Why don't they understand it's for their own safety?

[dizzy_starshine]

A few months ago now our shop flooded. The building is 100 years old and the wooden floor is now in rather a bad state to the left of the till. Our area manager's response to our frantic calls about bowing floorboards and the horrid smell of damp was to tape down black bin bags over the affected area with danger tape and tell all customers not to enter the area. This is ok really as that area is the door way to the dispensary and of no real use to customers anyway. He just doesn't want a customer going through the boards as the insurance doesn't cover them. We put a sign blocking the only way into this area saying 'Due to floor damage this area is closed' simple enough right?
This is where the fun begins.

Floor problem number one

I'm in the doorway to the dispensary and hear the bell go meaning the shop door has opened. I put down the box of stock I'm holding and before I can make it out of the doorway I hear the sound of the sign being pushed along the ground and see a customer moving it

ME : sorry but this area is closed to customers. The floor isn't safe and we don't want any accidents
SC: I just need some shampoo
ME: Ok shampoos are over there - pointing to the OTHER side of the shop
SC - turning to look where I'm pointing - oh..right..well I needed first aid items too
( first aid can be reached by walking along the patch of floor affected but also is quicker to get to the 'normal' way
ME: I'm sorry but this area is closed due to the danger of the floor (she is now standing ON the bin bags ) please ma'am you need to step off of the floor it's not safe!
SC: don't be so b**dy rude to me! how dare you!
ME: that wooden floor your standing on is rotten if..
SC: for gods sake you are so rude

now I admit I got angry and said

ME: ok fall through the floor then, the company won't pay you any compensation for falling 10ft to the basment as there is a sign, which you moved, telling you not to come here, the tape says danger and I have also told you.

Do they really not get it that I'm trying to protect them? They act like we shut the area for a jolly good laugh.

floor problem two

Everyday since the flood at least 10 customers will act like their the first person to crack a joke/tell us about it. It gets so boring after a while >_<. Bit damp aren't you? been raining? I can smell damp, you've had a flood? B**dy hell really? god I never noticed. The amount of customers who give us quotes on getting it fixed too o_o. The company have a maintence department for a reason. They just don't want to spend any money >_<. I've now set up a nice little answer for it

SC: what happened to the floor?
ME: just damp, how can I help you?
SC: you need to get that looked at
ME: we have, what can I help you with today
SC: it's dangerous to leave damp
ME >_<: yes we know, did you need any help

[georgiab]

I am amazed at the ignorance of people...When i worked at both Lowe's and Home Depot whenever they are stocking the top shelves they block off the area at the end of the ailes (both entry ways) with the caution tape. Do you think that everyone has the common sense to follow these warnings ...well if you do then you would be wrong....It never failed customers would unhook the tape or go under it...When this happens all work has to stop immediately in that aile and the customers must immediately leave the area...Their excuse was always I just need to get blah blah real quick or they'd just get pissed off and ignore the employees warnings. That's right go ahead and grab that screwdriver and when that 3 ton generator falls on your ass don't wonder why there are sighns!

[Ringtail Z28]

Yeesh, customers are so thick-headed sometimes. It's really the kind of situation where you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

[dispatch]

you think that's bad, you should hear the things that people complained about during the passenger lifeboat drill

"this is so stupid! why do we have to do this shit? I paid good money for this cruise! why can't we use the elevators?"

then during the crew drill they'd get all snotty too, you'd think they never saw titanic or at least missed the message

[Crosshair]

"this is so stupid! why do we have to do this shit? I paid good money for this cruise! why can't we use the elevators?"

I say let them miss the lifeboat drill. All the more leg room for me when the ship goes down.

[terana]

I would have to agree. When the guys at my walmart are waxing they put up ropes and signs stating that the floor is being stripped and waxed please don't go under the ropes. I couldn't tell ya how many times we catch people walking around inside the ropes and then get mad when you ask them to get out. Just the other day we had some kids riding around in the rolling chairs and they went inside the ropes just because. Had to redo the whole area. *sigh* All I could do was just shake my head at the stupidity of some people.

[symposes]

where i work, if we rope something off, or put down cones, its to keep people from walking under us when we might drop something on them.
I remember making a bet to myself, that 10 minutes into the job, after having setup the cones, there would be atleast 1 person walk through them.
well, i was half right, in 10 minutes, between 10 and 15 people walked through.

I mentioned to my boss that i was having a hard time keeping them from walking through, and i told him i did have the cones up. He said, just try not to drop anything on anyone. But its just liability and with the cones up, were covered.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Once at the supermarket there was a disaster in the booze aisle; ie, a shelf collapsed and a ton of white wine hit the deck. Now, this is something that the store cleaner can't cope with by himself, so a couple of staff were put on it too and the whole aisle was roped off and coned off, with 2 warning signs. Despite these, at least 10 people tried to walk thru. the aisle and had to be told to get out. You'd think that the pong of spilled wine, the huge ass lake of spilled wine and the piles of broken glass everywhere would give them a clue, but no.

[Anakah]

I once worked in a Mikasa (It's a store with fancy stemware--aka wine glasses, lead crystal vases and crystal pic frames) and we'd have glass accidents almost everyday.
One day one of our HUGE crystal frames "mysteriously" smashed on the ground, shards went everywhere. The only thing we had to keep people away were carts. I lined a few carts to block the way and I had someone stand there while I got the broom and dust pan.
Customers kept moving the carts, taking them and walking straight through the glass. It pissed me off. Here I am trying not to cut myself and these jerks have the nerve to walk through it!? Pay attention!

[Crosshair]

Anyone know how the courts view such stupidity? I would hope that the claims would be dismissed because the people where notified of the danger. There has to be some court cases out there.

[protege]

Anyone know how the courts view such stupidity? I would hope that the claims would be dismissed because the people where notified of the danger. There has to be some court cases out there.

There are...and usually juries side with the victim. Case in point, 2 idiots in Philadelphia were fried after they climbed a railroad car...and somehow came into contact with the overhead wires that power Amtrak's locomotives. The idiots survived, and were rewarded $2+ million for their stupidity...simply because there weren't any warning signs about the wires.

I think stupidity should be a capital offense...but I'm just radical like that

[wagegoth]

I think stupidity should be a capital offense...but I'm just radical like that

Unfortunately, there are only the Darwin Awards. And they only apply if the person, either by death or certain other injury, removes themself from the gene pool.

[dizzy_starshine]

Our manager said that if we had verbally told them of the danger and they still walked over it and fell in we wouldn't have to compensate as it became their choice to enter the area. A little piece actually fell in today. We had great fun with torches looking down into the basement no ones seen for 6 years.

[Gawdzillers]

you think that's bad, you should hear the things that people complained about during the passenger lifeboat drill

"this is so stupid! why do we have to do this shit? I paid good money for this cruise! why can't we use the elevators?"

then during the crew drill they'd get all snotty too, you'd think they never saw titanic or at least missed the message

"I PAID MONEY FOR THIS, SO I'M GONNA ENJOY IT TO THE LAST MINUTE!"

[Cosmic Cat]

This old lady with a walker was trying to go up the escalator, even though an employee told her to use the elevator, and she got pissed off and ignored him. Guess what happened? She fell down the escalator and had to go to the hospital! Fortunately, it was all caught on tape, so we have evidence that we tried to get her to use the elevator.