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Sigh.
Today was tiring. First because the managers didn't listen to Hoss and I's suggestions about the best way to use the people we had tonight (distribution of work responsibilities and such), which resulted in people swapping off the FDLP position throughout the night. (Instead of having me stationed at the door for the entire evening, TC behind the desk, and Hoss running interference on the front line, like we suggested.)
As we were getting ready to close up, this woman came in, upset and unwilling to listen to us for more than ten seconds. Admittedly, part of this was because the manager who ended up trying to help her was JA, whom I've written about before. SC was at the service desk, while I was on register, so I'm fuzzy on some of the details, but here's what I was able to figure out.
SC had purchased this cartload of items either earlier in the evening, or the day before. There was some problem with the check she'd written, the funds weren't there or some such. As soon as SC realized this, she came back to try to pay for the purchase with her bank card (different account, with the funds there) to avoid any problems. Alas, she was too late to avoid some snags, as the check had already been sent to home office to be processed.
Here was where things started to go south. My overworked CW CC was manning the desk when SC came up, and thus CC was in mid-transaction with SC when things stalled. This locked up CC completely from doing anything else with her register. When CC calls for a manager, JA is the one who answered, and unfortunately, he does not have the best people skills and does not always know the right procedure for front-line issues, this being one of them.
JA tries to explain to SC that we cannot give her back the original check she wrote, and the only way to get the original order paid for completely is with a certified check. SC apparently takes this to mean that we want to refund her order and re-ring her out, and rants about how she doesn't want to do this, she just wants to settle the payment to avoid an overdraft fee. When it is made clear that we don't have to refund anything, she latches onto the "certified check" part and insists, she wants this resolved TONIGHT.
SC, it seems, thought that she would have to go to her bank to get such a check, and this being close to 10pm at night, her bank (which is in Manassas, at least an hour's round trip) would be closed. And she would not let us finish explaining that she can get a certified check from Wally World, next door. (Or so CC told me.)
Meanwhile, JA had been on the phone with LPM EC (who had already gone home for the day) to try to figure out what to do, since MOD MS wasn't responding to JA's calls for assistance. SC is yelling at CC, at JA, and then at EC over the phone. TC, who had even TOLD JA WHAT TO DO, flatly refused to help out further. (Her rationale? "JA doesn't listen, I'm not going to help.") When she relented and tried to explain our suggestion to SC, she got yelled at as well, so she walked away.
Finally, after a final attempt to get through to SC on the subject of "certified checks," SC knocked over the phone, grabbed her stuff, and stormed out of the store, cursing all the way. The issue was not resolved.
Now, there was suck on many parts here. First, SC was clearly being sucky, yelling and ranting and cursing, and refusing to listen.
Secondly, TC and MOD MS were both in the wrong in not trying to help out. TC gets some credit for finally coming to aid, even if it went nowhere. But MS was in the wrong in not answering JA's pages. I think MS might have looked at it as "I'm tired of putting out the fires that JA starts," but as a result of this problem, CC's register was stuck, and she was unable to perform any other transactions. (Fortunately, there was nothing else for her to do-- no last-minute returns, no quick check-outs that I or my other CW couldn't handle.)
I'll talk to the service desk tomorrow to see if SC comes back in to try to resolve the issue again. If she does, let's hope she's more patient this time. (Though I'm not holding my breath there.)
Today was tiring. First because the managers didn't listen to Hoss and I's suggestions about the best way to use the people we had tonight (distribution of work responsibilities and such), which resulted in people swapping off the FDLP position throughout the night. (Instead of having me stationed at the door for the entire evening, TC behind the desk, and Hoss running interference on the front line, like we suggested.)
As we were getting ready to close up, this woman came in, upset and unwilling to listen to us for more than ten seconds. Admittedly, part of this was because the manager who ended up trying to help her was JA, whom I've written about before. SC was at the service desk, while I was on register, so I'm fuzzy on some of the details, but here's what I was able to figure out.
SC had purchased this cartload of items either earlier in the evening, or the day before. There was some problem with the check she'd written, the funds weren't there or some such. As soon as SC realized this, she came back to try to pay for the purchase with her bank card (different account, with the funds there) to avoid any problems. Alas, she was too late to avoid some snags, as the check had already been sent to home office to be processed.
Here was where things started to go south. My overworked CW CC was manning the desk when SC came up, and thus CC was in mid-transaction with SC when things stalled. This locked up CC completely from doing anything else with her register. When CC calls for a manager, JA is the one who answered, and unfortunately, he does not have the best people skills and does not always know the right procedure for front-line issues, this being one of them.
JA tries to explain to SC that we cannot give her back the original check she wrote, and the only way to get the original order paid for completely is with a certified check. SC apparently takes this to mean that we want to refund her order and re-ring her out, and rants about how she doesn't want to do this, she just wants to settle the payment to avoid an overdraft fee. When it is made clear that we don't have to refund anything, she latches onto the "certified check" part and insists, she wants this resolved TONIGHT.
SC, it seems, thought that she would have to go to her bank to get such a check, and this being close to 10pm at night, her bank (which is in Manassas, at least an hour's round trip) would be closed. And she would not let us finish explaining that she can get a certified check from Wally World, next door. (Or so CC told me.)
Meanwhile, JA had been on the phone with LPM EC (who had already gone home for the day) to try to figure out what to do, since MOD MS wasn't responding to JA's calls for assistance. SC is yelling at CC, at JA, and then at EC over the phone. TC, who had even TOLD JA WHAT TO DO, flatly refused to help out further. (Her rationale? "JA doesn't listen, I'm not going to help.") When she relented and tried to explain our suggestion to SC, she got yelled at as well, so she walked away.
Finally, after a final attempt to get through to SC on the subject of "certified checks," SC knocked over the phone, grabbed her stuff, and stormed out of the store, cursing all the way. The issue was not resolved.
Now, there was suck on many parts here. First, SC was clearly being sucky, yelling and ranting and cursing, and refusing to listen.
Secondly, TC and MOD MS were both in the wrong in not trying to help out. TC gets some credit for finally coming to aid, even if it went nowhere. But MS was in the wrong in not answering JA's pages. I think MS might have looked at it as "I'm tired of putting out the fires that JA starts," but as a result of this problem, CC's register was stuck, and she was unable to perform any other transactions. (Fortunately, there was nothing else for her to do-- no last-minute returns, no quick check-outs that I or my other CW couldn't handle.)
I'll talk to the service desk tomorrow to see if SC comes back in to try to resolve the issue again. If she does, let's hope she's more patient this time. (Though I'm not holding my breath there.)