Post your good/bad customer or employee stories!

[Falconer02]

I'm sure we all have had some awful (or great) things happen to us while being or working in a retail store. ...or hearing things or dealing with customer service at some place. The rules are simple for this thread-- share your stories!

---THE BAD---

I worked at Target for 2 years during college and I had some pretty bad things happen- psycho moms not understanding that we were out of a certain item, people not leaving after the store closed, a 2 yr. old walking while he was urinating on the floor, etc.  One story that stands out to me was when this old woman on one of those scooters comes up and asks if we have these freezer bags for vacuums. I told her I had never heard of them. Regardless of that, I took her over to the vacuums to show her of the proof. She started getting angry as she had been told differently. I asked if she wanted to talk to the person incharge of the area, but she declined. I apologized for the inconvenience and she scooted off.

I was walking to the back talking on the radio with a fellow employee when I suddenly heard "THEY'RE RIGHT HERE, GODDAMN IT! YOU TOLD ME THEY WEREN'T HERE! LIAR!!!" it just echoed all through the store. Not wanting to deal with this woman after hearing that, I kept walking to the back to help the backroom people for a little bit. Before I went through the doors, I glanced back quickly to see that she was actually following me. So I kind of hid in back for a while not wanting to return to the floor.

Later that night, my friend who worked there came up to me and said he had to deal with that same psycho woman and that she was badmouthing me as he helped her with finding another item. He told me what she was actually looking for- I didn't understand that she was not wording it correctly-- she was looking for those bags that freeze and hold a vacuum seal to keep food fresh. She didn't mention food at all though, so whose fault is that? My friend agreed that she was off her rocker. Yikesssss.

---THE GOOD---

I signed up for a free trial for something on amazon and didn't read the 3,000 page contract it came with. I bought something for 25$ and got free shipping with this sign-up thing. 30 days later, I get a charge for 80$ on my credit card for being a new member as the trial had expired and I had unknowingly agreed to sign up for it. I wrote them a angry-but-professional email saying if this wasn't taken off, I wouldn't shop at amazon anymore. A day later an employee emailed me back and took it off of my cc-- no fees or anything for doing it. Awesome service.

[amyrouse]

It is the thing that really sucks about working in service... "the customer is always right, no matter how big of a butt the customer is."  It seems as though many customers feel that they are better than the people serving them and that since they are spending money on purchasing an item or service, that they in effect are the boss of the service worker.  I'm sure that is why so many people are afraid of people in the food service sector spend time doing things to the food of rude customers.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, but I believe that there is more respect in working in one of the so called "lower end" occupations than there is in being a CEO or even a manager.  Any section of any industry is reliant upon those of the lower paying jobs to make their industry successful. 

One of the things that bothers me the most, though, is on the other end of the spectrum, i.e. not being treated with respect as a consumer.  My bank made a mistake a few months back when my husband and I made a deposit in our account and instead of depositing the sum we took in, actually deposited several hundred dollars more.  We drove back to the bank, making my husband late for work, to correct the mistake, and the cashier said to my husband, and I quote: "If you hadn't come back you would have gotten away with it."  It made me angry that it was said in the first place, but what really bothered me more was the next week, there was a mix up when we switched insurance companies where both companies withdrew funds at the same time without us knowing, and the bank charged us overdraft fees in the amount of the over-deposited mistake.  When we went in to try to fix the mistake, we were informed that it was our fault and the bank would not rescind the fees.  Great customer service... since then I've been wanting to switch banks.

[Annella]

Okay.....I don't like getting customer service reps, in the Phillipines or India where they are suppose to help you with a local problem.  My DSL was acting up, and called my CS Rep. for help.  I got someone in the Phillipines that could not help me one bit.  They did refer me to someone in the US who called me the next day.  All they could do is respond to me in "packaged" phrases from a bindered book in front of them.  In this economy, all these big companies are taking customer service, and outsourcing it overseas.  How can anyone troubleshoot a real problem on the other side of the world?  I've called my credit card company also, and got someone in India who could do nothing to adjust some erroneous charges on my card (they have little power).  Yup....had to wait till the next day to get someone in the US to do the adjustments.

With so many people out of work, and these companies outsourcing their customer service so they can escape the taxes affiliated with the US's rules and regs. for business's is robbery.  This is something Obama was going to address his first year in office, but got lost by the wayside.

I've always been impressed with Safeway's customer service.  The CEO is a stickler on customer service.  The employees are evaluated by secret shoppers at least once a week.  A report is generated to the head of the different departments and how they fared while being shopped.  They never know who the person is, or when they will be shopped.  If the employee fails the evaluation twice, they are ordered to go through "Orientation" again, if a third time, they are let go.

Yeah, the public can be hard to deal with, but some people dealing in customer service should never be hired in that capacity as they lack basic people skills.  Just because you make minimum wage, is no reason to be rude to the customers either.  I've met some of the friendliest employees in places like Wal-Mart, McDonalds, etc.

[amyrouse]

Recently I was having issues with my anti-virus, so I called Best Buy since the program was issued through Best Buy and when I bought it they told me to call them first.  So, after spending nearly three hours on the phone with tech support at Best Buy trying to uninstall the software, they then informed me they would be escalating the issue to someone higher on the tech chain.  I was told I would get a call within 3-5 days to help resolve the issue.  This was three weeks ago, and I still have yet to receive a call.  Luckily I got tired of waiting after the 3rd day and I did an online search for the program.  Within two days, the issue was resolved through email communication.

[Annella]

Recently I was having issues with my anti-virus, so I called Best Buy since the program was issued through Best Buy and when I bought it they told me to call them first.  So, after spending nearly three hours on the phone with tech support at Best Buy trying to uninstall the software, they then informed me they would be escalating the issue to someone higher on the tech chain.  I was told I would get a call within 3-5 days to help resolve the issue.  This was three weeks ago, and I still have yet to receive a call.  Luckily I got tired of waiting after the 3rd day and I did an online search for the program.  Within two days, the issue was resolved through email communication.

Do you have any hair left after tearing it out?  Sigh.......

[animikokala]

Speaking of McDonalds; I worked there as a teenager...Never Again!
They put "the customer is always right" to the extreme.  We had a pushover manager that would give in to every belligerent demand a customer could come up with.  I often worked in "Handout" which is the spot where you give the people in drive-thru their food and such.  Because of this, I was often the first person griped to about whatever was wrong with their food, and would have to wait for the manager to come over and chat with them.  It was always made worse by the fact that when someone orders in drive-thru, not only the person taking the order hears it.  No, the order-taker hears it, the Handout person hears it, the Grill leader hears it, AND the floor manager hears it.  (Those headphones seemed annoyingly heavy at times.)  Even with this, if the customer claims they said something they didn't say, then the manager would pretend that's exactly what happened, as if the order-taker had made a mistake or was a liar. 

It made for a rather stressful job at times.  Yes, mistakes happened, but we were the busiest McDonalds in a 3 state area (something the owners were quite proud of).  Making mistakes is only human, and those drive thru headphones were rather crackly at times.

[ButterflyWings]

---Bad---
I went to Walmart to get my daughter a Birthday gift in August..Well my Bank screwed my account up and well my card was denied..The cashier first gave me this look that was just screwed up then she had the nerve to say If you did not have the funds why would you try to purchase these items and hold up my line..Needless to say I was pissed..I calmly said listen this is a mistake not on purpose sorry to ruin your speed of your line..I went to the manager to complain about her cashiers attitude to be told sorry she was stressed because we were busy..Like that was a excuse to be rude and demeaning..I do not go to that walmart anymore I drive passed it to another..Oh and a hour later the bank fixed the mistake they made after I called and went off LMAO


--Good--
I have been with Directv for over 8 years and all I can say is they have been awesome..Anytime I have a issue it is fixed immediately..And they give me a bonus like money off or free movie channels just for having a issue and every year they send a gift for being Loyal..And it is a great for people who signed up with me for that money for referring members  cause they are getting great service and benefits too..

[Falconer02]

WHAT IS WRONG with someone that can go out in public like that, leave a trail and expect others to just clean up after them without being totally disgusted?

Yeah I know how you feel. Till this day I can't even get over the people who just leave their garbage on a shelf or spill something on the floor w/o telling anyone about it. It's gross AND dangerous. Ugh...and about that lady dying, it sounds mean to the people who never had to deal with that stuff, but I completely understand the feeling.

This story is kind of funny. We had this guy who had some obvious mental issues come to our store all the time. He actually made his rounds to all the stores in the area during the weekends so other people from other retail chains had plenty of stories (including one where he flashed this girl who worked at Home Depot lol). He'd come up to employees and just ask them completely random questions about products "Is Sony good? Like do they make good stuff?" "How long do duracell batteries last for?" etc. etc. It was annoying but kind of funny.

Anyways, this one sunday night the store was pretty quiet. Someone told the manager that there was a possum outside hissing at people near the front doors. The manager knew I've handled wild animals before so she told me about it and I volunteered to go check it out. I grabbed some heavy gloves, my coat, a stick, and a box (just incase) and went outside. It was surprisingly quiet and I didn't see the possum. I went over the where they parked all the shopping carts and bent down to look around. When I came back up, that mental guy was literally 3 inches away from my face and he says loudly "DO YOU KNOW IF PANASONIC MAKES GOOD CD PLAYERS?". I jolted back and smacked my head into one of the carts. I laughed as I got up and he fortunately apologized about the scare. I just told him yes and he nodded in acknowledged it. I'm not sure how he snuck up on me-- maybe it was intentional? Funny guy. I still see him around the grocery stores once in a while.

[amyrouse]

"DO YOU KNOW IF PANASONIC MAKES GOOD CD PLAYERS?"

I seriously LOLed when I read that one!

[mypug04]

I started to Sell some stuff in Ebay and I make sure all my customers are Happy.

Good


almost 100% give me a positive feedback



Bad 


People bid and do not want to pay at all. Some paid and complaint never received the item. already sent 5 times. hmmmm


Just sharing my little experience, I'm a newbie so please understand

[teflonfanatic]

I can't believe in posting in falconors thread, anyway when i worked for UPS the driver took most of my tips. He also threaten to kick me off the truck if I didn't give him my tips!!!!!!!!!!

[Falconer02]

How many years experience do you have in retail falconer?  Overall, did/do you like it though--- "dealing with customers"?    I've worked fast food, a flea market & most recently a convenience store for about 12 years experience with customers and I still enjoy working with people...I really treasure the "regular" clients I've gotten to know.  The "funniest" experiences came from working fast food (late night shift), there was never a dull moment.  I have friends though that worked retail or grocery a short time and say NEVER AGAIN & that the people were the worst.   Just curious...

I originally worked at a large local theater when I was 15. I think I worked there for about 2 years. Besides the messes people would make and having to deal with loud customers, it was awesome. Free movies/popcorn. I worked with the pinnacles of society to the scum of the earth. 2 of my friends and I got a knife pulled on me in the back-- the kid backed off when he realized I knew who he was (it's a long story...he was an idiot). One of the managers was really good friends with my aunt, so he'd always give me dibs on posters, tickets, etc. I got to hang out on the roof and eat dinner with my usher crew sometimes. Hanging out with the slutty girls who worked there   lolololol.  It was a good experience for me as it's when I started coming out of my shell; it took away from the bad junk at that job (mainly the customers and some of the stupid drama). Fortunately I don't remember too much of that stuff. Ahh memories...I kinda miss it.

After that, I worked at Target for a little over 2 years. It started off okay but those places go through managers faster than popcorn. The customers were just stupidly awful and just superiorly inconsiderate. It was one of those stores where people would run to the back to grab the newest game console and not be afraid of trampling over others. The place kept changing for the worse too-- the funniest instance was when they'd actually have a TIMER on how long it takes you to get a phonecall. The female robot voice would play on all of the employee radios too- "Electronics has 15 seconds to answer the phone on line 2" Nevermind that you're helping 3 people; that caller is a priority! When my friend quit, he wrote a report for the whole store to see- he printed out 2 dozen copies and just left them all over the store. Here's an excerpt-

"On top of that we've also got this Fast Service system in which the fine employees of this establishment must literally race the clock in order to prevent a nasty mark showing up on the store's progress report. This is all effort towards making Target a "Fast, Fun, and Friendly" place to work and shop. Take it from me - when I am forced into a game show-like procedure (where I'm actually hurrying to hit a button, not to help the customer) I will cease to be both fun and friendly. If I wanted to play Double Dare, I'd buy the home game."

I could post the whole story if anyone wanted to read it.

It turned into an awful awful awful job. Once all of my good friends quit, I was on the cliffs edge of joining them. Once my new manager (who didn't even know my name) threatened to fire me because I decided not to do the "team stretches" because I was sick with a flu/cold combo, that was the last straw. I had never gotten in trouble at that job before. That really pushed me over the edge. I never went back after that night. I didn't even want them as a reference. Absolutely horrible job. I needed to concentrate on skhool anyhow. Retail chains are bad. BAD!

...so a little over 4 years! Good and bad. Do you or anyone else here have any stories? I guess this thread should hold all types of stories.

when i worked for UPS the driver took most of my tips. He also threaten to kick me off the truck if I didn't give him my tips!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you should have tipped him in the face!

[amyrouse]

Oh, I agree, the managers are the worst!!!  I worked for three months as a cashier at a gas station before I was promoted to Assistant Manager and moved to another station.  The manager was hired off the street and was given the position of manager over me because (a) he was older than me and (b) he ran a "Church's Chicken" so therefore he had more experience.  Forget the fact that I had worked in a law office on and off for nearly a decade, was the Office Manager for a local bar and grill, and had actually worked at a friggin gas station in the company.  I was fully trained within 4 days.  After two months, I was still correcting the Manager's work.  He even called the police on a worker before because he counted her cash drops wrong.  When I spoke with the District Manager on a visit while I was doing the cigarette orders and weekly inventory for the store (a task assigned to me because the Manager kept screwing it up), I was informed that the station on the other side of town was in desperate need of a Manager.  I made the comment that I was ready for the challenge whenever he thought I was up to it, I was told that he "had considered it, but what would (the Manager) do without me."  I made up my mind then and there I didn't need the added stress (I was three months pregnant and had been spotting; I wasn't miscarrying for a second time because of a job) and submitted my resignation, giving a month's notice.  I later found out that the Manager had walked out without notice four days after my last day on the job. 

[teflonfanatic]

How many years experience do you have in retail falconer?  Overall, did/do you like it though--- "dealing with customers"?    I've worked fast food, a flea market & most recently a convenience store for about 12 years experience with customers and I still enjoy working with people...I really treasure the "regular" clients I've gotten to know.  The "funniest" experiences came from working fast food (late night shift), there was never a dull moment.  I have friends though that worked retail or grocery a short time and say NEVER AGAIN & that the people were the worst.   Just curious...

I originally worked at a large local theater when I was 15. I think I worked there for about 2 years. Besides the messes people would make and having to deal with loud customers, it was awesome. Free movies/popcorn. I worked with the pinnacles of society to the scum of the earth. 2 of my friends and I got a knife pulled on me in the back-- the kid backed off when he realized I knew who he was (it's a long story...he was an idiot). One of the managers was really good friends with my aunt, so he'd always give me dibs on posters, tickets, etc. I got to hang out on the roof and eat dinner with my usher crew sometimes. Hanging out with the slutty girls who worked there   lolololol.  It was a good experience for me as it's when I started coming out of my shell; it took away from the bad junk at that job (mainly the customers and some of the stupid drama). Fortunately I don't remember too much of that stuff. Ahh memories...I kinda miss it.

After that, I worked at Target for a little over 2 years. It started off okay but those places go through managers faster than popcorn. The customers were just stupidly awful and just superiorly inconsiderate. It was one of those stores where people would run to the back to grab the newest game console and not be afraid of trampling over others. The place kept changing for the worse too-- the funniest instance was when they'd actually have a TIMER on how long it takes you to get a phonecall. The female robot voice would play on all of the employee radios too- "Electronics has 15 seconds to answer the phone on line 2" Nevermind that you're helping 3 people; that caller is a priority! When my friend quit, he wrote a report for the whole store to see- he printed out 2 dozen copies and just left them all over the store. Here's an excerpt-

"On top of that we've also got this Fast Service system in which the fine employees of this establishment must literally race the clock in order to prevent a nasty mark showing up on the store's progress report. This is all effort towards making Target a "Fast, Fun, and Friendly" place to work and shop. Take it from me - when I am forced into a game show-like procedure (where I'm actually hurrying to hit a button, not to help the customer) I will cease to be both fun and friendly. If I wanted to play Double Dare, I'd buy the home game."

I could post the whole story if anyone wanted to read it.

It turned into an awful awful awful job. Once all of my good friends quit, I was on the cliffs edge of joining them. Once my new manager (who didn't even know my name) threatened to fire me because I decided not to do the "team stretches" because I was sick with a flu/cold combo, that was the last straw. I had never gotten in trouble at that job before. That really pushed me over the edge. I never went back after that night. I didn't even want them as a reference. Absolutely horrible job. I needed to concentrate on skhool anyhow. Retail chains are bad. BAD!

...so a little over 4 years! Good and bad. Do you or anyone else here have any stories? I guess this thread should hold all types of stories.

when i worked for UPS the driver took most of my tips. He also threaten to kick me off the truck if I didn't give him my tips!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you should have tipped him in the face!

I'm thinking of taken up some martial arts classes when I get some money.

[mypug04]