Do you expect me to agree with you? Because I really don't.

[Subspace_Relay]

Hello! Long time lurker, first time posting a story.

I'm a cart wrangler for a major big box chain that shares a color motif with the Republican Party. Last night, we had a rather notable elderly woman attempt to buy a table. She was in a bad mood when she flagged down an employee, as she had supposedly been sitting on one of our display couches for two hours waiting for someone to walk by. This smells like bull crap because...well, try to sit in one of our stores for two hours and not see ONE employee walk by. It's highly unlikely. On top of that, there are phones in every section of the store that allow you to summon assistance. So....if she somehow waited that long, it was her own damned fault.

Moving along, she did manage to flag down an employee. Unfortunately for her, he was a relatively new cashier that was being trained in how to work the sales floor. The table she wanted was in a spot on the shelf labeled $19.99 but was itself, our astute cashier noted, labeled $39.99. When he pointed this out to her, she got belligerent and asked him if he could read properly. So, not wanting to put up with her crap, he called over an actual sales floor guy who was covering the furniture section. He politely told her the same thing as the cashier, she continued to be impolite and demanded to see the manager. So, the Sales Floor guy went and explained the situation to the manager in person. The manager said that he would just "go tell her to fuck off". He did so, obviously not in those terms, but there was no way in HELL he was gonna fold on the price of a misplaced table.

I got this story second hand from the employees involved and we all had a good laugh about it. I got back outside to resume the gathering of carts, and I'm walking back to the cart pusher "robot" (which is only a robot in the sense a remote controlled car could be called a robot) with some carts when I see an older woman finishing up loading her car. I walk up to her and politely ask if she is done with the cart and if she would like me to take it. She says yes and then remarks that at least one person here is nice (or words to that effect). I add her cart to my stack, thank her, and start back to the machine (which is parked near her car) but she keeps talking to me. I can't hear a damn word she's saying over the clatter of the carts, but I get done with them in time to hear have this little exchange-
HER: And your manager is a real asshole.
ME: Uh, no comment ma'am.
HER: Yeah, I know *keeps muttering as she gets into her car*.

Seriously....did she expect me to agree with her? She wasn't mad at me, she was attempting to commiserate. And she's not the first customer who, having a bad experience inside, remarked that the inside staff are jerks/unreasonable. Do people think that my being outside means I never talk to anyone in there? Or that I'm in some kind of Siberian exile to the parking lot? Because I love (most) of the managers, supervisors, and co-workers I have in there.

[bainsidhe]

Perhaps she thinks only the real managers are outside pushing carts. So you better go fire that useless pretend manager right away!

[elsporko]

She was probably just venting and you happened to be there. I had the same thing the other day with sombody complaining about their service at the resturaunt connected to the arcade. Sounds like she got crap service and offered to get a manager for her but she said no. Sometimes its nice to have somebody listen when you're upset.

[Andara Bledin]

Seriously....did she expect me to agree with her? She wasn't mad at me, she was attempting to commiserate. And she's not the first customer who, having a bad experience inside, remarked that the inside staff are jerks/unreasonable. Do people think that my being outside means I never talk to anyone in there? Or that I'm in some kind of Siberian exile to the parking lot? Because I love (most) of the managers, supervisors, and co-workers I have in there.

Some people do expect an adversarial workplace. Some managers promote that sort of thing.

I get coworkers fighting with me as if we're competing or something. I just don't get it. We're supposed to be a team.

^-.-^

[MrsEclipse]

I get coworkers fighting with me as if we're competing or something. I just don't get it. We're supposed to be a team.

Yeah, go team!

I like my job whenever someone's nasty or something, because I'll go back and say, "I'm having trouble with Patron X," and they'll be all, "Oh, not him again..." So I never have to explain why somebody apparently things I'm dumb as a box of sticks. Everybody already knows it's him.

Communication is a good thing to have in the workplace.

[Subspace_Relay]

Sounds like she got crap service and offered to get a manager for her but she said no. Sometimes its nice to have somebody listen when you're upset.

Trust me, she didn't get crap service. The only way to not get helped for more than five minutes in our store is to actively try (if one of the automated assistance calls goes out over the walkies, sales floor people drop what their doing to answer it) and beyond that, she wanted a 50% discount on a table because it had been set down in the wrong spot. If it rings up wrong, then we have to honor it...but this is no different than the wrong sticker being on an item.

[elsporko]

I meant the woman I was using as an example on how people like to vent to whoever got crap service. I should have written the sentence clearer.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Ah, another cart monkey.

I have plenty of respect for the cart retrievers. While the wholesale club has had its share of sucky cart retrievers (I think I even posted about some of them once), they generally have my respect for a few key reasons:

1. They're working a fairly thankless job. (I've seen some of our cart guys get chewed out simply because the manager thinks they're "not doing anything out there." Never mind it's Saturday afternoon, and the carts are gone as soon as they can be brought up.)

2. They're working regardless of weather conditions. (Hot and humid? Hard luck for you. Cold and rainy? Hard luck for you. Freezing and snowing? Hard luck for you. Hurricane going through the area? Yup, hard luck for you. Though that last one was a case of the cart guy just being that crazy.)

3. They're doing carts so I don't have to. (Twice a week, our cart guy has his days off, and those are the days that me and another CW have to get carts done in an hour before closing.)

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

If you work where I think you work, I'm surprised the manager didn't cave on the price of the table as I've heard the management at those places is about as spineless as you can get.

[Subspace_Relay]

If you work where I think you work, I'm surprised the manager didn't cave on the price of the table as I've heard the management at those places is about as spineless as you can get.

I'm pretty sure I have enough info for you to hit a bullseye. Wink. Anyhow, our managers are pretty great in that regard. The MOD at the time is also the loss prevention head, so yeah.

Ah, another cart monkey.

I have plenty of respect for the cart retrievers. While the wholesale club has had its share of sucky cart retrievers (I think I even posted about some of them once), they generally have my respect for a few key reasons:

1. They're working a fairly thankless job. (I've seen some of our cart guys get chewed out simply because the manager thinks they're "not doing anything out there." Never mind it's Saturday afternoon, and the carts are gone as soon as they can be brought up.)

Well first off, thank you sir. A few customers have seen fit to thank me for my job, so that's good. As for the manager chewing out, I've only had one supervisor do that and he was an ass hat to begin with.

2. They're working regardless of weather conditions. (Hot and humid? Hard luck for you. Cold and rainy? Hard luck for you. Freezing and snowing? Hard luck for you. Hurricane going through the area? Yup, hard luck for you. Though that last one was a case of the cart guy just being that crazy.)

I've dealt with most of those. Hot and humid sucks the most....but owning long johns and a poncho has helped with the freezing and the raining respectively. Boy Scouts preps you for anything.

3. They're doing carts so I don't have to. (Twice a week, our cart guy has his days off, and those are the days that me and another CW have to get carts done in an hour before closing.)

Funny thing about that - at least two cart guy are scheduled per day where I work (one opener, one closer). If one of them calls off, there is no designated back-up. If no one can come in, the front end just goes without a cart guy. I've come shopping during such occasions before....it ain't a pretty sight.

[Andara Bledin]

Funny thing about that - at least two cart guy are scheduled per day where I work (one opener, one closer). If one of them calls off, there is no designated back-up. If no one can come in, the front end just goes without a cart guy. I've come shopping during such occasions before....it ain't a pretty sight.

I've been to stores when their cart-guy was either out or not doing his job, and it can get pretty ugly pretty fast. So many people are soooo flipping lazy.

I've been known to walk a few carts to the corral just to get them out of the way for people parking while headed to the store. I usually grab one for myself while I'm at it.

It always baffles me when I spot someone who pushes a cart out of their way on the way inside, and then go directly to the cart line, and grab a cart. Why the hell didn't they just take the cart the shoved aside and save everyone some time?

^-.-^

[Jay 2K Winger]

It always baffles me when I spot someone who pushes a cart out of their way on the way inside, and then go directly to the cart line, and grab a cart. Why the hell didn't they just take the cart the shoved aside and save everyone some time?

Their brains are locked onto "carts = cart line" mode, and don't process the cart that was in their way as anything more than something that needed to be pushed out of the way.

[Nohbody]

Of course, let's not forget the s who, when done with a cart, just leave it any old where, no matter how near or far a cart corral may be, and don't even give a first thought (let alone a second) as to whether it may wind up rolling downhill and smacking into some other customer's car. And if one does do that, the employee gets bitched at because they weren't magically able to teleport themselves over to the cart and grab it before it hit.



("Cart wrangler" wasn't my designated job, but as a bagger I was often assigned the task. I know a little of the pain whereof wranglers speak.)

[Jay 2K Winger]

Of course, let's not forget the s who, when done with a cart, just leave it any old where, no matter how near or far a cart corral may be, and don't even give a first thought (let alone a second) as to whether it may wind up rolling downhill and smacking into some other customer's car. And if one does do that, the employee gets bitched at because they weren't magically able to teleport themselves over to the cart and grab it before it hit.



("Cart wrangler" wasn't my designated job, but as a bagger I was often assigned the task. I know a little of the pain whereof wranglers speak.)

Ah, yes. We occasionally get that at the wholesale club as well. Generally, though, it happens when there's a strong wind and it blows a loose cart out of the corral and it hits another customer's car.

We attempt to curtail the -ness by putting up signs saying more or less "<Wholesale club> is not responsible for damage done to cars by loose carts" even if the signs aren't worth the material they're printed on.

[Subspace_Relay]

Of course, let's not forget the s who, when done with a cart, just leave it any old where, no matter how near or far a cart corral may be, and don't even give a first thought (let alone a second) as to whether it may wind up rolling downhill and smacking into some other customer's car. And if one does do that, the employee gets bitched at because they weren't magically able to teleport themselves over to the cart and grab it before it hit.



("Cart wrangler" wasn't my designated job, but as a bagger I was often assigned the task. I know a little of the pain whereof wranglers speak.)

One sunday evening, there was a storm a-brewing. I had the Store Manager (also the MOD at the time) send me some help (ended up being two sales floor guys and the security guard). The wind was blowing pretty fierce and the security guard twice sprinted down carts that the wind was moving like a damned missile.

Apparently, they were both headed straight for his car.