Physical altercation with customer!

[Boozy]

Okay, the thread title might have been exaggerating a bit. Okay, a lot. But I've got you now, so bear with me. I cannot believe how rude this woman was to me last night.

She came in yapping on her cell phone. She grabbed a bottle of wine, set it on my counter, and shoved her credit card at me. She didn't wait for me to scan the bottle, she didn't break her phone conversation, she didn't even make eye contact with me.

I rang her through and said, "Your total is $11.45". She gave me a quick look that I interpreted as slightly hostile. Probably because I had the temerity to disturb her conversation by trying to conduct the business at hand. Or perhaps she was just annoyed that she had to deal with me at all. Either way, she shoves her card at me again.

So we finished the transaction, and I moved to step away from the counter to go stock some shelves. I usually stand and wait until the customer leaves first, but she never really acknowledged my presence to begin with, so I figure its fine. As I was moving away, she grabs my hand and shoves a piece of wadded up paper into it. She literally forced me to take a piece of her garbage. And she's still on the phone, and still not even making eye contact with me!

I say to myself, Be the bigger person. Rise above. I tossed the paper into the trash can we keep behind the counter, directly under our cash drawer (important), and stepped away from the counter.

Meanwhile, SC woman decides she's going to finish her phone conversation at the counter, and clean out her purse as she's doing so. Fine. No one else was in the store, no big deal.

I turned away for a minute to face a shelf, and when I turned back around, I see this woman stepping behind the counter!

Alarmed, I said, "Ma'am! Ma'am!" several times to get her attention and get her to move away. But she was so involved in her phone call that she didn't appear to hear me.

Now, I knew that she was just throwing something out. She saw me throw her paper away, so she knew where the trash can was. I knew she wasn't going for the cash drawer. But I was still aggrieved by her treatment of me, and perhaps feeling a mite immature, so I decided to play this one by the book. The policy book which says something to effect of, "DO NOT ALLOW CUSTOMERS BEHIND THE COUNTER NO MATTER WHAT."

So I took two quick steps towards the counter, slid in between her and the counter just as she was reaching over, and essentially hip-checked her out of the way. It wasn't hard, but I did make contact with her shoulder.

Woman:

Me: "You absolutely cannot be reaching behind the counter, ma'am. I hope you don't make a habit of it wherever you go. Someone might think you're trying to rob them!" I gave her a sweet smile that (I hope) conveyed that I was only thinking of her own well-being.

She left pretty quickly after that. Still yapping on her phone.

[UncleImpy]

Argh. One of my biggest pet peeves EVAH. GET OFF THE PHONE!

[LambChop]

Argh. One of my biggest pet peeves EVAH. GET OFF THE PHONE!

Seconded. Personally, I wanna get one of those machines that knock out every cell phone for 100 yards. That way when I get a customer like that, I can just flip the switch.

[crazylegs]

How many levels of suck can we see

Refusal to speak to staff
Talking on Phone
Handing rubbish to staff
Going behind the counter
Still refusing acknowledge instructions from staff

Do you think she treats everyone this way? Sometimes I really wish I could meet some of these people in a professional capacity, I don't care for what reason, just to show them they can't treat people this way!

[Emrld]

She hands you the wine and the credit card . . . .

I would have just stood there and stared at her. See how long it would take her to figure out that she needed to at least speak.

(I know most likely your managment doesn't allow you to treat customers like children when they act like them)

[Meadhands]

Pop! Pop!

Ah... I used to endearingly term these types as "bubble people."

You know them, the ones in little bubbles of alternate reality where they really ARE the center of everything, that everything revolves around them, and we are all there to do their bidding and theirs alone.

Sometimes, I would take great joy, and perhaps even brace myself a moment in anticipation, before bursting their stupid bubble with my tainted, unclean self.

Cheers.

[marty]

I can't stand it when people try to reach behind the counter. Hey idiots! It is my job to to:
Take your receipt off the printer;
Bag your items or hand the item to you if you don't want to a bang;
Hand you a pen;
Hand you the phone book if asked for it;
Throw away your trash if you ask nicely.

It bothers me. That's employee space, that's space where the masses of unwashed brains can't go. I've shut the little swing door on more than one person trying to follow me behind the counter, hit a few with it, too. So yeah, I'm right there with you.

The cell phone people--I've started ignoring the fact that they're talking on a cell phone, going through my spiel and staring at them, refusing to give them their merchandise or tell them a total until they acknowledge me.

[Bright_Star]

Too bad they don't have those personal cell phone jammers that blocks cell phone signals from coming to & from inside a building. IF they did, could you imagine how many people would have a fit over that?

[Slytovhand]

Meh - just ignore them. Let them finally get to the point of having to speak to you before doing a thing with/for them. Even if it's them getting annoyed with you as they get impatient for not being served.

After all - you aren't being paid to be psychic - who's to say they don't want something else with the whine? (ooh - did I mis-type that?? :P)

[fish3k1]

I've shut the little swing door on more than one person trying to follow me behind the counter, hit a few with it, too.

Where I work, my job is to bring large items from the warehouse to the pick-up point when a customer buys them. I have a little wireless scanner (basically an over-sized pager) which lets me know what I need to bring and confirm (upon scanning) that I've got the right item. Anyway, point is, if someone buys something I know what it is without needing to speak to the customer first.

Quite often people don't realise this, and get quite impatient waiting for us (god forbid they should have to wait longer than about a nanosecond for anything). Most people are at least patient enough to wait, and lo and behold, the item finds its way out of the warehouse.

Once though (and, shockingly enough, only once, in the 2 and a half years I've been here) some guy walked behind the counter and through the freaking staff doors into the bike assembly area. One of the customer service staff who happened to be around chases him through the door yelling "Excuse me, this is a staff only area" and finds the guy in assembly complaining loudly about the 'absence of staff'.

I was steaming when I came down from the warehouse (items in tow) to find my c/w in assembly pointing the guy out to me and explaining what happened. Needless to say I'll be getting no customer service award from him :P

[Chanlin]

As I was moving away, she grabs my hand and shoves a piece of wadded up paper into it. She literally forced me to take a piece of her garbage. And she's still on the phone, and still not even making eye contact with me!

Seriously, kudos to you for keeping your cool in this situation. My response would have been to hand the wad of paper back to her and point out the nearest trash can without speaking to her.

[gunsage]

She grabbed a bottle of wine, set it on my counter, and shoved her credit card at me.

Me: Sweet! kthxbi! (runs off laughing maniacally, socially retarded lady in pursuit)

[marty]

Seriously, kudos to you for keeping your cool in this situation. My response would have been to hand the wad of paper back to her and point out the nearest trash can without speaking to her.

I put the trash in their purchase bag if they shove it at me and don't ask me to throw it away. "Oh, sorry, I thought you dropped this!"

[BookstoreEscapee]

I put the trash in their purchase bag if they shove it at me and don't ask me to throw it away. "Oh, sorry, I thought you dropped this!"

That's awesome!

When I got customers who would talk on the phone and ignore me, I would say the usual minimum but nothing extra: Hi. Do you have a member card? Your total is ____. Your receipt's in the bag. Have a nice day. Next please.

[karma_gypsy]

Wow ... goodness forbid that you would try to request ID from her ...