Customer Flakes Out Over $120 Monitor

[QASlave]

To Irving Patrick Freleigh Irving
I'm an old fart (compared to most of the posters on this board) so I'm talking about 1980's technology. Your baler doesn't sound like much fun to deal with either. If we forgot to push the ejection knob, you could let the machine cycle, push the ejection knob and it would eject the next go around. (The bales was wrapped in wire though and those suckers would break occasionally. I got more than one nasty lash mark from that.)

To Mark Healey
When I worked at the grocery store, we would put as many of the empty boxes that would fit on top of the carts, then crush the rest when were ran out of space. The bales of cardboard were also recycled, so in the '80's the boxes that people took their groceries home in probably ended up in the trash, while the bales were actually recycled.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

To Irving Patrick Freleigh Irving
I'm an old fart (compared to most of the posters on this board) so I'm talking about 1980's technology. Your baler doesn't sound like much fun to deal with either. If we forgot to push the ejection knob, you could let the machine cycle, push the ejection knob and it would eject the next go around. (The bales was wrapped in wire though and those suckers would break occasionally. I got more than one nasty lash mark from that.)

I'm pretty sure our old baler dated from the 80s as well and it didn't have an ejection button either. Instead it had two chains that had to be linked up to a couple levers higher up on the ram. That would pull up the levers insdie to eject the bale.

We got rid of that one because it liked to leak hydraulic fluid like it was going out of style.

And yes, the new one is not fun to deal with if the bale doesn't eject as it's supposed to. When I eject a bale it's normally a two-person job: one person hits the button to drive the ram up and I make sure the claw is hooked on the bar tight.

[Hyndis]

What kind of moron sticks his arm into a closing baler?!

Thats on par with people climbing into trash compactors or other such madness that is deserving of a Darwin Award.


As for the baler type I've worked with, there was a chain connecting to the bottom front of the baler, under the cardboard. You'd compress the bale, and then hook the chain up to the ram. The chain was slack when the ram was down, but then when you lifted the ram up, the ram would pull the chain tight, thus tipping the bale over onto the waiting pallet. And woe be to anyone who failed to properly tie the steel wires around the bale. Always gotta stand out of the potential path of those things, since they're under massive strain and if the steel snaps, thats more than enough force to remove an eye. It was a one person job, however. Just needed a pallet, pallet jack, and the steel wire to tie up the bale.

I don't get people who complain about free stuff though. Its free. Its a gift. There isn't any obligation for the person or store to do this for you, so why complain about it? They're doing you a favor, they're doing extra work they don't have to. If you're an arse about it, they simply won't do it anymore.

[Mike Taylor]

Details Mike! Dude, what did the nut do?????

He started ranting and yelling rather loudly at the poor manager on duty. You could hear him from all the way in the back of the store. Normally, when they get that loud they get physical, too.

OK, Here is something I don't understand about grocery stores. The stuff comes in boxes, yet they buy bags to put it in when it goes out. Why don't they just keep the boxes up front so they can pack the customers purchase in them, like many warehouse stores do.

I am not a greenie, most of it is bullshit. Most recycling is more expensive and worse for the environment that making new stuff. For example, when I buy at the warehouse store, the box that was used to ship something to the store, I use to bring my purchases home and then I use it for my trash. One box, three uses and the road trips would have been made anyway. If I don't get boxes in the store I have to use bags for my purchase and I have to buy trash bags because the store bags are too small and then there is the extra trip to bring the boxes to the paper mill.

And remember, when you throw paper in the landfill you are pulling carbon out of the air.

Save-a-lot and Aldi's do just that.

[smileyeagle1021]

And this is why they say "One person ruins it for everyone."

oh yeah... truest statement ever... the hotel I work at used to allow pets... until one pet destroyed a room and the owner stiffed us on the cost of repairs... and now we are the people who have to tell people that the owners are no longer willing to take the risk of accepting pets.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Years ago, we used to save empty boxes for anybody who would call and request them. All we needed were the caller's name and the date and time they'd come to pick them up.

Our company doesn't allow it for security reasons. It would be way too easy for someone to slip very expensive merchandise into even a "broken down" box.

Yeah, I work at a wholesale club and we do provide empty boxes for the customers to use to pack things. And the best time to get boxes is first thing in the morning, after the night crew has finished their stock work.

In previous years, when we still had plenty of staff, we would have someone working Recovery, meaning they were doing the re-shops, zoning, box collecting, etc. so there'd be less work for the rest of the front-line to do when closing came along. Since then, however, we've lost people and don't have as much coverage as we used to, and so we don't have a regular recovery person anymore. And so, except for weekends (when we may pull someone off register for the day to do recovery/boxes, and when our Ops Manager actually gets boxes himself so we don't lose a cashier), we're out of boxes before noon.

These boxes aren't broken down, either, so if I'm on the door, I have to spot-check them. I often give the boxes a thump with the side of my hole punch, since I've learned to tell whether a box (even a big one) has something in it based on the noise. I also lift the flaps and look inside as well, and in six years of FDLP work, I can't recall a case where I caught anyone trying to smuggle something out.

We still get people asking for the big boxes, like the ones our display models for our patio furniture came in, and other assorted ginormous boxes. And they're always asking "WHY!?!?!?!one!?eleventy?" when I tell them no. "Because they're too big for most customers to drag home without breaking it down, and keeping them around takes up valuable space."

"But *I* want those too-big boxes!"
J2K: "Great. One person out of hundreds, if not thousands. You can't really blame the company for looking at the bottom line, here."

And generally, they agree with me on that point.