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This tale has a little bit of everything in it: sucky customers, brain burps, morons in management, and Praise (of colleagues). However, it's primarily a SC tale.
This week marks the first "Dollar Days" sale of the year for Staples, wherein a number of cheap, useless stuff that no one needs is marked down to $1 (and other items are $2). Of course, now that the price is down, EVERYONE needs it, and needs it NOW!!!!
Items include wood pencils, letter-size notepads, gel pens, highlighers, Post-It Flags, photo paper, low-end ream paper, etc. I hate these sales, because while I understand they are meant to drive foot traffic in the hope that they'll buy other items at full price while they're there, the reality is that cheap product attracts cheapSKATES. From where I sit, I don't see that it drives much - if any - additional sales beyond the cheap items, so it just doesn't feel like it's worth the hassle.
Now, my store is isn't the smallest in the chain, but it's far from the largest. However, in their infinite wisdom, the POG team has us cramming in almost everything that the large stores carry, much of it stuffed in the main aisles as pallet positions, wing stacks/panels, etc. This means the aisles are very crowded and it's difficult to negotiate a shopping cart through the store, especially the area immediately around the main entrance. I commented on this when I first transferred here, but it was something that we had our hands tied on, because the District Manager and Regional VP kept having us cram more stuff there, and if we defy them (even in the interests of safety/ADA compliance) we get in trouble.
I'm not the only one who's noticed, either; we've gotten quite a few complaints about it.
Well, this past Friday the DM came in for a surprise inspection and - among other things - declared that the aisles were too crowded and we had to get all that shit out of there. Funny, since she was the one who had us put most of it there in the first place.
And oh yeah, she also said no more dump bins and tiered baskets for sale items.
This two nights before the Dollar Days sale started. Great.
So the plan was to full-up the regular locations for these items (which in many cases was a single peg or facing) and fill as needed.
That lasted less than 3 hours.
When I arrived for my shift on Sunday (first day of the sale) I was immediately pulled aside by the GM and told to break out the bins and baskets (which we'd just pulled off the floor and shoved into the back room) and put out as much of our stock of the sale items as humanly possible.
Fine. Took me over 3 hours though, as I was alone in the department (thanks to someone who was recently fired) so I had to help customers AND I kept getting called up front to ring.
I must say though that I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had quite a large stock of those items available. Almost as if the merchandising team at the home office decided to send us extra so we'd have enough to last the week.
Shocking, since typically they only send extra for one or two things and we run out before the week's half over, leading to many many unhappy customers. So, kudos to them for a change!
Anyway, now that that rant is out of the way, on to the meat of the story.
After I'd finished with most of the aforementioned pull & fill project, a woman stopped me.
SC: Do you work here?
And we're off to a bad start already. Let's see.....red shirt with Staples logo? Check. Nametag? Check. Hand scanner? Check. Armload of boxed product? Check. (Great timing on that, lady)
No, actually I'm pizza delivery.
(No offense to those here who are in fact working pizza delivery)
Me: Yes, what can I do for you?
SC: Where are the items on sale?
And so the Specificity Problem rears its ugly head AGAIN. Now I know she meant the Dollar Items, but damnit, "items on sale" can mean anything in the whole flyer, which means they could be ANYWHERE in the store. Even knowing she meant the Dollar Items, there were still quite a few of them and they were NOT all in the same place.
Me: Which ones in particular are you after, ma'am?
SC: The ones on sale.
Me: I understand that, but WHICH items on sale? The pens---?
SC: Yes! The pens!
Me: Aisle 1. (Under the BIG SIGN WITH FOOT TALL LETTERS that says PENS AND PENCILS) Anything else?
SC: No.
She went away and I went in another direction. Technically we're supposed to walk customers to the product, but my hands were full and I had a lot of other people to get to.
A little white later I am helping another customer when the same SC interrupts.
SC: Excuse me, sir? SIR!!!
(At least she said "excuse me" and called me "Sir" rather than saying "hey you!" or resorting to the dreaded dog whistle or finger-snap, but she was still being loud and impatient, and interrupted me while helping another customer).
Me: Yes?
SC: Where are these? *points to the $1 scotch tape in the flyer*
So when I asked if you needed anything else, you were lying?
Me: Aisle 4. (Again, with an enormous sign that says TAPE AND FASTENERS). Is there anything else you need today, ma'am?
SC: No, that's it.
After helping a few more customers, I needed to get down a large box of stuff (I forget what, but it was the last item on my list of stuff I needed to fill). While I am on the ladder, wrestling with this large and fairly heavy box, what do I hear?
SC: EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!
Yep. Now she's yelling up a me from the end of the aisle. And for the THIRD TIME she's managed to interrupt me when I am clearly busy. SHe couldn't even wait for me to put the damn box down, let alone get off the ladder.
Me: Yes?
SC: Where are the $1 notebooks?
(I should point out here that the notebooks in question are 4x6 notebooks, not full size notebooks like you'd buy for school, and that this is clearly stated in the flyer).
Me (from the top of the ladder): Aisle 5, on the lefthand side. There's a big bin of them.
*SC walks away without a word. She has yet to say "thank you" for any of the help she's demanded*
And again, there's a BIG-ASS SIGN that says "NOTEBOOKS & PADS"
What a waste of money on these signs!
Just as I get off the ladder and begin to carry the box to where it's needed, she comes back.
SC *angry and accusatory*: I can't find them!!! They aren't there!!! I looked and they AREN'T THERE!!!
At this point I have scant patience for this sort of bullshit. I've been running around nonstop ever since I punched in, have had an endless stream of customers, and have been dealing with this woman entirely too much. I'm tired, haven't had a break, and am starting to get cranky. Besides, I personally put that bin there and filled it with our entire stock of those notebooks. I KNOW it's where I said it was.
Without a word, I marched over to aisle 5 and stood right next to the bin. I turned around and she wasn't there! Her kid was with me, but she was nowhere in sight.
She must have gotten distracted by something shiny.....
Just as I am ready to walk away, she finally sauntered into the aisle. I pulled a notebook out of the bin.
Me (in a deliberately polite way): They're right here.
SC: Those are them?
Me: Yes *points to sign on side of bin* $1 notebooks.
SC: I thought they were big ones, like in the picture. *points to flyer*
OK, I can understand that it sometimes tough to get a sense of scale from a small picture, but if these were full-size notebooks, then based on the picture, the spiral binding would have been big enough for me to put my fist into.
Me *pointing to item description in flyer* "4x6"
SC: Oh.........thank you.
Me: Will there be anything else today?
SC:......................................
Me:.....................................
At that point I got paged to ring again, and she'd checked out (at the other register, thankfully) by the time I got away from the front.
I know it doesn't look all THAT sucky, but she was interrupting me at the least convenient times, kept coming back after telling me she was all set, and had a condescending attitude. Not to mention that classic SC trait of being totally illiterate when it comes to signage.
This week marks the first "Dollar Days" sale of the year for Staples, wherein a number of cheap, useless stuff that no one needs is marked down to $1 (and other items are $2). Of course, now that the price is down, EVERYONE needs it, and needs it NOW!!!!
Items include wood pencils, letter-size notepads, gel pens, highlighers, Post-It Flags, photo paper, low-end ream paper, etc. I hate these sales, because while I understand they are meant to drive foot traffic in the hope that they'll buy other items at full price while they're there, the reality is that cheap product attracts cheapSKATES. From where I sit, I don't see that it drives much - if any - additional sales beyond the cheap items, so it just doesn't feel like it's worth the hassle.
Now, my store is isn't the smallest in the chain, but it's far from the largest. However, in their infinite wisdom, the POG team has us cramming in almost everything that the large stores carry, much of it stuffed in the main aisles as pallet positions, wing stacks/panels, etc. This means the aisles are very crowded and it's difficult to negotiate a shopping cart through the store, especially the area immediately around the main entrance. I commented on this when I first transferred here, but it was something that we had our hands tied on, because the District Manager and Regional VP kept having us cram more stuff there, and if we defy them (even in the interests of safety/ADA compliance) we get in trouble.
I'm not the only one who's noticed, either; we've gotten quite a few complaints about it.
Well, this past Friday the DM came in for a surprise inspection and - among other things - declared that the aisles were too crowded and we had to get all that shit out of there. Funny, since she was the one who had us put most of it there in the first place.
And oh yeah, she also said no more dump bins and tiered baskets for sale items.
This two nights before the Dollar Days sale started. Great.
So the plan was to full-up the regular locations for these items (which in many cases was a single peg or facing) and fill as needed.
That lasted less than 3 hours.
When I arrived for my shift on Sunday (first day of the sale) I was immediately pulled aside by the GM and told to break out the bins and baskets (which we'd just pulled off the floor and shoved into the back room) and put out as much of our stock of the sale items as humanly possible.
Fine. Took me over 3 hours though, as I was alone in the department (thanks to someone who was recently fired) so I had to help customers AND I kept getting called up front to ring.
I must say though that I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had quite a large stock of those items available. Almost as if the merchandising team at the home office decided to send us extra so we'd have enough to last the week.
Shocking, since typically they only send extra for one or two things and we run out before the week's half over, leading to many many unhappy customers. So, kudos to them for a change!
Anyway, now that that rant is out of the way, on to the meat of the story.
After I'd finished with most of the aforementioned pull & fill project, a woman stopped me.
SC: Do you work here?
And we're off to a bad start already. Let's see.....red shirt with Staples logo? Check. Nametag? Check. Hand scanner? Check. Armload of boxed product? Check. (Great timing on that, lady)
No, actually I'm pizza delivery.
(No offense to those here who are in fact working pizza delivery)
Me: Yes, what can I do for you?
SC: Where are the items on sale?
And so the Specificity Problem rears its ugly head AGAIN. Now I know she meant the Dollar Items, but damnit, "items on sale" can mean anything in the whole flyer, which means they could be ANYWHERE in the store. Even knowing she meant the Dollar Items, there were still quite a few of them and they were NOT all in the same place.
Me: Which ones in particular are you after, ma'am?
SC: The ones on sale.
Me: I understand that, but WHICH items on sale? The pens---?
SC: Yes! The pens!
Me: Aisle 1. (Under the BIG SIGN WITH FOOT TALL LETTERS that says PENS AND PENCILS) Anything else?
SC: No.
She went away and I went in another direction. Technically we're supposed to walk customers to the product, but my hands were full and I had a lot of other people to get to.
A little white later I am helping another customer when the same SC interrupts.
SC: Excuse me, sir? SIR!!!
(At least she said "excuse me" and called me "Sir" rather than saying "hey you!" or resorting to the dreaded dog whistle or finger-snap, but she was still being loud and impatient, and interrupted me while helping another customer).
Me: Yes?
SC: Where are these? *points to the $1 scotch tape in the flyer*
So when I asked if you needed anything else, you were lying?
Me: Aisle 4. (Again, with an enormous sign that says TAPE AND FASTENERS). Is there anything else you need today, ma'am?
SC: No, that's it.
After helping a few more customers, I needed to get down a large box of stuff (I forget what, but it was the last item on my list of stuff I needed to fill). While I am on the ladder, wrestling with this large and fairly heavy box, what do I hear?
SC: EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!
Yep. Now she's yelling up a me from the end of the aisle. And for the THIRD TIME she's managed to interrupt me when I am clearly busy. SHe couldn't even wait for me to put the damn box down, let alone get off the ladder.
Me: Yes?
SC: Where are the $1 notebooks?
(I should point out here that the notebooks in question are 4x6 notebooks, not full size notebooks like you'd buy for school, and that this is clearly stated in the flyer).
Me (from the top of the ladder): Aisle 5, on the lefthand side. There's a big bin of them.
*SC walks away without a word. She has yet to say "thank you" for any of the help she's demanded*
And again, there's a BIG-ASS SIGN that says "NOTEBOOKS & PADS"
What a waste of money on these signs!
Just as I get off the ladder and begin to carry the box to where it's needed, she comes back.
SC *angry and accusatory*: I can't find them!!! They aren't there!!! I looked and they AREN'T THERE!!!
At this point I have scant patience for this sort of bullshit. I've been running around nonstop ever since I punched in, have had an endless stream of customers, and have been dealing with this woman entirely too much. I'm tired, haven't had a break, and am starting to get cranky. Besides, I personally put that bin there and filled it with our entire stock of those notebooks. I KNOW it's where I said it was.
Without a word, I marched over to aisle 5 and stood right next to the bin. I turned around and she wasn't there! Her kid was with me, but she was nowhere in sight.
She must have gotten distracted by something shiny.....
Just as I am ready to walk away, she finally sauntered into the aisle. I pulled a notebook out of the bin.
Me (in a deliberately polite way): They're right here.
SC: Those are them?
Me: Yes *points to sign on side of bin* $1 notebooks.
SC: I thought they were big ones, like in the picture. *points to flyer*
OK, I can understand that it sometimes tough to get a sense of scale from a small picture, but if these were full-size notebooks, then based on the picture, the spiral binding would have been big enough for me to put my fist into.
Me *pointing to item description in flyer* "4x6"
SC: Oh.........thank you.
Me: Will there be anything else today?
SC:......................................
Me:.....................................
At that point I got paged to ring again, and she'd checked out (at the other register, thankfully) by the time I got away from the front.
I know it doesn't look all THAT sucky, but she was interrupting me at the least convenient times, kept coming back after telling me she was all set, and had a condescending attitude. Not to mention that classic SC trait of being totally illiterate when it comes to signage.
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