my voice, "Lift your arms," "Take off that jacket," "Could you grab another one of these shirts while I scan the rest of this? It doesn't have a tag." Now, knowing this. I look to the husband and say.
H: "Go grab that other jacket for me while I ring this up, I want to charge it back..." now, I know I could have been a little more polite, but as I said, it was in a polite tone. Of course, he doesn't go grab it...this is where the wife intervines.
W: "Excuse me?"
H: I was asking if he could grab the other jacket for me. I want to charge it back, and he knows which one it was. I figured it wouldn't take him as long..."
W: "Oh no you don't. You have been so rude to us since we walked into this store." That was it...Rude... I had never been called rude before...I'm not rude, you can ask my parents, you can ask my fellow associates, you can ask many, MANY of my customers, and they will tell you there is no way I can even come close to being rude. This seemingly simple word, hurt me more then anything I had ever heard before.
H: "I'm sorry, when was I rude?"
W: "When we asked you for help, you helped us for a moment, then went off to help another customer before we were finished. We didn't even want to ring up over here, you were so rude, but we needed the alterations."
This entire time, the husband is silent, while his wife rants and rants. I apologise profusely, as I do anytime I make any kind of mistake, tell her I didn't realize I was being rude, yadda yadda. I finish ringing them through, tell them to have a good night, then kick myself for the rest of the night, wondering where I went wrong. We were busy, I was already helping a customer. I could have told her to hold on a moment while I finished with my customer, but I didn't know how long I would be, so being a nice person, I decided to help as I could. I stepped away when I thought we were finished for the moment, then in the end forgot to say please when asking for something.
The funny thing is, her husband has been in multiple times since then, and hasn't mentioned a thing, nor has he mentioned that I was rude...in fact, we've joked around a bit when he does come in. I'm thinking the wife is just on a short fuse, and my little mess up was enough to set it off... I did get a good story out of it though, and it guarantees a laugh from those that know me.
I am frequently the top seller in my suits department, am constantly working with customers, and when I'm not, I am straightening shirts, pants, ties, you name it. A few things I do have to deal with me standing in once place refolding shirts, or reorganizing a whole table. It may look like I'm not doing anything, but I assure you, I am.
But this is about the second worst insult... This situation happened on one of my stores "Big Humongous OMG" pre-Black Friday sales. I've always thought this was a little sucky, but it may just be me...
H= Me
W= SC wife
M= Husband of W
It is busy in suits, unusual for a normal day, but the fact that it is a big sale makes it not so unusual. I'm helping a man in the fitting room, who is trying on pants. He asks me to grab another color or size in the pants he is trying, so I head off to my slack section. This is where the suck starts.
W and M are looking at our leather blazer as I walk by. They stop me for a moment, and M asks if we have it in the brown, in a large. We don't, not on the floor, but the one on the mannequin is. I tell him to try on the large in a black, and if it fits we will take the other one down.
I then walk off, as I was helping my other customer, and I figure they will let me know how it fit. I get the pants, go back to my customer, and ring him out within ten minutes or so. I look up and notice that the two are nowhere to be found. I shrug, figuring they must not have liked the way it fit, and continue helping customers.
Later in the evening, things slow down, and I see them again, walking up with some things in a bag, but carrying a jacket.
W: We decided to ring up elsewhere, but we had to come back here to get alterations done.
H: No problem.
I then notice the one he had grabbed had a nasty looking snag on the back, so he runs and grabs another, taking the first back with him. He tries it on, we mark it up for alteration, then it hits me that I should charge the other back, but he put it away. I figure he knew exactly which one it was, so why not ask him to go grab it?
This is where things get a little rough. As a suits employee, I take a few liberties when it comes to the way I ask for things. I am the professional, and most people do as I ask simply because I know what I'm doing, this goes for customers as well as coworkers. I am always polite when asking, and usually say please. There are some times when I don't say please, either I simply don't think to say it, or it's one of those times when I instill politeness in my voice, "Lift your arms," "Take off that jacket," "Could you grab another one of these shirts while I scan the rest of this? It doesn't have a tag." Now, knowing this. I look to the husband and say.
H: "Go grab that other jacket for me while I ring this up, I want to charge it back..." now, I know I could have been a little more polite, but as I said, it was in a polite tone. Of course, he doesn't go grab it...this is where the wife intervines.
W: "Excuse me?"
H: I was asking if he could grab the other jacket for me. I want to charge it back, and he knows which one it was. I figured it wouldn't take him as long..."
W: "Oh no you don't. You have been so rude to us since we walked into this store." That was it...Rude... I had never been called rude before...I'm not rude, you can ask my parents, you can ask my fellow associates, you can ask many, MANY of my customers, and they will tell you there is no way I can even come close to being rude. This seemingly simple word, hurt me more then anything I had ever heard before.
H: "I'm sorry, when was I rude?"
W: "When we asked you for help, you helped us for a moment, then went off to help another customer before we were finished. We didn't even want to ring up over here, you were so rude, but we needed the alterations."
This entire time, the husband is silent, while his wife rants and rants. I apologise profusely, as I do anytime I make any kind of mistake, tell her I didn't realize I was being rude, yadda yadda. I finish ringing them through, tell them to have a good night, then kick myself for the rest of the night, wondering where I went wrong. We were busy, I was already helping a customer. I could have told her to hold on a moment while I finished with my customer, but I didn't know how long I would be, so being a nice person, I decided to help as I could. I stepped away when I thought we were finished for the moment, then in the end forgot to say please when asking for something.
The funny thing is, her husband has been in multiple times since then, and hasn't mentioned a thing, nor has he mentioned that I was rude...in fact, we've joked around a bit when he does come in. I'm thinking the wife is just on a short fuse, and my little mess up was enough to set it off... I did get a good story out of it though, and it guarantees a laugh from those that know me.
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