Yes, we are out of stock. Yes, I am sure.

[mattm04]

Recently two of our more popular items were out of stock due to a manufacturer issue. Signs were up indicating that we were out of stock. That didn't stop SC's.

SC: Hi
M: Can I help you?
SC: Yes, do you have any more of <item>?
M: We are out of stock.
SC: Do you have any more in the back?
M: No, we're all out of stock.
SC: Can you check in back?
M: *i already had checked in back to appease SC's several times before and it was a waste of my time* I have checked and we do not have any. We were supposed to have gotten some in yesterday, but did not.
SC: Ar you sure you didn't get any in.
M: Yes I'm sure because the reason we didn't get any in because the manufacture didn't have any to ship.
SC: Fine! *sighs and stomps off*

I wish that was the only similar conversation like that, but it wasn't.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I used to laugh at this bit in the British Sci-Fi Comedy "Red Dwarf".

Now after working in retail I don't find it as funny anymore.

[Company_Slave]

I love in my store when they ask us to check in back. I literally take two steps into the "magical back" and look at one wall. I generally blink twice if it's something I already looked for (being a dutiful slave and not wanting there to be a hole on the shelf) and 9 times out of 10 I get accused of not looking very hard. I've literally walked customers over to the OPEN (no doors whatsoever) entrance to the back, point at the one wall that holds our back stock. "Well do YOU see it then?"

[ozcatbug]

I had the opposite experience one time. We had masses of overstock of clothing because the warehouse discovered that they had masses of overstock, so decided to bombard all the stores. There was clothing everywhere. The clothing storeroom was full, there was about 200 cages of clothing in the grocery warehouse, another 150 in a marquee they had put up specially for us, 50 in the non-foods storeroom, two shipping containers were full of clothing, plus random cages were dotted around the store in every storage area. The problem with that much stock is that the shop floor was full. There was no where to put the bloody stuff, and all we got was complaints from all areas of the store about clothing taking up the space. It's not like we were happy about it. It took so long to get through that stock that we were still finding Halloween costumes at the end of November.

So one night when the night team was madly trying to break down all the stock to make it easier for the day staff to actually fill, there came a customer asking if we had a specific item in a specific size. I said if it wasn't on the shop floor then she would have to check back. Then she said the magic phrase "Do you have any in the back?" My team couldn't help it, they burst out laughing. I looked at her and told her it was highly likely that we did have it "in the back" but unfortunately we were so inundated with stock there was no way to actually find it.

"Can you check?" I laughed at her, then showed her to the storeroom. I told her that we were never allowed to do this, then opened the doors to the storeroom so that she could see inside. The room was so packed with cages and rails that to get into the room required crawling on hands and knees through the filled rails, as well as the twisting skills of a contortionist. Seriously only 2 of us on the team had the flexibility to get to the back wall. I repeated that yes we probably did have the item in the back, but there was no way she was getting the item that night. And since I knew what had just been broken down, there was no way she was getting the item in the next 2 days. I suggested she check back the following week. She agreed that was a good idea.

[Syriilord]

I used to laugh at this bit in the British Sci-Fi Comedy "Red Dwarf".

Now after working in retail I don't find it as funny anymore.

I've worked retail, and I still find that scene hilarious

[Kanalah]

I still get people when I am manning my craft show booth ask "Well, do you have any (random item) in the back?" They always ask when the wall of the building is plainly visible behind my booth.

[Dreamstalker]

I got that a few times at the game store...we had no back room. Literally. Everything we had was out for sale. One day someone saw me in the office (I kept the door open because otherwise it got really stuffy really fast), moseyed in and started pawing through the shelf of online inventory (nobody touched that shelf but me). I steered them out, then chased them upstairs on finding they had nicked something...then got yelled at by Owner a few hours later for not letting the kid buy the widget (rare gaming book that he didn't recognize, which sold for way more than the sticker price ten minutes later).

[EricKei]

Yeek o_O

At the GameStore's I have worked at, we generally had one of two "back room" setups -- If it was a newly-built store, it was generally huge (we even had a real bathroom!), and mostly filled with bulky items that were better off not sitting on the floor live (like Rock Band bundles). In older stores (which were, of course, MUCH busier), the backroom tended to have about big enough to fit, say, 5 standard desks...but arranged in a narrow configuration so that people could not even squeeze past one another unless they were REALLY skinny x.x We had overstock there and promos, and room for little else. The bathroom, naturally, was filled with game systems, new and used. If we were lucky, we had room in there to actually make use of the bathroom...but not always x.x

[Kogarashi]

I still get people when I am manning my craft show booth ask "Well, do you have any (random item) in the back?" They always ask when the wall of the building is plainly visible behind my booth.

Oh, thank heavens I haven't gotten that at conventions yet. I've been asked "Is this all you have?" but people are usually pretty accepting of whatever answer I give to that. Which is usually, "yes," unless it's something I have to keep under the table because there's just not enough room. Like extra copies of the prints on display in my binder, or the 15-20 painted fains I can't put up on the display proper (the binder also has photos of all my fans, so I don't have to dig them all out every time someone wants to see them).

[zombiequeen]

I still get people when I am manning my craft show booth ask "Well, do you have any (random item) in the back?" They always ask when the wall of the building is plainly visible behind my booth.

I got asked once if i had any at home!
I was like "If I had this item, do you really think I'd leave it at home where it wouldn't sell?"
Yeesh some people are...persistent.

[MidoriDelSol]

When they ask me to look in the back and I KNOW it ain't back there, I have no trouble telling them no. "I've already been back there today and I know there isn't any left back there." Never had someone challenge me farther then that. The worst is when they don't accept "We don't know" as an answer to "when will you get more?" Seriously, like I have a magical crystal ball that can tell me when your specific, non life or death item will come in. Why is this such a common misconception that stores always know when specific items come back? Just call! Pick up the phone, dial some numbers, and ask the person on the other side your question.

[Blade_Raver]

"A metric ton of it exists in the back just sitting there next to the Flux Capacitor, Unicorn, and the 20 foot Pink Elephant. Go back and see for yourself!"

[Mytical]

People who own stores want to make money. Why on earth would they hide the things they want to sell? Oh wait, I forgot where I am and am trying to make sense of the crazy again . Now, how do I create a pocket black hole to set up in a shop so that a clerk CAN just reach in and pull whatever they need out? I would make TRILLIONS.

[Kanalah]

My mom and I call it the Rectal bag of Holding.

[Jetfire]

"A metric ton of it exists in the back just sitting there next to the Flux Capacitor, Unicorn, and the 20 foot Pink Elephant. Go back and see for yourself!"

You do know that a Toy Store can't use that excuse because they may actually HAVE all three of those things somewhere. (But a 20ft pink elephant is probably pushing even a Toy Store's stock)