Tweet
With a bonus story at the end...
So for background, I work in an Aquarium. Usually you'll always find me in the gift shop or at the photo desk. This story takes place in the gift shop.
I was working last Sunday morning. Almost as soon as I open the doors, two little girls come in and start playing with some stuffed seahorses, no big deal, I don't mind cleaning up one or two stuffed animals every once and a while, especially since these came from the same shelf. No problem at all.
But what is a problem is when they take other miscellaneous things off of the shelves and hooks, and use them to dress up said seahorse toys. The first time I encountered the family was early Sunday morning. The girls took two seahorse toys off of the shelves (one for each little girl) and then took several necklaces and bracelets off of our displays to dress up the toys. Then dad called them outside and they left all the items they took on the floor. At first, it didn't bother me too much, just kinda said to myself, "Really?" And then I cleaned up the mess.
A few hours later, my coworker has clocked in and things have gotten busy. We have a new manager/ team lead and she's really taken a quick hold of her duties (a nice change from previous management) So we're so busy getting new stock out on the floor and rearranging the store layout that I didn't notice the Seahorse family had returned and were in the back playing with the same damn toys again, only this time in another area, out of employee view. However my coworker caught them. She turned to me and said in the "code voice", "Hey, Eevie, go check the gondolas for seahorses..." Now the gondola in question is a spot that people will usually duck behind to try and sneak into the aquarium from the exit.
I walk over and what do I see? The Seahorse family with the not one, not two, not three, but SIX seahorse toys, ALL of them dressed up, with at least 5-6 accessories and there were several miscellaneous items such as key chains, lollipops, other stuffed animals, etc. And just as I walk over, they decide they're done playing and walk out of the store, just like before, without buying anything and without going into the aquarium. Somehow, I managed to grab everything they took out in one armful and walk over to where my manager and coworkers are. The following exchange happens;
Eevie: "Apparently gondolas are a great place to play Seahorse Dress-up..."
CW1, CW2, Manager:
CW2: "Holy shit!"
CW1: *sigh* "I knew it... They did this last week, too..."
Eevie: "Wait, they've done this before? Because they did the same thing earlier this morning!"
CW1: "Yeah, they just got annual passes last week, they've been coming in almost every other day and dressing up those same seahorse toys."
Eevie (to manager): "Can we not kick these people out? They're repeat offenders at this point and we have it all on camera..."
Manager: "Can't ban them or kick them out since they're annual pass holders, but I'm not letting them do this anymore. If they come in again, I'm giving you guys permission to tell them they're not allowed to take anything off of the shelves unless they put it back. If they pull the same stunt again after you tell them, you call me and I'll deal with them personally. This kind of mess is far to tedious for you to clean up when you can use that time to be helping other people."
Have I mentioned that I love this new manager? She's kinda awesome! I hope they try it again when I'm on shift. I don't tolerate this kind of bullshit. Not only that, but my coworkers have already volunteered me under the reason of, "You always get the weird ones, you know how to talk to them!" This is true. The weird customers only seem to come around whenever I clock in. Enough to where I seem to have gotten the reputation among my team for it... I don't mind being volunteered though, I hope the next time they come in is when I'm on shift. I can't wait to talk to them...
Bonus Story!
This happened a few weeks ago, while awesome manager was being trained. It was a weekday, and I was sitting in the gift shop practically watching grass grow. Then three teenage boys with identical gray letter jackets walked in. I asked them if they needed anything and they ignore me. Not only do they ignore me, but they head straight to the back of the store, right to the stairs. Instant red flag, but they're easy enough to keep track of, they were the only ones in the store! I discreetly follow them, I rearrange a few items and pretend to have my mind on other things. I turn the corner and out of the three boys that came in, only one is left, casually opening a box of candy. The only way they could have by this point is into the aquarium, and I know they don't have tickets, so I call my coworker at the photo desk to see if she see them up there.
Sure enough, my coworker confirms they're up there. I'm not sure what to do next, as the coworker in question is a tiny girl with a small voice who couldn't intimidate a puppy, much less two teenage boys who were about two feet taller than her. I hang up the phone look around the corner again, and sure enough, the third boy has now gone up the stairs. The phone rings again, it's my coworker from upstairs, I tell her a third boy has gone upstairs and she's not really sure what to do about them.
Then I hear, "Oh, never mind, K got 'em!" K is the head manager, so pretty much the equivalent to a store manager. She was training our new team lead (the awesome manager from the main post) at the time and just happened to be in that particular area at the time. Now, unlike my coworker, K is EXTREMELY intimidating. I said my coworker couldn't intimidate a puppy, K on the other hand, could probably send a pack of hell hounds running for the hills.
Once my coworker told her what was going on, K walked right up to the last boy that went up the stairs and simply asked, "Do you have a ticket?" before she sent him down without really listening for an answer. Although I heard from my coworker that the boy answered that he had one. Bullshit.
I later saw K and my new manager escorting the other two boys as they took the long walk of shame through the gift shop. I was just standing off to the side, laughing at them. Catching three guys coming in without tickets? Not a bad first impression to leave on my new boss! And very fun to watch as well!
So for background, I work in an Aquarium. Usually you'll always find me in the gift shop or at the photo desk. This story takes place in the gift shop.
I was working last Sunday morning. Almost as soon as I open the doors, two little girls come in and start playing with some stuffed seahorses, no big deal, I don't mind cleaning up one or two stuffed animals every once and a while, especially since these came from the same shelf. No problem at all.
But what is a problem is when they take other miscellaneous things off of the shelves and hooks, and use them to dress up said seahorse toys. The first time I encountered the family was early Sunday morning. The girls took two seahorse toys off of the shelves (one for each little girl) and then took several necklaces and bracelets off of our displays to dress up the toys. Then dad called them outside and they left all the items they took on the floor. At first, it didn't bother me too much, just kinda said to myself, "Really?" And then I cleaned up the mess.
A few hours later, my coworker has clocked in and things have gotten busy. We have a new manager/ team lead and she's really taken a quick hold of her duties (a nice change from previous management) So we're so busy getting new stock out on the floor and rearranging the store layout that I didn't notice the Seahorse family had returned and were in the back playing with the same damn toys again, only this time in another area, out of employee view. However my coworker caught them. She turned to me and said in the "code voice", "Hey, Eevie, go check the gondolas for seahorses..." Now the gondola in question is a spot that people will usually duck behind to try and sneak into the aquarium from the exit.
I walk over and what do I see? The Seahorse family with the not one, not two, not three, but SIX seahorse toys, ALL of them dressed up, with at least 5-6 accessories and there were several miscellaneous items such as key chains, lollipops, other stuffed animals, etc. And just as I walk over, they decide they're done playing and walk out of the store, just like before, without buying anything and without going into the aquarium. Somehow, I managed to grab everything they took out in one armful and walk over to where my manager and coworkers are. The following exchange happens;
Eevie: "Apparently gondolas are a great place to play Seahorse Dress-up..."
CW1, CW2, Manager:
CW2: "Holy shit!"
CW1: *sigh* "I knew it... They did this last week, too..."
Eevie: "Wait, they've done this before? Because they did the same thing earlier this morning!"
CW1: "Yeah, they just got annual passes last week, they've been coming in almost every other day and dressing up those same seahorse toys."
Eevie (to manager): "Can we not kick these people out? They're repeat offenders at this point and we have it all on camera..."
Manager: "Can't ban them or kick them out since they're annual pass holders, but I'm not letting them do this anymore. If they come in again, I'm giving you guys permission to tell them they're not allowed to take anything off of the shelves unless they put it back. If they pull the same stunt again after you tell them, you call me and I'll deal with them personally. This kind of mess is far to tedious for you to clean up when you can use that time to be helping other people."
Have I mentioned that I love this new manager? She's kinda awesome! I hope they try it again when I'm on shift. I don't tolerate this kind of bullshit. Not only that, but my coworkers have already volunteered me under the reason of, "You always get the weird ones, you know how to talk to them!" This is true. The weird customers only seem to come around whenever I clock in. Enough to where I seem to have gotten the reputation among my team for it... I don't mind being volunteered though, I hope the next time they come in is when I'm on shift. I can't wait to talk to them...
Bonus Story!
This happened a few weeks ago, while awesome manager was being trained. It was a weekday, and I was sitting in the gift shop practically watching grass grow. Then three teenage boys with identical gray letter jackets walked in. I asked them if they needed anything and they ignore me. Not only do they ignore me, but they head straight to the back of the store, right to the stairs. Instant red flag, but they're easy enough to keep track of, they were the only ones in the store! I discreetly follow them, I rearrange a few items and pretend to have my mind on other things. I turn the corner and out of the three boys that came in, only one is left, casually opening a box of candy. The only way they could have by this point is into the aquarium, and I know they don't have tickets, so I call my coworker at the photo desk to see if she see them up there.
Sure enough, my coworker confirms they're up there. I'm not sure what to do next, as the coworker in question is a tiny girl with a small voice who couldn't intimidate a puppy, much less two teenage boys who were about two feet taller than her. I hang up the phone look around the corner again, and sure enough, the third boy has now gone up the stairs. The phone rings again, it's my coworker from upstairs, I tell her a third boy has gone upstairs and she's not really sure what to do about them.
Then I hear, "Oh, never mind, K got 'em!" K is the head manager, so pretty much the equivalent to a store manager. She was training our new team lead (the awesome manager from the main post) at the time and just happened to be in that particular area at the time. Now, unlike my coworker, K is EXTREMELY intimidating. I said my coworker couldn't intimidate a puppy, K on the other hand, could probably send a pack of hell hounds running for the hills.
Once my coworker told her what was going on, K walked right up to the last boy that went up the stairs and simply asked, "Do you have a ticket?" before she sent him down without really listening for an answer. Although I heard from my coworker that the boy answered that he had one. Bullshit.
I later saw K and my new manager escorting the other two boys as they took the long walk of shame through the gift shop. I was just standing off to the side, laughing at them. Catching three guys coming in without tickets? Not a bad first impression to leave on my new boss! And very fun to watch as well!
Comment