Was busy tonight on the shopfloor - we don't need many staff on Tuesday nights as it's not that busy customer wise but there's still plenty to be done. I was running around like a blue-arsed fly when a woman stopped and asked me where the small bottles of diet coke were at. She also happened to be standing in the queue at the checkout at the time with a friend. I pointed at the fridge which was only about 15 feet away and visible. She then stares blankly at me after I give her this information. "Where?" she asks again. "There!" Me pointing and gestering animatedly at this point. "Oh. Get it for me," was her response. Again, I point to the fridge thinking she still can't see it. I also tell her it's just beside the kiosk and the magazine stands. "Yes I see it. Get a bottle for me."
:eek: Ok, I was shocked and angered by the woman's rude attitude. No please or thank you, plus if she was perhaps worried about losing her place in the queue, send her friend who was just flicking her hair and staring into space to get it - not me, who was clearly rushed off my feet! Do people think I'm their personal shopper?
It amazes me how customers still manage to annoy me like this.
I work in WHSmith in the entertainment section (dealing with DVDs, CDs and games) and the big ceiling-hanging sign reading 'Customer Service' is right above my till (for some odd reason, but I deal).
Anyway, for this reason I get quite a few idiots coming to me.
One example was back in January. One middle-aged woman came up to me and told me about how she bought a Filofax insert, sent it off to Spain for a friend for Christmas and then got an email for the friend stating it was in fact a 2007 insert and not one for 2008.
Now, had she had a receipt and the item, I would have been more than happy to give her a refund. But she only had a receipt. She walked into our shop, without the actual item she bought and demanded a refund based on the grounds that we still had 2007 inserts on display in November of 2007. Ignoring the fact that she picked up the item, paid for the item, wrapped the item and shipped it off to another country, it was somehow our fault.
I kindly pointed out that I was unable to give a refund without the actual item, to which she replied "Well, I'll get the item, but I'll be writing to head office and making sure they pay for the international shipping fees to get it back here!". Er, what?
Another story is a woman, probably about 30-35, walked into the shop and demanded to speak to a manager. So I went and got an assistant manager, wondering what was wrong. Turns out that she was unhappy about the layout of our DVDs. She was "disgusted" that some PG/U rated films or TV shows were on the upper shelves, and some 15 or 18 rated films were on the lower shelves, making them visible to her young children.
However, like 99% of other stores in the country, we file our DVDs alphabetically, so if Alice in Wonderland happens to be on a high shelf (out of reach for young children) and Saw IV is on a lower shelf, we can't really help it. Same with chart DVDs - we don't choose to put Stardust (PG) at Number 1 (which is obviously to the top left of the wall) and Saw IV at number 43 in the charts (lower down). When this simple fact was pointed out to her, she replied "Well, it's just not good enough, is it? I'll be ringing your head office".
I wonder if any of these people actually do ring/write to head office?
Yeah, well, you were off to a good start until you mentioned WHS. The day you lot quit forcefully peddling half price chocolate bars / random unwanted books / overpriced bagged sweets at any and everybody with the timerity to want to buy a magazine (shock horror!) is the day we'll start pointing a sympathetic ear your way
At the place where I work we have to swipe a customer's card through one machine and then process the payment using chip and pin..... they don't like that - I can tell you.
Do you work in phones4u cos i do and we have to do that too. My customers are all right about it tho lol.
Yeah, well, you were off to a good start until you mentioned WHS. The day you lot quit forcefully peddling half price chocolate bars / random unwanted books / overpriced bagged sweets at any and everybody with the timerity to want to buy a magazine (shock horror!) is the day we'll start pointing a sympathetic ear your way
I was off to a good start? That was my start!
I never ask customers for that. Never have. We're scored weekly based on how many TPC items we've sold out of the total transactions (e.g. 1 in 13 etc). Towards the end of the day I just swipe a Haribo, put it through as x3 and then press "Exact Cash". My till might be £3 out, but saves me from being nagged.
Always used to get told off for not getting enough Harry Potter pre-orders, too. But I really didn't care.
I'm a laid back WHSmith worker
I normally price override things if they're damaged, although I'm not meant to, and sometimes if I think they're too expensive! Not too often though, cause otherwise I'd be caught
Indeed. I'm only a Saturday guy though. But I plan on leaving before Xmas 08! Got to do a load of overtime though over the summer to save up for my holiday to Ibiza. Dreading that
Towards the end of the day I just swipe a Haribo, put it through as x3 and then press "Exact Cash". My till might be £3 out, but saves me from being nagged.
Can I relocate to your branch?? I'd get mauled for that!!
I'm just a weekender too, although, you wouldn't think it based on how much overtime I'm doing lately... 100 hours in 2 weeks anyone????
Can I relocate to your branch?? I'd get mauled for that!!
I'm just a weekender too, although, you wouldn't think it based on how much overtime I'm doing lately... 100 hours in 2 weeks anyone????
That's not that much 7am till 10pm shifts aren't unheard of at my asda. Also a mate of mine did 12pm saturday till 6am sunday there once, although he got into trouble for it.
That's not that much 7am till 10pm shifts aren't unheard of at my asda. Also a mate of mine did 12pm saturday till 6am sunday there once, although he got into trouble for it.
That's horrific :eek:. I moan when I have to do 2pm-10pm .
When people, before I've even told them how much everything will cost (sometimes even before I've scanned every item), will dangle a £10/£20 in my face. I mean I know we live in an age of constant technological advancements, but we're not so advanced that we can make the transaction before everything's gone through yet. Also those who hold out their money right up to the side of my face, just enough so that it's out of my line of sight and I still sit there waiting looking like an idiot.
Alternatively, the people who will place a pound coin on top of the item/on the conveyor belt so that they can "pay early" as it were.
Also I've found the one thing that really gets me is when people pay for something under £3 with a tenner or a twenty pound note, then whilst I'm counting out the mountain of change from the till the customer will hold their hand out right up to my face as if their expecting my to just whip out their change as easily as they whipped out a twenty.
Grrr... I'm sure I have loads more but any more I say will get me frustrated! And it's my day off today so if you'll excuse me...
I was being asked to do something by a customer that I or any other member of saff could do in the store. Upon me refusing to do so the Customer started complaining and shouting and asked to speak to the manager. I explained that the manager wasnt in store that day. The customer then growled "Get me the person in charge" so i took great pleasure in saying "Your Speaking to Him"
The customer looked rather embarrassed and walked out of the shop moaning that she would be in the following day to speak to the manager. She hasn't stepped foot in the shop since and that was 3 months ago.
People who try to buy alcohol after 10pm or before 12.30pm on a Sunday then sigh and moan when I say I can't sell them it.
This annoys me too especislly when week after week it always seems to be the same customers that try to buy alcohol and always make excuses..... one week her mother was dying of cancer so she needed vodka, the following week she comes back in... "I come in here the same time every week and you sell it me"... the following week "Your clocks are fast"
When people, before I've even told them how much everything will cost (sometimes even before I've scanned every item), will dangle a £10/£20 in my face. I mean I know we live in an age of constant technological advancements, but we're not so advanced that we can make the transaction before everything's gone through yet. Also those who hold out their money right up to the side of my face, just enough so that it's out of my line of sight and I still sit there waiting looking like an idiot.
Alternatively, the people who will place a pound coin on top of the item/on the conveyor belt so that they can "pay early" as it were.
Also I've found the one thing that really gets me is when people pay for something under £3 with a tenner or a twenty pound note, then whilst I'm counting out the mountain of change from the till the customer will hold their hand out right up to my face as if their expecting my to just whip out their change as easily as they whipped out a twenty.
Grrr... I'm sure I have loads more but any more I say will get me frustrated! And it's my day off today so if you'll excuse me...
in the customers defence i get my money out straight away but i don't expect the assistant to take it, its just to make sure there is no time wastage at the till!
The customer looked rather embarrassed and walked out of the shop moaning that she would be in the following day to speak to the manager. She hasn't stepped foot in the shop since and that was 3 months ago.
But if it was your shop you would be more helpful I bet.;)
I worked in Burger King when I was still at college, you wouldn't believe the amount of people who came in and asked for a Big Mac then look really p*ssed off when you tell them they're in the wrong restaurant!
I hated it when a customer would come to my till and say "meal for one" so I had to ask, "which meal would you like, sir?" customer looks blank "anything".
So I point to the menu, and they stand there for ages thinking about it - queue building up behind them. Then decide they just want a coffee :mad:
Or if I'm in a hurry, I'd just decide for them... then they come back and moan "this has got cheese on it" or "I don't want ketchup on my burger"
Well don't say "anything" then, or that's exactly what you'll get!
I loved the ones that said something like "whopper with cheese... but I don't want any cheese" Me: "so... a standard whopper then?"
All meals came with a free drink, at the end of the order I'd ask, "and what would you like to drink?" customer says "I don't want a drink" so I reply "are you sure? it comes free with the meal" customer "no thanks"
5 minutes later, they're queuing up for a coke :rolleyes:
Or my fave of all time - "my fries are cold, I want some new ones". When they've eaten all but one chip, and they ordered them half an hour ago.
A few more stories from my boyfriend although they're pretty boring compared to some on here
One bloke put his card in the machine BEFORE my boyfriend started scanning and wondered what was wrong when my boyfriend said the card was not applicable at this stage. This bloke honestly thought he was going to pay for his shopping before it had been scanned. What a numpty
People who put their cards in too early and then say to my boyfriend "It says remove card". Well, do what it friggin' says instead of just standing there like a tit with a confused expression on your face. That usually happens at least once per shift. I know we have all probably been guilty of putting our cards in the machine too early but if the machine says "Remove card", then that's exactly what I do, unless it keeps happening then I say something to the cashier.
But my boyfriend's big pet hate is OAPs (mainly women) in scooters, thinking they own the shop and that everybody must give into their demands. One busy Saturday afternoon, a grumpy old woman in a scooter came up to the till with her basket of shopping and expected my boyfriend to scan and pack her shopping at the same time. That's all very well but she didn't want a carrier bag, she wanted it all in her stupid little basket and she wanted him to scan one thing, leave the till, put the item in her basket, go back to the till and do the same with the rest of her shopping. Did she not realise that would take forever? Did she not realise that there was a massive queue behind her? My boyfriend couldn't call anybody else as they were so busy so in the end, a bloke in the queue helped her (she never thanked him at all, just whizzed off). Then when it comes to payment, she throws a wallet full of cards at my boyfriend and shouts "Clubcard" and then shouts "Then the Visa card" No please, no thank you, she just chucks the machine back at him then buggers off.
A few more stories from my boyfriend although they're pretty boring compared to some on here
One bloke put his card in the machine BEFORE my boyfriend started scanning and wondered what was wrong when my boyfriend said the card was not applicable at this stage. This bloke honestly thought he was going to pay for his shopping before it had been scanned. What a numpty
People who put their cards in too early and then say to my boyfriend "It says remove card". Well, do what it friggin' says instead of just standing there like a tit with a confused expression on your face. That usually happens at least once per shift. I know we have all probably been guilty of putting our cards in the machine too early but if the machine says "Remove card", then that's exactly what I do, unless it keeps happening then I say something to the cashier.
Most places you can do that, I put my card in while they are packing so it's ready for when they total the transaction. Also I tell my customers especially during busy times to if paying by card insert their card as soon as.
I was being asked to do something by a customer that I or any other member of saff could do in the store. Upon me refusing to do so the Customer started complaining and shouting and asked to speak to the manager. I explained that the manager wasnt in store that day. The customer then growled "Get me the person in charge" so i took great pleasure in saying "Your Speaking to Him"
The customer looked rather embarrassed and walked out of the shop moaning that she would be in the following day to speak to the manager. She hasn't stepped foot in the shop since and that was 3 months ago.
A customer came in today, and started asking me questions, in french!
I was just stood there like
Now if it was german, perhaps I could have tried to understand, but french?! I gave that up in year 9
Oh yeah, I've had this too! I think it was spanish.
and a couple of times, Indian people asking me things in their own language. (usually older people)
What on earth makes people think I can understand them!
ps. please dont think Im being racist - Im just saying how can I help you if I cant understand you?!
People who put their cards in too early and then say to my boyfriend "It says remove card". Well, do what it friggin' says instead of just standing there like a tit with a confused expression on your face. That usually happens at least once per shift. I know we have all probably been guilty of putting our cards in the machine too early but if the machine says "Remove card", then that's exactly what I do, unless it keeps happening then I say something to the cashier.
Our C&P machine is one of the ones that rotate. We leave it facing the cashier, as you have to accept the transaction request first - then we usually take the customers card and insert it for them, and rotate it round when its ready for their pin.
But some people just try to ram the card in any which way. even tho the machine is clearly facing away for them.
They try to put it in the tiny little slot where the reciept comes out!
Most places you can do that, I put my card in while they are packing so it's ready for when they total the transaction. Also I tell my customers especially during busy times to if paying by card insert their card as soon as.
In Tesco's, it comes up with a message saying "Card not applicable" if the card is put in too early. A lot of people just stick it in the machine, ready, whilst their packing, and properly insert it when it comes to payment (if you catch my drift )
Our C&P machine is one of the ones that rotate. We leave it facing the cashier, as you have to accept the transaction request first - then we usually take the customers card and insert it for them, and rotate it round when its ready for their pin.
But some people just try to ram the card in any which way. even tho the machine is clearly facing away for them.
They try to put it in the tiny little slot where the reciept comes out!
Heh heh
In Tesco's, (the one where my bf works anyhow) the C&P machine faces the customer but some hand the card to him, which is fine as he can reach the machine where he's sat, so he can just put the card in the machine himself
Comments
I do hope you didnt get it for her
Anyway, for this reason I get quite a few idiots coming to me.
One example was back in January. One middle-aged woman came up to me and told me about how she bought a Filofax insert, sent it off to Spain for a friend for Christmas and then got an email for the friend stating it was in fact a 2007 insert and not one for 2008.
Now, had she had a receipt and the item, I would have been more than happy to give her a refund. But she only had a receipt. She walked into our shop, without the actual item she bought and demanded a refund based on the grounds that we still had 2007 inserts on display in November of 2007. Ignoring the fact that she picked up the item, paid for the item, wrapped the item and shipped it off to another country, it was somehow our fault.
I kindly pointed out that I was unable to give a refund without the actual item, to which she replied "Well, I'll get the item, but I'll be writing to head office and making sure they pay for the international shipping fees to get it back here!". Er, what?
Another story is a woman, probably about 30-35, walked into the shop and demanded to speak to a manager. So I went and got an assistant manager, wondering what was wrong. Turns out that she was unhappy about the layout of our DVDs. She was "disgusted" that some PG/U rated films or TV shows were on the upper shelves, and some 15 or 18 rated films were on the lower shelves, making them visible to her young children.
However, like 99% of other stores in the country, we file our DVDs alphabetically, so if Alice in Wonderland happens to be on a high shelf (out of reach for young children) and Saw IV is on a lower shelf, we can't really help it. Same with chart DVDs - we don't choose to put Stardust (PG) at Number 1 (which is obviously to the top left of the wall) and Saw IV at number 43 in the charts (lower down). When this simple fact was pointed out to her, she replied "Well, it's just not good enough, is it? I'll be ringing your head office".
I wonder if any of these people actually do ring/write to head office?
Yeah, well, you were off to a good start until you mentioned WHS. The day you lot quit forcefully peddling half price chocolate bars / random unwanted books / overpriced bagged sweets at any and everybody with the timerity to want to buy a magazine (shock horror!) is the day we'll start pointing a sympathetic ear your way
Do you work in phones4u cos i do and we have to do that too. My customers are all right about it tho lol.
I was off to a good start? That was my start!
I never ask customers for that. Never have. We're scored weekly based on how many TPC items we've sold out of the total transactions (e.g. 1 in 13 etc). Towards the end of the day I just swipe a Haribo, put it through as x3 and then press "Exact Cash". My till might be £3 out, but saves me from being nagged.
Always used to get told off for not getting enough Harry Potter pre-orders, too. But I really didn't care.
I'm a laid back WHSmith worker
I normally price override things if they're damaged, although I'm not meant to, and sometimes if I think they're too expensive! Not too often though, cause otherwise I'd be caught
Indeed. I'm only a Saturday guy though. But I plan on leaving before Xmas 08! Got to do a load of overtime though over the summer to save up for my holiday to Ibiza. Dreading that
Exactamundo
I think you have redeemed yourself by subverting the system with non-existant haribo sales though
Can I relocate to your branch?? I'd get mauled for that!!
I'm just a weekender too, although, you wouldn't think it based on how much overtime I'm doing lately... 100 hours in 2 weeks anyone????
That's not that much
That's horrific :eek:. I moan when I have to do 2pm-10pm
When people, before I've even told them how much everything will cost (sometimes even before I've scanned every item), will dangle a £10/£20 in my face. I mean I know we live in an age of constant technological advancements, but we're not so advanced that we can make the transaction before everything's gone through yet. Also those who hold out their money right up to the side of my face, just enough so that it's out of my line of sight and I still sit there waiting looking like an idiot.
Alternatively, the people who will place a pound coin on top of the item/on the conveyor belt so that they can "pay early" as it were.
Also I've found the one thing that really gets me is when people pay for something under £3 with a tenner or a twenty pound note, then whilst I'm counting out the mountain of change from the till the customer will hold their hand out right up to my face as if their expecting my to just whip out their change as easily as they whipped out a twenty.
Grrr... I'm sure I have loads more but any more I say will get me frustrated! And it's my day off today so if you'll excuse me...
The customer looked rather embarrassed and walked out of the shop moaning that she would be in the following day to speak to the manager. She hasn't stepped foot in the shop since and that was 3 months ago.
This annoys me too especislly when week after week it always seems to be the same customers that try to buy alcohol and always make excuses..... one week her mother was dying of cancer so she needed vodka, the following week she comes back in... "I come in here the same time every week and you sell it me"... the following week "Your clocks are fast"
in the customers defence i get my money out straight away but i don't expect the assistant to take it, its just to make sure there is no time wastage at the till!
The mean the ones that are still more expnsive than in the supermarkets - even at half price!
But if it was your shop you would be more helpful I bet.;)
I hated it when a customer would come to my till and say "meal for one" so I had to ask, "which meal would you like, sir?" customer looks blank "anything".
So I point to the menu, and they stand there for ages thinking about it - queue building up behind them. Then decide they just want a coffee :mad:
Or if I'm in a hurry, I'd just decide for them... then they come back and moan "this has got cheese on it" or "I don't want ketchup on my burger"
Well don't say "anything" then, or that's exactly what you'll get!
I loved the ones that said something like "whopper with cheese... but I don't want any cheese" Me: "so... a standard whopper then?"
All meals came with a free drink, at the end of the order I'd ask, "and what would you like to drink?" customer says "I don't want a drink" so I reply "are you sure? it comes free with the meal" customer "no thanks"
5 minutes later, they're queuing up for a coke :rolleyes:
Or my fave of all time - "my fries are cold, I want some new ones". When they've eaten all but one chip, and they ordered them half an hour ago.
A customer came in today, and started asking me questions, in french!
I was just stood there like
Now if it was german, perhaps I could have tried to understand, but french?! I gave that up in year 9
One bloke put his card in the machine BEFORE my boyfriend started scanning and wondered what was wrong when my boyfriend said the card was not applicable at this stage. This bloke honestly thought he was going to pay for his shopping before it had been scanned. What a numpty
People who put their cards in too early and then say to my boyfriend "It says remove card". Well, do what it friggin' says instead of just standing there like a tit with a confused expression on your face. That usually happens at least once per shift. I know we have all probably been guilty of putting our cards in the machine too early but if the machine says "Remove card", then that's exactly what I do, unless it keeps happening then I say something to the cashier.
But my boyfriend's big pet hate is OAPs (mainly women) in scooters, thinking they own the shop and that everybody must give into their demands. One busy Saturday afternoon, a grumpy old woman in a scooter came up to the till with her basket of shopping and expected my boyfriend to scan and pack her shopping at the same time. That's all very well but she didn't want a carrier bag, she wanted it all in her stupid little basket and she wanted him to scan one thing, leave the till, put the item in her basket, go back to the till and do the same with the rest of her shopping. Did she not realise that would take forever? Did she not realise that there was a massive queue behind her? My boyfriend couldn't call anybody else as they were so busy so in the end, a bloke in the queue helped her (she never thanked him at all, just whizzed off). Then when it comes to payment, she throws a wallet full of cards at my boyfriend and shouts "Clubcard" and then shouts "Then the Visa card" No please, no thank you, she just chucks the machine back at him then buggers off.
Most places you can do that, I put my card in while they are packing so it's ready for when they total the transaction. Also I tell my customers especially during busy times to if paying by card insert their card as soon as.
Why did you refuse it's your job!
Oh yeah, I've had this too! I think it was spanish.
and a couple of times, Indian people asking me things in their own language. (usually older people)
What on earth makes people think I can understand them!
ps. please dont think Im being racist - Im just saying how can I help you if I cant understand you?!
Our C&P machine is one of the ones that rotate. We leave it facing the cashier, as you have to accept the transaction request first - then we usually take the customers card and insert it for them, and rotate it round when its ready for their pin.
But some people just try to ram the card in any which way. even tho the machine is clearly facing away for them.
They try to put it in the tiny little slot where the reciept comes out!
In Tesco's, it comes up with a message saying "Card not applicable" if the card is put in too early. A lot of people just stick it in the machine, ready, whilst their packing, and properly insert it when it comes to payment (if you catch my drift
Heh heh
In Tesco's, (the one where my bf works anyhow) the C&P machine faces the customer but some hand the card to him, which is fine as he can reach the machine where he's sat, so he can just put the card in the machine himself