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Some are recent, some are from the Holidays that I haven't had time to write about.
The instructions are there for a reason
Customer comes in to pick up photos. They are not in the bins under the last name. Photos are not in the "new" bin that hasn't been checked in as "ready" nor alphabetized (sp?) yet.
I ask for customer's phone number hoping to get more clues from our system where the photos could be (ie, enlargements are in a differnet location, etc).
"But we didn't give this when we sent our order!"
*sigh*
Condensed version of the ensuing conversation - it is determined that SC put digital photos into one of the counter kiosks and ignored the last screen or the voice talking to them (on the one kiosk) telling them to bring the printed reciept to an associate. SC gets huffy when we tell them that the order was not printed because we canNOT print one without that information (we have to access the order through the network - and without knowing about the order, we don't know to do it!). The best is when they claim that "you knew I didn't know how to use this!" Then it's a good idea to read the instructions, isn't it?
This once happend three times in less than half an hour. We do not have time to babysit you people! If you need help or have a question, ask us - do not assume.
I want what I want and I want it now
With the slower buisness, hours have been cut. This means that the majority of the day the person in the lab is by themselves. Sometimes the owner might be in, but he's usually doing other things - and rarely waits on customers. Today, among a printer that was freaking out for no reason (I seriously wanted to take a baseball bat to it) and 10 other things happen all at once that usually only occur separately once a week or once a month or so, being the only person in the store was very stressfull.
Most customers could see that. One in particular could not. She wanted her photos in an hour. We are not an one hour store. I told her it was very unlikely, to which she whined at me that one hour is more convenient, can't I try? Well, yes I could, but no guarantees, seeing as I was the only person there and I had no idea how many customers would be in.
"Oh, that won't be a problem, it's cold out!"
The *duh* moment? She walked in the SAME time as three other customers!
The photos were not close to ready in an hour - but I had warned her, and she did at least call rather than just coming in.
Too stupid to buy film
Apparently a week ago, a customer bought film. Oooh, stop the presses, right?
I was lucky enough to answer the phone a few days ago when she called complaining about it. What was wrong? It was expired, but was told since it is B&W film that it would be fine. "Yes, that is true." (Knowing it was hardly out of expiration anyway, which means even color film would be ok.) Well, it's defective - there's no leader for me to load it in the camera.
Me - Is it oval shaped?
SC - Yes
Me - Do you have an Advantix or APS camera?
SC - I don't know what is that? Why does that matter! This film is defective!
Me - That is a different type of film for a different type of camera.
SC - How was I supposed to know that? (Boy, does that sound familiar from the first story in this post?)
Me - It does say that on the package. (And I'm sure that was mentioned when you bought it.)
SC - Well I've never heard of this, I can't use it!
Me - The cameras have been out for at least 10 years, and I'm sorry but we don't return film. Maybe a friend of yours can use it.
SC gets huffy and whatever. I don't care at this point.
She came in yesterday (FTR, this is a young-middle aged woman. Not an elderly person who isn't quite sure about this or that new thing and asks instead - which I love teaching them.) She apparently spoke to the manager "who set aside film for her." I call him since I can't find it and he tells me to get two rolls of the rack and just give them to her. She once again blames the salesperson who shouldn't have sold her that film in the first place.
Shall we recap? She sees *clearance* film and decides she can't pass up the deal. We are supposed to know what camera she has and therefore what film she uses. She does not notice the film looks totally different in packaging and such than 35mm film does. Calls and is told "Sorry, your problem." Calls BACK and complains to the manager (I'm sure I was "rude" because I didn't give her what she wanted) and gets replacment 35mm film - two rolls.
Those two rolls cost about $8.00 (single rolls are expensive!).
What did she spend on her one roll of expired APS film? $.99
Everything revolves around ME
Group of highschoolers in the other day for a photo. All I know is 1/2 were late, etc. (That's not my department to deal with.) Yesterday, a woman (one of the students' moms) comes in to look at and order the photos. She has no appointment. Remember how I said we're running on reduced staff? You NEED an appointment or there is no guarantee anyone can do that for you. Period. She was told this at the end of the photoshoot the night before. I heard it.
Photographer1 can't take her - he's on his way to a location shoot.
Photographer2 can't take her - she has an appointment coming in 5 minutes
I can't take her - I'm off the clock in 5 minutes.
She throws a fit. She needs these photos by Saturday. Hmmm, maybe you could've made an appointment yesterday when you were here? When would you like to come in? I offered her the next day (today) or the day after. Assure her that yes, photos can be done by then - it will be up to the manager as I (the primary retoucher) would not be able to do it, but he was the primary retoucher until I started there. But they will be ready if she orders by Thurs morning.
Appointment is made for today (Weds) at 11:30 - first available. When she wanted.
When she got here today, I was dealing with machine issues (see above again!) and nobody was in for the portrait studio yet. She bitches that "she shouldn't have to sit in the dark, can't I at least turn on the lights for her?" implying I was just sitting on my butt doing nothing. Ma'am, if you sat where I told you to (not at the photographer's desk), you would have had light.
Then she starts complaining that it has been made clear to her she had to be here at *that* time, where was the other person? He's coming from a location, but his schedule showed that he would be in the store at this time, he should be here soon. Well, it's inconvenient to her to have to wait and she NEEDS the photos for Saturday etc.......
Let's see - I made the appointment when SHE wanted, not when was "necessary" for the store (I wouldn't have made it so soon after a location shoot if she hadn't demmanded it). And I am not the photographer's mommy! I have no control over him being here or not - and if he's not here when the schedule shows he should be, I guaranteed there is a bloody good reason for it.
Luckily the manager arrives 5 min later, I tell him the problems with the machine are resolved for now, PLEASE go deal with this customer as she's already unreasonable. Note it is now the time her appointment was supposed to start. She was 10 minutes early and already had a chip on her shoulder.
Heaven forbid I drop everything and help her out this morning despite that 1) not being my job at this current time and 2) other customers being in the store. She was already pissed at me yesterday that she couldn't look at her photos then and order them - without an appointment, because of course she is just *so* important she didn't need one.
Oh yeah, she also complained she tried "all night" the night after the photo shoot to look at the photos online but they weren't up - yet when she came in yesterday, I had to write the password for her session down for her again. Huh. Maybe if you were trying that much to see 'em, you still had the password from when we gave it to you in the first place?
I think "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an Emergency on ours" can be applied in some form to any and all of these. They will never learn.
The instructions are there for a reason
Customer comes in to pick up photos. They are not in the bins under the last name. Photos are not in the "new" bin that hasn't been checked in as "ready" nor alphabetized (sp?) yet.
I ask for customer's phone number hoping to get more clues from our system where the photos could be (ie, enlargements are in a differnet location, etc).
"But we didn't give this when we sent our order!"
*sigh*
Condensed version of the ensuing conversation - it is determined that SC put digital photos into one of the counter kiosks and ignored the last screen or the voice talking to them (on the one kiosk) telling them to bring the printed reciept to an associate. SC gets huffy when we tell them that the order was not printed because we canNOT print one without that information (we have to access the order through the network - and without knowing about the order, we don't know to do it!). The best is when they claim that "you knew I didn't know how to use this!" Then it's a good idea to read the instructions, isn't it?
This once happend three times in less than half an hour. We do not have time to babysit you people! If you need help or have a question, ask us - do not assume.
I want what I want and I want it now
With the slower buisness, hours have been cut. This means that the majority of the day the person in the lab is by themselves. Sometimes the owner might be in, but he's usually doing other things - and rarely waits on customers. Today, among a printer that was freaking out for no reason (I seriously wanted to take a baseball bat to it) and 10 other things happen all at once that usually only occur separately once a week or once a month or so, being the only person in the store was very stressfull.
Most customers could see that. One in particular could not. She wanted her photos in an hour. We are not an one hour store. I told her it was very unlikely, to which she whined at me that one hour is more convenient, can't I try? Well, yes I could, but no guarantees, seeing as I was the only person there and I had no idea how many customers would be in.
"Oh, that won't be a problem, it's cold out!"
The *duh* moment? She walked in the SAME time as three other customers!
The photos were not close to ready in an hour - but I had warned her, and she did at least call rather than just coming in.
Too stupid to buy film
Apparently a week ago, a customer bought film. Oooh, stop the presses, right?
I was lucky enough to answer the phone a few days ago when she called complaining about it. What was wrong? It was expired, but was told since it is B&W film that it would be fine. "Yes, that is true." (Knowing it was hardly out of expiration anyway, which means even color film would be ok.) Well, it's defective - there's no leader for me to load it in the camera. Me - Is it oval shaped?
SC - Yes
Me - Do you have an Advantix or APS camera?
SC - I don't know what is that? Why does that matter! This film is defective!
Me - That is a different type of film for a different type of camera.
SC - How was I supposed to know that? (Boy, does that sound familiar from the first story in this post?)
Me - It does say that on the package. (And I'm sure that was mentioned when you bought it.)
SC - Well I've never heard of this, I can't use it!
Me - The cameras have been out for at least 10 years, and I'm sorry but we don't return film. Maybe a friend of yours can use it.
SC gets huffy and whatever. I don't care at this point.
She came in yesterday (FTR, this is a young-middle aged woman. Not an elderly person who isn't quite sure about this or that new thing and asks instead - which I love teaching them.) She apparently spoke to the manager "who set aside film for her." I call him since I can't find it and he tells me to get two rolls of the rack and just give them to her. She once again blames the salesperson who shouldn't have sold her that film in the first place.
Shall we recap? She sees *clearance* film and decides she can't pass up the deal. We are supposed to know what camera she has and therefore what film she uses. She does not notice the film looks totally different in packaging and such than 35mm film does. Calls and is told "Sorry, your problem." Calls BACK and complains to the manager (I'm sure I was "rude" because I didn't give her what she wanted) and gets replacment 35mm film - two rolls.
Those two rolls cost about $8.00 (single rolls are expensive!).
What did she spend on her one roll of expired APS film? $.99
Everything revolves around ME
Group of highschoolers in the other day for a photo. All I know is 1/2 were late, etc. (That's not my department to deal with.) Yesterday, a woman (one of the students' moms) comes in to look at and order the photos. She has no appointment. Remember how I said we're running on reduced staff? You NEED an appointment or there is no guarantee anyone can do that for you. Period. She was told this at the end of the photoshoot the night before. I heard it.
Photographer1 can't take her - he's on his way to a location shoot.
Photographer2 can't take her - she has an appointment coming in 5 minutes
I can't take her - I'm off the clock in 5 minutes.
She throws a fit. She needs these photos by Saturday. Hmmm, maybe you could've made an appointment yesterday when you were here? When would you like to come in? I offered her the next day (today) or the day after. Assure her that yes, photos can be done by then - it will be up to the manager as I (the primary retoucher) would not be able to do it, but he was the primary retoucher until I started there. But they will be ready if she orders by Thurs morning.
Appointment is made for today (Weds) at 11:30 - first available. When she wanted.
When she got here today, I was dealing with machine issues (see above again!) and nobody was in for the portrait studio yet. She bitches that "she shouldn't have to sit in the dark, can't I at least turn on the lights for her?" implying I was just sitting on my butt doing nothing. Ma'am, if you sat where I told you to (not at the photographer's desk), you would have had light.
Then she starts complaining that it has been made clear to her she had to be here at *that* time, where was the other person? He's coming from a location, but his schedule showed that he would be in the store at this time, he should be here soon. Well, it's inconvenient to her to have to wait and she NEEDS the photos for Saturday etc.......
Let's see - I made the appointment when SHE wanted, not when was "necessary" for the store (I wouldn't have made it so soon after a location shoot if she hadn't demmanded it). And I am not the photographer's mommy! I have no control over him being here or not - and if he's not here when the schedule shows he should be, I guaranteed there is a bloody good reason for it.
Luckily the manager arrives 5 min later, I tell him the problems with the machine are resolved for now, PLEASE go deal with this customer as she's already unreasonable. Note it is now the time her appointment was supposed to start. She was 10 minutes early and already had a chip on her shoulder.
Heaven forbid I drop everything and help her out this morning despite that 1) not being my job at this current time and 2) other customers being in the store. She was already pissed at me yesterday that she couldn't look at her photos then and order them - without an appointment, because of course she is just *so* important she didn't need one.
Oh yeah, she also complained she tried "all night" the night after the photo shoot to look at the photos online but they weren't up - yet when she came in yesterday, I had to write the password for her session down for her again. Huh. Maybe if you were trying that much to see 'em, you still had the password from when we gave it to you in the first place?
I think "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an Emergency on ours" can be applied in some form to any and all of these. They will never learn.
We get a LOT of people in our store...and only a few reps. This makes the wait time very long. It's not a secret that you (most times) have to wait upwards of 15-20 minutes to be helped. This does not stop the SCs from bitching at me because of it. (As if I have any control over it??) They scream and yell "Every time I come in here, I have to wait!!!" Ummmm..then you should be used to it by now. 
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