REASONS YOU SHOULD BE FIRED

[smileyeagle1021]

4. Refusing to agree with customer that the self checks shouldn't have a Spanish speaking option.

i love those machines... yes, I think that people in this country should learn to speak english... that said if someone is more comfortable in spanish and can do their transaction faster in spanish than in english by all means do so in spanish so I can get through the line quicker too.

oh and I love it when people threaten to get me fired because I tell them that I have nothing available and I refuse to cancel someone else's reservation to get them in/ don't have "rooms set aside for emergencies" (ok, we're a business, if someone calls in asking to purchase a room we are going to let them have it if it's available, that is how we make money, not by "holding rooms out for a possible emergency")

bonus points if they say "well the front desk employee said their was availability, you just don't want to do your job" (because then that is the front desk employees fault for being too lazy to check what they had before transferring, not mine)

double bonus points for saying the exact same thing except insert name of competitor rather than front desk.

[bigjimaz]

I was driving a bus on a rural bus route that ran from Tucson to a small town 25 miles away. It was a timed run with me doing the best I could to hit all the time points as close to on time as possible though this wasn't hard to do. Right after I took over the route from a driver who had been the driver for a few years, I had an encounter with Mr. Sucky.

The fist day he rode the bus, which was about a week or so after I had taken over the route, Mr Sucky gets on near the far terminus of the route and immediately begins questioning me as to the whereabouts of the regular driver, which I expected by then as just about all of the regulars asked the same thing.

Anyway, Mr. Sucky proceeds to tell me that the previous driver always drops him off at work. Me, figuring this was at a place that wasn't a scheduled stop, agreed at first. That was until he told me he worked about 5 miles off the route. When he told me this I immediately told him that we weren't supposed to go even one foot off route because of county regulations. He cops his entitlement attitude and says that the last driver had been doing this for 3 years.

I figured I had better call my dispatch and clear it with them, figuring this might be ok and that the company might have forgotten to tell me. No dice. I was told that I was to stay on route and tell the rider that I can drop him off at the closest point in the route to his work.

Well, this asshat immediately went off in a technicolor rage of epic proportion, screaming that he would have me fired, that he would own the bus company and I wouldn't be able to get a job in the state let alone the city. When I stopped at the point where he was the closest to work, he realized that his ranting wasn't going to work, but refused to get off, saying he'll sue me, the company , the county all the way to the Supreme Court if he had to.

Well, I completed the run and headed back out of town and when I got close to where he was again the closest I could get him to his job, I told him that he is free to ride with me all day, but if he did that, I would have to charge him $1.50 for each one way trip, but I was not going off route no matter how loud he got. He got off. I called dispatch and explained.

When I got in to base that afternoon the dispatcher told me Mr. Sucky called, 4 times. Each time the story got worse and more outrageous, to the point where the guy actually accused me of threatening physical harm to him. The owner of my company finally told him that he was not to ever think about getting on one of his buses ever again and that was the last time I ever seen or heard from him. I drove that route for a little over 3 years and he was by far the biggest idiot I encountered in that time.

By the way, the driver I took over for was taken off the route because he was constantly late at the time points. Gee, I wonder why?

[Evil Queen]

I've done that, but it wasn't because I didn't HAVE the money, it was because the card was scratched as hell. So, if I went someplace, I'd try to use my debit card, if it said declined I'd just pull out my credit card so I wouldn't have to stand there and try to get the debit card to read for 10 minutes.

Believe it or not; this actually works.

I was having trouble trying to get a regulars' cc to read (even I knew his card was good) at the motel one day and happened to remember an old trick involving a plastic bag. So I dig out a white WallyWorld bag and put the card inside and Ta-Da! The card reader picked up the card with no problems. I even called our bank later that same day and we did indeed the the funds.

[protege]

Well, this asshat immediately went off in a technicolor rage of epic proportion, screaming that he would have me fired, that he would own the bus company and I wouldn't be able to get a job in the state let alone the city.

If I worked for Pittsburgh's transit agency...I'd have told him to "go ahead, take over the company." (For those who don't know, our transit agency has been running in the red, struggling to contain costs, might possibly lose (or already has lost) their state subsidies...) So if he *really* wants it, he can *have* it

[Triscuitty]

Oh I just remembered another one: paranoid people who don't like being watched. They seem to think me watching them is enough to get me fired. Okay, seriously? If I see that you're watching me, you bet your ass I'm watching you just as closely. (one lesson I learned from so many years in retail: Don't. Trust. ANYBODY.) Secondly, if you're not doing anything wrong, what are you so worried I'm going to see?

[Boochan]

It just boggles my mind that people actually call management and try to have people fired for piddly stuff like this.

Rule of thumb with all our staff is that if they get unjustifiably put down by customers that the customer gets warned, and if they do it again then they're asked to leave.
99.9% of the time its unjustified, and if you think someone or staff in general in the store are "lazy" or "stupid" or "should be fired", then keep the damn opinion to yourself.

[thehippie777]

=Adding to that, people would get mad at me when their credit/debit cards got declined. Like it's MY fault you drained your bank account/maxed out your credit card and now can't use it?

I had had my debit refused only once. Strangely enough, my bank had reissued all of their customers new cards but my new code had never come for said new card so I was still waiting for it. In the meantime my card that was declined hadn't expired, but they erased out of the old cards out of their systems....and I didn't know that. I wasn't rude, though, but highly confused and embarrassed. I had to borrow money from my roomie, who was luckily right there.

i love those machines... yes, I think that people in this country should learn to speak english... that said if someone is more comfortable in spanish and can do their transaction faster in spanish than in english by all means do so in spanish so I can get through the line quicker too.

oh and I love it when people threaten to get me fired because I tell them that I have nothing available and I refuse to cancel someone else's reservation to get them in/ don't have "rooms set aside for emergencies" (ok, we're a business, if someone calls in asking to purchase a room we are going to let them have it if it's available, that is how we make money, not by "holding rooms out for a possible emergency")

bonus points if they say "well the front desk employee said their was availability, you just don't want to do your job" (because then that is the front desk employees fault for being too lazy to check what they had before transferring, not mine)

double bonus points for saying the exact same thing except insert name of competitor rather than front desk.

[/I]

I am beginning to think people who assume hotels hold rooms for "emergencies" have never worked in the bus. nor knew anyone who did. I think everyone at sometime in their lives needs to work in the service industry somewhere so they can...*clears through* maybe understand some thing.

[customersruinmylife]

I wonder how these customers would feel if we went to their jobs and called for them to be fired?

A co-worker broke a glass once...behind the bar, so it was no where near any customers, yet I had a customer pull me to the side and say I should fire her!

I am so grateful about where I work. The management has no time for idiots. Why should we go out our way to help one idiot when there are dozens of perfectly nice people we could help? We would rather the idiot leave and not come back and keep the nice customers.

[edible_hat]

Believe it or not; this actually works.

I was having trouble trying to get a regulars' cc to read (even I knew his card was good) at the motel one day and happened to remember an old trick involving a plastic bag. So I dig out a white WallyWorld bag and put the card inside and Ta-Da! The card reader picked up the card with no problems. I even called our bank later that same day and we did indeed the the funds.

We do that all the time with our ATM.

[Gurndigarn]

and I love it when people threaten to get me fired because I tell them that I have nothing available and I refuse to cancel someone else's reservation to get them in/ don't have "rooms set aside for emergencies"

"Well, we did, but there was a family before you that got the emergency rooms. And we can only hold so many rooms for emergencies, otherwise we don't make money."

Yeah, I know it doesn't make sense. But it does it in a convincing way.

[pile of monkeys]

oh and I love it when people threaten to get me fired because I tell them that I have nothing available and I refuse to cancel someone else's reservation to get them in/ don't have "rooms set aside for emergencies"

We get this all the time in a salon. People wanting us to move someone else, or not understanding why we don't hold "emergency" appointments aside (well, because if no one books them, then no one makes any money, and we've pissed off the people who we told there were no appointments).

[LambChop]

I was told I should be fired for not telling them that they had to mail in the rebates THEMSELVES. They wanted me to fill everything out, send it in, and bring their check to them when it arrived, and anything less was "horrible customer service!" My response?

""

[csever01]

Just like in the hotel business, people get mad at me all the time for not taking reservations at our restaurant.

Our company is a CASUAL dining chain, and we don't take reservations. Why? For the same reason. Why would I hold a table for you EMPTY until you get here at 11:30 on a SUNDAY MORNING when I can easily fill up the whole restaurant five or six times in four hours?

For slower times of the week, when they will be able to get in easily, we usually say something like, "We can write your name down on our calendar, but please keep in mind that this is not a strict reservation and we do operate on a first-come, first-served basis."

[Andara Bledin]

So I dig out a white WallyWorld bag and put the card inside and Ta-Da! The card reader picked up the card with no problems. I even called our bank later that same day and we did indeed the the funds.

From what I understand, that has to do with the card reader not having the juice to get the information from the card (usually because much of the stripe has worn away), and the plastic bag helps add energy to the transfer through static. Whatever the actual physics are, it has to do with static electricity.

Why should we go out our way to help one idiot when there are dozens of perfectly nice people we could help? We would rather the idiot leave and not come back and keep the nice customers.

*faints*

Wow. It's so nice to see a company that actually understands the exchange rate between sucky and good customers.

^-.-^

[edible_hat]

From what I understand, that has to do with the card reader not having the juice to get the information from the card (usually because much of the stripe has worn away), and the plastic bag helps add energy to the transfer through static. Whatever the actual physics are, it has to do with static electricity.

That doesn't sound right to me. Static electricity = electromagnetic field = further card damage.

I heard one theory about the distance between the reader and the info in the stripe. On worn out cards the info is too close to the surface, the bag ads an extra thickness of plastic. But that's just a theory I heard from some guy so I'm not sure if it's true.