Are You for Real?

[WHShit]

Ok, it was 6:10pm and we had just closed up at 6pm. The phone rings and I answer it because, even though it was afterhours, it my have been a staff member's family or an emergency. BIG MISTAKE!

I answer and this guy asks if we have a certain inkjet printer cartridge in stock. I tell him that we are closed and he would have to call back in the morning. I said all of this in a nice manner. He argues that he JUST wants to know if we have it in stock, so I go and look for him... I know, I know, but he sounded like an ass at this point and I wanted to make him happy so he would hang up and I could go home. So, I look and we don't have it in stock. I tell him this and this is where it goes downhill....conversation is as follows:

Customers: IN CAPS
me...not in caps

"I'm sorry sir, but we don't have that particular cartdrige in stock"

"THATS NOT WHAT I ASKED YOU"! I SAID THAT I WANTED TO KNOW HOW MUCH IT WAS"!

"sir, you just asked me if we had it in stock, so I went to........"

(interrupting me)"NO, IF YOU HAD LET ME FINISH BEFORE SO RuDELY PUTTING THE PHONE DOWN YOU WOULD HAVE HEARD ME SAY THAT I WANTED THE PRICE TOO"!

I am sorry sir, but it sounded like you were done talking so I just went to......"

(interrupting me again) "LOOK, JUST FIND OUT THE PRICE THEN I WILL LET YOU GO HOME" (the words "go home" were said in a condecending way)

I go and look for the price, which is 32.99 for the black cartdrige.

"ok, the black cartdrige is 32.99"

"WELL, I WAS IN EARLIER AND BOUGHT ONE AND I WAS OVERCHARGED"

"I am sorry, how much were you charged"?

"I WAS CHARGED 32.99"!:

"but, sir, that is the price that the cartdrige is"

"THAT HAS TO BE WRONG, BECAUSE THE COLOR CARTDRIGE IS CHEAPER, ISN'T IT"?

"yes, but that is because......"

(interrupting me again) "JUST GO AND SEE HOW MUCH THE COLOR ONE IS...please"!

at this poit I am pissed off as hell andI just want to argue with this asshat.........so I go and check

"the color cartdrige is 27.99"

"SEE, I KNEW I WAS OVERCHARGED, WHY WOULD BLACK BE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE COLOR ? YOUR TILLS MUST BE WRONG...AND YOUR PRICES ON THE SHELVES TOO"!

"sir, the prices are not wrong, the color is cheaper because it is used less than the black cartdrige, that IS the price"

"WELL, I THINK I WAS OVERCHARGED AND I WANT MY MONEY BACK"!

"that is fine, if you want to return the cartdrige, then bring it in tomorrow with the reciept and we will give you a refund"

"NO I DO NOT WANT TO EXCHANGE IT, I WANT TO KEEP THE CARTDRIGE, DON'T YOU LISTEN?"

"sir,I have been listenig to you but you can't get your money back unless you return the cartdrige"

"WELL, I WANT TO KNOW WHY THE CARTDRIGE IS THAT PRICE"

"sir, I don't know why it is that price, all I know is that we have to price them the prices that head office tells us to price them at"

"MAYBE YOU DID NOT HEAR ME CORRECTLY....I WANT TO KNOW WHY THEY ARE THIS PRICE AT YOUR STORE AND NOT AT OTHERS"!

"sir, all stores price things differently, that is called competitive pricing, all I can tell you is that we price them at the price head office wants us to price them at"

"WELL, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO YOUR JOB CORRECTLY"

"sir, I know how to do my job, but it is not my job to price products, for a question about that you need to speak to head office. I can give you their number"

"I DO NOT WANT TO BE FOBBED OFF TO HEAD OFFICE, I WANT YOU OR SOMEONE WHO IS COMPETANT ENOUGH TO ANSWER MY QUESTION...WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE"?

"sir I am putting you through to the manager, ok"?

"YES PERHAPS HE KNOWS HIS JOB BETTER THAN YOU"!

at this point the manager gets on the phone and al I hear him saying is that he can't nswer his question....he was on the phone with this guy for about 15mins......then I hear him give this crazy man my full name and his full name and hang up. Apparently the guy said that he was going to call head office and get us fired because they shouldn't employe people who cannot do their jobs and answer a simple question"

OH MY SWEET LORD! What the hell was wrong with this guy? I mean, come on. He could not be serious! I bet head office gave him his money back and vouchers for all his "trouble" Even the manager said he was ridiculous! Horrid, isn't it?

EEERRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

[Jester]

*sigh* The yaks are going to be quite busy, it seems.

[XCashier]

....he was on the phone with this guy for about 15mins......then I hear him give this crazy man my full name and his full name and hang up.

Is your manager out of his bloody mind?! He gave that raving git your FULL NAME?! What's to stop the arsehole from looking your address and number up in the phone book and harrassing you? (It has happened before; we used to have a thread about it.)

[karma_gypsy]

Ouch, that sounded like a difficult situation. I had one of those the other day . . .

I can't believe that guy wanted his money back and keep the cartridge? Who does he think he is? He needs to get over himself . . . it's another one of those 'something for nothing' people.

I'll tell him where he can stick his flippin' ink cartridge...

[Kiwi]

you broke rule number 414 of the retail workers code

if you answer a phone after hours, and it turns out to be a customer you say the following

"Im sorry sir/maam you have called outside of operating hours, we open at Xam tomorrow for your shopping convience, please call back then." CLICK

sounds best with a robot monotone voice

[toolbert]

Is your manager out of his bloody mind?! He gave that raving git your FULL NAME?! What's to stop the arsehole from looking your address and number up in the phone book and harrassing you? (It has happened before; we used to have a thread about it.)

That's what I was thinking. I cant believe that someone would go that far, but I don't put it past anyone who believes that they are in the right. Still, that dude's a psycho and not worth your time worrying about it.

[CherryB]

Always, always answer the phone before/after hours as "XYZ Store Security". If it's your family or some other employee's family-all is good. And if it is a suck the life right out of you pain in the ass then you are simply security and he will have to wait till tomorrow to bitch.

I learned many years ago to never ever engage a customer outside of your normal operating hours. Now you know not to as well!

[ArenaBoy]

Holy crap! That guy needs to take some anger management classes.

[Becks]

That guy has serious issues. He shouldn't be allowed out in public OR near an operable phone.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Being only one of two (the other being my father) people with my last name in the phone book, had my manager given my last name to ANY customer, I would have quit on the spot. The I would have had a several hour long screaming fest on the floor at him.

Some genius (probably corporate) thought it would be a good idea to issue us nametags with our full names on them. I told my boss when I saw that, "Sorry, I'm not wearing that." Then I walked up to the young girl I mentioned in another post that had a near-stalker (Chickenman) and told her not to wear hers, either. She compromised by covering up her last name with paste-up tape.

A week or so later we were back to the old tags.

[ArenaBoy]

Some genius (probably corporate) thought it would be a good idea to issue us nametags with our full names on them. I told my boss when I saw that, "Sorry, I'm not wearing that." Then I walked up to the young girl I mentioned in another post that had a near-stalker (Chickenman) and told her not to wear hers, either. She compromised by covering up her last name with paste-up tape.

A week or so later we were back to the old tags.

This is why I'm glad my job doesn't have those. I have dealt with some psychos who want to get me in trouble for no reason, my message to them is TO GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!

[JustaCashier]

Just as CherryB suggested, we answer the phones before/after hours "Store Name Security" and the only reason we even answer is if it's a call for an employee.

I've noticed how several of us, including myself answer in a less pleasant tone of voice. Not rude or irritated sounding, just kinda brusque, and the Store is referred to as "they" rather than "we". One of our former Service Managers used to answer before hours, all in one breath, "Store Name Security, they open at 8."

[HawaiianShirts]

I don't bother answering the phone after closing. If my family is going to call me, they're going to call my cell phone.

I have answered the phone before opening a couple of times. Usually this is when I'm just turning on the displays, checking reports from the day before, making sure things look right, and checking to be sure whoever closed the night before didn't foul anything up for me. It's my quiet time of the day, and if I'm in a good enough mood, I don't mind answering a few customer questions.

Although one I should have just left alone. It was a customer in the parking lot calling from his cell phone. He asked, "Hey, why are the doors locked?" I tried telling him it was because we were closed, but he countered with, "But you answered the phone!" Every time I tried to tell him anything, he interrupted, so I finally just told him, "We'll open in 45 minutes; come back then," and hung up.

I don't think I've ever heard anybody complain that loudly about price. The only thing close comes from my call center days. Some guy called in on a line for free information about some kind of insurance and had to argue with me for ten minutes about how I couldn't possibly be offering anything for free because nothing in life is free. Didn't matter what I said, he insisted that nothing is free. I told him, "Well, sir, the insurance is not free, and I'm sure it's costing the company money to print and send out these packages, but the information about it is free to you." But he kept asking what the catch was, what he was getting himself into, what commitment he was making, what contract I was trying to force him to sign, what I was going to charge him for, and on and on and on! Why can't they just accept our answers?!

And I would be willing to guess his black ink cartridge held more ink than the colors did. Epson does that quite often, as does HP on their newest printers.

[end rambling]

[XCashier]

That's what I was thinking. I cant believe that someone would go that far, but I don't put it past anyone who believes that they are in the right.

It has happened; Ace told a scary story about a teenage coworker who was stalked for weeks by a psycho customer.

One of many reasons we have an unlisted phone number.

[Talon]

It has happened; Ace told a scary story about a teenage coworker who was stalked for weeks by a psycho customer.

And didn't her manager promptly get mad at her for "poor customer service"?

*threadjack alert*

From what I've seen & heard, companies are in complete never-never land concerning employee safety. A while back my company stipulated we must give our full name as introduction to every call. Supposedly we're allowed to refuse if we're uncomfortable. Brilliant! We've already given our full name, a little late if the caller turns psycho! I absolutely refused to follow that, especially since I have a rather distinct surname. So far I have yet to get in trouble.

Worse: last month my call center was getting bomb threats. First time it happened it was a fascinating example of applied chaos theory. No one had any idea what they were doing. Second time we actually got an alarm sounding off. It was only after the third one we actually got trained on evacuation procedures. And they've been operating for over five years now? Riiiight