Whiny seniors

[protege]

I wonder if anyone on day shift actually works at my job, or if they just walk around and drink coffee all day.

I know that when my dad was out of work...he actually wore out a few coffee pots. Since he was a freelance writer, working from home, the coffee just kept coming. Most of the time, he was unbelievably wired. Enough that Tweek (from South Park) would have been impressed.

[anyanka2]

Seniors can be horribly entitled, and figure everyone should bend over backwards for them. I bet you gave them way more attention than they deserved, but many complain just because they can. I hope they tipped?

The Mall Walkers where I work tried to DEMAND I open the doors early for them. No, mall has posted hours, you get in when we open. My boyfriend said at the therapy center he's been going to, the seniors actually walk the building between doctor offices as their routine and had to be told by management that they couldn't hog all the patient parking!

And seniors are often the ones who complain about how young people have no manners whatsoever. I work in a retail store where the average customer age is mid 40s.

One older lady wanted decorative shams to match a quilt and I ordered them for her because we were out of stock. She went on a 10 minute rant on how she's doesn't trust UPS and how she's had so many screw ups with them not delivering packages to her retirement community. I've never had any problems with UPS or Fedex delivering packages to my house. It's USPS I have issues with as far as mail and package deliveries. The UPS drivers like my sister and myself because we'll come to the truck to pick multiple boxes. We also gave them Christmas cookies. They also know us by first name because we usually get three or four deliveries from them a week. I really think the woman and others in the retirement community are pains in the butt to the drivers and they don't go out of their way to do more than their job descriptions. I order them for her and tell her to expect delivery in about a week. She comes in about a week later later with a package that's not what she had ordered. Turns out, it was a warehouse snafu and not our fault. My manager who is awesome, calls corporate and arranges to have another set of the shams delivered to her free of charge.

Another customer wanted some bowls that I had to call another store to have shipped to her. She calls almost a week and a half later to say that they haven't arrived in the evening. I really can't do anything until the next day since most of the people who could help are gone for the day. I call the store that the bowls were shipped from to get a tracking number. Turns out, her package had been delivered by UPS almost a week before and left on her front door. She never got the package probably because another family member picked it up. That's our fault how? It's not my fault if you can't tell your husband or kids to leave your packages out on the table for you once they come. The sad thing is she's a manager at a local grocery store that I got fired from. Proves that they do hire and promote morons.

A lot of the seniors operate under the assumption that we have a senior day once a week. It's usually once a month and it's a huge pain for us because we almost never make plan that day and we are overstaffed. I would rather have the extra person be scheduled for Friday/Saturday or a day when we get a ton of freight. Corporate thinks that we should be selling more dollar wise those days when the extra coupons mailed out hurt our sales.

[Seshat]

The Mall Walkers where I work tried to DEMAND I open the doors early for them. No, mall has posted hours, you get in when we open. My boyfriend said at the therapy center he's been going to, the seniors actually walk the building between doctor offices as their routine and had to be told by management that they couldn't hog all the patient parking!

A mall (or other, similar public space) is air conditioned, has flat surfaces to walk on, and has plenty of places to rest if your body fails you. I 'mall walk' for exercise sometimes, especially on unusually hot or cold days, for all of these reasons.

I couldn't justify doing so at a doctor's office or anything like that, though. Nor demanding that the place open early or close late for my convenience!

[Pixilated]

Good for your boss. I don't understand why they think it can somehow go faster.

Sometimes, when my mom orders coffee, they'll have just run out and need to make a fresh one. They apologize a couple of times while telling her this and my mom just goes "it's ok, don't worry, it'll be fresh and even better, I can wait". There's this two second pause while the girl processes that and I can tell it helps her (since my mom says it loud enough for those already bitching to hear) LOL.

I'm glad your boss backed you up. It really is something you can't control. I'm guessing it's a free refill place? Or just tons of coffee sold?

Age does not necessarily confer wisdom and it certainly doesn't excuse rudeness.

My grandfather used to live in a seniors' apartment and a nearby restaurant used to offer special dinners, I think once a month, for seniors. The level of complaints was appalling -- about the quality of food, the amount of food, what was and wasn't available, etc. I think they finally stopped, probably out of sheer frustration.

And no doubt that led to a further barrage of complaints.

Someone else had quoted it somewhere else on here:

"The Earth is not the center of the universe and neither are you"

I'd say that if they want faster coffee then go home and make it themselves. Your boss already backs you up, but I don't know if he would rather have customers that complain when you're doing your best, or no customers and the sound of peacefulness.

Love the saying! Maybe some of these places could print it off and post it in a discreet but still visible spot by the cash register ...

I wonder what exactly they expect the server to do to make the coffee machine brew coffee faster??

[bunnyboy]

At the 8-12 it wasn't the seniors who were the no good blankety blanks about coffee.

That would go to one local Union Rep, and pretty much every contract worker around the area that I work.

Union Rep: Those little creamer cups, you know the half and half ones. At least 8, all concentrated right next to where the damn trash was. As in apply a little pressure to the lid and you can literally throw them away.

Contractors: I know I have to get my coffee right, but I also don't take 10 minutes and get a practically free cup because I've been testing it.

[Food Lady]

Seniors have their routines and they enjoy and take comfort in them. They know what's coming - increased loss of mobility, mental functions going down, more friends dying, retirement home ... I used to be impatient with seniors in our store, but not anymore. They can take as much of my time as they want

I get that they need attention, but I can't ignore the customers standing at the counter for them. Those people need to be served, too.

[emax4]

So how do you plan on handling this the next time those same seniors ask for coffee? You would get in trouble if you were to say, "That depends.. are you going to rat me out to the manager again?"

The boss took your side the first time but that doesn't mean the manager will cover for you every time. Have they even calmed down? Has the boss spoken to the same seniors that complained about you? Talk to him or her and see if the manager can watch nearby and see how the seniors act when you're running your butt off expect you to drop everything for them.

[Food Lady]

I've been told all managers will be watching to make sure we're engaging the customers. The one who defended me was a supervisor, but not really a manager. I have a new manager over the area now, who pulled me into the office about this yesterday. She is definitely not on my side, ever. I see trouble ahead. I talked to one of the execs, whose advice was to kiss their butts. I think I should pay more attention to the customers who spend $4 or $5 rather than 79 cents. And they are patient and nice while they spend that $5.

[Mytical]

Typical corporate mentality .. ugh. Nice is one thing, bowing and scraping is a whole different animal.