PLEASE READ THE RULES BEFORE POSTING!

Customers Suck [info]fade_into_dark wrote in [info]customers_suck
Previous Entry Add to Memories Share Next Entry
witnessed suck...
I was at a local grocery store today trying to buy a few items when i witnessed this atrocity.



First let me say that i'm nine months pregnant (i'm literally due to pop any day now) and i just got off of a twelve-hour shift at my own job dealing with my own customer_sucks. This store is something of a health food store. Almost everything is organic or otherwise healthy. thus it is somewhat expensive. All i wanted was to get my sandwich fixings and milk and go home. But no i had to witness this spectacular example of human stupidity.

Its about eight thirty when i walk in the store. It closes at nine so the worker bees are already running around doing their late night closing tasks and only two checkout lanes are open. One is an express lane and the other is the normal lane. I gather the things i want and head to the express checkout lane just wanting to finish and leave. The lady ahead of me has a cart with not too many things but just a few over the "fifteen items or less " limit. not a big deal since i'm sure most people here occasionally count similar items as just one.

Right away i can tell something is wrong because the cashier was looking very flustered and the customer kept sighing and looking at the clock. yet every few items the cashier swiped would have the customer interrupting her to scream "that's not the right price!! It says *insert number here* for one dollar!!" and i do mean scream. at first she was just pointing it out but each time she interrupted the volume in voice rose. the cashiers at this store always keep the current specials next to the register so the cashier would pull out the specials and ask the customer to point out where the pricing was so she could correct it. No this store does not do price matching. Its just a local store.

Each time the customer failed to locate the pricing she was screaming about she would huff loudly, sigh, look at the clock and mumble under her breath about "stupid teenagers changing the advertisements" and then either tell the cashier to remove the item or just wave her hand and tell her to continue. this goes on for about ten minutes until finally the cashier has finished scanning all the items. Meanwhile the line at the other checkout is about ten people deep and the other cashier is doing her best to keep everyone in that lane happy. express lane cashier hits the total and gives the customer her balance. this is when customer goes absolutely apeshit.

Crazy/Customer Lady- CL
Poor Cashier- PC
Pregnant and Pissed- Me

CL- How is that so high when half the things i was going to get i took out! you must not have removed things correctly! scan them again!
PC- Ma'am i assure you i removed everything you requested from the bill it shows on the screen what your total is including.
CL- I don't care what it says on the screen! I want you to scan it all again! I know you're trying to cheat me!
PC- If you wish me to do so i will go ahead but you'll need to wait until i get a manager to cancel the order so i can rescan it.
CL- i don't want the order canceled! just scan everything again and compare it to this total!
PC- unfortunately our systems don't have that capability. in order to rescan i would need to cancel the current order.
CL- don't lie to me you lazy little bitch!! just scan the order again!!
PC- Ma'am i am not lying to you. i can not compare an existing order to a new one because the system will not allow me start scanning an order until the previous transaction is complete.
CL- Stupid Fat and Lazy! and a liar on top of all that! Where is your manager?! You'll be fired for this! Do you know how much money i spend in this store?!

at this point she turns to me and says "Why do people make things so difficult? Don't they realize people have better things to do with their time than argue with lazy uneducated cashiers? Like get home to their families?" I guess seeing that i was pregnant made her assume i would sympathize.
***If this counts as a zorro let me know and i'll edit it out***
Me- Don't you know that people have better things to do than wait in line behind people who have to bitch about everything? Like get home and rest?
CL just stood there staring at me while PC was waving frantically at the manager who was walking slowly in our direction. CL opens her mouth to probably scream something at me (probably something along the lines of "How Dare You?! or something equally inane) when manager finally reaches us and CL turns her attention to her.
CL- your cashier is refusing to rescan my items and give me my correct total! do you make it a habit to hire the lazy and inept!"
Manager=M- I'm sorry to hear she is not doing her job correctly but i will not say she is lazy or inept. I'll be glad to rescan your groceries as soon as we cancel the transaction currently pending.
CL- i don't want it canceled! just rescan and compare the totals!
M- says exactly what his cashier did earlier. We can not do that ma'am. i would be happy to go through the order myself to ensure your total is correct but i would need to cancel this order first. our system only allows for one order at a time.
CL- Well then you need to fix your system because that's the stupidest thing ever! Other stores have no problems with this! (Has anyone heard of a store that can compare two orders like this? I never have) I don't know why fucking places like this stay open with their stupid outdated systems and even stupider employees!
M- Ma'am you have repeatedly insulted my employee and now you are insulting my place of employment and myself. I'd like you to leave. Now.
CL- What?! Why?! I'm being punished for the backwards way your store operates! I'm reporting you to the BBB! I'll make sure this place is closed! do you know who i am!
M- do not make me call the police Ma'am. you are upsetting other customers. Leave now.
CL Huffs and puffs and can't blow the store down so leaves. I wanted to applaud.

PC was just standing there nearly in tears. I asked the manager to ring me out while PC got a few minutes to get herself together and have a cigarette or go out back and just scream. At this point i would have done both. This took place over the course of about fifteen to twenty minutes but when you're as far along as i am twenty minutes on your feet in heels is almost an eternity. I would have said a lot more to CL if manager hadn't arrived because i was exhausted by that point. But seriously has anyone heard of a system that allows two orders to be compared? Was Cl really crazy or is this something new?


tl;dr crazy lady wants her order rescanned because she thinks the price is too high but doesn't want the current order canceled and insists there is some magical system that allows two orders to be compared. tries to involve me into complaining about cashier who she insults multiple times. rare awesome manager gives crazy lady the boot.

[info]hopelessdeviate

2009-05-26 06:43 am (UTC) (Link)

CL Huffs and puffs and can't blow the store down so leaves.

XD

[info]darsynia

2009-05-26 11:27 am (UTC) (Link)

Hee, that was my favorite part, too :D

[info]daniel_keefe

2009-05-26 06:46 am (UTC) (Link)

Personally, I don't view that as a Zorro. More of a "This is a bandwagon you're driving solo, lady" situation.

Granted, at my store, if they had gotten the shortest of our managers (Mean that literally...physically smallest in stature), she would've found a way. Or rung it up again on the register next to it and showed her an item by item comparison. Or start throwing coupons at the bat...

I was about to say I've never heard of a place that allows comparison of orders, but then I remembered...I can't for the life of me remember -where- I saw it, but I once saw a POS system that allowed one to suspend an order, scan in something else, then compare the orders for discrepancies. I want to say it was a small scale grocery store...

[info]pickleboot

2009-05-26 07:13 am (UTC) (Link)

cub does that, as does target. i have seen target do it in a situation similar to that, and man, the lady was pissed to find she was not special enough to get anything cheaper.

(no subject) - [info]baka_kit, 2009-05-26 08:53 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]lilith_sternin, 2009-05-26 10:47 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]whatshideous, 2009-05-26 10:46 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]mrsjg, 2009-05-26 11:57 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]return2zero, 2009-05-26 01:23 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]daniel_keefe, 2009-05-27 01:56 am (UTC) (Expand)

[info]rainbow_goddess

2009-05-26 06:51 am (UTC) (Link)

Don't you love how people decide to threaten to call the Better Business Bureau and "get this place closed down" when the BBB has no such authority?

I wonder who she was (or thought she was) that made her scream "Do you know who I am?"

[info]shadur

2009-05-26 07:08 am (UTC) (Link)

The proper response to "Do you know who I am?" when you don't is "Am I supposed to care who you are?"

At least then even if it turns out that yes, you were supposed to, the look on their face should be worth getting fired over.

(no subject) - [info]teenonfire4lord, 2009-05-26 07:17 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]myswtghst, 2009-05-26 10:59 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]tomecko, 2009-05-26 07:17 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]littlelizzyann, 2009-05-26 08:11 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]autumn_sylver, 2009-05-27 03:25 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]duelist925, 2009-05-26 10:42 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]kilroyfirelizrd, 2009-05-26 02:09 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]sabrinita, 2009-05-26 03:33 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]sethb, 2009-05-26 06:34 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]myswtghst, 2009-05-26 11:04 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]sethb, 2009-05-27 04:58 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]cmfrank06, 2009-05-26 06:56 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]daniel_keefe, 2009-05-27 01:57 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]autumn_sylver, 2009-05-27 03:21 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]autumn_sylver, 2009-05-27 03:24 am (UTC) (Expand)

[info]teenonfire4lord

2009-05-26 07:19 am (UTC) (Link)

Zorro is an employee on shift doing something to get a customer back for their suck. You were not an employee at the time in question, just another customer, so that wasn't a zorro. Just standing up for the employee.

Oh, and being totally awesome.

[info]squigglz

2009-05-26 07:22 am (UTC) (Link)

Actually, to be completely accurate there:

No Zorro Posts- aka Pwning your customers or pwning someone else’s.

from the content rule and suggestions post on the comlink, linked from our userinfo

(no subject) - [info]silverdragon729, 2009-05-26 08:03 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]squigglz, 2009-05-26 08:03 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]silverdragon729, 2009-05-26 08:15 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - [info]janetmiles, 2009-05-26 01:04 pm (UTC) (Expand)

[info]brickfly

2009-05-26 07:51 am (UTC) (Link)

Holy cow, what a bitch. I don't blame you for getting angry!

[info]childunit

2009-05-26 08:15 am (UTC) (Link)

At my store we can suspend transactions. So I guess if we went through her order, wrote down the total, suspended the transaction, and re-rung everything we could compare it accurately. But the system is a pain in the ass, so I'll do almost anything to avoid transaction suspension.

[info]op_tech_glitch

2009-05-26 08:31 am (UTC) (Link)

Doesn't she know that you should never, ever mess with a pregnant woman?

[info]xylen

2009-05-26 08:57 am (UTC) (Link)

"do you know who i am!"

That's when you just want to make for the classic move. Get on the PA and announce,"Ladies and gentlemen we have a lady up here who doesn't know who she is. If anyone does, please let us know. Thank you."

[info]op_tech_glitch

2009-05-26 09:02 am (UTC) (Link)

+10000.

[info]meldrew

2009-05-26 10:38 am (UTC) (Link)

CL- "don't lie to me you lazy little bitch!! just scan the order again!!"

At this point I would just cancel the whole damn order and refuse to serve her.

"Maam, I am not prepared to listen to you insult me. Please go find another cashier."

If you are the ONLY cashier, this works even better!

[info]daniel_keefe

2009-05-27 01:58 am (UTC) (Link)

Have done this. "Well, I'm just going to stand right here, blocking your customers."
"Right there? Not going to move from -THAT- spot?"
"Right."
"*moves to register 2 and continues helping people.*"

(no subject) - [info]autumn_sylver, 2009-05-27 03:31 am (UTC) (Expand)

[info]darsynia

2009-05-26 11:30 am (UTC) (Link)

Ugh, you have so much more patience than I do (I am also ready to pop! Congrats on that, btw!), but then again, how often do we get to watch train wrecks like this in action? I'm just glad for the cashier and you that the manager was not another part of the sucky equation.

[info]fade_into_dark

2009-05-27 03:37 am (UTC) (Link)

every time this lady opened her mouth i felt like slapping her and screaming that i just wanted to fulfill my sandwich craving and get home to put my horribly swollen feet up. i probably would have done that prior to being pregnant too but instead of making me more prone to anger hormones actually had the opposite effect on me.

[info]mikadosok

2009-05-26 12:07 pm (UTC) (Link)

Would't it be lovely if...
Some EB like that comes along, and starts the 'you don't know how to do your job' bit. If we could shove said EB behind the counter, or cash register and tell them..ok, show us how to do the job.

Half the people can't use the UScan at Walmart without screwing up.

[info]fade_into_dark

2009-05-27 03:39 am (UTC) (Link)

oh god i wish we could do this to some people. this would make everything better.

[info]tigress666

2009-05-26 12:32 pm (UTC) (Link)

I absolutely hate customers who can't do math and at the same time don't realize it. They invariabley end up like this (maybe not near as bad but they do end up getting annoyed the cost is so high. Usually if you list what they bought, the prices, and add up as you are listing the stuff, it shuts them up though cause then their brains can comprehend that stuff adds up).

[info]tartanboxers

2009-05-26 01:03 pm (UTC) (Link)

"Do you know how much money I spend here?"

Clearly none since you raised such a ruckus you got your ass kicked out...

The store I work in can suspend transactions. If you hit total before suspending, you'll get the total and then you'd have something to compare to on a separate transaction. Even though we can do this, I have never had anyone demand that we rering an entire order. If there's confusion, people are usually fine with us cashing them out, going over the receipt and then refunding if it's necessary.

[info]misch

2009-05-26 01:54 pm (UTC) (Link)

CL- ... do you know who i am!

Attention customers, we have a guest who does not know who she is. If you know who Crazy Lady is, please retrieve her from the express register.

[info]hippychild

2009-05-26 03:19 pm (UTC) (Link)

Why do people always feel the need to go on about what they can do at Such&Such store?? Such&Such might have psychic cashiers willing to do anything so that the customer is satisfied using magical tills that do anything they want them too.

However, this is So&So store so shut the fuck up and accept what the cashiers tell you is procedure. They will honestly know best since they do it Every. Single. Day!

[info]agape_selfless

2009-05-26 03:25 pm (UTC) (Link)

Really??
Sheesh, I can suspend orders then do a price check or something but never suspend then re-ring to compare, corporate for ANY company wouldn't like that too many voids and such.

[info]xmelodic_spellx

2009-05-26 03:32 pm (UTC) (Link)

At the store I used to work at , the only way you could re-scan an order was to cancel it and start all over. A cashier can't suspend/cancel an order without an override. I think most grocery stores are like this. That lady is crazy. Sadly, I had to deal with that all the time at my old job...

Edited at 2009-05-26 03:33 pm (UTC)

[info]sabrinita

2009-05-26 03:36 pm (UTC) (Link)

I can only cancel my order without approval if I have less than ten dollars rung up. More than that and I must have a manager's approval. And I certainly can't suspend orders and come back to them later.

I've never heard of what CL suggested in my life. 0.o

[info]strangesequitur

2009-05-26 06:37 pm (UTC) (Link)

Wow. I'm suddenly very glad our system works the way it does. I can't adjust the price of an item by more than 50% (unless there's a coupon, or it's damaged, or a special discount, or a signing error, or...) or open the cash drawer without a manager's assistance, or take returns, or, weirdly, re-print a receipt when the machine chews it up... but I can do all the suspending and transaction voiding I want. And when we suspend an order a proto-receipt is printed out with itemization and (I think?) a total, along with a barcode we can scan to resume the transaction.

I probably cancel at least ten orders a day — some of them quite large — and have never had anyone tell me not to do that. Er. (Although on my first day, my trainer did tell me that there may be a red flag of some sort going up, from all the canceled transactions, as she scanned things to tell me how each button worked. I wasn't trained in Training Mode, I don't think the woman from the cash office who was doing my training knew that such a thing existed. Whoops?)

Then again, a good portion of our computer system relies on tickets being created and suspended at one end of the store, and brought to the cashiers for payment, so our freedom to suspend at will probably comes from that.

I almost can't imagine not being able to cancel a transaction. Most people at our store don't make their final selections until we're ringing them up, and when you're asked to remove These Five Random Things from a twenty-item ticket that's written in code, it's much easier to just start over.

And that suck is just... yeah.

[info]fade_into_dark

2009-05-27 03:42 am (UTC) (Link)

something like that makes sense. i guess i can kinda see why she would ask that. but this is a pretty small store and its locally owned and operated. i can see a bigger store with this ability but i wouldn't expect a tiny store to be able to do this.

(no subject) - [info]strangesequitur, 2009-05-27 05:12 am (UTC) (Expand)

[info]gemcitytiffany

2009-05-26 09:19 pm (UTC) (Link)

At Guitar Center we could suspend a transaction... but I never did it under these circumstances. What a crazy woman!
At my current job I can suspend transactions also, sometimes, if someone argues a prices, I can suspend and print a preview of the reciept, showing them each item and it's cost.
So when "OMGthatcan'tbetherighttotal" omg yes it can.

[info]autumn_sylver

2009-05-27 03:34 am (UTC) (Link)

'Each time the customer failed to locate the pricing she was screaming about she would huff loudly, sigh, look at the clock and mumble under her breath about "stupid teenagers changing the advertisements"'

Yes, when they see you coming, they wave their magic wants over the flyers to change the advertisements, just so you can't get the sale price.
Crazy bitch.
Why do so many people seem to think the world revolves around them, and anything anybody does is just to piss them off or screw them over?

[info]lots42

2009-05-27 04:43 am (UTC) (Link)

Hallucinating that everyone is out to get them makes them feel important. It's like being the Punisher.

[info]startaintedsky

2009-05-27 05:22 pm (UTC) (Link)

I'd be willing to place money on the fact that she forgot all about the taxes. That happens so much to me, especially with water.

'WHY IS THAT SO MUCH?!' Well ma'am, ten cents bottle deposit, x30, is 3.00. Gotta love those types.