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I've worked at my job for nearly a year now, and I have, I am proud to say, only lost it in front of a customer once. Here is her story.
She seemed pretty pleasant at first, not like those SCs where they come in and the moment you see them you know they're gonna be trouble. She came in wanting an expensive pattern book from a big name (in the knitting world, anyway) designer. Now, these books aren't cheap, and usually I tend to steer people away from them, because the sticker shock can drive customers right out of the store, but this lady knew what she wanted and went for it. I should have seen trouble coming when I went over to check on her and she held up the book and asked me to photocopy a pattern for her. Obviously, I can't do that (DUH!). Does she walk into music stores and ask the staff to burn tracks from CDs onto her MP3 player?
Actually, she probably does.
Anyway, I was very polite and told her that I couldn't photocopy the pattern for her. She decided to buy the book. She also picked out some yarn for the project in the book that she wanted to do. We brought it all up to the register, and I rang her up. At the end, I gave her the total, she paid, and left. I thought nothing else of it.
Until the phone call, which I will reproduce as best I remember.
PL = Photocopy Lady (or possibly Psycho Lady)
Me = The star of the show!
PL: Hi, I wanted to call you to tell you I'm coming back in to return that book I bought. I got home and looked at the recipt, and it's too expensive!
Me: I'm sorry, ma'am. As it says on our recipt, we can't accept returns on books or patterns.
PL: But I just bought it! You know I haven't used it!
Me: I do, but that's just store policy. If you want, I can take your name and number down and leave a note for my boss. She can accept the return, but I can't.
PL: Well I'm a regular customer and I've just spent a lot of money over there! You should accept this return!
(Please note that she spent less than $100 in a store where I, at least once a day, see people come in and plunk down $200 or more without batting an eye. Also please note that I had NEVER seen this woman before, so she wasn't -that- regular of a customer.)
Me: I wish I could, but it's against the rules. If my boss found out, she could fire me.
PL: But I haven't even used it! And I already HAVE the pattern I wanted out of this book, in another book! You know, this company shouldn't recycle its patterns like this when the books are so expensive!
Me: Ma'am, you are asking me to risk my job for you. Can you understand why I won't do that? I'm happy to take down your name and number --
PL: (At this point, her voice is quavering like she's about to cry.) No, don't bother. Just... I'm going to bring all of this yarn I bought back and return it. Since you won't serve a regular, wonderful customer, I'm Never Shopping There Again.
Me: I'm sorry you feel that way, ma'am, but I'll be happy to accept the return of the yarn.
PL: I just don't understand why you won't serve a regular customer. You know I haven't used the book, you're so mean....
At this point, with no other weapons in her arsenal, the SC just started going on and on and on, basically covering the same two or three points ad nauseum in this quavering, sniffly voice. She wouldn't even let me talk anymore, just kept hammering on how mean I was for not letting her just bring the book back. I listened for over five minutes, inserting apologies where I could, but holding my ground that I couldn't take the book back, getting madder and madder, and finally I realized that if I opened my mouth again, I was going to say something I'd regret, so I just hung up. She called back and left a snarky message about how I was very unprofessional and rude for hanging up on her. Lady, let's you and me have a talk about pots, kettles, and black.
But wait, the story gets better.
The lady eventually was allowed to return the book on the condition that she showed us the book she already had with the pattern in it. (The person who allowed this is a sucky co-worker who deserves a rant all in her own right. Given the number of favors I did for her, she should have had my back on this one. She also quit with all of a week's notice right before the holiday rush when we were already short staffed.) She, of course, turned up without her copy of the pattern, saying that it was with her knitting bag which her grandson had, or something of that nature. But I really, REALLY didn't want to get into it again with her, so I just took the damn return.
A couple of weeks later, she turns up again, and wants to use the book because she needs to do the next step on her project. (Her grandson still had the pattern, apparantly.) Yes, folks. Having not gotten the pattern for free via illegal photocopy, she simply got it for free by copying it step by step. She did this several times over the next couple of weeks, coming in every time she got to a new step in the pattern and copying the next step from the book, until eventually she came in and the pattern book had been sold. I suggested that she get "her copy" from her grandson. She left, very distraught, wondering aloud how she was going to finish the pattern now! (Gee, can't she use "her copy"?)
She hasn't been back, thank god.
She seemed pretty pleasant at first, not like those SCs where they come in and the moment you see them you know they're gonna be trouble. She came in wanting an expensive pattern book from a big name (in the knitting world, anyway) designer. Now, these books aren't cheap, and usually I tend to steer people away from them, because the sticker shock can drive customers right out of the store, but this lady knew what she wanted and went for it. I should have seen trouble coming when I went over to check on her and she held up the book and asked me to photocopy a pattern for her. Obviously, I can't do that (DUH!). Does she walk into music stores and ask the staff to burn tracks from CDs onto her MP3 player?
Actually, she probably does.
Anyway, I was very polite and told her that I couldn't photocopy the pattern for her. She decided to buy the book. She also picked out some yarn for the project in the book that she wanted to do. We brought it all up to the register, and I rang her up. At the end, I gave her the total, she paid, and left. I thought nothing else of it.
Until the phone call, which I will reproduce as best I remember.
PL = Photocopy Lady (or possibly Psycho Lady)
Me = The star of the show!
PL: Hi, I wanted to call you to tell you I'm coming back in to return that book I bought. I got home and looked at the recipt, and it's too expensive!
Me: I'm sorry, ma'am. As it says on our recipt, we can't accept returns on books or patterns.
PL: But I just bought it! You know I haven't used it!
Me: I do, but that's just store policy. If you want, I can take your name and number down and leave a note for my boss. She can accept the return, but I can't.
PL: Well I'm a regular customer and I've just spent a lot of money over there! You should accept this return!
(Please note that she spent less than $100 in a store where I, at least once a day, see people come in and plunk down $200 or more without batting an eye. Also please note that I had NEVER seen this woman before, so she wasn't -that- regular of a customer.)
Me: I wish I could, but it's against the rules. If my boss found out, she could fire me.
PL: But I haven't even used it! And I already HAVE the pattern I wanted out of this book, in another book! You know, this company shouldn't recycle its patterns like this when the books are so expensive!
Me: Ma'am, you are asking me to risk my job for you. Can you understand why I won't do that? I'm happy to take down your name and number --
PL: (At this point, her voice is quavering like she's about to cry.) No, don't bother. Just... I'm going to bring all of this yarn I bought back and return it. Since you won't serve a regular, wonderful customer, I'm Never Shopping There Again.
Me: I'm sorry you feel that way, ma'am, but I'll be happy to accept the return of the yarn.
PL: I just don't understand why you won't serve a regular customer. You know I haven't used the book, you're so mean....
At this point, with no other weapons in her arsenal, the SC just started going on and on and on, basically covering the same two or three points ad nauseum in this quavering, sniffly voice. She wouldn't even let me talk anymore, just kept hammering on how mean I was for not letting her just bring the book back. I listened for over five minutes, inserting apologies where I could, but holding my ground that I couldn't take the book back, getting madder and madder, and finally I realized that if I opened my mouth again, I was going to say something I'd regret, so I just hung up. She called back and left a snarky message about how I was very unprofessional and rude for hanging up on her. Lady, let's you and me have a talk about pots, kettles, and black.
But wait, the story gets better.
The lady eventually was allowed to return the book on the condition that she showed us the book she already had with the pattern in it. (The person who allowed this is a sucky co-worker who deserves a rant all in her own right. Given the number of favors I did for her, she should have had my back on this one. She also quit with all of a week's notice right before the holiday rush when we were already short staffed.) She, of course, turned up without her copy of the pattern, saying that it was with her knitting bag which her grandson had, or something of that nature. But I really, REALLY didn't want to get into it again with her, so I just took the damn return.
A couple of weeks later, she turns up again, and wants to use the book because she needs to do the next step on her project. (Her grandson still had the pattern, apparantly.) Yes, folks. Having not gotten the pattern for free via illegal photocopy, she simply got it for free by copying it step by step. She did this several times over the next couple of weeks, coming in every time she got to a new step in the pattern and copying the next step from the book, until eventually she came in and the pattern book had been sold. I suggested that she get "her copy" from her grandson. She left, very distraught, wondering aloud how she was going to finish the pattern now! (Gee, can't she use "her copy"?)
She hasn't been back, thank god.
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