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This one's a little on the long side......
OK, so at my office supply store, as I've mentioned, we have a copy & print center with a self-service area. It's actually pretty nice, being one of only two parts of the store with carpeting. Plus there's a nice work table with stools and complimentary paper clips, staples, etc for people to get their papers and copies organized. Overall, a nice little perk for the customers. The thing is, there are some people who abuse the privilege. They'll stay for a long time, and sometimes in the VERY early morning (we open at 7AM) they'll come in with coffee (fair enough) and food (wtf?) and then after finishing up using our copy center as their own private office, LEAVE THE TRASH BEHIND! This only bothers me a little, but drives the copy center associates nuts, as they are the ones responsible for keeping that area clean. And there are no less than three trash cans and two recycling bins just in the self-service area, plus another large trash can at the main entrance that EVERYONE passes by to leave the building, so there is just no excuse for not throwing your trash away. And of course, since they don't do anything wrong while they are there, we can't say anything about it. Annoying.
Anyway, that's the general complaint. Onto the specific ones.
My store has two different guys who I have labeled the "Copy Center Lingerers" (for lack of a better term). Both are older gentlemen.
The first is a guy who for several weeks straight came in almost every single day and would spend literally HOURS sitting at the table organizing large piles of papers (which he somehow crammed into a relatively small attache bag), filling out paperwork, and making only a few copies (usually less than 10 in total). Periodically he'll come over to the registers to pay for what he's copied so far. Now, this guy really isn't an SC per se, but he kinda creeps me out, because he has at least a few marbles rolling around loose, if you catch my drift. He's plenty polite, but I'd just as soon be gone with him. I've learned the hard way to NOT ask him if he has a rewards card (we're supposed to ask everyone every time) because after a few times of saying no and declining to sign up, he bluntly told me that "I am not going to live long enough to ever collect anything from these programs. It's called 'cancer' and it's going to kill me."
OK. I accepted that at face value when he told me, and at first felt a little sorry for him. I thought maybe what he was doing every day was trying to get his affairs in order.
Well, after he'd been coming in almost daily for several weeks, I said something to a co-worker about how "our resident cancer patient was here." (He'd just walked in).
She didn't know who I was talking about, so I explained briefly.
Her: "Oh, he doesn't have cancer."
Me: "What? He told me he did, which is why I no longer ask him for a rewards card."
Her: "Well, he's told me more than once that he doesn't want one because he's going to be kidnapped by aliens next week."
Me: "Ahh............." *the pieces begin to fall into place* He must have paranoid delusions or something (hence my earlier comment about him not being quite right).
Shortly after that he stopped coming, so I thought perhaps he'd finally succumbed to his cancer or been kidnapped by aliens (not that I actually believed the second part, but you know...).
But he came in today after an absence of nearly a month, looking none the worse for wear. When I saw him, I warned the new girl not to ask him for a rewards card if he came through her line (though it might have been interesting to find out if he had a third, different excuse for her).
Ok, like I said, really not an SC, but the next guy, Lingerer #2, recently elevated himself to SC status.
This guy, like the first, comes in just about every day and spends an inordinate amount of time at the copy center. Except instead of doing paperwork, it takes him this long to figure out how to get the machine to make the 2 or 3 copies he makes each day. Yes, it takes him an hour or more to make 2 or 3 copies. You'd think that after the first few times, he'd get the hang of it, but not this guy. And he always declines help from the CC staff. And he never buys anything else. And he always wants a bag for just a few sheets of paper, even when it's not raining. And like Lingerer #1, I never ask him for a rewards card. Also, he's Asian, so he doesn't speak English very well, which only complicates matters further.
Now all this would merely be annoying, except for a recent incident. He came up to my register to pay for his three copies ($0.18) and gave me a quarter. In giving him his change, I just happened to pull out an extremely corroded, dirty penny from the till. I didn't give to him out of spite; it just happened to be at the top of the pile.
Well he was PISSED about it. He literally threw the penny down on the counter and yelled "I WON'T ACCEPT THAT!!!!!!!" The penny bounced off the counter and landed somewhere on the floor behind me.
I was stunned, too stunned to even get mad at the guy. I could not believe that anyone could get angry over the condition of a penny. A PENNY! One bleeping cent! Not enough to buy anything, so quite literally not worth getting mad about. JEEZE!
Unable to think of anything suitable to say, I just gave him a shinier penny that was lying loose on top of the register, and he went away. He is now an official SC in my mind, and my shoulders sag a little whenever I see him come in. And I make a point of giving him the shiniest pennies........
A penny. I honestly don't think there's anything SMALLER to get mad about.....
OK, so at my office supply store, as I've mentioned, we have a copy & print center with a self-service area. It's actually pretty nice, being one of only two parts of the store with carpeting. Plus there's a nice work table with stools and complimentary paper clips, staples, etc for people to get their papers and copies organized. Overall, a nice little perk for the customers. The thing is, there are some people who abuse the privilege. They'll stay for a long time, and sometimes in the VERY early morning (we open at 7AM) they'll come in with coffee (fair enough) and food (wtf?) and then after finishing up using our copy center as their own private office, LEAVE THE TRASH BEHIND! This only bothers me a little, but drives the copy center associates nuts, as they are the ones responsible for keeping that area clean. And there are no less than three trash cans and two recycling bins just in the self-service area, plus another large trash can at the main entrance that EVERYONE passes by to leave the building, so there is just no excuse for not throwing your trash away. And of course, since they don't do anything wrong while they are there, we can't say anything about it. Annoying.
Anyway, that's the general complaint. Onto the specific ones.
My store has two different guys who I have labeled the "Copy Center Lingerers" (for lack of a better term). Both are older gentlemen.
The first is a guy who for several weeks straight came in almost every single day and would spend literally HOURS sitting at the table organizing large piles of papers (which he somehow crammed into a relatively small attache bag), filling out paperwork, and making only a few copies (usually less than 10 in total). Periodically he'll come over to the registers to pay for what he's copied so far. Now, this guy really isn't an SC per se, but he kinda creeps me out, because he has at least a few marbles rolling around loose, if you catch my drift. He's plenty polite, but I'd just as soon be gone with him. I've learned the hard way to NOT ask him if he has a rewards card (we're supposed to ask everyone every time) because after a few times of saying no and declining to sign up, he bluntly told me that "I am not going to live long enough to ever collect anything from these programs. It's called 'cancer' and it's going to kill me."
OK. I accepted that at face value when he told me, and at first felt a little sorry for him. I thought maybe what he was doing every day was trying to get his affairs in order.
Well, after he'd been coming in almost daily for several weeks, I said something to a co-worker about how "our resident cancer patient was here." (He'd just walked in).
She didn't know who I was talking about, so I explained briefly.
Her: "Oh, he doesn't have cancer."
Me: "What? He told me he did, which is why I no longer ask him for a rewards card."
Her: "Well, he's told me more than once that he doesn't want one because he's going to be kidnapped by aliens next week."
Me: "Ahh............." *the pieces begin to fall into place* He must have paranoid delusions or something (hence my earlier comment about him not being quite right).
Shortly after that he stopped coming, so I thought perhaps he'd finally succumbed to his cancer or been kidnapped by aliens (not that I actually believed the second part, but you know...).
But he came in today after an absence of nearly a month, looking none the worse for wear. When I saw him, I warned the new girl not to ask him for a rewards card if he came through her line (though it might have been interesting to find out if he had a third, different excuse for her).
Ok, like I said, really not an SC, but the next guy, Lingerer #2, recently elevated himself to SC status.
This guy, like the first, comes in just about every day and spends an inordinate amount of time at the copy center. Except instead of doing paperwork, it takes him this long to figure out how to get the machine to make the 2 or 3 copies he makes each day. Yes, it takes him an hour or more to make 2 or 3 copies. You'd think that after the first few times, he'd get the hang of it, but not this guy. And he always declines help from the CC staff. And he never buys anything else. And he always wants a bag for just a few sheets of paper, even when it's not raining. And like Lingerer #1, I never ask him for a rewards card. Also, he's Asian, so he doesn't speak English very well, which only complicates matters further.
Now all this would merely be annoying, except for a recent incident. He came up to my register to pay for his three copies ($0.18) and gave me a quarter. In giving him his change, I just happened to pull out an extremely corroded, dirty penny from the till. I didn't give to him out of spite; it just happened to be at the top of the pile.
Well he was PISSED about it. He literally threw the penny down on the counter and yelled "I WON'T ACCEPT THAT!!!!!!!" The penny bounced off the counter and landed somewhere on the floor behind me.
I was stunned, too stunned to even get mad at the guy. I could not believe that anyone could get angry over the condition of a penny. A PENNY! One bleeping cent! Not enough to buy anything, so quite literally not worth getting mad about. JEEZE!
Unable to think of anything suitable to say, I just gave him a shinier penny that was lying loose on top of the register, and he went away. He is now an official SC in my mind, and my shoulders sag a little whenever I see him come in. And I make a point of giving him the shiniest pennies........
A penny. I honestly don't think there's anything SMALLER to get mad about.....
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