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While at work at the wholesale club today, I saw a man wearing a shirt that said "I only date crack whores." And I had to wonder, why would you advertise that? It just broadcasts to the world that you have extremely low standards, not to mention low regard for your personal health.
Moving on. Handicapped Cart Suck.
Dramatis Personae:
J2K - Yours Truly
CR - My coworker, former FDLP, now LP clerk (does paperwork) and helps stock HBA. (For the record, his official job title is Loss Prevention Supervisor.)
Momma's Boy - the SC in question.
SM - Store Manager, the MOD.
The wholesale club has instituted a policy, mandated by Corporate, that our electric carts for handicapped customers are not repeat NOT to leave the building. The reasons are in part to protect the carts themselves (taking them out onto asphalt will affect the wheels, axles, and other machinery from the vibrations of going over asphalt. The stated reason, however, is for the customers' safety. The handicapped carts do not have reflectors on them, and are low to the ground in any case, making them difficult to see by drivers, especially at night, and there have been cases where the carts have fallen over in the parking lots (because they're not designed to go outside, duh!). So the rule is in place for the customers' safety.
The policy is posted at the front door by the FDLP's post.
So fairly early in the day, Momma's Boy comes in and asks if he can reserve an electric cart. When I ask him specifically what he means, he explains he's going to be bringing his mother by later and wants to make sure there's an electric cart for her to use.
There's no stated rule about reserving electric carts, but I can right away see the trouble if I start letting people reserve them. I tell Momma's Boy that we can't reserve carts, and explain how it can potentially cause trouble. He accepts that, and says he'll bring his mother over now, he doesn't live far away.
The end? Ha ha ha, did you forget what site this is?
A little while later, I'm busy checking receipts and otherwise helping customers when Momma's Boy comes back. I recognize him and toss him a key to one of the handicapped carts, thinking that Momma was making her way into the store and would appreciate her son moving the cart out into the open where she can more easily get into the seat.
Whoops, silly me.
Momma's Boy, I find out shortly thereafter, had driven the cart out to our loading area (sidewalk pavement, not asphalt), where he'd temporarily parked his car, with his elderly mother in the backseat. They come back in a minute or two later, but I'm swamped with customers still and can't pull myself away to explain the not-outside policy.
Not too long after this, CR comes up to relieve me for my break. We spend a minute or two griping about Ol' Scarface. Short version. CR is not supposed to break for anyone at the door except BL, our weekday day shift FDLP, per managerial order. OS had pressured CR about it, and because she was seconds away from appealing to the SM, he agreed to do it to spare himself the trouble. I rightly point out that CR doesn't actually have to listen to OS, given she's not his supervisor. But CR doesn't mind coming up to the front door and away from OS.
So I'm sitting in the food court eating my hot dog combo and fiddling around on my laptop when Momma's Boy shows up, ready to leave. CR, of course, tells him he can't take Momma's electric cart outside. Momma's Boy asks why, CR explains the policy. I'll note I'm only partially paying attention, busy writing something on my laptop.
All of a sudden, Momma's Boy steps past CR to address me, and asks me if he can take the electric cart outside. I immediately see that Momma's Boy's doing the classic SC dodge of asking the same question of different people until he gets an answer he likes. I cut off that plan by telling Momma's Boy that CR is my supervisor, and I can't overrule him.
Momma's Boy steps back away from me, and I turn back to my laptop, finishing up what I was writing for the moment and switching it to sleep mode as I prepare to come back from my break. As I stand up, CR turns to me, quite angry, and says Momma's Boy has gone to speak to the SM. Great.
Being that I'm on break, I just stow my laptop away, answer nature's call, wash up, and prepare to come back on duty. Since Momma's Boy has gone to the SM, it's out of my hands.
The SM proves that said abbreviation also stands for "Spineless Manager," since he allowed Momma's Boy to take the cart outside to help Momma back into the car.
Later on in my shift, TC, another coworker, comes up to hand out flyers, and I fill her in on the story. She and I debate the specifics of the not-outside policy, me standing firm that the doors are the borderline, period, end of discussion, her arguing that letting the customers take the carts as far as the vestibule is okay.
I counter-argue that that is a slippery slope. First we let them take the cart into the vestibule, since that's technically still inside the building. (There's a roof!) Next thing we know, we're letting them take the carts onto the sidewalk or loading area, since the concrete of the sidewalk is less bumpy than the asphalt of the parking lot. And then we're just saying "fuck it" and letting them take the carts out into the lot because we've stopped enforcing the policy the way it was supposed to be enforced.
TC, hearing that logic, cannot argue further and agrees with me, and we both agree that the SM dropped the ball.
Moving on. Handicapped Cart Suck.
Dramatis Personae:
J2K - Yours Truly
CR - My coworker, former FDLP, now LP clerk (does paperwork) and helps stock HBA. (For the record, his official job title is Loss Prevention Supervisor.)
Momma's Boy - the SC in question.
SM - Store Manager, the MOD.
The wholesale club has instituted a policy, mandated by Corporate, that our electric carts for handicapped customers are not repeat NOT to leave the building. The reasons are in part to protect the carts themselves (taking them out onto asphalt will affect the wheels, axles, and other machinery from the vibrations of going over asphalt. The stated reason, however, is for the customers' safety. The handicapped carts do not have reflectors on them, and are low to the ground in any case, making them difficult to see by drivers, especially at night, and there have been cases where the carts have fallen over in the parking lots (because they're not designed to go outside, duh!). So the rule is in place for the customers' safety.
The policy is posted at the front door by the FDLP's post.
So fairly early in the day, Momma's Boy comes in and asks if he can reserve an electric cart. When I ask him specifically what he means, he explains he's going to be bringing his mother by later and wants to make sure there's an electric cart for her to use.
There's no stated rule about reserving electric carts, but I can right away see the trouble if I start letting people reserve them. I tell Momma's Boy that we can't reserve carts, and explain how it can potentially cause trouble. He accepts that, and says he'll bring his mother over now, he doesn't live far away.
The end? Ha ha ha, did you forget what site this is?
A little while later, I'm busy checking receipts and otherwise helping customers when Momma's Boy comes back. I recognize him and toss him a key to one of the handicapped carts, thinking that Momma was making her way into the store and would appreciate her son moving the cart out into the open where she can more easily get into the seat.
Whoops, silly me.
Momma's Boy, I find out shortly thereafter, had driven the cart out to our loading area (sidewalk pavement, not asphalt), where he'd temporarily parked his car, with his elderly mother in the backseat. They come back in a minute or two later, but I'm swamped with customers still and can't pull myself away to explain the not-outside policy.
Not too long after this, CR comes up to relieve me for my break. We spend a minute or two griping about Ol' Scarface. Short version. CR is not supposed to break for anyone at the door except BL, our weekday day shift FDLP, per managerial order. OS had pressured CR about it, and because she was seconds away from appealing to the SM, he agreed to do it to spare himself the trouble. I rightly point out that CR doesn't actually have to listen to OS, given she's not his supervisor. But CR doesn't mind coming up to the front door and away from OS.
So I'm sitting in the food court eating my hot dog combo and fiddling around on my laptop when Momma's Boy shows up, ready to leave. CR, of course, tells him he can't take Momma's electric cart outside. Momma's Boy asks why, CR explains the policy. I'll note I'm only partially paying attention, busy writing something on my laptop.
All of a sudden, Momma's Boy steps past CR to address me, and asks me if he can take the electric cart outside. I immediately see that Momma's Boy's doing the classic SC dodge of asking the same question of different people until he gets an answer he likes. I cut off that plan by telling Momma's Boy that CR is my supervisor, and I can't overrule him.
Momma's Boy steps back away from me, and I turn back to my laptop, finishing up what I was writing for the moment and switching it to sleep mode as I prepare to come back from my break. As I stand up, CR turns to me, quite angry, and says Momma's Boy has gone to speak to the SM. Great.
Being that I'm on break, I just stow my laptop away, answer nature's call, wash up, and prepare to come back on duty. Since Momma's Boy has gone to the SM, it's out of my hands.
The SM proves that said abbreviation also stands for "Spineless Manager," since he allowed Momma's Boy to take the cart outside to help Momma back into the car.
Later on in my shift, TC, another coworker, comes up to hand out flyers, and I fill her in on the story. She and I debate the specifics of the not-outside policy, me standing firm that the doors are the borderline, period, end of discussion, her arguing that letting the customers take the carts as far as the vestibule is okay.
I counter-argue that that is a slippery slope. First we let them take the cart into the vestibule, since that's technically still inside the building. (There's a roof!) Next thing we know, we're letting them take the carts onto the sidewalk or loading area, since the concrete of the sidewalk is less bumpy than the asphalt of the parking lot. And then we're just saying "fuck it" and letting them take the carts out into the lot because we've stopped enforcing the policy the way it was supposed to be enforced.
TC, hearing that logic, cannot argue further and agrees with me, and we both agree that the SM dropped the ball.
I write, my friend Red draws. Comments welcome. Leave them on their, or on my profile here. 
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