Why do we have rules?

I was the only Customer Service associate scheduled from 2-11 last Sunday. What that means is that I'm on my own from 4-6 p.m., then they send someone up for my lunch at 6 p.m. When I get back, that person goes back out on a register, and I'm on my own from 7-11. Which, on a Sunday night, is no real peach.

And that's when you get some of the most difficult customers. The crackheads who are out of money and need quick cash trying to shoplift and return thing (see below), the people who are bored of sitting at home all weekend so they decide to shop, or the ones who just like to make my life hell.

Women of a certain age and a certain income are absolutely some of the most difficult customers on the planet to deal with. I think it is a combination of never having been told "NO" by someone ostensibly in a position of service and the thought that their money buys them whatever they want. To wit:

This one woman came in late Sunday. She had a bag full of clothes. Two pairs of pants and four shirts. She wanted to return them. The receipt was from February. I told her she couldn't because it was a 90 day return policy. She got pissy and then wanted to know "Well, where does it say that?"

Right here ma'am, in two-inch letters.

So she goes on a spiel about how she's been out of town and there aren't any Wal-Marts in the state she was visiting. Umm, yeah. I truly don't think that there is any state in the entire country that is without a Wal-Mart.

I stand firm. So then she pull out the tried-and-true "Well, I want to talk to a manager" line. I get one of the supervisors. While the girl looks over the reciept, the woman changes her story, saying now that she was "traveling" and "left the clothes here" for three months.

So the supervisor checks the prices. All the shirts have been reduced to $3.00, because they are January merchandise. I show the woman the tags. The pants are still the same price, so the supervisor tells her she can exchange the pants, but she is stuck with the shirts.

The woman leaves to look for the pants but comes back 15 minutes later. "Why can't I exchange the shirts too?" I call the girl back up, who explains that we are doing her a favor just by taking back the pants. The woman goes back out in into the clothes.

Unbeknowst to us, she's causing mischief. She finds a manager. How, I don't know, since WE can never find one when we need one. He buys her line of crap, and tells us to give her her money back on all the stuff.

So why do we have rules and try to enforce them if all the management does is make us look like fools? We were at least going to make her take some merchandise. This woman bought some clothes in February, got too fat for it, then is returning it for full price FOUR MONTHS LATER — although it has been marked down probably 90%. That is straight-up profit we're losing.

She claimed she spent $700-$800 in Wal-Mart every week. What about the three months where the "wasn't a Wal-Mart in your state" you stupid cow?