This is the suck that doesn't end...

[Kiwi]

[B]
Me: One moment, please. <I go and find D, and she tells me exchange only. No refunds. But does she offer to come out and deal with this hag?? Oh, noooooooo!>

I assume D is some kind of manager?

see maybe I'm just a bad employee but I have always made my managers deal with customers like this, my belief is that is part of their job. If I had someone screaming at me I would (and have) stepped back and told them I would get a manager to help them because I obviously cant satisfy them.

the way it has worked at every store I have worked at, the regular staff deal with regular customers. purchases, returns exchanges, stocking everything that's straightforward.

the moment a customer has become difficult or demanded something out of the usual sphere of what I do.... that customer becomes my managers problem not mine. especially if they raise their voice or become abusive

I dont have the authority to override store policy, so if a manager wants to break the rules they can. But if Im told X does not happen, then with me X does not happen.

[LibraryLady]

Maybe it's because things were different back in the 1960s. Perhaps it's because students didn't need much then. Whatever the reason, I went off to College with what could be packed into the trunk of our family car. My parents unloaded my stuff and it was my job to haul it all up to my room. Mom and Dad wanted to be back home before nightfall. It was all my responsibility because I was the first person in our family to go to College. In the eyes of Mom and Dad going to College was pushing myself far beyond "Our kind of people".

I was lucky. I had several scholarships and grant money. My textbooks were covered by one of the scholarships. My meals at the College Dining Rooms were covered by another. Even the costs of the sheets and towels for my room were covered . My parents didn't have any money but my work at a Deli during the Summer before College gave me a little spending money. Wonder of wonders, I had the munificent sum of 15 USD a week to use as I wanted.

Strange as it sounds that was adequate. I could buy a book. I could buy a submarine sandwich and I could buy some music now and then. Hey, I could even buy a beer on Saturday evening. At the time, eighteen was a legal age
to buy alcohol and a draft beer cost 25 cents.

I do have to wonder what the Helicopter-Kids are missing. Yes, sometimes College days are rough but they have never had to go through Convocation Days. In my College you had to do this the first Wednesday of every month. You woke up about 6 AM early in the morning and put on your Attire. Regardless of the weather, that meant, stockings, black shoes with heels, cap and gown and, oh yes, white gloves. Young Ladies must always be ladies, mustn't we? .

[taxguykarl]

You had more patience than I could ever have.

I would have had our friend on the local police remove her. The station is just around the corner from our tax office--we also have his cell phone number.

I'm sorry you had to deal with this woman. Her son was an upper clamman and he couldn't deal with it himself? Oh. My.God.

He doesn't have to deal with it himself...Mommy will do that for him.

[Chromatix]

Believe me, I was *very* keen to be self-sufficient when I got to university. There were many reasons for that...

But I heard a tale from one of the campus staff that one student had turned up to move in with a full set of furniture and appliances! This for a typical one-room dorm with shared facilities. Methinks a helicopter parent failed to get the memo about what the dorms actually *were*.

[Dytchdoctir]

Lupo, does the bookstore require you to put up with verbal abuse?

Because the second time that woman said "Shut up!" to me, I would have replied, "Ma'am, if you tell me to shut up just ONE MORE time, I will happily do so . . . by walking away and ending this exchange entirely!"

[Jester]

I agree with Dytchdoctir.

Of course, you have to have management willing to back you up, and it doesn't sound like this is the case here.

The last time a customer got abusive with me, I knew I had awesome managers, and knew what was allowable, so I made the situation very clear.

JESTER: "Do NOT talk to me that way."
DOUCHENOZZLE: "Ex-CUSE me?"
JESTER: "Do NOT talk to me that way."
FUCKTRUMPET: "I want to speak to your manager!"
JESTER: "THAT is not a problem."

So I called my Rockin' Manager, told her the whole situation. She goes over to the turd walrus.

ROCKIN' MANAGER: "What seems to be the issue, sir?"
WASTE OF SKIN: [blah blah blah]
RM let him have his say. When he was finally finished....
ROCKIN' MANAGER: "And what part of that makes you think you can abuse my bartender?"
STAIN ON HUMANITY: "I live here!"
ROCKIN' MANAGER: "I love when people say that. Because it doesn't mean anything. Now, I am going to pay your bill, and you are going to leave."
DEFILER OF LIVESTOCK: "What? No, I can pay my own bill--"
ROCKIN' MANAGER: "No. *I* am paying your tab, and YOU are leaving. And you are not allowed back in here. EVER."
TWO-LEGGED ANAL WART:

I really do love my job.

[sprocket79]

What a Momma's boy. I would love to see this guy at his first job. He'd bring Mommy in to yell at people for "pwecious" not being able to get his work done properly.

Given the fact that the kid had obviously told you the wrong class - TWICE - couldn't the manager have gone and stopped the exchange? If she's being that abusive she doesn't deserve an exchange.

[Pagan]

Have some cider and cookies *throws*

Hey! Lupo's been through enough without you throwing cookies at her!


When I was in college, my mom was on-campus a lot. 5 days a week as a matter of fact, considering she worked there! I would stop and stick my head in a say "Hi" occasionally, BUT she didn't have anything to do with my classes, bookstore purchases, financial aid, etc.

I went to the freshman orientation and a whole bunch of us are sitting at tables in the ballrooms at the SU putting together our fall schedules. What sticks out in my mind from this is a couple of others sitting across the table from me wondering when lunch was? Even then, I had figured out it's whenever the hell you want it to be! And I had a bad habit of taking classes that were over the "traditional" lunch time of noon. Of course, most profs didn't mind you eating in class. A lot were happy if you were wearing shoes!

[wagegoth]

What a Momma's boy. I would love to see this guy at his first job. He'd bring Mommy in to yell at people for "pwecious" not being able to get his work done properly.

He's going to have a hard time even getting a job. Of course, Mommy will be thrilled to have him at home. She wouldn't want him taking a job too far away.

[Samaliel]

A solution?

Huge Pic

That's about the solution I envisioned. Using books as ammo.

[Animae]

My mother works in the same city I went to college. She came and had lunch with me. Which was really more for her than me. She wanted to know what was going on in my life.

She would never ever had done something like that. If i got the wrong book i was screwed. But I better fix it myself.


*hugs for lupo*

[Interior Desecrator]

My mom works in academic advising at our local university. This kind of stuff is why she and her cohorts have changed the name from "helicopter parents" to "stealth bombers." They don't just hover...they attack! The sad thing is, she works mostly with transfer students. As in, they already have a year or two of college under their belts, and mumsie dearest is STILL hovering! Thanks for the pic, Mike. I just sent it to her!

I just don't get this kind of stuff. I started college in 2001, so I'm not much older than many of these kids. But my parents' involvement in my college life was pretty much limited to what I told them about it. Now, they did help me financially, and they did help me haul my stuff to the dorm and back every year. (I didn't have a car for awhile.) But I bought my own books, did my own laundry (gasp!), even took care of maintenence on my truck (when I finally got it). I just don't understand these kids!

[Alpha Strike]

So in her world MATH = STATS? Sounds like sonny needs a refresher course in basic english?

Call me an idiot then, but I always thought that Stats was a type of math, just like Trigonometry, Pre-Calc, or Algebra II.

And if it's not math, what is it?

[Broomjockey]

And if it's not math, what is it?

Um...College courses are named for their main content. So yes, while statistics are a type of math, STATS != MATH, as those are official college designators, and not interchangable. They teach different things, have different goals, requirements, and uses. Many BSc programs require specifics STATS courses, while BAs are satisfied with MATH courses as the science requirements.

[Alpha Strike]

Um...College courses are named for their main content. So yes, while statistics are a type of math, STATS != MATH, as those are official college designators, and not interchangable. They teach different things, have different goals, requirements, and uses. Many BSc programs require specifics STATS courses, while BAs are satisfied with MATH courses as the science requirements.

Ummm... And how would the typical layman, someone who is not actively in college or involved in college courses know that? Short answer = They wouldn't.

So just the fact that the mom and/or student thought that MATH=STATS wouldn't seem to make them SCs - it was their awful behavior and bad manners that would leave them with that label.