Wow....I'm SO glad I don't work copy center (long)

[Dave1982]

So, right after having to deal with the latest residual Jellicoism, I was in the copy center so I could ring up the same associate for a clearance chair that had been discovered buried in the back room. While I was doing that, two customers approached the counter. One was an old woman who was there to pick up an order, and the other was a guy with an ink question. I helped the guy with the ink, while the CPC associate helped the woman.

Now, while I was helping ink guy, the old woman seemed happy as a clam and very friendly, so when I came back with the cartridges the guy needed, imagine my surprise to find her FLIPPING THE FUCK OUT, HARDCORE on the poor CPC associate!!

I'm talking anything and everything under the sun, she was complaining about. She complained about:

-how long the order took to complete

-how many trips she'd "wasted" coming in here to get problems resolved (allegedly 5 trips)

-how "incompetent" and "lazy" the entire Copy Center is.

-how "incompetent" and "stupid" the CPC associate was PERSONALLY

-that if there was any other place in town that offered our services, she'd be going there in a heartbeat.

-alleged typos that were left in the job (which would be the customer's fault, since we only print what they give us; it's not our job to proofread for them).

-how we failed to follow her "clear and precise written instructions" I didn't see said instructions, but I somehow doubt they were "clear and precise"

-how "profoundly disappointed" she was in our store in general, and the CPC associate in particular

-how "ridiculous" the whole situation was, considering how "simple" the job was (it was, of course, anything but simple)

-how long it was taking, when she was promised "a day" by the associate she was talking with (who said she's made no such promise)

-how long it was taking

-and....how long it was taking ("five days! FIVE DAYS!!!!!")

I'm sure there was more, but I was just so shocked that I wasn't able to take it all in. Plus, I had no idea what she was going on about, so it was tough to follow.

And no, I didn't just stand there staring while my colleague was being berated and personally attacked by a raging SC. However, not being a CPC associate myself, there was little I could do myself. So I quickly paged the MOD over to CPC so he could back her up.

Focker arrived (I intercepted him partway up and gave him a quick briefing on the situation). He and CPC Associate did their best to try and explain the situation, but the SC just threw EVERYTHING they said back in their faces, labeling their points variously as "excuses" or just "ridiculous, unacceptable, and wrong."

Since by this time I'd finished with my own customer, I beat a hasty retreat, but I am NOT kidding when I say this woman kept going for more than TEN FULL MINUTES!!!!

So just what the hell was up her ass?

Well, I'm not 100% certain, but from what I understand, the CPC Specialist agreed to take in an order that this woman placed to have some sort of booklet made. Normally this isn't a problem, though complex jobs like booklets take a couple days at least, since not only to they have to be formatted to print right, but they also need physical assembly, and in our CPC that's largely a manual process, depending on what type of binding they want.

However, the CPC specialist apparently also agreed to do most of the DESIGN work for the customer as well. Now this is where things get a little fuzzy. I know we do offer some LIMITED design services (in particular for business cards) but by and large, Copy and Print...well....copies and prints. It's not a design center. I'm not sure where the line is drawn, but it seems that it falls well short of designing an entire booklet for a customer. And yet, the CPC Specialist took the job in anyway.

But then again, this is the same CPC Specialist who once intentionally let an order walk out the door without being paid for, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.

Oh, and the CPC Associate who was being belittled about this? She wasn't even in the last couple days and had little to nothing to do with this particular order, so the personal insults were all the more unjustified.

Still, she managed to keep her cool the whole time, until the SC finally left, whereupon she ran to the break room in tears, then back up to The Don's office where she spent a good fifteen minutes venting and complaining about the lack of communication and cooperation in the copy center (which is absolutely true. It's not something I really worry about, since CPC is kind of an entity unto itself, but there is quite a lot of in-fighting between the associates in that department, and I think all of them are to blame, since none of them ever owns up to problems).

This all made for quite a high-octane start to my shift. And thank my lucky stars I don't work CPC.

[jjllbb]

All that inter-department drama is so annoying. In the last place I worked any area where the employees were commissioned was hell on earth. Once I saw two employees too busy screaming at each other over who stole whose customer that they didn't even notice that same customer get up and leave.

[Dave1982]

Well, they aren't on commission here; none of us are. They just don't seem to back each other up.

[Dave1982]

So, in a rather surprising twist, it turns out this SC is actually bi-polar, and just had a medication change. Apparently she went to see her psychologist a day or two after this happened, and her psychologist said "You said WHAT??? You need to go back in there and apologize!" and she actually did. Not only that, but now she's "extremely happy" with the order and just doubled it.

But despite this, there is still a LOT of infighting going on in that department. Jackass seemed perfectly content to lay the blame entirely on New Associate's doorstep, while she was content to blame everyone else. Amanda didn't want to accept any part of the blame, nor did the CPC Specialist. At this point, I still have no clue what really happened with this customer's order, nor do I especially care.

But since Focker - as the new Operations Manager - is now responsible for overseeing the copy center, I think he needs to step in there and tell the CPC Specialist that he needs to RUN his department, and not let the department run itself, because that clearly is not working. And everyone over there needs to start cooperating and helping either other out, rather than playing a non-stop game of hot potato in an effort to do as little work as possible.

[LillFilly]

I don't think it's right that the SC was allowed to go off like that for so long without being escorted out of the store for the abuse she was hurling at your coworkers and management. I guess she is not all to blame due to the medication, and the fact that she apologized is great, but it just should not have gone that far in my opinion; for your coworker's sake.

I was surprised that copy specialist is still there!

[Dave1982]

I don't think it's right that the SC was allowed to go off like that for so long without being escorted out of the store for the abuse she was hurling at your coworkers and management.

Neither do I. The problem is that our corporate offices are ESPECIALLY spineless on this issue and will bring the hot hammers of hell down on anyone who has the cajones to actually kick out a "customer." About the only acceptable reasons we have for it are 1) if we witness them stealing, 2) they become violent (either towards the staff or if they start intentionally breaking stuff).

I actually had a manager tell me once that they can be as verbally abusive as they want, and corporate STILL won't take our side if we kick them out.