My very first customer

[thehuckster]

All, I'd like to begin, appropriately enough, with the very first customer I ever had. On my first day at CVS the supervisor began training me on the registers. It was Saturday afternoon at the mall, which is typically the slowest time of the week. We open a half-hour before the rest of the stores to serve some of the other tenants, and as such besides the occasional mall-walker, we usually get nobody for the first hour or so.

It was, therefore, the perfect time to train me... or so she thought. In comes my first customer. I was anxiously awaiting as he approached the counter, thinking, "How hard can this be? Scan his products, put them in the bag, take his money, give him his change, wish him a nice day. Piece of cake, right?"

He comes up to me, takes a handful of change and drops it 6 inches from the counter, and after the sound of the coins hitting the counter ends, he bows to me and says, "Thank you!"

Needless to say, I lacked any comprehension of what was going on. As I stared at him blankly, with nothing more than a "Uuuh... what?" coming out of my mouth the supervisor who was stocking the items behind the counter turned around and said, "Oh, that's Justin. Don't mind him, he comes in here all the time. When he shows up, you just get him a box of Marlboro 100s."

She hands me the box, I scan it, then proceed to count the mess of change he left on the counter. As soon as I put the box on the counter, he takes it and leaves, and I automatically shout, "Hey!" The supervisor reassured me, saying, "Oh, don't worry, he always brings enough money."

It was at that point I realized... Hmm, if my first customer was going to be like that, what are the rest of the customers like? Within a month, I would have had a taste of every sucky customer archetype at least once.

[emax4]

I guess it's time to set an example! Simply hold the box, and explain that you need to be sure that you have enough money before handing over his product. When you've counted the change and ensured that it's enough, then hand him his cigarettes. Even better, simply count the change before even grabbing the cigarettes behind you.

If he gives you any lip, just say, "sir, I want to do a good job and not lose it. I'm doing what I can to make that possible." He will either start shopping elsewhere for cigarettes (no more change on the counter) or make sure he has dollar bills the next time he comes by.

[slavetotheman]

Ah yes, the ol' I'm a regular so you simply must know me and what I always get routine.

Seriously, if he "comes in here all the time" like your sup said, you'd think he'd also know who the people are who work there, and recognize a new face when he sees one. Sadly, as you've no doubt come to realize, these jagoffs are oblivious to everything but their instant gratification.

In other news,

[BigBox Slave]

LOL I gotta disagree fellow slave, with the whole bow and thank you part my first guess would be someone who's mental faculties are somewhat reduced (not that most of the customers retail folks see aren't but i mean it in the medical sense, not the "hit the every branch of the stupid tree" sense). I'm up in Alaska (highest fetal alcohol syndrome state per capita in the nation and I've heard it's not just per capita but in # of cases too, which is disturbing if it's true) and see a good number of folks that behave in odd ways and do things a certain way every time because they dont know any other way of doing it.

Now the folks you describe, I tend to go out of my way to foul up their process on purpose, the whole time being a model employee, following policies to the letter and whatnot.

[IamRed]

I get this sort of thing all the time as I can only take cash at work. I got one guy just yesterday who attempted to pay for a 80p chocolate bar in pennies and then threw a fit when i refused the sale as its the law not to take more than 20p in pennies in any single transaction (plus i didn't want to deal with that many pennies).

[thehuckster]

its the law not to take more than 20p in pennies in any single transaction

That's the first time I heard of that. Is that some kind of state law?

[Krandor]

Ah yes, the ol' I'm a regular so you simply must know me and what I always get routine.

Seriously, if he "comes in here all the time" like your sup said, you'd think he'd also know who the people are who work there, and recognize a new face when he sees one. Sadly, as you've no doubt come to realize, these jagoffs are oblivious to everything but their instant gratification.

I just saw something like this in a yelp review yesturday. In the review the guy actually put "The only bad thing about this place is something I get a new server who doesn't know I come in here 3-4 times a week and that I want my beer mug always full."

[IamRed]

That's the first time I heard of that. Is that some kind of state law?

No I'm in England its the law here. Its not often followed but Its a good excuse to stop people from paying in nothing but pennies.

[Pagan]

Yeah, I gotta agree. That sounds like someone with a developmental disability, not someone being an ass.

I get this sort of thing all the time as I can only take cash at work. I got one guy just yesterday who attempted to pay for a 80p chocolate bar in pennies and then threw a fit when i refused the sale as its the law not to take more than 20p in pennies in any single transaction (plus i didn't want to deal with that many pennies).

That's the first time I heard of that. Is that some kind of state law?

It's not state law, it's UK law. She's (I hope that's right) in England.

[judecat]

I agree with the people who say developmental disability. I've had a few customers like that over the years. They are not trying to be sucky.

[thehuckster]

I agree with the people who say developmental disability. I've had a few customers like that over the years. They are not trying to be sucky.

Yes, and as an aside, I did see him many times afterwards, and he's never really given me a truly hard time ever. I do feel bad putting this thread in the "sucky customers" section for that reason. I just didn't know if there was a better place to put it.

[xaenon]

I get this sort of thing all the time as I can only take cash at work. I got one guy just yesterday who attempted to pay for a 80p chocolate bar in pennies and then threw a fit when i refused the sale as its the law not to take more than 20p in pennies in any single transaction (plus i didn't want to deal with that many pennies).

I could see there being a law that said you weren't REQUIRED to accept more than 20p in pennies - but not ALLOWED? That's kind of odd. Not that I'm doubting you, it just seems weird, and I'd love to hear the logic behind such a law.

Not that I'd complain if that was a law on this side of the pond. I had WAY too many people who would, at certain times of the month, bring huge gobs of pennies to buy beer and/or cigarettes, and it was always a pain having to deal with them.

[BigBox Slave]

I could see there being a law that said you weren't REQUIRED to accept more than 20p in pennies - but not ALLOWED? That's kind of odd. Not that I'm doubting you, it just seems weird, and I'd love to hear the logic behind such a law.

Not that I'd complain if that was a law on this side of the pond. I had WAY too many people who would, at certain times of the month, bring huge gobs of pennies to buy beer and/or cigarettes, and it was always a pain having to deal with them.

Oh now that's just a dick move. I've on occasion had to plunk down a couple dollars in quarters between paydays for smokes but I at least have the decency to stack them in dollar piles to make it easier. My favorite though was when I had a customer bring in 20 rolls of quarters to pay for a car stereo. Policy was rolls had to be counted. Normally not a huge deal but in this case i brought them to our cash room and put them on the handy dandy scale. Each one weighed off by the exact same amount, not because there weren't 40 quarters in the roll, but because he had put one U.S. quarter on each end and the rest were Canadian. This was back when the Exchange rate was pretty favorable to do this. Went back and told him mot only no but hell no and he threw a giddy fit that a U.S. company in Alaska wouldnt take canadian money

[xaenon]

Oh now that's just a dick move. I've on occasion had to plunk down a couple dollars in quarters between paydays for smokes but I at least have the decency to stack them in dollar piles to make it easier. My favorite though was when I had a customer bring in 20 rolls of quarters to pay for a car stereo. Policy was rolls had to be counted. Normally not a huge deal but in this case i brought them to our cash room and put them on the handy dandy scale. Each one weighed off by the exact same amount, not because there weren't 40 quarters in the roll, but because he had put one U.S. quarter on each end and the rest were Canadian. This was back when the Exchange rate was pretty favorable to do this. Went back and told him mot only no but hell no and he threw a giddy fit that a U.S. company in Alaska wouldnt take canadian money

And that was exactly why my boss wouldn't allow us to accept 'rolled' coin as payment. And believe me, the neighborhood where the store was located was pretty rough. Lots of professional welfare recipients, lots of bums, lots of alkies, lots of individuals who've spent a significant portion of their adult life in various states of incarceration. So yeah, if you gave them even the tiniest chance to screw you, they'd do it.

Fortunately, my boss finally did put a moratorium on accepting large amounts of pennies - after we spent quite a bit of time counting out and rolling more than FORTY DOLLARS' worth one morning. End of suck? Nope. I spent the next several weeks listening to various peoples' outrage about it.

One more reason do do away with the damned things.

[xaenon]

Oh now that's just a dick move. I've on occasion had to plunk down a couple dollars in quarters between paydays for smokes but I at least have the decency to stack them in dollar piles to make it easier. My favorite though was when I had a customer bring in 20 rolls of quarters to pay for a car stereo. Policy was rolls had to be counted. Normally not a huge deal but in this case i brought them to our cash room and put them on the handy dandy scale. Each one weighed off by the exact same amount, not because there weren't 40 quarters in the roll, but because he had put one U.S. quarter on each end and the rest were Canadian. This was back when the Exchange rate was pretty favorable to do this. Went back and told him mot only no but hell no and he threw a giddy fit that a U.S. company in Alaska wouldnt take canadian money

Gee, several rolls of coin hauled in to purchase electronic equipment. That's not suspicious at all. A grocery store or gas station, I could see someone bringing in a lot of coins - hell, I've been there myself - but more than about 3 rolls of coins - uh, no. And I'd STILL break them open to make sure it isn't some kind of game (which is why no more than three rolls).

Yeah, your car-stereo customer knew what he was doing, or he wouldn't have bothered to disguise them. And yeah, HE did it - he can't even make the argument that he got the coins that way.