Lower the lights

The past two days have been quite fun. Here's a recap:

WEDNESDAY: At some point, I lose three of my fellow supervisors and get stranded running the front for two hours by myself. During this time, we almost have a meltdown in jewelry because a customer wants to return a ring.

Now, many debit cards can be run through as credit. When the computer processes the return, it sends the money back to the credit card. OH BUT NO! "That was a debit card and I want my cash!" Um, OK, then why doesn't it say debit? My guess is that she needed the money and was essentially pawning the ring, but we don't argue.

I also had a nasty shock in the bathroom. Someone had had an "accident," shall we say, in their undergarments and simply peeled them off and left them on the floor. I can't even begin to describe the sight, the smell or just the impression of a pair of underwear full of crap just tossed onto the floor. It was just awful. I hope that person is actually not sick, because from what I could tell, they were SICK! From now on, I'm using the family bathrooms.

THURSDAY: Of course, as is typical, I get stranded at the Service Desk all day on payroll day. I run through $20,000 in about 7 hours. By 1 p.m. we were cashing checks in $20s and $10s because the cash office didn't have any more big bills. I hate check day, because you're so nervous about handling all that money -- and so many more chances to get thrown off on your cash for the day.

And the returns today were just completely ridiculous. One couple came in with a bottle of pills. They said the pills were "too big to swallow." We don't do Dept. #40 (Pharmacy) returns at the Service Desk anymore. I sent them over to Pharmacy. Pharmacy, as per our store policy, refused them. We do not get credit back from manufacturers on opened pharmacy items. These people hit the roof.

They hunt down a manager and DEMAND money back. Of course, the come through my line again and I do the refund. Right after that, I hunt down that manager and make him sign that return slip. The last person that returned pills got crawled over by Pharmacy AND Claims for doing the return. COVER YOUR BEHIND is a key rule in these situations.

What else got returned today?

Shoes, and the woman was an idiot and kept trying to confuse me on the return. I still don't think I did it right, but I really didn't care. She was such an idiot - she thought she could just take the pair that didn't fit back into shoes, put it in a box and take another pair out of the store with her. UM NO! Plus, she brought the shoes in the store in her purse, like a shoplifter or something. What is wrong with these people?

Some lady brought back stinky chicken. I'm convinced they leave the chicken out and then just bring it back. She was a pain too.

Don't buy software without seeing that it is compatible with your computer. I am not going to give you cash back on it. You will not get credit on your credit card. If I'm feeling nice, you may get store credit. I really don't care that you're stupid.

I really don't understand people that return five or six pieces of clothing - with the tags still on - and claim it "doesn't fit." We have a Fitting Room. Try it on. It will save you so much time in the end.

Every time someone comes up and claims that the self-checkouts "charged me twice" I have to laugh inside, because I know that that customer is just an idiot that can't work a simple computer. READ THE DIRECTIONS. We probably give out $200 dollars a day on things that people ring themselves up for twice.

And finally, the new thing is that the store's light bill is too high -- $91,000 a month -- so they're experimenting with lowering the light level in the store until customers complain. All it really does is make it seem cooler -- and make us all sleepy!

I'm off for the next two days, so I plan to sleep, sleep and sleep some more. Peace out!