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spankmeister posted:As long as it isn't Dixons, those guys are known for terrible customer service. Dixons don't have physical shops any more, they only operate online. Curry's, which is essentially the same company, are proudly carrying on the tradition of incompetence that Dixons stuck to so well.
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Oct 13, 2010 18:10
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side_burned posted:gently caress all people who play any form of lottery. Seriously. Especially the fuckers who come in and spend 40 bucks on the same numbers EVRY DAY and then if you accidentally gently caress up one of the numbers they act like you're the idiot. I know a way you're guaranteed to have 200 bucks more every week, wanna know how? STOP PLAYING THE loving LOTTERY.
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Oct 14, 2010 19:07
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Found this because of the ad. Yee haw. Currently in the deli department of a large grocery chain. I've worked in almost every department in this shithole, and food service has got to be the worst, second only to cashier. Needless to say, I never want to eat a rotisserie chicken or make myself a sandwich much these days. Night crew was chill as gently caress, just put the headphones in and throw some freight. Hours suck though, obviously. Cashier was simply the worst. I also worked for a year at Safeway as a cashier, and I can echo the dragging misery that it is. 8 hours is an eternity in that little space, and those mats I stood on didn't help those sore feet. Bakery/Coffee shop was hell. I was always scheduled 3am-12pm. I might as well have been working night crew. Making lattes and poo poo for cranky suit and tie types running late at 7am was always a nice way to get the proverbial counter rush ball rolling. I would be stuck on the counter making coffee, and then get bitched at for not having all the bread out at 8am sharp. Schedule some more help, you idiots. I've got stories much like you all, I'll probably write 'em later. Keep on truckin'.
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Oct 15, 2010 03:54
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Strawberry posted:Cashier was simply the worst. I also worked for a year at Safeway as a cashier, and I can echo the dragging misery that it is. 8 hours is an eternity in that little space, and those mats I stood on didn't help those sore feet. It amazes me that the only chain that actually gives their cashiers chairs is Aldi.
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Oct 15, 2010 14:42
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Tatsujin posted:It amazes me that the only chain that actually gives their cashiers chairs is Aldi. Yeah they have chairs. Normally in supermarkets here the cashiers are allowed, if there are no customers for a moment, to stretch a bit. Aldi's policy? The amount of time needed for customers to get out their wallets and pay is enough time to stretch and prevent back problems etc.... 
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Oct 15, 2010 15:38
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You guys need to move to Europe and work in a grocery. Last time I was over there bought some stuff form a market and the guy ringing my up was just nursing a beer chilling in a chair.
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Oct 15, 2010 15:43
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alreadybeen posted:You guys need to move to Europe and work in a grocery. Last time I was over there bought some stuff form a market and the guy ringing my up was just nursing a beer chilling in a chair. Europe is a big place, with a lot of different people, what country was this?
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Oct 15, 2010 15:53
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spankmeister posted:Europe is a big place, with a lot of different people, what country was this? France, believe it was Nice.
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Oct 15, 2010 16:38
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alreadybeen posted:France, believe it was Nice. French people are generally of the "don't give a gently caress"-variety. Germany for example is very different.
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Oct 15, 2010 18:06
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Strawberry posted:Cashier was simply the worst. I also worked for a year at Safeway as a cashier, and I can echo the dragging misery that it is. 8 hours is an eternity in that little space, and those mats I stood on didn't help those sore feet. Man, I complain a lot about my job, but at least cashiers have it better where I work. 6 hour shifts, and no one gives a poo poo if I read a book when we have no customers.
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Oct 15, 2010 18:51
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spankmeister posted:French people are generally of the "don't give a gently caress"-variety. Germany for example is very different. Al Murray the pub landlord posted:If we had no rules where would we be? France! And if we had too many rules where would we be? Germany! Sounds like he nailed it.
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Oct 15, 2010 19:55
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Mr. Toad posted:Dixons don't have physical shops any more, they only operate online. Curry's, which is essentially the same company, are proudly carrying on the tradition of incompetence that Dixons stuck to so well. I couldn't possibly say what company I worked for. I also agree whole heartedly with these statements and I am getting the gently caress out as soon as possible. There is not enough time to tell you how much I dislike working for this particular company who's name I cannot mention because I'm fairly certain that at least one of my co-workers knows I visit this website. NGC773 posted:Sweet story, i used to work for a large electricals retailer in the UK too. I hates selling insurance covered up as protection for your little new laptop. Customers used to come in everyday to complain about how the company had a direct debit setup to their bank account, allot of the staff used to put it on the sale for free for the first few months then they start paying. Ugh this. To be fair the insurance isn't half bad albeit overpriced but the lengths some people go to here to get it on their sales is repulsive. I have been working mainly as cashier/customer service because it suits me just fine and I goddamned hate selling it. Operation Juicebox fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Oct 15, 2010 |
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Oct 15, 2010 20:43
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If its the one that can't shut up about Co-ownership despite the fact that its employees are not co-owners at all, then you must have some fantastic stories for us after you manage to escape.
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Oct 15, 2010 21:08
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Nay, co-ownership has never been mentioned as long as I've been there.
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Oct 15, 2010 22:32
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Tatsujin posted:It amazes me that the only chain that actually gives their cashiers chairs is Aldi. Asda have them in the UK, don't know about Walmart across the pond. Cashier is one of the few jobs I haven't worked for the company though. I finally found my niche about ten months ago, getting paid to listen to lectures/podcasts/audiobooks while throwing stock on at night. Bonus: they made me a section leader, so I do forty hours over four shifts for a bit of extra money per hour and they still don't care that I listen to stuff. Beats the poo poo out of my previous role, where I had to show up at six in the morning and stare bleakly at a 2"x2" screen for eight hours while people asked me why we didn't have the cheapest beans on sale.
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Oct 16, 2010 02:49
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Hope and pity. Two feelings that will be crushed out of you eventually. Working longer in retail will eventually snuff these two feelings out, perhaps permanently. Yet, they flare up. Like today. And when they do flare up, due to fatigue, optimism, luck, or any combination of the three, they will quickly make you regret allowing yourself to listen to them. There is the hope that came when I saw a customer come up to pick up some photos that she had ordered a couple days ago. My retail-sense (tm) warned me that she would be trouble, the way Spider-man's Spider-Sense warns him of impending trouble. She looked innocent enough - no handfuls of coupons, just a purse. I could give her the benefit of the doubt, right? She couldn't possibly have a stack of coupons for these photos, right? I think you all know what comes next. Right as I pull out her photos (under different names, scattered in different places,) out of her mouth comes a "Can I pay for all these separately so that I can use these?" You guys can hear it, can't you? I can still hear it now: The sound of hope, wailing, as it is sliced to ribbons by rusted, expired coupons: 99c for ten 4x6 photos, and a free 8x10. Which were only valid for same-day service. Which means I get to explain to her why they wouldn't work for her 5-day-service photos. Which means I get to listen to her as she rationalizes I should honor her coupons because she ordered them before they expired, and that she couldn't get them before they expired because they hadn't come in yet. Of course they didn't come in, you loving idiot! You asked for them to come in a few days in a harebrained scheme to save money instead of doing the smart thing and ordering them to come in the same day! Ten minutes of this utterly retarded back-and-forth. It's a good thing she decided to bring her printout to pick up her photos, because it allowed me to point out the "days" on the printout like I was talking to a kindergarten student. "What's this word right here, little Cathy? 'Days'! Good!" Defeated, she relented and surprisingly bought the 4x6 photos. At normal price, too. And the second lesson of the day: Never let surprise stir emotions in you. In this case for me, pity. After ringing her for the 4x6 photos, I decided to outright feel for her and ring her up for the 8x10 photos at half-price. Typing that up makes me remember how utterly stupid of an idea that was. Was she thankful of my willingness to give her the big pictures for half-off? Please. I think my brain is actively suppressing what happened after she demanded I do that for the 4x6s, too. Good old brain. Tries to keep my best interests in mind. It's not that good at helping me write, especially right after work, but at least it would recognize and try to prevent me from falling into situations like these. If that lady's brain wasn't so consumed by saving money, she would have realized that ordering same-day service would have let her use the coupon and get the pictures much faster. But alas, she didn't look past the prices of the same-day/5-day service. All that ended up in me snuffing out my hope and pity for a long time. That, and the coupon devil herself came in at 30 minutes before closing today.
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Oct 16, 2010 09:03
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So this week in general has been crap for me. I work in a grocery store in a perishable department. Sunday I worked at a different store I normally do to help out. Of course that one day I was there I was mystery shopped. Sure I say "Hello!" and "Can I help you with anything?" to 99 out 100 customers. Yea occasionally I miss that 1 out of 100 customers, but gently caress is it always that damned mystery shopper. It sucks rear end being labeled a lovely employee because you can't catch every person. That store doesn't have a service counter, so the customers don't come to me like any other department. Today sucked rear end, because we had a Procter & Gamble visit. For those who don't know, they come in and detail food prep equipment to make sure they're sanitary enough to use. So the P&G guy looked at our equipment. Under the normal lights, everything was clean. However, on metallic equipment if you look at it with a flashlight, you can sometimes spot some white residue the size of a quarter. He did this on one machine and kind of scraped a bit off with his fingernail, INSTANT CRITICAL. Really? One tiny spot that you can't even see with normal light? If this happens again I'll probably get written up then suspended if it happens a third time. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I also want to rant about general audits with this company. Always some type of audit going on that if we aren't near perfect, management comes down on us as if it's the end of the world. Out of stock audits - 20 out of stock out of 400 items is a bad audit. Doesn't matter if we're understaffed or someone calls in sick or it happens to be a busy loving holiday, if that audit happens and we aren't at 100%, we get major grief. Out of date audit - It's understandable that having anything not fit to eat in our cases is bad, but if they find 1 item out of thousands of product out there, it's automatic paperwork. Further infractions will result in possible suspension. Mystery shopper - once every 4 weeks. Most of you know what that means. Shink audit - Guy goes around and check everyday operations such as: safety equip in use and readily available, paper work in order, out of date checks, backstock neatly organized and dated, everything sanitary and so forth. This wouldn't be so bad but that loving out of date thing is an issue. 1 item and management starts foaming in the mouth. It's doubly worse since I work in the slowest store in the zone and we're forced to carry expensive product (upscale area) that no one wants and fill shelves that holds way more product than necessary. I want a hug 
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Oct 16, 2010 10:10
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I worked behind a glass window. Behind this glass window was an array of pamphlets, some relevant to my place of business, some just little brochures of the local area. They're pressed right up against the glass, so a customer can see them all. Now, in my experience working there, there were exactly three kinds of customers. First, the customer who asks, "Can you hand me one of those?" and helpfully points to the brochure or advert that they want. Second, the customer who reaches out, hits their hand on the glass, and then immediately laughs at themselves in embarrassment. Perfectly understandable. It's worth a good chuckle, even. Then there's the third. The customer who reaches out, bonks their hand on the glass, and is confused. They narrow their little eyes and, full of intense concentration, they try again.
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Oct 16, 2010 12:47
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iamsmike posted:Then there's the third. The customer who reaches out, bonks their hand on the glass, and is confused. They narrow their little eyes and, full of intense concentration, they try again. I wish capital punishment for stupidity was legal. 
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Oct 16, 2010 16:52
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Kaninrail posted:I wish capital punishment for stupidity was legal.
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Oct 16, 2010 19:02
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Kaninrail posted:I wish capital punishment for stupidity was legal. At the very least, stupidity should be painful. My brother has a bumper sticker on his truck that says this. From reading this thread and the call center thread, and from my own experience in a call center, I've also come to the conclusion that the retail and call center industries want their employees to be mindless robots that do everything perfectly every time and can't deal with the fact that humans are imperfect.
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Oct 16, 2010 19:32
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I've only been shopped once in 4 years because they just don't come in early enough to catch me. I got 100% on it too 
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Oct 16, 2010 20:05
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rockinricky posted:The retail and call center industries require their employees to be cheerful robots that do everything perfectly every time, and do not accept the opinion that humans are imperfect. I would add that banks (where I work) at least accept a certain degree of fallibility, in that overdraft fees are a recognized thing, but so much of that makes me feel just so... Well, let me lay it out. A couple years back, my branch manager, who I'll call "Tim", made a big production about how we should defuse customer complaints about overdraft fees. The basic gist was that they were expensive to the bank because A) the bank was basically out the cash until the customer brought their account back to positive, B) a lot of different levels of processing have to get involved in fronting the money for someone overdrafting, and C) it's not like the bank was making tons of quick, predatory cash off of people overdrawing their accounts. All in all, it was in our best interest to keep our customers' accounts positive. Flash forward to now, when all sorts of long-standing and attractive aspects of our accounts are getting tossed out the window left and right, and customers being told basically to shut up and deal with less useful services and more charges. The reason? No, not the merger; no, not a reevaluation of older and extra-generous services; no, not a punitive (or even preemptive) measure against deadbeats. Tim gave a customer this explanation this very morning: "Changes in federal legislation earlier this year made it more difficult for banks to collect overdraft fees. The bank made over sixty-five billion dollars off of those, so we've got to make up that difference somehow." I can't decide if  or  is more appropriate.
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Oct 16, 2010 20:39
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I've never gotten a perfect 5 ("World Class Service", as they call it) when I get secret shopped. Usually 4s, with the occasional 3. I remember a while back one of our produce guys got a -1. He got into a heated argument with another employee, lots of shouting.
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Oct 16, 2010 22:38
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Strawberry posted:I've never gotten a perfect 5 ("World Class Service", as they call it) when I get secret shopped. Usually 4s, with the occasional 3. Yeah nearly all secret shops I've scene are like that usually because the clerk didn't try to  up sale.. God I hate up selling, I need to bitch about this some, in my experience up selling policies more less amount to store mangers getting edgy and nervous after the secret shopper reports come or when regional guys are coming over to chew the store manger out, in both cases all it amounts to is the store manager telling everyone to up-sale, sometimes with thinly veiled threats of being fired, this new commitment to up sales basically last until the store manger goes home and is entirely forgotten by the next day even by the manger. You can tell that up selling polices where the brain child of corporate bean counters who have little to no experience with actual customers. Customers hate it and in my experience its one of the worse things for a stores employee moral (not that corporate management cares about that ever) because store mangers usually have to be really heavy handed because the clerks won't do it otherwise. I worked at Radio Shack for a while and that company was down rite obsessed with up selling I was literally supposed to try and sale every customer a cellphone (plus accessories), a store credit card, in store warranties and 3 packs of (very over priced) batteries to ever sucker. Of course they tell us it possible to sell these to anyone if done rite and boy did the regional director let my store manger know if we didn't reach our goals. gently caress that chain seriously. side_burned fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Oct 17, 2010 |
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Oct 16, 2010 23:57
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side_burned posted:I worked at Radio Shack for a while and that company was down rite obsessed with up selling I was literally supposed to try and sale every customer a cellphone (plus accessories), a store credit card, in store warranties and 3 packs of (very over priced) batteries to ever sucker. Of course they tell us it possible to sell these to anyone if done rite and boy did the regional director let my store manger know if we didn't reach our goals. gently caress that chain seriously. I agree. This is pretty much how The Store I Work In operates (hence why I have emigrated unofficially to cashier rather than sales). There are some people out there who are not going to be sold all the accessories and insurance and just want to get their item and leave. I know because I am one of these people. Even I won't take the store insurance. I do have a story for the thread though. As I've mentioned I'm job hunting at the moment, and I applied for a senior sales position at a gaming store as they were advertising. I got an interview, managed to balls it up quite badly as I had the beginnings of flu, and wrote the whole thing off. But when I did not get a call back even though I was promised I would I decided to ring up just so I definately knew I was being rejected. I ring, guy picks up the phone, runs off to get the guy who interviewed me. He puts the phone down on I assuming the cash desk instead of putting me on hold like a normal person. I can HEAR the guy who interviewed me, let's call him M, talking to the boy who answered the phone. Boy: Some girl called Operation Juicebox. M: Who's Operation Jui-... <panicked> oh it's that girl about the interview. <Mumbled talking>. M: Ok well just tell her I'm in a conference call and I'll talk to her later. So Boy comes back and tells me that M is in a conference call and would phone me back in the evening. In my most polite, well mannered voice I ask Boy if he would please relay to M that I overheard them speaking. Suffice it to say I have not been contacted about that particular position and although I'm kicking myself slightly for not keeping my mouth shut, I'm still utterly pissed that they tried to fob me off in such a way. In other news, I am hoping to get an interview at the local pub as kitchen staff. It's better pay, more hours and I DON'T HAVE TO TALK TO ANY CUSTOMERS.
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Oct 17, 2010 00:44
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Strawberry posted:I've never gotten a perfect 5 ("World Class Service", as they call it) when I get secret shopped. Usually 4s, with the occasional 3. Someone reported us because apparently we were shouting abuse at each other. 
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Oct 17, 2010 02:30
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Write ups are such bullshit. A coworker of mine got a write up because a customer complained that he didn't know the metric system. (clearly not a common thing to know in the united states.)
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Oct 17, 2010 08:37
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kyat posted:Write ups are such bullshit. 
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Oct 17, 2010 08:41
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gently caress that, base ten superiority.  I don't need to know 5k whatever feet in a mile, all I have to do is slide the decimal point around.
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Oct 17, 2010 10:36
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I'm a cashier at a hardware store, and we're donating M&Ms to the Shriner's Children's Hospital to pass out at Halloween. (We also happen to be having a chain wide contest to see which store/cashier can sell the most M&Ms,  ) A customer today gave me a long winded rant about how it's not appropriate to ask for charity, how it becomes repetitious, how he donates to the charities of his choice on his own time, he's going to start shopping at the other hardware store that doesn't ask for charity, blah blah blah. Then he proceeds to buy 2 bags of M&Ms for charity.
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Oct 17, 2010 14:23
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less than three posted:gently caress that, base ten superiority. Metric fistbump.   God's true system.
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Oct 17, 2010 14:28
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So, is science fiction like real?
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Oct 17, 2010 17:59
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The General posted:So, is science fiction like real? Sure bro. They shoot Star Trek on location.
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Oct 17, 2010 18:02
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spankmeister posted:Sure bro. They shoot Star Trek on location. I happened to be watching season two tng as I work  I hate this season more than season one.
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Oct 17, 2010 18:04
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I work for a Swedish clothing retailer. Last week was Fleet Week in San Francisco, and the Blue Angels were flying around. A jet fighter flying around that low is not quiet. I was ringing up a customer when they flew close enough that you could hear it inside the store, and she asked, "What is that noise, the cable cars?" The customer waiting in line was all 
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Oct 17, 2010 18:50
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Big Taint posted:I work for a Swedish clothing retailer. Last week was Fleet Week in San Francisco, and the Blue Angels were flying around. A jet fighter flying around that low is not quiet. I was ringing up a customer when they flew close enough that you could hear it inside the store, and she asked, "What is that noise, the cable cars?" You should have been hear in Seattle when the jets went supersonic. Felt like someone threw a car at my house
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Oct 17, 2010 19:28
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I work at a Bed, Bath, and Beyond... and this has happened a ton to me: Customer: I was looking for [summer grilling item I've forgotten] because I saw it in another one of your stores, can you show me where it is? Me: We had those, but I believe we're sold out. I'll show you where we've moved the summer items to, and if it's not there I can have it shipped to you. So we walk over to the big pole we've moved all the grilling items to and I look, then say: Sorry, it looks like we are out of them. Would you like me to have it shipped to you though? Her: Look, do you know what I'm talking about? It was (whatever she was looking for). Me: Yes, it's called the [whatever]. Her: Good! Where is it? Me: We're sold out. Her: Look, I don't think you know what I'm talking about. I know you have it because I saw it in another one of your stores. Me: Sorry, we did have this, but we're sold out now. Her: No, you just don't know what I'm talking about, it was (describes it again). Me: Yes, it does (I describe what it does, what it looks like, what the package looked like, and how much it cost). Her: Yes, that's what I'm looking for. Me: Ma'am, sorry, but we're sold out of that here. Her: Look, I know you're confused and don't know what I'm looking for. In the other store it was on a TABLE. Me: Ma'am, we moved all our grilling items to this pole here, they were in the front room but we've turned that into a clearance room right now. This is all that we have left of the summer items. Her: NO, you just don't know what I'm looking for. It was on a table on the other store, it wasn't right here. Can you get someone for me who knows where it is? Me: I can call the manager for you. MOD, can you come over next to cookware? MOD: I'll be just a minute, I have to finish (whatever). Lady: Never mind, I'll just go look and see if I can find it myself. This ISN'T where it was in your other store. So she walks off and I hear her say: Ugh, we need to find someone who actually knows where the merchandise in this store is. As she walks away I think to myself: Fine, if you know where it is so well, why not go loving find it yourself? If you find that table and show me I'll pay you for the item. So some time goes by..... and I'm called up to one of the registers. I get there and it's the same lady. Cashier: She was looking for (whatever), do you know where we have it at? Lady sees me: UGH, never mind. He said you don't have it. I'll just go get it from the OTHER store. And at this point she pretty much storms out. I just love how often customers will come up and ask about some product, then when I say we're sold out, they insist I have no idea what they're asking for. I've shown someone that we were out on the computer before and he told me it was wrong because he KNEW we had it. Yay. MaxDuo fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Oct 18, 2010 |
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Oct 18, 2010 02:27
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Soooo I'm going to be starting my first retail job at a UK store that sells video games, any tips from video game store vets? I'm already dreading it as the next call of duty is coming out just after i start, which means lots of underaged kiddies trying to buy it. On the note of crackheads trying to sell stolen games back, one of the game stores over here that deals exclusively in pre-owned games and dvd's is always amusing to pop into, the amount of fresh, still sealed box sets (usually multiple of the same season) they try to sell to them is amazing.
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Oct 18, 2010 03:42
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MaxDuo posted:I just love how often customers will come up and ask about some product, then when I say we're sold out, they insist I have no idea what they're asking for. I've shown someone that we were out on the computer before and he told me it was wrong because he KNEW we had it. Yay. It's lovely when it's that prolonged, and I'm sorry those folks were assholes. I can think of plenty of times where I did receive the item I was looking for after asking a few different people. Today at Costco there was a TV I wanted to buy, and no matching boxes. I ask one guy who tells me there won't be anymore in the store. Some guy next to me asked someone else and he looks it up. He found that there are 17 left in the store, and in about 10 minutes I have the TV I want. I just have to ask you retail folks this - how are consumers supposed to tell the difference between "actually, I'm too lazy find the product you want" and "really, we don't have the poo poo you want"?
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Oct 18, 2010 04:58
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