Tweet
Wherein an SC makes Lupo cry at work...(lengthy)
and the day started so well, too! I was in a reasonably good mood, on a roll at work, despite all the pain from hauling books and doing returns. Then HE showed up. He, being a black gentleman (sadly, yes, race is relevant...) He approaches the counter, and tells me he wants to sell some books.
Alarm bells, because I recognize him. He's on our special list, that watch list we keep of names of people we're 99.9999% sure are textbook thieves that come in rather frequently and try to sell back books in small increments, and manage to get away with hundreds of dollars at a time, usually. Anyways, I'm all prepared to shut him down, because I've seen him in action in our store before, he always claims his wallet was stolen, and he doesn't have a picture ID. No state issued, valid picture ID (or school ID from either Big State U or Small Private U) and no buyback allowed. Should be sufficient background. On to the suck.
Him: I'd like to sell some books back.
Me: All right, sir, I just need to see a state ID or school ID please.
Him: Oh, my wallet was just stolen.
Me: (Thinking: Gee, really? How many times has that been now??) Oh, well, I'm sorry, sir, but without a valid state ID in hand, I can't do anything for you.
Him: I can show you a copy! <Hands me a piece of paper with all of his IDs, school, state, SS card and veteran's card all photocopied. This is a no-no. We need the ACTUAL ID. Company policy.)
Me: I'm sorry, sir, but I can't accept a photocopy. I need the actual ID in hand.
Him: Why not? The picture is crystal clear. You can take it.
Me: No, sir, I can't.
Him: Why not?
Me: Company policy. I'm not allowed. I have to have the actual ID card in hand.
Him: But my wallet was stolen!!
Me: (That happens to you quite a lot...) <Repeats apology and states company policy again. >
Him: Fine, I'll show you my school ID! Here! <Thrusts the ID at me. Two problems here: 1. It's from local community college, a school we don't serve and 2. It's the exact same damn ID he claims was stolen with his wallet, that is photocopied on that piece of paper!>
Me: I'm sorry, sir, we can only accept BSU or SPU school IDs.
Him: Why?!
Me: Because those are the stores we carry the class books for. As such, our computer system is set up to only accept those two forms of ID numbers.
Him: Then just run my ID as one of theirs!
Me: I can't DO that, sir, I'm sorry.
Him: <sneering at this point> Oh, that's right, because it's company policy. Fine, show me this policy!
Me: <Suppressing a sigh> Sorry, but it's not readily written, I can go get my manager, if you'd like and--
Him: You're not getting away that easy! I want you to explain to me why you're not accepting the reasonable IDs I'm offering! If not, then you WILL buy back my books! Now!
Me: I can't do that sir! End of story. My hands are tied!
Him: I see. If I were WHITE would this be the case?!
Me:
WHAT?!?!
Him: If I were a little pasty bitch like you, would that get me able to sell books.
Me: I'm getting my manager. <I start walking away>
Him: You stay RIGHT HERE and buy my books back!
Me: I can't! Even if I were able to - and since you've all but called me a racist I'm even less inclined to - I'd need a manager's override regardless to get into the system to do so!
I head back to my textbook managers office, because he and the new store manager are back there talking and covering what TM needs to know since SM has the next day and a half off since she's opening and closing for the weekend. I explain the guy's on our list, and the wallet being stolen scam, and SM tells me no before I can even finish explaining. I tell her she needs to go out and tell him, and finish explaining what happened. She walked out and was UNhappy to find out I'd essentially been called a racist. He meets us in the middle of the aisle and immediately goes on the offensive.
Him: Your employee is rude, insulting, and too unintelligent to handle something as simple as buying back my books!
SM: Sir, the company is cracking down on the policy, and we are not allowed any exceptions. At all.
Him: Oh yeah, why can't you take my school ID then, huh? I've sold books back here before!
SM: And if an employee has broken that policy, they will have to be spoken with, but the fact remains we can't do anything for you.
Him: This is ridiculous! SHE <points at me> has no respect for a black man! You let racist people work for you!?
Me: <Through clenched teeth>I. Am. NOT. Racist!!
Him: <Talks over me and cuts SM off before she can say anything> She's disrespectful not only to a black man, but to a veteran! There's no respect for what I've done for this country.
Ok. Game Over. No more polite, professional, nice Lupo. I am PISSED. I walk over and look him right in the eye, even though SM is telling me to go to the break room, and she'll handle this.
Me: No respect for a veteran? My grandfather, staff sergeant retired <Name redacted for privacy reasons> served in the military for decades, and has been to more places than I can remember, and through more hell than I can remember. He served our country and I was proud of him until the day he died, and still am. Don't you DARE try to wave that in my face and smear his good name as a veteran just because I'm not willing to break the rules for you!
Aaaand, I burst into tears. SM shuffles me off to the back room, and I sit down and cry, he had me so pissed off. I mean, ok, this is probably due to a couple of things, the fact that I'm cranky and hormonal right now because it's that time of the month (sorry to any guys reading this...), and probably because it's coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my grandfather's death.
Usually, I'm better about dealing with the fucktards that come into my store on a regular basis, but between being hormonally off, I'm stressed, sore, and tired and I guess it got to me. SM finally got him out of the store, and came back to check on me, by which point I was thoroughly embarrassed by what happened. Now Im all headachey and I feel blagh, and want to crawl into bed and give the world a nice little one fingered salute. I called mom, told her what happened, the gist of it anyways, but left out the veteran bit because it's still hard for her to think or talk about grandpa, and didn't want to upset her.
<Sigh> Ok, done rambling now. Taking something for the headache, and going to ignore the world for a few hours now, I think.
Alarm bells, because I recognize him. He's on our special list, that watch list we keep of names of people we're 99.9999% sure are textbook thieves that come in rather frequently and try to sell back books in small increments, and manage to get away with hundreds of dollars at a time, usually. Anyways, I'm all prepared to shut him down, because I've seen him in action in our store before, he always claims his wallet was stolen, and he doesn't have a picture ID. No state issued, valid picture ID (or school ID from either Big State U or Small Private U) and no buyback allowed. Should be sufficient background. On to the suck.
Him: I'd like to sell some books back.
Me: All right, sir, I just need to see a state ID or school ID please.
Him: Oh, my wallet was just stolen.
Me: (Thinking: Gee, really? How many times has that been now??) Oh, well, I'm sorry, sir, but without a valid state ID in hand, I can't do anything for you.
Him: I can show you a copy! <Hands me a piece of paper with all of his IDs, school, state, SS card and veteran's card all photocopied. This is a no-no. We need the ACTUAL ID. Company policy.)
Me: I'm sorry, sir, but I can't accept a photocopy. I need the actual ID in hand.
Him: Why not? The picture is crystal clear. You can take it.
Me: No, sir, I can't.
Him: Why not?
Me: Company policy. I'm not allowed. I have to have the actual ID card in hand.
Him: But my wallet was stolen!!
Me: (That happens to you quite a lot...) <Repeats apology and states company policy again. >
Him: Fine, I'll show you my school ID! Here! <Thrusts the ID at me. Two problems here: 1. It's from local community college, a school we don't serve and 2. It's the exact same damn ID he claims was stolen with his wallet, that is photocopied on that piece of paper!>
Me: I'm sorry, sir, we can only accept BSU or SPU school IDs.
Him: Why?!
Me: Because those are the stores we carry the class books for. As such, our computer system is set up to only accept those two forms of ID numbers.
Him: Then just run my ID as one of theirs!
Me: I can't DO that, sir, I'm sorry.
Him: <sneering at this point> Oh, that's right, because it's company policy. Fine, show me this policy!
Me: <Suppressing a sigh> Sorry, but it's not readily written, I can go get my manager, if you'd like and--
Him: You're not getting away that easy! I want you to explain to me why you're not accepting the reasonable IDs I'm offering! If not, then you WILL buy back my books! Now!
Me: I can't do that sir! End of story. My hands are tied!
Him: I see. If I were WHITE would this be the case?!
Me:
WHAT?!?!Him: If I were a little pasty bitch like you, would that get me able to sell books.
Me: I'm getting my manager. <I start walking away>
Him: You stay RIGHT HERE and buy my books back!
Me: I can't! Even if I were able to - and since you've all but called me a racist I'm even less inclined to - I'd need a manager's override regardless to get into the system to do so!
I head back to my textbook managers office, because he and the new store manager are back there talking and covering what TM needs to know since SM has the next day and a half off since she's opening and closing for the weekend. I explain the guy's on our list, and the wallet being stolen scam, and SM tells me no before I can even finish explaining. I tell her she needs to go out and tell him, and finish explaining what happened. She walked out and was UNhappy to find out I'd essentially been called a racist. He meets us in the middle of the aisle and immediately goes on the offensive.
Him: Your employee is rude, insulting, and too unintelligent to handle something as simple as buying back my books!
SM: Sir, the company is cracking down on the policy, and we are not allowed any exceptions. At all.
Him: Oh yeah, why can't you take my school ID then, huh? I've sold books back here before!
SM: And if an employee has broken that policy, they will have to be spoken with, but the fact remains we can't do anything for you.
Him: This is ridiculous! SHE <points at me> has no respect for a black man! You let racist people work for you!?
Me: <Through clenched teeth>I. Am. NOT. Racist!!
Him: <Talks over me and cuts SM off before she can say anything> She's disrespectful not only to a black man, but to a veteran! There's no respect for what I've done for this country.
Ok. Game Over. No more polite, professional, nice Lupo. I am PISSED. I walk over and look him right in the eye, even though SM is telling me to go to the break room, and she'll handle this.
Me: No respect for a veteran? My grandfather, staff sergeant retired <Name redacted for privacy reasons> served in the military for decades, and has been to more places than I can remember, and through more hell than I can remember. He served our country and I was proud of him until the day he died, and still am. Don't you DARE try to wave that in my face and smear his good name as a veteran just because I'm not willing to break the rules for you!
Aaaand, I burst into tears. SM shuffles me off to the back room, and I sit down and cry, he had me so pissed off. I mean, ok, this is probably due to a couple of things, the fact that I'm cranky and hormonal right now because it's that time of the month (sorry to any guys reading this...), and probably because it's coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my grandfather's death.
Usually, I'm better about dealing with the fucktards that come into my store on a regular basis, but between being hormonally off, I'm stressed, sore, and tired and I guess it got to me. SM finally got him out of the store, and came back to check on me, by which point I was thoroughly embarrassed by what happened. Now Im all headachey and I feel blagh, and want to crawl into bed and give the world a nice little one fingered salute. I called mom, told her what happened, the gist of it anyways, but left out the veteran bit because it's still hard for her to think or talk about grandpa, and didn't want to upset her.
<Sigh> Ok, done rambling now. Taking something for the headache, and going to ignore the world for a few hours now, I think.
s and cookies* Good. Night. That sounds horrible. I'm sorry you had to deal with that degree of asshattery all from the same person.
).
Comment