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Hi there guys. I've been lurking a little from time to time, but after last summer, I couldn't bear to post for a while. I almost lost my mind and ended up on medication (the story of why is about to come) and then I broke up with my fiance of 9-and-half years. Needless to say, I've spent a long period of being very emotionally fragile.
And sensing my weakness, the fucking customers simply had to prey on me, didn't they?
So where did it begin?
Assault The First
So started back in the summer, less than a month before the break up, I was at work on the self-service checkout. It was very busy and our supervisor was on his break. I overheard some men at my colleague's checkout, I can't remember what they were saying or doing, but I remember clocking them as being rude and unpleasant. Oh well, I was running these 4 SSCOs. It was very busy.
Suddenly, there was a slight pain in my scalp and my head jerked backwards quickly and suddenly. The four men, all late thirties at the very youngest, were standing behind me laughing like morons. One of them, I don't know which one, had just decided to pull my hair- hard enough to startle me and cause a small amount of pain.
They all grinned at me. I couldn't tell which one who had done it, so I couldn't just lunge at them (I had to physically restrain myself from attacking them). Because I couldn't do anything, I could feel myself shaking. I snapped "Who did that!?" and they just laughed. Fighting back tears, I snarled "Don't you ever come back to this store again!" and they just walked away laughing.
I had no way to contact anyone, and my colleagues hadn't even noticed because they were serving queues. But that moment, I saw the Seasonal Manager go by. I ran over and said "I've just been assaulted by a customer, what do we do about it?"
He just looked blandly at me (he's a fucking spineless idiot) and said "What, what did they do?" I said a man had pulled my hair. He said "Why did he do that?"
"Because he's a fucking prick, thats why!"
I was insulted by that question. Like maybe somehow I had provoked the bastard into it. Even if I'd had a confrontation of some kind it wouldn't have been ok still. But this fucking idiot manager just said "Oh...thats assault" and then walked off, leaving us alone, and me quaking and with tears blinking out.
Girl on the Edge Doesn't Find your Joke Funny- REPORT HER!
Over the next week, I wasn't particularly chirpy with customers, as you can imagine. I have since lost all respect for many of the managers as you can also imagine. Well, only a few days after this incident, I had a man come up to my till. He did the age-old "don't worry, I printed it this morning" joke that I LOATHE. I've hated this fake-money joke for ages, but after the treatment of the past week, I couldn't even fake a laugh or a smile any more.
All I chose to do was disregard the comment. I wasn't rude or anything, I just carried on as though the joke was never made. However, this bothered the man and he just HAD to tell me lighten up and laugh because it was joke (Oh yeah, and a hugely hilarious original one at that, you must have a DVD coming out this Christmas -_- ).
I sighed and said "Look, I just...I hear that joke every single day...and I just don't find it funny any more."
He was enraged! He had a right go at me, before storming off and PHONING the store manager from outside of the store to complain about me! That same manager (R, who will reappear) came storming down to my supervisors and had a go at them, so in turn they had to have a go at me. I almost broke down in tears right then and there.
The only reason why they let up was that I then told them "Look, this is messing with me so badly that for the first time since I was 11, I've decided to seek professional help for my anxiety and depression. I'm going to the doctor next week to see if I can get signed off and put on meds. This is how badly this is affecting me."
I didn't get signed off, but I was put on medication, and my supervisor who's sometimes a little too hard on me saw them and got worried about me! So for the next few months I was given a break from Refunds, although I still had to run them sometimes (Refunds can be a more stressful environment sometimes).
Hit a Girl While She's Down/Being Pregnant Doesn't Make you Invalid
But shortly after going on the meds, the break up occurred. I won't go into the ins and outs of it, because its not entirely relevant. However, I was unable to go to work that day, and I was in a very fragile state for some time. Now, I do dislike my job intensely, and I wish my supervisors would sometimes lighten up, but I will give them this- on Front End, we are a fucking team. The support I had following that time was amazing, and everyone was so understanding. Even though I still want to leave, let it be known that my department knows exactly what team work is.
It was only days, however, after the break up that this occurred. I'd already had one break down that day. I had been dropped home by some friends who were looking after me, and as soon as they were gone, I literally screamed and cried into a pillow until I tired myself out. When it was time to get ready for work, I actually felt much better, and in my odd positivity I had put on some bright purple eye makeup. Clearly I was feeling optimistic XD
Anyway, I'm running Refunds (it would be one of the last times for a while) when a pregnant woman comes over with a lamp that was faulty, and just wanted to exchange it for a new one. I told her to get another and bring it back to me (because you can't just leave the refund desk). She was clearly unhappy about this and acted snotty about it.
Now, yes, she was pregnant...but the box was not heavy, and not on a high shelf. She was just fucking bone idle.
She came back to see me brain-derping with another customer. Another customer was complaining about our only mobility scooter (we now have none! lol). I think the customer was saying how the tires were deflated or something, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do about it or who to inform. Now, under less brain-derpy circumstances I would have just fobbed them off with a promise to let someone know, but as I was kind struggling, I was just a bit of a loss what to say, and clearly my lack of a solution was unsatisfying. As that customer left, the bitchy pregnant woman started telling me how rude I was that I didn't make more effort to help the customer and that the customer service was terrible, that I should lose my job.
I said I was sorry it seemed that way but I didn't know what to do. Then I did her exchange. Which consisted of me just glancing inside to see if it was faulty and just saying "Ok, thats fine." We don't have to input anything into our systems for a straight swap. When she realised this was all I had to do, she copped at me again, saying how lazy and unhelpful I was, that I wouldn't go get it for her, that I MADE her go ALL THE WAY to get it while she was PREGNANT blah blah. I was shaking as I held back tears. I called my supervisor and asked for help.
I was already crying by the time a colleague came to let me go, and I passed the new Store Manager as I ran to the locker room. Another customer tried to stop me but as I soon found out, I had black and purple lines streaming down my face. I bawled my eyes out in the locker room. Now, I know the woman had no idea I was so emotionally unstable at the time, but she was a bitch, and given my emotional state at the time, it just tore me to pieces. Today, I would probably just roll my eyes at the cow.
The managers who saw me crying decided to disregard her complaint (yes, she then went and complained to managers!) probably because when your cashier bursts into tears, chances are the one who isn't crying is probably the bitch (although, there is an exception to this, that will come later!).
Time Heals Old Wounds
Over the next few months, I got better. My friends and family looked after me, I was well supported at work, and then I met a new man, a man who actually experiences much of the same shit as me, bless him. I've been doing a helluva lot better, and just before Christmas, I said I was ready to start pulling my weight and helping on Refunds again. I'm known for being a bit stressy still, though, and I've had the odd panic attack, but generally, I'm much better.
And I found a backbone somewhere. Over Christmas, I had a few customers try shouting at me on refunds, just to find me staring them down and telling them to calm the hell down and stop yelling otherwise I wouldn't help them :3 A few people were really impressed by this new attitude. Frankly, I just got to the point where I'd decided no one gets paid to deal with that kinda shit and that I simply wasn't putting up with it any more.
Assault the Second
I was serving one day in January when a middle-aged man came up to me holding a foam pipe, used for insulating water pipes. I opened my mouth to say "Hello" when he suddenly smacked me hard over the head with the pipe!
Yes, it was foam. But if it hadn't been foam, he'd have hurt me. And I don't care that I wasn't hurt. I was furious.
He gave me a shit-eating grin and sneered "Sooorrryyy."
I snapped "That wasn't very nice was it!?"
"I was only jooooking."
"I don't care! That was totally uncalled for and really nasty. In fact, I'm now exercising my right to refuse you service."
The man and his wife just gawped at me moronically for a second, as though wondering if I was serious when I said "GO AWAY!". They shuffled away to SSCOs, and I stomped over to my supervisor to tell him what had happened and that I'm not putting up with that crap.
Many members of staff, including supervisors, found it funny, and a few people acted like I should have just laughed it off. But luckily, most people agreed with me- it was assault, even if I wasn't hurt, and at the very least, is humiliating. Why he thought that was appropriate in anyway I don't know, but as far as I'm concerned, the moment he did that, he tried belittling me. And fuck that shit.
The wife apologised and seemed profoundly embarrassed, insisting to my supervisor that I hadn't been hurt. No, I hadn't love. And be glad I wasn't, because I would have broken your husband's nose.
Handling Lunatics- Not in my Contract!
This is where the manager R turns back up again. I don't really like him. He's good at the stock side of his job, but the people side of his job...well...on one hand he usually backs you up. On the other, he's way too confrontational, and actually can make a relatively calm situation escalate just by his manner and tone. He can also go the other way and not back you up at all. If a customer complains about the staff, he's likely to blame the staff, even if he's good at backing us over policies.
I was dealing with a customer who was being rather awful. She came to refunds with 5 doors she'd just bought, and ranting about how the cashier had "overcharged" her by scanning one of the expensive doors more than once. I didn't even get a chance to investigate properly because she had kicked off almost as soon as she got through the door. Oh well, this is easily fixed. We have a limited till system, but in situations like this, we just refund the transaction and just start again.
So I explained this, as I was approaching to look at the receipt and the doors. I said "Thats, ok, not worry, I'll just refund it back onto your card, and we'll start again and I'll resell them back to you, sorry that's happened."
She copped at me instantly. She snapped how I wasn't going to do it that way because there wasn't enough money on her card to do the transaction twice (and refunds aren't always processed immediately). She was not reasonable about this, and I was calmly trying to explain that this was the only way I could do it. With her ranting and almost-shouting, I didn't even have the opportunity to think or let alone suggest and alternative solution.
All the while, she was absolutely slagging off the cashier who served her, calling her an idiot and demanding that I bring her down to the desk right now!!!! I asked who served her, and she said it was my colleague Bee. I said "Oh...well...I'm really sorry that happened, you know, human error does occur sometimes, and I know that Bee has been very poorly recently..."
Really fucking poorly. As in, she'd had a mini stroke.
And yet she was back at work. Yeah!
Bitchy McLunatic however snapped over me "I don't CARE if she's ILL, I want this fixed NOW blah blah-"
Me: *interrupting* "She had a stroke."
I wasn't rude. I didn't shout. I didn't have an attitude. But I was so SICK of hearing this utter cunt ranting about Bee. Bee is a great lady.
Oh my god, I kicked a wasp nest.
I'm not even exaggerating when the following happened...
Her eyes bulged, her face turned red and she literally SCREAMED "HOW DAAAARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!!!!!...and the rest of the shouting became incomprehensible. She was fucking INSANE! She'd almost been shouting right up until this, but now she was literally screaming. I tried to talk loudly over her, telling her to calm down, and she just screeched more and more.
All of a sudden, R and another manager appeared. The woman starts gesticulating madly and shouting about me, I got the odd snippets of "SO FUCKING RUDE/FUCKING ATTITUDE/HOW DARE SHE/WONT GIVE ME A REFUND/DONT CARE IF SHE HAD A FUCKING STROKE!!!" but most of it was noise. They kept trying to calm her down. All the while I was telling her I wouldn't serve her if she kept this up. I grabbed the phone and dialled for security, only for R to snatch it out of my hand, and hang up, saying he was there.
The cunt beast was almost talking now, and saying how I wouldn't give her a refund. Her retelling of the information was inaccurate, so I butted in (politely) a couple of times, trying to explain for my managers' benefits that I have to refund and resell etc, and R told me to shut up. He then turned and said "Stop butting in and exacerbating things. I think you should go." So go I did, and sent another refunder in my place. I told my supervisors about what happened. Now they were sympathetic, and even worried, asking if I needed a moment to calm down, but I was almost laughing. It was just so fucking ludicrous!
Then R appeared and he started telling me off. He said "First of all, DON'T call security when I'm there to deal with the situation, there was no need for that!" (I didn't bother to explain why I lack faith in managers regarding security now, hell, I have absolutely none now he's taken the phone out of my hand). "Secondly, don't interrupt like that! You were winding her up and making her angrier because you just wouldn't butt out!" Yes he was acting like I was doing it deliberately. Oh I won't lie, it would have been fucking hilarious if I had killed a customer by enraging them so much I'd given them an aneurysm but it hadn't been my intention.
I had to stand there for 5 minutes like a fucking naughty school kid, nodding my head as he berated me for pissing the woman off, and not "handling the situation differently". I almost said I didn't realise handling inbred lunatics was part of my job. I DID explain my side of the story, but he wasn't having it.
Here's the real kicker.
I think it was a scam.
Why?
The replacement refunder told me that R had to just give the cuntstomer a refund in the end, during which she continued screaming like a retarded banshee, and then left without rebuying. But the following day, Bee came to see me at my desk and apologised, bless her, for causing the mess and getting me in trouble. I said not to worry herself, that even if she had made a mistake, her mistake was not any excuse for the customer to act like a raving, psychotic beast.
That was when Bee said "I'm sorry anyway. You know, I was sure I scanned each door individually. I made a point of getting up from the chair to walk around with the scanner so I could scan them all to avoid making a mistake."
Intrigued, I spoke to another member of staff, who said that she saw Bee stand up to scan the doors. And another confirmed it also.
I'm not sure how the scam would have worked. But being as the woman hit the fucking roof with a bang, I think she was making a scene to cover the fact she was trying something on.
R still thinks its all my fault -_- stupid bastard.
Vindictive and Evil
This happened a week later, and caused me a great deal of stress. A woman came to my checkout with some items and asked, while I was serving, if I could open my till to make some change for her, so she could get a drink from the vending machine. We cannot do that at all, its a VERY strict rule. So I said "I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to do that, but there is a cafe in store, just over there, where you could buy a drink."
She just sneered at me and ignored this comment. I carried on serving, but I could already tell she was going to be unpleasant.
She spent the entire transaction nitpicking on anything she could think of. She didn't even direct the comments to me, but to the younger man accompanying her. I rang up her total, and when she put her card in the reader, I said my usual line of "Ok, if you could just pop your pin in for me."
"PLEASE!" she snapped.
In hindsight, I clearly played into her hands. She obviously deliberately trying to provoke me with all these comments and and things, and I lost my cool a little- I told her she was being very rude. She fake gasped and then smiled- SMILED. In that moment she looked just like Ursula from the Little Mermaid. She smiled at the younger man, looking smug and satisfied, and said "Very rude" with almost a purr.
Realising I'd dobbed myself in it, I sighed and said "Look, I'm sorry if I appear to be rude, but I've been very unwell recently (true) and my tolerance is low, but you have been very rude towards me." She just snapped that she was unwell too, and that if I was so unwell I shouldn't have come to work. I just said "Well, some of us can't afford to not come to work for just a cold" (thats also a true statement and not a snarky one). She carried on about how I wouldn't get her change for the vending machine, and I told her I wasn't allowed (again) to do that, and how I had told her about the cafe. She just snarled "But I don't want one from THERE!" Lady, they are the same fucking drinks!
Anyway, she goes off, making a beeline for my supervisor...meanwhile, however, I'm ringing up the next customer who was appalled by the bitch lady's behaviour. She was really nice to me, and as soon as she was done, she also went straight over to my supervisor to tell him that whatever the previous woman had said was untrue, that she'd heard the whole thing and the woman had been awful to me. My supervisor told me that the first lady had claimed she'd been at a funeral earlier that day and had started crying as she left, so I said "Well, if thats the case, it doesn't excuse her behaviour, but it might explain why she was so easily upset."
(Funny thing, she came BACK a couple of hours later to return some of her stuff...just as I was telling my colleague about her...awkward!)
Well, later on Facebook, I had a message from a former friend saying that the cunty customer was actually her auntie, and that I was out of order, that I had treated her like an idiot, that I had called her workshy and lazy, and that I had reduced her to tears with my nastiness. No mention of a funeral.
Oh and apparently the drink was for her diabetes.
Really? So a coke from a vending machine was more suitable than a coke from the cafe? I call bullshit on the whole damn thing. The woman is from a family renowned for being manipulative, vindictive and spiteful, and made up a whole bunch of shit to her own relatives about me, without even knowing who I was.
Cunt.
SHUT UP!
Last week, I had an awesome day. I had a bunch of customers being really nice to me, and one even made a point of telling my supervisor that I was "wonderful and fantastic"
. It really made my day. And yet I still had a sucky customer.
We're selling packs of spring bulbs in baggies. All the £3 ones are on an offer of 2 for £5, but the £5 ones are not on offer. The bags are a little similar, but the £3 ones are smaller, with their price and offer in bright red and yellow, and the £5 ones are a little bigger, with their price in white and green.
I had a posh, snobby man go through my checkout and when I scanned the items, I didn't even get to explain before he dramatically demanded I take them off the transaction and that he was being overcharged (which indicates to me that he knew full well he was full of shit). I politely explained the difference between the bulbs (he actually had 2 £5 packs and 1 £3 and was able to show him the difference right there).
But he wasn't having it, he was not having some jumped up shop girl with no brain cells tell HIM, Mr Marvellous the Genius of all the World tell him he was WRONG! Oh noes! He insisted I was wrong, or that at the very least the advertising was extremely deceptive and my customer service was terrible (because apparently, the price thing was also my responsibility -_- ). He even claimed that he used to work as a price-checker for my company so he "knew what <he> was talking about". Oh really? Did you lose your job because you can't read and you're colour blind?
Well, when I wouldn't budge on the matter, he had to accept defeat. I removed them from the transaction and just charged him for the remaining items. But he just couldn't leave it there, and as he snatched his receipt from me, he said very condescendingly "Next time, the right way to respond is to say 'I'm very sorry sir, I will go and check that for you'".
(Ahem, a moment to rant: First of all, I'm not calling you Sir. You're an it. You're also a twit. Secondly, I don't need to apologise. Because I have done nothing wrong. You are far older than me, therefore I am very confident that the task of teaching you to read and tell apart primary colours never fell to me. Nothing was done wrong. Suck my dick.)
One day, I'm going to record these nasty little thoughts. But before then, I may have a freudian slip and lose my job by saying it out loud instead
Ahem, what I actually said was "I don't need to check it. I already know."
Haha, yeah!I think that just pissed him off even more, the fact I wouldn't just bend over for him and kiss his shoes. I mean, I wasn't wrong! Lol! But he just snapped at me, so I said "I can't help what the pricing says, so you shouldn't have a go at me."
To which he shouted "SHUT UP!!!"
I turned around to see a mass of (nice) customer all wearing the exact same expression-
It was gratifying and kind of amusing XD Clearly, realising bullying me into his way of thinking wasn't working, and losing the game led to him doing the only thing he could do...shouting XD
There have been more, but from the last few months, those are the ones that stand out. People are wondering why I hate my job lol. Well, there you have it. Managers don't back us up even if we're being assaulted, we're blamed for the appalling behaviour of other people, we're treated like stupid trolls who can't do anything other than punch at a till (would love to see them try it) and frankly, I am on the end of my tether. I'm currently very stressed out because I've just discovered my grandmother is dying.
Here's hoping I find something better soon eh?
And sensing my weakness, the fucking customers simply had to prey on me, didn't they?
So where did it begin?
Assault The First
So started back in the summer, less than a month before the break up, I was at work on the self-service checkout. It was very busy and our supervisor was on his break. I overheard some men at my colleague's checkout, I can't remember what they were saying or doing, but I remember clocking them as being rude and unpleasant. Oh well, I was running these 4 SSCOs. It was very busy.
Suddenly, there was a slight pain in my scalp and my head jerked backwards quickly and suddenly. The four men, all late thirties at the very youngest, were standing behind me laughing like morons. One of them, I don't know which one, had just decided to pull my hair- hard enough to startle me and cause a small amount of pain.
They all grinned at me. I couldn't tell which one who had done it, so I couldn't just lunge at them (I had to physically restrain myself from attacking them). Because I couldn't do anything, I could feel myself shaking. I snapped "Who did that!?" and they just laughed. Fighting back tears, I snarled "Don't you ever come back to this store again!" and they just walked away laughing.
I had no way to contact anyone, and my colleagues hadn't even noticed because they were serving queues. But that moment, I saw the Seasonal Manager go by. I ran over and said "I've just been assaulted by a customer, what do we do about it?"
He just looked blandly at me (he's a fucking spineless idiot) and said "What, what did they do?" I said a man had pulled my hair. He said "Why did he do that?"
"Because he's a fucking prick, thats why!"
I was insulted by that question. Like maybe somehow I had provoked the bastard into it. Even if I'd had a confrontation of some kind it wouldn't have been ok still. But this fucking idiot manager just said "Oh...thats assault" and then walked off, leaving us alone, and me quaking and with tears blinking out.
Girl on the Edge Doesn't Find your Joke Funny- REPORT HER!
Over the next week, I wasn't particularly chirpy with customers, as you can imagine. I have since lost all respect for many of the managers as you can also imagine. Well, only a few days after this incident, I had a man come up to my till. He did the age-old "don't worry, I printed it this morning" joke that I LOATHE. I've hated this fake-money joke for ages, but after the treatment of the past week, I couldn't even fake a laugh or a smile any more.
All I chose to do was disregard the comment. I wasn't rude or anything, I just carried on as though the joke was never made. However, this bothered the man and he just HAD to tell me lighten up and laugh because it was joke (Oh yeah, and a hugely hilarious original one at that, you must have a DVD coming out this Christmas -_- ).
I sighed and said "Look, I just...I hear that joke every single day...and I just don't find it funny any more."
He was enraged! He had a right go at me, before storming off and PHONING the store manager from outside of the store to complain about me! That same manager (R, who will reappear) came storming down to my supervisors and had a go at them, so in turn they had to have a go at me. I almost broke down in tears right then and there.
The only reason why they let up was that I then told them "Look, this is messing with me so badly that for the first time since I was 11, I've decided to seek professional help for my anxiety and depression. I'm going to the doctor next week to see if I can get signed off and put on meds. This is how badly this is affecting me."
I didn't get signed off, but I was put on medication, and my supervisor who's sometimes a little too hard on me saw them and got worried about me! So for the next few months I was given a break from Refunds, although I still had to run them sometimes (Refunds can be a more stressful environment sometimes).
Hit a Girl While She's Down/Being Pregnant Doesn't Make you Invalid
But shortly after going on the meds, the break up occurred. I won't go into the ins and outs of it, because its not entirely relevant. However, I was unable to go to work that day, and I was in a very fragile state for some time. Now, I do dislike my job intensely, and I wish my supervisors would sometimes lighten up, but I will give them this- on Front End, we are a fucking team. The support I had following that time was amazing, and everyone was so understanding. Even though I still want to leave, let it be known that my department knows exactly what team work is.
It was only days, however, after the break up that this occurred. I'd already had one break down that day. I had been dropped home by some friends who were looking after me, and as soon as they were gone, I literally screamed and cried into a pillow until I tired myself out. When it was time to get ready for work, I actually felt much better, and in my odd positivity I had put on some bright purple eye makeup. Clearly I was feeling optimistic XD
Anyway, I'm running Refunds (it would be one of the last times for a while) when a pregnant woman comes over with a lamp that was faulty, and just wanted to exchange it for a new one. I told her to get another and bring it back to me (because you can't just leave the refund desk). She was clearly unhappy about this and acted snotty about it.
Now, yes, she was pregnant...but the box was not heavy, and not on a high shelf. She was just fucking bone idle.
She came back to see me brain-derping with another customer. Another customer was complaining about our only mobility scooter (we now have none! lol). I think the customer was saying how the tires were deflated or something, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do about it or who to inform. Now, under less brain-derpy circumstances I would have just fobbed them off with a promise to let someone know, but as I was kind struggling, I was just a bit of a loss what to say, and clearly my lack of a solution was unsatisfying. As that customer left, the bitchy pregnant woman started telling me how rude I was that I didn't make more effort to help the customer and that the customer service was terrible, that I should lose my job.
I said I was sorry it seemed that way but I didn't know what to do. Then I did her exchange. Which consisted of me just glancing inside to see if it was faulty and just saying "Ok, thats fine." We don't have to input anything into our systems for a straight swap. When she realised this was all I had to do, she copped at me again, saying how lazy and unhelpful I was, that I wouldn't go get it for her, that I MADE her go ALL THE WAY to get it while she was PREGNANT blah blah. I was shaking as I held back tears. I called my supervisor and asked for help.
I was already crying by the time a colleague came to let me go, and I passed the new Store Manager as I ran to the locker room. Another customer tried to stop me but as I soon found out, I had black and purple lines streaming down my face. I bawled my eyes out in the locker room. Now, I know the woman had no idea I was so emotionally unstable at the time, but she was a bitch, and given my emotional state at the time, it just tore me to pieces. Today, I would probably just roll my eyes at the cow.
The managers who saw me crying decided to disregard her complaint (yes, she then went and complained to managers!) probably because when your cashier bursts into tears, chances are the one who isn't crying is probably the bitch (although, there is an exception to this, that will come later!).
Time Heals Old Wounds
Over the next few months, I got better. My friends and family looked after me, I was well supported at work, and then I met a new man, a man who actually experiences much of the same shit as me, bless him. I've been doing a helluva lot better, and just before Christmas, I said I was ready to start pulling my weight and helping on Refunds again. I'm known for being a bit stressy still, though, and I've had the odd panic attack, but generally, I'm much better.
And I found a backbone somewhere. Over Christmas, I had a few customers try shouting at me on refunds, just to find me staring them down and telling them to calm the hell down and stop yelling otherwise I wouldn't help them :3 A few people were really impressed by this new attitude. Frankly, I just got to the point where I'd decided no one gets paid to deal with that kinda shit and that I simply wasn't putting up with it any more.
Assault the Second
I was serving one day in January when a middle-aged man came up to me holding a foam pipe, used for insulating water pipes. I opened my mouth to say "Hello" when he suddenly smacked me hard over the head with the pipe!
Yes, it was foam. But if it hadn't been foam, he'd have hurt me. And I don't care that I wasn't hurt. I was furious.
He gave me a shit-eating grin and sneered "Sooorrryyy."
I snapped "That wasn't very nice was it!?"
"I was only jooooking."
"I don't care! That was totally uncalled for and really nasty. In fact, I'm now exercising my right to refuse you service."
The man and his wife just gawped at me moronically for a second, as though wondering if I was serious when I said "GO AWAY!". They shuffled away to SSCOs, and I stomped over to my supervisor to tell him what had happened and that I'm not putting up with that crap.
Many members of staff, including supervisors, found it funny, and a few people acted like I should have just laughed it off. But luckily, most people agreed with me- it was assault, even if I wasn't hurt, and at the very least, is humiliating. Why he thought that was appropriate in anyway I don't know, but as far as I'm concerned, the moment he did that, he tried belittling me. And fuck that shit.
The wife apologised and seemed profoundly embarrassed, insisting to my supervisor that I hadn't been hurt. No, I hadn't love. And be glad I wasn't, because I would have broken your husband's nose.
Handling Lunatics- Not in my Contract!
This is where the manager R turns back up again. I don't really like him. He's good at the stock side of his job, but the people side of his job...well...on one hand he usually backs you up. On the other, he's way too confrontational, and actually can make a relatively calm situation escalate just by his manner and tone. He can also go the other way and not back you up at all. If a customer complains about the staff, he's likely to blame the staff, even if he's good at backing us over policies.
I was dealing with a customer who was being rather awful. She came to refunds with 5 doors she'd just bought, and ranting about how the cashier had "overcharged" her by scanning one of the expensive doors more than once. I didn't even get a chance to investigate properly because she had kicked off almost as soon as she got through the door. Oh well, this is easily fixed. We have a limited till system, but in situations like this, we just refund the transaction and just start again.
So I explained this, as I was approaching to look at the receipt and the doors. I said "Thats, ok, not worry, I'll just refund it back onto your card, and we'll start again and I'll resell them back to you, sorry that's happened."
She copped at me instantly. She snapped how I wasn't going to do it that way because there wasn't enough money on her card to do the transaction twice (and refunds aren't always processed immediately). She was not reasonable about this, and I was calmly trying to explain that this was the only way I could do it. With her ranting and almost-shouting, I didn't even have the opportunity to think or let alone suggest and alternative solution.
All the while, she was absolutely slagging off the cashier who served her, calling her an idiot and demanding that I bring her down to the desk right now!!!! I asked who served her, and she said it was my colleague Bee. I said "Oh...well...I'm really sorry that happened, you know, human error does occur sometimes, and I know that Bee has been very poorly recently..."
Really fucking poorly. As in, she'd had a mini stroke.
And yet she was back at work. Yeah!Bitchy McLunatic however snapped over me "I don't CARE if she's ILL, I want this fixed NOW blah blah-"
Me: *interrupting* "She had a stroke."
I wasn't rude. I didn't shout. I didn't have an attitude. But I was so SICK of hearing this utter cunt ranting about Bee. Bee is a great lady.
Oh my god, I kicked a wasp nest.
I'm not even exaggerating when the following happened...
Her eyes bulged, her face turned red and she literally SCREAMED "HOW DAAAARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!!!!!...and the rest of the shouting became incomprehensible. She was fucking INSANE! She'd almost been shouting right up until this, but now she was literally screaming. I tried to talk loudly over her, telling her to calm down, and she just screeched more and more.
All of a sudden, R and another manager appeared. The woman starts gesticulating madly and shouting about me, I got the odd snippets of "SO FUCKING RUDE/FUCKING ATTITUDE/HOW DARE SHE/WONT GIVE ME A REFUND/DONT CARE IF SHE HAD A FUCKING STROKE!!!" but most of it was noise. They kept trying to calm her down. All the while I was telling her I wouldn't serve her if she kept this up. I grabbed the phone and dialled for security, only for R to snatch it out of my hand, and hang up, saying he was there.
The cunt beast was almost talking now, and saying how I wouldn't give her a refund. Her retelling of the information was inaccurate, so I butted in (politely) a couple of times, trying to explain for my managers' benefits that I have to refund and resell etc, and R told me to shut up. He then turned and said "Stop butting in and exacerbating things. I think you should go." So go I did, and sent another refunder in my place. I told my supervisors about what happened. Now they were sympathetic, and even worried, asking if I needed a moment to calm down, but I was almost laughing. It was just so fucking ludicrous!
Then R appeared and he started telling me off. He said "First of all, DON'T call security when I'm there to deal with the situation, there was no need for that!" (I didn't bother to explain why I lack faith in managers regarding security now, hell, I have absolutely none now he's taken the phone out of my hand). "Secondly, don't interrupt like that! You were winding her up and making her angrier because you just wouldn't butt out!" Yes he was acting like I was doing it deliberately. Oh I won't lie, it would have been fucking hilarious if I had killed a customer by enraging them so much I'd given them an aneurysm but it hadn't been my intention.
I had to stand there for 5 minutes like a fucking naughty school kid, nodding my head as he berated me for pissing the woman off, and not "handling the situation differently". I almost said I didn't realise handling inbred lunatics was part of my job. I DID explain my side of the story, but he wasn't having it.
Here's the real kicker.
I think it was a scam.
Why?
The replacement refunder told me that R had to just give the cuntstomer a refund in the end, during which she continued screaming like a retarded banshee, and then left without rebuying. But the following day, Bee came to see me at my desk and apologised, bless her, for causing the mess and getting me in trouble. I said not to worry herself, that even if she had made a mistake, her mistake was not any excuse for the customer to act like a raving, psychotic beast.
That was when Bee said "I'm sorry anyway. You know, I was sure I scanned each door individually. I made a point of getting up from the chair to walk around with the scanner so I could scan them all to avoid making a mistake."
Intrigued, I spoke to another member of staff, who said that she saw Bee stand up to scan the doors. And another confirmed it also.
I'm not sure how the scam would have worked. But being as the woman hit the fucking roof with a bang, I think she was making a scene to cover the fact she was trying something on.
R still thinks its all my fault -_- stupid bastard.
Vindictive and Evil
This happened a week later, and caused me a great deal of stress. A woman came to my checkout with some items and asked, while I was serving, if I could open my till to make some change for her, so she could get a drink from the vending machine. We cannot do that at all, its a VERY strict rule. So I said "I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to do that, but there is a cafe in store, just over there, where you could buy a drink."
She just sneered at me and ignored this comment. I carried on serving, but I could already tell she was going to be unpleasant.
She spent the entire transaction nitpicking on anything she could think of. She didn't even direct the comments to me, but to the younger man accompanying her. I rang up her total, and when she put her card in the reader, I said my usual line of "Ok, if you could just pop your pin in for me."
"PLEASE!" she snapped.
In hindsight, I clearly played into her hands. She obviously deliberately trying to provoke me with all these comments and and things, and I lost my cool a little- I told her she was being very rude. She fake gasped and then smiled- SMILED. In that moment she looked just like Ursula from the Little Mermaid. She smiled at the younger man, looking smug and satisfied, and said "Very rude" with almost a purr.
Realising I'd dobbed myself in it, I sighed and said "Look, I'm sorry if I appear to be rude, but I've been very unwell recently (true) and my tolerance is low, but you have been very rude towards me." She just snapped that she was unwell too, and that if I was so unwell I shouldn't have come to work. I just said "Well, some of us can't afford to not come to work for just a cold" (thats also a true statement and not a snarky one). She carried on about how I wouldn't get her change for the vending machine, and I told her I wasn't allowed (again) to do that, and how I had told her about the cafe. She just snarled "But I don't want one from THERE!" Lady, they are the same fucking drinks!
Anyway, she goes off, making a beeline for my supervisor...meanwhile, however, I'm ringing up the next customer who was appalled by the bitch lady's behaviour. She was really nice to me, and as soon as she was done, she also went straight over to my supervisor to tell him that whatever the previous woman had said was untrue, that she'd heard the whole thing and the woman had been awful to me. My supervisor told me that the first lady had claimed she'd been at a funeral earlier that day and had started crying as she left, so I said "Well, if thats the case, it doesn't excuse her behaviour, but it might explain why she was so easily upset."
(Funny thing, she came BACK a couple of hours later to return some of her stuff...just as I was telling my colleague about her...awkward!)
Well, later on Facebook, I had a message from a former friend saying that the cunty customer was actually her auntie, and that I was out of order, that I had treated her like an idiot, that I had called her workshy and lazy, and that I had reduced her to tears with my nastiness. No mention of a funeral.
Oh and apparently the drink was for her diabetes.
Really? So a coke from a vending machine was more suitable than a coke from the cafe? I call bullshit on the whole damn thing. The woman is from a family renowned for being manipulative, vindictive and spiteful, and made up a whole bunch of shit to her own relatives about me, without even knowing who I was.
Cunt.
SHUT UP!
Last week, I had an awesome day
. I had a bunch of customers being really nice to me, and one even made a point of telling my supervisor that I was "wonderful and fantastic". It really made my day. And yet I still had a sucky customer.We're selling packs of spring bulbs in baggies. All the £3 ones are on an offer of 2 for £5, but the £5 ones are not on offer. The bags are a little similar, but the £3 ones are smaller, with their price and offer in bright red and yellow, and the £5 ones are a little bigger, with their price in white and green.
I had a posh, snobby man go through my checkout and when I scanned the items, I didn't even get to explain before he dramatically demanded I take them off the transaction and that he was being overcharged (which indicates to me that he knew full well he was full of shit). I politely explained the difference between the bulbs (he actually had 2 £5 packs and 1 £3 and was able to show him the difference right there).
But he wasn't having it, he was not having some jumped up shop girl with no brain cells tell HIM, Mr Marvellous the Genius of all the World tell him he was WRONG! Oh noes! He insisted I was wrong, or that at the very least the advertising was extremely deceptive and my customer service was terrible (because apparently, the price thing was also my responsibility -_- ). He even claimed that he used to work as a price-checker for my company so he "knew what <he> was talking about". Oh really? Did you lose your job because you can't read and you're colour blind?
Well, when I wouldn't budge on the matter, he had to accept defeat. I removed them from the transaction and just charged him for the remaining items. But he just couldn't leave it there, and as he snatched his receipt from me, he said very condescendingly "Next time, the right way to respond is to say 'I'm very sorry sir, I will go and check that for you'".
(Ahem, a moment to rant: First of all, I'm not calling you Sir. You're an it. You're also a twit. Secondly, I don't need to apologise. Because I have done nothing wrong. You are far older than me, therefore I am very confident that the task of teaching you to read and tell apart primary colours never fell to me. Nothing was done wrong. Suck my dick.)
One day, I'm going to record these nasty little thoughts. But before then, I may have a freudian slip and lose my job by saying it out loud instead
Ahem, what I actually said was "I don't need to check it. I already know."
Haha, yeah!
I think that just pissed him off even more, the fact I wouldn't just bend over for him and kiss his shoes. I mean, I wasn't wrong! Lol! But he just snapped at me, so I said "I can't help what the pricing says, so you shouldn't have a go at me."To which he shouted "SHUT UP!!!"
I turned around to see a mass of (nice) customer all wearing the exact same expression-
It was gratifying and kind of amusing XD Clearly, realising bullying me into his way of thinking wasn't working, and losing the game led to him doing the only thing he could do...shouting XD
There have been more, but from the last few months, those are the ones that stand out. People are wondering why I hate my job lol. Well, there you have it. Managers don't back us up even if we're being assaulted, we're blamed for the appalling behaviour of other people, we're treated like stupid trolls who can't do anything other than punch at a till (would love to see them try it) and frankly, I am on the end of my tether. I'm currently very stressed out because I've just discovered my grandmother is dying.
Here's hoping I find something better soon eh?
t. That is all kinds of wrong.
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