I just get so tired of the scams. There is so much negative energy coming from the customers whenever I go up to Customer Service that I sometimes simply lose the will to fight. I mean, if they are going to make it so easy for the customers to steal, why should I care in the end?
Take this one from late Sunday night. This lumpy middle-aged woman comes in and before I can get one word out she starts complaining about a wireless keyboard she bought.
Allegedly, this woman purchased a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse combo. Her claim was that when she opened up the package, there was just a regular keyboard jammed in it - and a regular wired mouse.
OK. Believe her or not? I know stuff like that happens ALL THE FRELLING TIME. People try to return VCRs inside DVD boxes, old shoes and all sorts of crap.
I looked at the date on the receipt and it was four days ago. I personally think she was lying - if something like that happened to me - I'd be right back up in the store. But she claimed she "couldn't make it in." And she had the receipt ... so she is starting from a stronger bargaining position than I am.
So my supervisor tells me to return it - and give her cash back - because the receipt indicated that SOMEBODY paid with cash.
Somebody somewhere is walking around with a $90 keyboard for free. Either her - or the people that ran that game in the first place.
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25 comments:
I am a long time lurker and a first time commenter--I gotta say, your posts have been really bitter lately. Usually you are funny and can laugh it off, but ever since the lady with the flip flops that burned her feet post, you have been really off. I know, I know bring the "Don't read it if you don't like it", shit. But seriously, I am a little concerned. Ol' girl needs a vacation!
The flip flops? It's been a lot longer than that. EVERYONE has ulterior motives, apparently. If Jesus Christ walked up trying to return a Bible software program, she'd say that it was some type of scam. On the other hand, I read this blog because I DO like it. It's funny. The author's reaction as much as the story about customers. I read the blog for the same reason I watch a few reality shows like Top Chef... drama.
I believe the aurhor is actually a homosexuak male...listen to his interview post...
OK, Amyd and Justin,
You know not of what you speak!
I have been in a similar position and put up with the constant larceny, feelings of entitlement, dishonesty and greed. It weighs you down more an more. FACT IS SOME PEOPLE SUCK, Especially if they think they can put one over on you, which they can because of spineless weak don't give a shit moron managers. So why don't you try doing this persons work for a month and see if you are still the happy, caring, loves the world person.
YOU JUST HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ALL GOES ON EVERYDAY AT ANY PLACE THAT "SERVES" THE ENTITLED PUBLIC. People lie about you, say you said things you never said, say you did things you never did ,,,, on an on an on ,,,, so I suggest you "TRY IT AN SEE HOW YOU FARE".
It's probably just a matter of perspective. I'm sure the author wasn't as skeptical when he first started this job, but years of watching people throw fits over what amount to pennies in change, and trying every trick in the book just to get a few bucks in cash... well, if you dealt with that everyday, you'd be cynical, too.
Let him vent!
I do not agree that others bring one down unless one allows it to happen. I have worked in retail many years and have never felt responsible for another's actions. My boss was the final word and that was okay with me because he/she was the one who would catch hell for the final decision, not me. Yes there are many negative people, but there are also positive, honest people too. The blog author is the boss here and said author can write whatever author wants and if I don't like it I can leave. :)
But there were days when I felt like this:
It's not my place to run the train
The whistle I can't blow.
It's not my place to say how far
The train's allowed to go.
It's not my place to shoot off steam
Nor even clang the bell.
But let the damn thing jump the track
And see who catches hell.
I think your supervisors are related to your scamming customers. They all seem to have low IQs.
Thank you for your regular posting. It can't be easy working 2 jobs, and writing a new entry every day.
I agree that the posts are rather bitter, but hey, if you aren't getting entertainment out of a cynical perspective on stupid suburbanites, then why are you reading the blog?
But I felt the need to comment on this one because I actually do think it's off base. The reality is - someone DID pull the keyboard swap. But you have NO IDEA if it was the person returning it today, or the guy that bought & returned it a week ago, after which it probably was just put right back on the shelf without being inspected. Unless you can be sure that Wally World would NEVER restock a returned item without opening & inspecting it, the customer has to receive the benefit of the doubt. I've bought stuff that's been missing parts or been junk-swapped on more than one occasion.
I am sorry your job gives you these people but I do enjoy reading about it.
People are cattle and once you've worked anytime at all in retail or
foodservice you realize that.
I worked most of last year at Wally World. First as a cashier, then as a CSS........one of the main reasons I quit was the BS from the customers.
Of course I could afford to quit since I'm a retiree........
Sure got sick and tired of customers treating me like I was a moron for working there and then pulling out the food stamps.
Jamie's comments on Wal-Mart's return policy are relevant, but they can be extended to any store that handles returns. Some time ago I purchased two bottles of DOT brake fluid; half way through the fluid change on my motorcycle, I found that one of the bottles' inner seals had been broken. Now, brake fluid is at the same time simple and cheap but very important: it's hygroscopic, so an opened bottle is worse than useless, it's potentially dangerous. Fortunately I had another vehicle to get me to the store for a swap, but it sensitized me to the true dangers out there. If whoever's working at a return desk isn't paying attention, it's easy for (for instance) food stuff such as peanut butter to be purchased, intentionally tainted, and then returned into the food distribution chain. Think about it too long and you become really vigilant about checking for seals on just about anything you purchase, no matter from where. Hell, it was only three or four years ago that French's yellow mustard (and similar) had no seals on the bottle, inside or out.
I griped about my place of aggravation in my own blog yesterday morning and rather than sympathy, just got suggestions to quit my job. That is the dream, really. I keep applying for decent positions at my real job but until an application generates some real chance (seniority issues, not ability), I need both.
How's a person supposed to stay jolly in a workplace where there's no respect? We have none for the customers because they rarely have any for us. And around it goes.
Plus, management cares about the money made, not the little cogs in the profit generator. Our profit generator's completely hobbled by the fact that this province has too many stores and they keep building them, even though we have less than a million people province-wide. There are three in our city now and none of them are adequately staffed to deal with the daily onslaught of people. The turnover rate here is astronomical and they can't seem to hire replacements because, for some reason, nobody wants to work there. The personnel manager is even going as far as asking us to invite our friends to apply. I almost asked her, why should they have to suffer like I suffer? But I didn't.
My pet peeve: typing "loose" when "lose" is what is intended. I see this everywhere on the web.
"Loose", rhymes with "juice", is an adjective that means "released from fastening or attachment".
"Lose", rhymes with "chews", is a verb that means "to come to be without".
Example: Be sure to tighten this loose nut or you might lose it.
English is a rich and complex language; unfortunately, it's easy for even native speakers to make obvious mistakes. Eternal vigilance is the price of proper usage.
I used to work retail and I know exactly how people are trying to scam you at every opportunity. My favorite is a woman who came to the service desk with four EMPTY bra boxes and said that she bought those bras and when she got home, all the boxes were empty. I could see maybe one of four being empty because someone had stolen it, but how in the world would someone pick up four empty boxes and not realize they were empty? Of course, she had no receipt either.
And the managers are no help. They're inconsistent and they'd rather sit in the office than come out on the floor and help CS reps. I finally quit after my manager threw a peg hook at me and called me a retard because I asked for a price check on something when it was busy...I only asked for the check b/c two days earlier, I'd gotten reamed out for giving someone $3 off something because they said it rang up wrong and I didn't double-check the price!
OMG MAGPIE!
YOU SEEM SO ALOOF, DISTANT AND SO FULL OF DISTAIN. CHILL BABY CHILL, AT LEAST IT IS DISCERNABLE ENGLISH. HELLS BELLS, WE ARE GRATEFUL IF ONE CAN MUTTER SPANGLISH INCOHERENTLY.
I have to agree with the first commenter... your posts in the past month or so seem overly bitter... (still funny, mind you, but the tone is noticeably different) maybe you do need a holiday.
*sigh*I knew that my comment would be misconstrued. Anon #2, I HAVE "tried it". I was a CSM at Target my whole way thru nursing school. Four years. And my job before that one was waiting tables for the better part of seven years. I am now, as I said, a nurse, and believe me that I get to deal with my share of jerks. Try taking all those unhappy customers and making them sick on top of it. Yeah. Nice folks. Just please note that I HAVE done this person's work for longer than a month. I understand the frustration that dealing with this shit everyday can bring. I never said that I didn't. If you actually read my comment, it was merely concern for the blogger's mental welfare. Because I have been there, I know that there will get to be a point when it all gets to be too much, and you snap and storm out from behind the customer service desk and sob loudly for about 15 mins in the breakroom (this is what may or may not have happened to me). Not a good place to be. I love that this blog is witty, snarky, and sometimes sad. THAT'S WHY I READ IT.
So, in a nutshell, Anon #2, I neither understand nor do I appreciate your assumption that I don't have customer service background behind me. Ooooh, yeah, I do. Just remember that next time you YELL at someone in ALL CAPS without knowing the facts. Thank you.
This one?
http://www.local6.com/news/13754189/detail.html
I agree with the op. I am a short time reader, but I did go back and read all of the back posts. The tone has changed, not that I don't understand why it would.
I have been the recipient of a swapped item. It was a toaster that my mom's boyfriend gave me for my birthday when I first moved out on my own. I opened the box, with a lot of difficulty because it had apparently been glued shut with liquid nails, to find an ancient, cruddy, FILTHY toaster in the box. I shudder to think anyone actually put food in this thing and then ate it. Since I didn't have the reciept and was not in the same town, I just tossed it. But some creep got themselves a free toaster.
Hey Anon @ 1:39pm...maybe your boyfriend's mom just didn't like you and that's why you got an ancient, filthy, cruddy toaster for a gift. :P
Just a thought...
I have to agree with the OP - the posts do seem more cynical lately. BB, take some time off, babe!!
To Magpie: Amen, sister!
Why does it matter if the blogger seems very jaded and bitter at the moment? This is a BLOG, a place where you outpour your feelings and emotions in a safe and harmless way.
I'm sure fanbase is great, but a blog is for the blogger themselves also.
If it makes your job easier to deal with, if venting makes you able to carry on, then you keep on blooging to your hearts content, dammit!
And this is why I'll never buy a box that looks like it's been opened.
I used to work in customer service at Krap Mart. Some scammer managed to get a free air conditioner. A $200+ window air conditioner. We found out about it when some guy called in ranting that he had gotten an old air conditioner. Turns out said air conditioner had been returned 2 days before (I found the return ticket). Some lovely folks apparently bought a new air conditioner, installed it, and stuck their crusty 1970s model air conditioner complete with the sticks and leaves stuck in it into the box from the new one, and got the money they paid back. The service desk associate didn't even think that perhaps checking the box before handing back $200 might be a good idea.
I had something similar happen to me (as a customer)... I was in a Super WM here in Orlando and picked up an internal CD/DVD burner, in a box which had obviously been opened- and I only bought that box because the box for other one looked like it had been through combat.
When I got it home, I opened it up and somebody had replaced it with an ancient CD-ROM drive... apparently somebody had bought the new one and returned the old one.
I took it back to the store and they looked in the computer- apparently the "return" had been done the day before, which meant that they still had the guy's picture on the security tapes. They gave me a store credit (which I used to buy the same drive, in a new un-opened box, at a different WM store) and were calling the loss prevention people as I left.
I really hope they got the ankle-biter. People like that, always trying to cheat the system and get something for free, really p*ss me off. They don't stop to think that every time they get something for free, somebody else is actually paying for it. (Or maybe they do realize it, and just don't care. Low-life "career welfare" scum...)
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