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Oh why, oh why do I keep setting things aside for customers who never show up?
Shortly after I started today I got an outside call for seasonal. Some guy wanted to know if we had a certain patio table and chairs to go with it. We did, but we were down to the displays.
Problem was, he was in Wausau at the time he called. Or was it Waupaca? I dunno, he mentioned both cities in Cheeselandialand. Both are a significant drive away from my store.
He wanted these items held. I told him I couldn't hold unpaid merchandise. He offered to give a credit card number over the phone or online. I didn't think we could do this for him, so I called up the manager on duty, who confirmed that we don't accept credit card numbers over the phone or online. She did tell me we could hold the merchandise for him until he arrived.
So I told him, and he said he'd hit the road right away and be at the store around 3-ish. But not before fishing for a discount on top of the 60%-off clearance prices.
I told him we'd have to decide that when he came. The table and chairs were in perfectly fine shape.
He got off the phone and I took the table and chairs off the floor and into the backroom, right in front of a couple other people who'd been looking at them. They asked me what I was doing. I said somebody else called and put these items on hold because they were going to buy them. They left.
3:00 rolled around with no sign of the customer rolling in from Wausau or Waupaca. When I left at 4:45 he still hadn't shown up. I am going to be a rather unhappy Irv if I come in tomorrow and find the table and chairs still in the backroom waiting for pickup. That will have meant we lost the chance to sell them to somebody already in the store, who didn't ask about any discounts, for a total of about $300.
I am so over holding stuff for people claiming they'll "be right in." If I were in charge, I'd tell them to hustle their asses on over if they really wanted the merchandise, and if it was sold from underneath them, then tough shit. If I've got a customer in store willing to buy something right away, and somebody on the phone promising to come on over soon, I'm going to please the person already in the store.
Shortly after I started today I got an outside call for seasonal. Some guy wanted to know if we had a certain patio table and chairs to go with it. We did, but we were down to the displays.
Problem was, he was in Wausau at the time he called. Or was it Waupaca? I dunno, he mentioned both cities in Cheeselandialand. Both are a significant drive away from my store.
He wanted these items held. I told him I couldn't hold unpaid merchandise. He offered to give a credit card number over the phone or online. I didn't think we could do this for him, so I called up the manager on duty, who confirmed that we don't accept credit card numbers over the phone or online. She did tell me we could hold the merchandise for him until he arrived.
So I told him, and he said he'd hit the road right away and be at the store around 3-ish. But not before fishing for a discount on top of the 60%-off clearance prices.
I told him we'd have to decide that when he came. The table and chairs were in perfectly fine shape.He got off the phone and I took the table and chairs off the floor and into the backroom, right in front of a couple other people who'd been looking at them. They asked me what I was doing. I said somebody else called and put these items on hold because they were going to buy them. They left.
3:00 rolled around with no sign of the customer rolling in from Wausau or Waupaca. When I left at 4:45 he still hadn't shown up. I am going to be a rather unhappy Irv if I come in tomorrow and find the table and chairs still in the backroom waiting for pickup. That will have meant we lost the chance to sell them to somebody already in the store, who didn't ask about any discounts, for a total of about $300.
I am so over holding stuff for people claiming they'll "be right in." If I were in charge, I'd tell them to hustle their asses on over if they really wanted the merchandise, and if it was sold from underneath them, then tough shit. If I've got a customer in store willing to buy something right away, and somebody on the phone promising to come on over soon, I'm going to please the person already in the store.
just like I chose to live in Utah 
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