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ThreeFish posted:I shop there too, only because I have to when I'm there for 9 hour shifts and also sometimes because it's convenient. I try not to give Walmart money (I spend maybe $100 a year at Walmart). If I didn't have to spend more than half of my waking hours at Family Dollar, I'd definitely avoid shopping there. You might already do it, but everyone in retail should wear something like Dr Scholls. After 4 years in retail I tried them last December and they do wonders. For all the retailers paying poo poo wage and no health care, they could at least buy something like that for employees.
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Aug 15, 2013 04:46
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YF19pilot posted:It's one thing when a customer comes in 5 minutes before close. It's another entirely when they're gloating about it. I don't understand how anyone can expect to receive 'quality customer service' when you openly treat people like poo poo. These sorts of assholes are why I'm so glad we have the 'right to refuse service' policy up and posted. If people want me to make change? I'm not a loving bank. If people want to pay with a big bill for a tiny purchase? Same deal. Somebody wants to be an rear end in a top hat, especially when we're closing or closed? I've been given fairly literal leave to tell them to gently caress themselves with a rake. At this point, if I didn't want to escape retail entirely, I'd stay right where I'm at for as long as I could manage.
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Aug 15, 2013 05:42
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ThreeFish posted:Ugh. It's been said a million times, but gently caress people who come in 4 seconds before it's time to lock the door. And then just BROWSE. The major reason I refuse to work closing shifts, right here. Also because as I get older I'm becoming less of a night person. Though tonight I have to stay awake because I'm getting an EEG in ~12 hours
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Aug 15, 2013 06:19
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I just love the folks that don't think the store closing applies to them. They get snippy when you try to help them and get them out without being rude to them, and especially angry when the lights go out down the sides of the store, saying that we shouldn't ever force them out like that. One night the closing supervisor, our produce team lead who is a really nice lady, tried to help along a few members that were still in the store 45 minutes after we had closed. When she went up to them, the one lady snapped and said "I pay to shop here! You can't tell me to leave, I know you can't!" Guess who was the only cashier that night that hadn't counted their till down! (hint, me  ) Of course when the lady and her sister and son get up front they have two carts piled high with crap. She was also very jittery and high strung and seemed like she was going to snap at me for any little thing. The front end supervisor was less than pleased, as was the door greeter that had to stay an hour behind because of them. This was before we had a sweeping change in club management when they seemed afraid to do anything to get members moving along at closing time. Now we've got guys that want announcements 15 minutes before we close in both English and Spanish and wants us to try to get everyone out as fast as we can, which helps greatly. This becomes even better when we lose power. It's alright for the first 30 minutes or so, people can gather their things and get checked out with enough power from the generators for just enough light on the floor not to walk into things and computers to work. Some people will get angry at you though because it's too dark to shop and they can't find anything in the freezers (where I'm now working after moving from the front end) and what are you going to do about it? Well, what the gently caress do you expect me to do? I'm not allowed to open the freezers or the dairy cooler with no power to keep things cold anyway. One member got really angry at me because the freezers were too dark last time we lost power and got even more angry at me when I suggested she head up front before the generators go out and take the registers with them. Of course she didn't get up there in time because she needed a million other things along the way. She proceeded to just throw a fit at the cashier and I up front until the manager there that day told her to get lost, threatening to revoke her membership if she didn't leave. He would have, too, if the computers weren't down. I was on door guard during that outage as well, just turning away people that tried to enter the store after we lost power, for a little while as well while the greeter went on a break. People didn't care that we had no working anything, and would try to force their way in. "I only need one goddamn thing, I can still see just fine to get it you dumbass." Yeah, no. Manager told him to get lost as well. Most people just rolled their eyes at me and sped off before I got done with saying the words "no power." One thing I've noticed is that people treat you differently based on what job you're doing at the moment. There were days when I would be a door greeter and have people ignore me or be actively rude to me, hurling insults such as "dumbass kid" for no reason whatsoever, only to have me help them pick out new designer sunglasses or help them find something on the floor, or even put new tires on their car. That changes their attitude towards me pretty quickly. Also, what is it with people that like to walk in between me and the forklift when I'm spotting it out onto the floor? I mean, yeah, the lift trucks will stop pretty quickly, but come on. You wouldn't walk in front of a car like that.
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Aug 15, 2013 06:50
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It could always be worse. I used to work at a little "mom and pop" type grocery where we basically weren't allowed to acknowledge that the store was closing soon or closed. No posted hours, no announcements, no helping people along, no locking the doors with customers still in the store. Pretty much without fail, we would get a handful of people shopping near close who would end up staying over and just as they were leaving another 2 or 3 shoppers would come in and start the wait all over again. We could only close during that tiny magical window of time where someone could rush to lock the doors before the next bunch of shoppers made it out of the parking lot. This store also had a kitchen/deli and small eating area, so after closing late we still had to basically scrub the store from top to bottom which could take another extra hour or so.  m5ind posted:One thing I've noticed is that people treat you differently based on what job you're doing at the moment. There were days when I would be a door greeter and have people ignore me or be actively rude to me, hurling insults such as "dumbass kid" for no reason whatsoever, only to have me help them pick out new designer sunglasses or help them find something on the floor, or even put new tires on their car. That changes their attitude towards me pretty quickly. All I can think of is it's probably about what they assume your level of skill must be. If you're a door greeter, obviously it's because you're a failure at life and too dumb to do anything else in the store.  Same for cashiers mostly too. If you're on the floor, you're still seen as a failure for being in retail at all (because the world is a just place and only dumb people get bad jobs of course) but they also assume that you're an expert on everything in the store.
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Aug 15, 2013 08:19
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That always struck me as an interesting paradox. As the phone tech support, I need to know every problem with every software ever but I'm stupid if I can't solve their problems in .001 seconds or I must be some stupid failure at life to be working the phones.
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Aug 15, 2013 08:44
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ThreeFish posted:Ugh. It's been said a million times, but gently caress people who come in 4 seconds before it's time to lock the door. And then just BROWSE. Man, gently caress anybody that comes in just as you're closing. I work in a bookstore with a large toys/games section, and a few weeks ago we had a customer come in just as we were announcing the store closing. They promptly marched directly up to the counter and demanded that we refund the poker set they had bought earlier that day. It turns out they had seen one they wanted to buy on our online store, and then came in to purchase it. However, they picked up a completely different set and didn't realise until the end of the day. Once again, gently caress those people.
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Aug 15, 2013 09:45
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During my last closing shift at the art store we had a couple come in right as the clock hit closing time and I was on my way to lock the door. They came in, only to stop and stare at our community bulletin board. They had no intention to shop or anything. I waited about a minute then went over to them and very politely asked them to leave.
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Aug 15, 2013 10:33
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YF19pilot posted:Oh, you'll love my customer from two weeks ago. Well, he went to the girl at the Customer Service desk, not to me (I had a register open, no line). We closed, he comes up to the register at about 5 minutes past, then goes on "I know it's past closing time, I don't care! In fact, I wait for you to close before I come up here so that I don't have to wait in line. I know I'm holding you late and you want to go home, I don't care. I don't like having to wait in line when you only have two registers open! I know I'm an rear end in a top hat, but I don't care!" Holy poo poo  I just don't know what drives people to be so terrible. I can't imagine what I'd do if someone said those things to me at my job. I'd like to think I'd stand up for myself and tell them to go gently caress themselves, even if it meant I'd get fired. You just don't treat people like that, what in the hell is wrong with people? This poo poo just blows my mind.
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Aug 15, 2013 11:02
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The one day a year we close is actually pretty fun. We do the announcements starting an hour prior to closing with reminders to get your poo poo and get out every ten minutes. That at closing time we search the store with APs and cops telling people to leave their poo poo and get out. We're pretty nice about it but if your not in line or moving that way by closing you're not getting in one. Actually reading that back it sounds kind of lovely, but I guess we're all pretty ready to have a holiday off for once.
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Aug 15, 2013 12:58
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Kimmalah posted:All I can think of is it's probably about what they assume your level of skill must be. If you're a door greeter, obviously it's because you're a failure at life and too dumb to do anything else in the store. Its the coddling from "the customer is always right" I get it from them and I am dispensing their life sustaining drugs. Its only me and a pharmacist back there so I end up doing a lot of the leg work educating people on their medication when I am legally allowed to. I love when they look at me and ask "where are you going to school at" they don't react well when I tell them I graduated in 12'. It's always "such a shame you are wasting your potential here," "you should get a better job," "don't worry the economy will get better soon," or 'it's all Obama's fault I hope you didn't vote democrat." Its literally one of the most demoralizing things about this job, old people whom are basically below the poverty level are feeling sorry for me.
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Aug 15, 2013 14:18
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MrSmokes posted:Holy poo poo I think the funniest thing about it is when you tell non-retail people these stories about rear end in a top hat customers and the behavior is so terrible that they honestly don't believe it happened. The only ones that ever believe me are current or former retail employees. Even on the forums, I've seen a lot of fairly typical rear end in a top hat customer stories posted in the "poo poo that didn't happen" thread even the story was plausible compared to what I dealt with day to day. Azuth0667 posted:Its the coddling from "the customer is always right" I get it from them and I am dispensing their life sustaining drugs. Its only me and a pharmacist back there so I end up doing a lot of the leg work educating people on their medication when I am legally allowed to. I love when they look at me and ask "where are you going to school at" they don't react well when I tell them I graduated in 12'. It's always "such a shame you are wasting your potential here," "you should get a better job," "don't worry the economy will get better soon," or 'it's all Obama's fault I hope you didn't vote democrat." Its literally one of the most demoralizing things about this job, old people whom are basically below the poverty level are feeling sorry for me. Oh yeah, I used to get that a lot. I'm 27, but I look closer to my early 20s (or so people tell me). So I get a lot of "Are you a student?" And on my last day at my latest store, I told someone I was quitting and he just assumed I must be doing it to go back to school since it was late July. Nobody's has told me I'm wasting my potential yet, but I can tell it kind of boggles their mind a little when they find out I've had my bachelor's since 2009. I used to get the Obama stuff all the time, but that was more because my store sold guns/ammo right in the midst of the latest huge gun control controversy and we catered to a lot of old conservative men. 
Kimmalah fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 15:52
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I once had an older man hit on me and then offer me a job in his office. I was ringing up his poo poo so he had interacted with me for all of maybe 20 seconds. It was the typical "Oh, Buggiezor is a pretty name, and you're a pretty girl. Shame you're working here, you seem very smart. You should come work for me, anything's better than here, right?  " He tried to hand me his business card and I said No thank you. So he left it on my register "In case you change your mind" and smiled all creepy and left. That was one of those conversations that makes you feel like you need to go home and take a shower.
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Aug 15, 2013 16:19
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Necrocult posted:The one day a year we close is actually pretty fun. We do the announcements starting an hour prior to closing with reminders to get your poo poo and get out every ten minutes. That at closing time we search the store with APs and cops telling people to leave their poo poo and get out. We're pretty nice about it but if your not in line or moving that way by closing you're not getting in one. Whoa what magical fairy land is this? And what day of the year? Also, my (least) favorite part about working Memorial Day and December 26th if it is a Monday (if I am, in the 8 years I have worked at this store I have only worked Memorial Day twice and 12/26 has been on a Monday exactly once): Telling people that no, we can't sell alcohol because of Massachusetts law. This despite the fact we have had signs at the entrance and at every register for the past month advertising this fact. No, there are no exceptions, we are not about to risk our liquor license (a full 1/3 of our sales) just for you. And as a personal rule, I card EVERYONE. I don't care if that is your grandchild hanging off your leg, you're getting carded regardless, I'm not risking my job on the off chance you are a 16 year old in heavy makeup and a wig and it's really you're little brother. Kilonum fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 16:44
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Kilonum posted:Whoa what magical fairy land is this? Just a guess, but it kind of sounds like a Walmart Supercenter, which to my knowledge only closes once a year for Christmas. Considering that they're huge stores, have that "open 24/7" reputation and are full of customers who are idiots even by retail standards, I could see why the police would get involved in trying to clear the store. Because you know a regular employee by themselves isn't going to get anyone to leave because "Walmart never closes!" and "I'm the customer, I can shop as long as I want!"
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Aug 15, 2013 17:06
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HiHo ChiRho posted:I had a person who came in last minute and I spent a good 30 minutes with the guy, but the whole situation was actually pretty Yeah, see this is different, and I've had customers like this and they're the nicest people (they're also usually lost or confused, know very little about what they're buying and are really looking for help). And it makes you feel good knowing you got them hooked up with what they needed and they won't be back in less than 24 hours to return half of what they bought. You can rest easy that some little man out there is (was) wearing the clothing you picked out for him. For me, a husband and wife have a working pool thanks to me staying 30 minutes past my shift.
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Aug 15, 2013 17:13
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. Full disclosure I was working at a Babies "R" Us in an area with a sizable orthodox Jewish population. I have nothing against the tradition, but it is taboo to obtain items for the baby before it was born. Some families buy beforehand and have it delivered after the birth, some wait until the kid is actually born.
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Kilonum posted:Whoa what magical fairy land is this? Yeah, that must be nice. It always drove me loopy when I'd get a call at a few minutes before we closed and the person on the other end of the line is all but smirking, going "Gosh, I bet you wish you could go home now, huh? Too bad, you have to help me now!" And then they promptly proceed to go as slowly as possible.
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Aug 15, 2013 18:16
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Aerofallosov posted:Yeah, that must be nice. It always drove me loopy when I'd get a call at a few minutes before we closed and the person on the other end of the line is all but smirking, going "Gosh, I bet you wish you could go home now, huh? Too bad, you have to help me now!" And then they promptly proceed to go as slowly as possible. This poo poo makes me glad I am in a pharmacy. "I'm sorry sir/madam we are closing in 3 minutes, I can speak to you until we close if you like." One thing my pharmacists won't put up with is people keeping us open past close, they've been there for 12-14 hours so they are in no mood to allow anyone to keep us open.
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Aug 15, 2013 18:42
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Kimmalah posted:If you're on the floor, you're still seen as a failure for being in retail at all (because the world is a just place and only dumb people get bad jobs of course) but they also assume that you're an expert on everything in the store. Yeah I don't know what's up with this, people will come up to me all the time and be like, "This is buy one get one free, right?" or talk about how whatever item is $5.99 or something, and I just politely tell them that I really wouldn't know until I scan it because I don't do stock. Do they think we get briefed each day on the prices of everything...? I don't know. As far as getting flirted with, I had an older guy come in the other day who first winked at me, then called me "sweetie" when I asked for his discount card, then winked at me again when he left. Also when he saw that the total was over $90, he was like, "Oh no I only have 90, please take [whatever] off," then proceeded to hand me $75. Yes, I am very interested in old men who flirt with me when I have shown no indication of interest and when there is nothing I can do to avoid it, who also can't count. :| Oh, and he was definitely interested in me because my coworker who was helping me bag didn't get any winks or anything. I'm just too sexy. 
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Aug 15, 2013 21:41
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What is with people expecting me cater to their every whim while I am off the clock? I just went to the grocery store and ran into a patient that insisted I allow her to go first or else she'll complain to the manager about me.  if you think I am going to put up with that while I'm not being paid.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:38
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kazz posted:Yeah I don't know what's up with this, people will come up to me all the time and be like, "This is buy one get one free, right?" or talk about how whatever item is $5.99 or something, and I just politely tell them that I really wouldn't know until I scan it because I don't do stock. Do they think we get briefed each day on the prices of everything...? I don't know. I don't know, I think some people must have thought I memorized every weekly ad/sale we had because I used to get a lot of that. And stock questions, like I was an inventory computer. I understand asking if we carry something in general, but unless it was up somewhere near the front where I could see it, I had no idea if it was in stock most of the time. They never asked about anything near the front of course. You don't know creepy until you've worked at a store that makes you ask for phone numbers. So many creepy guys loved to segue that into "Are you gonna call me?  " Because nothing brightened my day like being flirted with by some guy old enough to be my dad. Azuth0667 posted:What is with people expecting me cater to their every whim while I am off the clock? I just went to the grocery store and ran into a patient that insisted I allow her to go first or else she'll complain to the manager about me. That's kind of funny. I used to wait in line in front of customers all the time, even when I was buying something on the clock. I got there first. 
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Aug 16, 2013 02:49
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Buggiezor posted:creepy poo poo Please keep us updated on the job prospects. As a fellow former employee of the "R US" chains, I can't wait to hear of your eventual employment outside of the retail world.
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Aug 16, 2013 03:01
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HiHo ChiRho posted:
Wow.  I missed that story earlier. I hope you and everyone else gets out of retail soon (unless somehow you're actually enjoying it I guess). I'm on the verge of getting a job that doesn't involve dealing with the public and man it's a relief.
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Aug 16, 2013 05:27
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I had a customer do the standard rear end in a top hat routine, it's pretty bland by this thread's standards so I'm not going to go into it. I realized halfway through my explanation of basic addition to a 50 year old woman that if this had occured 48 hours into the future, I would have just walked out of the store. Seriously, I have one more shift for the rest of my life. I want it to end.
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Aug 16, 2013 05:57
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I work in a discount bookstore where every book costs the same. Recently we've gotten some puzzles and board games to sell as well, so my manager had me put up signs saying "Everything in the store $5". I've had three separate guys asking me if that policy included me  I understand that you are joking, dude, but please don't ask me if I'm a sex worker while I'm working, in front of the whole queue.
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Aug 17, 2013 14:18
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Talking to some of my female coworkers, I've gotten just a small slice of what life is like for a woman in a retail job. I don't envy you one bit, that kind of poo poo has to be simultaneously demoralizing and humiliating (and erotic ). I decided to take the plunge: I was ushered into a department supervisor position after the former one stepped down due to health problems. I was basically handed the job after busting my rear end since I started, which was a nice feeling. The "interview" for the position as with my store manager and ASM basically saying, "We interviewed several people from other stores and you've got the job." So that was a nice pat on the back, not to mention literally everyone else in the department asking me whether I was going to go for the position before I got confirmed. Of course, I got handed a shitload of training to do: DS onboarding, product knowledge that I already have but still have to complete for completeness sake I guess, processes that I may or may not ever use. All of which I have to fit in around normal scheduling and actually, you know, running the department. Time to learn how to juggle! Either way, it's nice to move up a rung, especially in pay. We'll see how long it takes me to get to level.
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Aug 18, 2013 08:43
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Azuth0667 posted:What is with people expecting me cater to their every whim while I am off the clock? I just went to the grocery store and ran into a patient that insisted I allow her to go first or else she'll complain to the manager about me. At least you haven't had a 'patient' demand that you remember to fill their 5 prescriptions when you are on your day off having lunch with a friend. Remember, we are nothing but slaves not allowed to have any free time. I usually do a coffee run for myself, pharmacists, other techs, etc. once or twice a day which means I spend a little time in the in-store coffee shop. The amount of customer complaints I've received over this is a joke at this point. gently caress this job.
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Aug 18, 2013 12:05
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Avalanche posted:At least you haven't had a 'patient' demand that you remember to fill their 5 prescriptions when you are on your day off having lunch with a friend. Remember, we are nothing but slaves not allowed to have any free time. I assume you're in small town too, the amount of poo poo we get off the clock is ridiculous. I get people at the gym constantly bothering me about medications or asking for medical advice. Its to the point I go in ridiculously early or ridiculously late to avoid it.
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Aug 18, 2013 12:53
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I'm stoked. While there's not much too get excited over at big box retail, I managed to stop some fraudsters last night. An older scraggly looking woman dragged some kid (21ish) along to try to 'return' some merchandise (obviously without receipt). It was pretty blatant what was going on, the woman said it was the kid who was returning it, blah, blah, answering questions I asked the kid for him, and has obviously done enough returns without receipt to know the procedure. Flags don't get bigger or redder. Lady leaves the kid to fend for himself, I get my head cashier over and we deny the return. Kid leaves without the merchandise, neither come back. All in all, saved my company almost $300.00. I think the two of them basically went to the department, picked stuff off shelves, and then came up front trying to return them. Not to mention, it's one of those things that the kind of customers who buy it wouldn't return it.
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Aug 18, 2013 14:52
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Went to work on Friday, wasn't feeling great but I needed the money, get there and boss saw me before I got in the store and said "Go home, you look like you're about to puke. I'll just put you down for a paid sick day." Worst part? He was right. I barfed in the bushes right after he said that. 
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Aug 18, 2013 16:21
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What kind of shoes do you guys recommend for retail? I'm at the age where comfort means more to me than style, so I need me a comfortable pair for 9a-7p shifts.
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Aug 18, 2013 17:59
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Yestermoment posted:What kind of shoes do you guys recommend for retail? I'm at the age where comfort means more to me than style, so I need me a comfortable pair for 9a-7p shifts. I wore these. They were ugly, but my feet felt fine after a full day of standing on a lovely linoleum/concrete floor. I think there were originally a nursing shoe company.
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Aug 18, 2013 18:10
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Yestermoment posted:What kind of shoes do you guys recommend for retail? I'm at the age where comfort means more to me than style, so I need me a comfortable pair for 9a-7p shifts. I just wear a cheap Wal-Mart shoe that fits right. It's very important that you know what is comfortable - if it feels even a hint too snug, you'll be in pain after 8 hours. Support is key, too, if you start feeling back pain, get some insoles.
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Aug 18, 2013 18:45
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http://www.redwingshoes.com/red-wing-shoe-finder I put 80 hours a week for 2 weeks in a pair of redwing composite toe sneakers. No amount of good footwear will stop your feet from aching from that many hours, but they were less sore than working in a lovely pair of shoes for 20 hours. Arch support and good posture are key in the end, however.
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Aug 18, 2013 18:58
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I've been wearing these for a year.
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Aug 18, 2013 19:57
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http://www.dansko.com/. You mostly see healthcare professionals use them, but they are super comfortable and are really good against slippery surfaces.
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Aug 18, 2013 20:23
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Yestermoment posted:What kind of shoes do you guys recommend for retail? I'm at the age where comfort means more to me than style, so I need me a comfortable pair for 9a-7p shifts. I love my Dr scholls
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Aug 18, 2013 20:33
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A pair of Nike Pegasus have a cushiony, comfy dream. I even wear them on my days off.
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Aug 19, 2013 19:36
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Heading back to retail part-time. I swore I'd never do it again
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Aug 20, 2013 00:22
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gently caress having to clean up after grown men and women that don't make an effort to find someone to help. I understand mistakes and spills, but if you drop your goddamned icee on a pallet of something let me know at least so it can be dealt with. And leaving poo poo where it doesn't belong gets old quick. Just hand it to someone, don't shove it between pallets of things, especially if it's perishable. I worked in the freezers last night and the first endcap I walk by has some once frozen fish sticks sweating all over the boxes of fruit snacks. And when I finally get to work back there, I found about $150 worth of fresh cut meat left in the freezers that people didn't want. My bonus is already going to be piss poor, but this poo poo makes it worse, and it makes zoning the club so it's nice for the members a pain since I spend most of the time running to all ends of the club to put poo poo away. It really bugs me when people will pick something up, and put it out of place by one or two bays while I'm standing right in front of them. I will make an effort to fix it while they're watching me. Also, gently caress having to babysit another department to make sure it's done for the night when I've got my own poo poo to deal with and the closing manager has decided to be a perfectionist tonight, so I guess I get to take care of the entire grocery side of the club and it's my fault that it's not all done yet and /rant
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Aug 20, 2013 18:35
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