I got the "opportunity" to zone (Wal-Martese for clean) the Sporting Goods area for a half-hour Sunday night. I really don't enjoy being out on the sales floor because 1) we all know how I feel about Wal-Mart's merchandise and 2) I don't know anything about sports. (Are TV watching & dancing in clubs considered sports?)
Anyway. I'm straightening the shelves and putting away merchandise when this woman asks me for help with an airbed. **Sigh. Airbeds**
She wants to know if a certain model comes with a pump or if she needs to buy a pump. Which thankfully I know all about. People return those blasted airbeds all the time. We're like a Rent-A-Center for airbeds.
I give her the 411 on the airbeds. And show her which pumps go with which models so she doesn't get confused. She thinks I give a squeeze and starts telling me about how she's got company coming and she's "one bed short." And she doesn't want her grandkids to have to sleep on the floor. She's a harmless old lady happy for someone to talk to. I bet she has 5 cats.
And then she goes "When they leave, can I return it?"
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10 comments:
And then she goes "When they leave, can I return it?"
You must have seen that one coming! =)
Oh, the humanity.
Apparently, you ARE the Rent-A-Center for airbeds. But the difference is, they get all their money back.
Oh!! The non-irony!? D:
"Sure, you can return it, and the sheets you are going to buy to cover it.
Just make sure the sheets are folded correctly so that the next customer who purchases them doesn't realize they've been used.
Have your receipt ready when you come to my counter and don't give me a hard time or I'll find holes in the bed(as you show her the scissors you have in your pocket)."
Walmart could probably make more $$ renting items than they do selling them.
With rentals, only a portion of contracted $$ would be refunded upon return of an item, whereas a full refund, no(few)questions asked, seems to be the norm with purchased goods.
A lot of money leaves the business because of returned items that have been used(and ruined by scheming scum)!
Yeah, sure lady. Other people, thinking they are buying a new, unused product, desperately want to buy an air mattress used by your grandkids and god knows who else.
**rolls eyes**
Jesus H Christ, people are so fucking stupid and nasty.
I wonder if all the returns go back to the manufacturer or get donated away or resold at a discount? I'm sure if Wal-Mart was losing too much money on returns, they'd change their return policies!
Most stores now have set time limits for returns as well as conditions like "Must be unwashed, unworn and in original packaging."
By the way, I'm a chronic returner but I agree sometimes there's a limit!
And the answer was…
"Sure. Everyone else does. All of these are returns. I think the one you're holding was returned by a construction worker who must not have bathed since New Year's."
If I had your job, I would be swigging jack and coke out of a thermos bottle..
I just found this blog and I love it. As a fellow Junk-Mart Service Desk associate myself, I have had many similar experiences :) It makes me smile to know I'm not the only one who gets these customers.
I have the little old lady who comes every 4-5 months, demands a manager before even telling me what is wrong, wanting to echange her year-old coffee stained coffee maker that costs around $12, for a new one... she has done this for three years in a row... she always says, "My kids got this for me for a present -- I don't have a reciept, but it won't heat up." The white kitchen appliance is now stained from all the splashed coffee, and she feels she is entitled to a new one. she didn't even rinse out the decanter, and upon further inspection still has filter and wet coffee grounds inside. As the manager inspects it, sighs, then looks at her 5 foot nothing shaking hopless looking face, probably realizes that it is coffee she has running through her veins and must have a new $12 coffee maker to sustain her life. "exchange it." I suppose I should be happy it isn't an expensive expresso machine or something.
Anything that appears saleable is just put back out on the floor like it's new, with certain exceptions. Many of the entries here frequently relate those exceptions, like bikes. (Why-oh-why then have I had at least three obviously returned bikes hit my bike rack in the less-than-a-month I've worked in toys? One even tonight that I don't think we actually even SELL) Damaged items go to claims where they either go back to the supplier for some amount of credit, or are simply thrown away as a complete loss. But in any case, if the item is declared saleable, theoretically the company takes no loss since they have the goods in inventory and it will sell and they'll still get their money. If we get back something marked as defective, we probably still get paid off since we just send it back to the distribution center and eventually the manufacturer credits us to some amount. Actual cases of straight-out loss should be rare, and claims largely exists to deal with the stuff that we the floor-monkeys find stolen and/or broken that never leave the store. *That* is what the company takes a major loss on.
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