DON'T come behind the counter idiot!

[IHateStupidCustomers]

Okay. I just had to vent about a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I don't post new threads very often, so bear with me! I work in a very small legal newspaper office now, so I only have to deal with many one to three customers on average in a week (WOOHOO!). I've drawn a little picture of the office, so you can see the layout:

http://apps.facebook.com/graffitiwal...7d668d329264ce

Not the best picture, but it'll do. The red lines are where Idiot comes in. So, Idiot comes in today to publish a name change, and does what 90% of the people do, for WHATEVER reason. He walks into the door, steps to the left, goes AROUND the counter, through the, like, two feet opening between the counter and the wall and comes right over to the side of my desk! WHY!!!!

If I were coming into this office for the first time, I, being a normal person, would STOP at the counter. But no. Idiot comes in and acts like he knows me.

Idiot: "Hey! I got this for ya!" *holding out name change paperwork*
Me: *grits teeth* "Okay, name change? That'll be $35."
I get up and go to MY side of the counter to write some stuff on the paperwork and make copies and to take his payment. He is STILL standing behind me, near my desk. He hands me his CC and I start writing the numbers down
Idiot: *in a moment of genius* "Oh, I guess I should be on that side of the counter, huh? Hyuck-hyuck!"
Me: "Oh, that's okay!" thinking: are you STUPID?

So we finish and Idiot leaves. And I fume for the rest of the day because I don't understand why damn near everyone has to come behind the counter. And, to top it off, Idiot is wearing scrubs. So, I could assume that he is supposed to have some level of competence....

Anyways. Thanks for listening to my rant!

[Primer]

Looking at your picture, it's because the counter is not actually between your desk and the door--just the open space. Can you string up a token chain between the wall and the corner of the counter?

[IHateStupidCustomers]

Looking at your picture, it's because the counter is not actually between your desk and the door--just the open space. Can you string up a token chain between the wall and the corner of the counter?

I've thought about putting something between the counter and the wall. Maybe I'm just crazy, but if I see a counter between me and the employee, I stop.

[STEELMAN]

When people come around the counter and stand behind me, I tell them they need to go back around. I don't know why morons think this is okay. The biggest problem we have at my day job is people wandering into the warehouse. It is not unusual for the shop guys to be moving steel plates in excess of 10,000 pounds overhead and these morons walking right underneath them.

[marasbaras]

If you were sitting at your desk, based on the picture, I'd walk up to it. You really need to put a small chain or something across the opening. Or, a small swinging door that says (like they're actually read it) "Employees Only".

[Tito]

Is there something you can put there to block the opening so that they cannot just walk back there? Customers doing that to me would get on my nerves, too!

[Boozy]

I've seen store and office set-ups like that before, its its actually pretty obvious that business should be done at the counter. The counter is facing the door, after all, and the OP's desk is tucked in behind.

If someone can't see that, its possible even a rope won't help. How about a watchtower with a sniper posted at the top?

[IHateStupidCustomers]

I've seen store and office set-ups like that before, its its actually pretty obvious that business should be done at the counter. The counter is facing the door, after all, and the OP's desk is tucked in behind.

If someone can't see that, its possible even a rope won't help. How about a watchtower with a sniper posted at the top?

THANK YOU!

I was beginning to think I was crazy.

Hehe. I was thinking some kind of electrical shock device, but I like your idea better!

[Kyree]

How about customers that use that walkway some registers have as a short cut? My old job had a set up like that. The register counters were basically a square, but with an opening on two sides so we could get out. SO MANY people would just use them to cut across. Because walking that whole extra two feet was out of the question you know.

[chainedbarista]

I've thought about putting something between the counter and the wall.

how about a bear trap?

[IHateStupidCustomers]

how about a bear trap?

Oo! Good one! I must look into this idea....

[Brightglaive]

how about a bear trap?

I like the bear trap idea. In lieu of the bear trap, how about a big bushy plant or maybe a small tree in a large pot.


and if that doesn't work...

Then you run the chain from the counter to the tree, (or bush) making sure to wrap it around the shrubbery at least 3 times, then to the wall and then back in a zig-zag pattern from the top of the pot to the top of the counter.

Take that, you sucky customer!!!!

[marasbaras]

Honestly, I don't think that people walking up to the desk are all that sucky in this case. The layout really isn't clear. Sure, if you work there or go there often it's clear. But, as a first time visitor, I'd walk right up to wherever to OP was working ... either desk or counter.

Of course, once the OP walked over to the counter to handle my stuff, I'd go to the customer's side of the counter.

[Fandangoose]

It would have been hilarious if you'd done Eugene Levy's salesman character's routine from "Serendipity." " :-D

[tartxcherries]

I never understood how some people can't quite grasp the concept of where they, the customer should and should not be. In the middle of the store fine, walking through the door to the back room of the liquor store and actually going in the walk-in cooler that houses the beer instead of just opening the glass doors from the appropriate area, not so fine. Yet it happened...a lot.