Bitching about work

Honestly I just feel like complaining about something that happened at work today. If anyone else has a horror story from the bowels of retail hell, feel free to share. :beer

I work at a large discount retailer. I've only been there 6 weeks, and it's my first retail job. I was irritated that I was scheduled to work a full day on the 4th, but the day started off pretty good. When I got there my boss sent me to Meijer to buy ice cream for all of the employees (cutting into my time on the register, which I fucking hate anyway, so I was happy). I was way WAY under budget so they decided to order Subway for everyone. I was feeling pretty good when my first customer of the day decided to sign up for a [Store] credit card. The company is obsessed with getting us to sign people up and the managers are really happy when we get applications. We're supposed to say, "Would you like to sign up for a [Store] credit card and save 10%?" I don't usually bother asking people who are only going to save a couple of bucks, and this person in question was only spending $22, but she said yes so what the hell.

The customer in question was a youngish Moo with a newborn loaf in a carrier and had come in with 3 or 4 of her snotty-looking friends. I don't think she was necessarily firing on all engines because she asked me to bring up her total while she was filling out the application. Um, like I just said, you need to sign up before I give you the discount, dumbass. Anyway, I put in her information and her application wasn't approved. The front-end coordinator explains this to her and says we can't give her the discount. This pissed her off greatly and she's all, "I took 20 minutes to fill it out because I thought I was saving 10%," "she [me, the cashier] shouldn't have told me I was going to get the discount," etc. They call the manager up and I just backed off because frankly, at minimum wage, I'm not getting paid enough to deal with that shit when two of my perfectly capable bosses are standing right there.

I also know it didn't take 20 minutes because I hadn't even been at my register 20 minutes. But I doubt she knew what 10% of her purchase was, so maybe she couldn't read a clock either, who fucking knows. :drool

I was thinking, OH GOD just give her the discount so she'll shut the fuck up, but the manager just apologizes (for, um, nothing) and tells her we can't give her the discount since she wasn't approved for the card. She repeats the same lines she used before, adding, "you should tell her [me] not to say that if you're not gonna give the discount; she shouldn't have lied." Um, if you have a problem with the script provided by corporate? Then call corporate. Don't fucking call me a liar. fuck

Luckily the manager backed me up and actually told her, "You don't need to be cruel." FINALLY the conversation was done, I handed her her shit (including a bathrobe for her fresh loaf…speaking of which, if you're going to get extremely butthurt over $2, why are you spending $8.99 on a bathrobe for a fucking infant?). Anyway, the manager hissed, "She can just walk right on out or I'm going to ask her to leave." Luckily she and her little posse sauntered out without incident, although I wouldn't have been surprised if that insane bitch had pulled a knife on me or the manager.

I usually take things personally even when I shouldn't, and that plus major social anxiety make me really hate working the front end at this job. This was the first truly horrible person gorilla I'd dealt with, but my initiation had to come sooner or later.

In the middle of your story, where I knew we were quickly approaching this bitch's boiling point, I said to myself "Oh, nooooo....the manager is going to cave and give her the fucking discount anyway, because 'the customer is always right,' which really means if you want a discount, just throw a giant tantrum and cause a scene in front of large numbers of customers. So many managers will completely crumple and give the asswipe customer what they want. I was sooooo glad to see the manager stand up for you! That is so, so rare!

He shouldn't have apologised to her, though, but at least he held firm on not giving the cheap ass her what was it, 10% discount off a 8.99 robe? And then telling her she didn't have to be cruel! Yessssss! She would be wrong for making a big stink out of this no matter how big or small the potential amount of savings; it's the principle. She's cheap and petty on top of being a complete bitch.

Totally news to me that they sell robes for loafs. Who knew?

The bitch may not have been firing on all cylinders, but every moron in the world knows that when a cashier asks Would you like to save 10% today by filling out an application for our store card? -- that the discount is not guaranteed but it's only given IF the application is approved. Of course she knew that. But she got embarrassed at the decline, and reacted toward you with hostility because she's emotionally incapable of dealing with embarrassment or humiliation. Which I don't give a shit about; I have no empathy for her embarrassment due to the way she treated you. The fact that her friends didn't say one word to get her to knock it off speaks volumes about the company she keeps. They're all snooty, vapid bitches.

But they're snooty, vapid bitches who didn't get their itty bitty discount today! Haaaa! :yeah

I'm a veteran of call centers, and I remember how my co-workers and I would get so down when we rightfully denied removing a valid fee from someone's account only to have to transfer them to a supervisor who would then back down and give them the credit anyway. Customers would get nasty, insulting, verbally abusive, and even scream at the top of their lungs. They'd demand a supervisor and we'd have to transfer them. The supervisors always ended up kissing the customer's ass and gave them the unjust discount as well as a big fat apology. That just emboldens the customer to do the same thing next time, and to spread the word that "getting tough works."

And they did, too; we'd get people regularly incur fees every month due to their own negligence, we'd do it once as a courtesy (which I have no issue with doing it once; we all make mistakes). What got us so mad was the ones who would request that courtesy month after month, and ALWAYS with a snooty air of superiority in their voice. By the time you've waived 1 or 2 or 5 of 6 fees and they're still calling in monthly and screaming and getting their way? That makes employees feel so defeated. No wonder there's such high turn-over in customer service jobs.

I have never worked retail, though, and pray to every deity there is that I never have to, because I would truly not be able to handle seeing the customers get away with being rude and abusive to employees. You have my respect for holding down a retail job. You guys do not get paid nearly enough.