"I don't care!"

[Retail Associate]

We replace watch batteries for most types of watches at the jewelry counter...a task I find utterly annoying and a complete waste of time. I'm called up there 15-20 times a night to replace batteries and we've tried to get management to stop offering this service. But to no avail. Never in my life have I had the need to have someone else put a freaking battery in my watch. But, I digress.

If the SC has a watch that has tiny screws holding the back on, we have been told in no uncertain terms to not remove those screws. I had an SC call for help at the counter the other day. This was our exchange:

Lazy-Ass Customer = LAC
Annoyed Retail Associate = Me

LAC: "I need a new battery in my watch."

Me: (Looking at his watch and it's four tiny screws) "I'm sorry. I can't change the battery in your watch. We are not to remove screws from customers' watches."

LAC: "Why not?"

Me: "Because if we lose a screw we can't replace it."

LAC: "They've always done it for me before."

Me: (Sure they have) "Well, I've been told not to do it."

LAC: "You don't want me to go to Wal Mart, do ya?"

Me: "I don't care." Then I turned and walked away.

Like I give a rat's ass if he takes his watch somewhere else and wastes someone else's time for a $3.70 battery. I wish they would all go to Wal Mart, then I wouldn't have to deal with 'em.

[BusBus]

Ah yes, the "Ill go elsewhere" threat. Good on ya for calling her on it.

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

Ah yes, the "Ill go elsewhere" threat. Good on ya for calling her on it.

Well that filters out the nonsence customers! You act like a fool saying that when there's a lot of people around you!

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

Would walmart change the battery for him when they sell it to him?
I'm imagining not, so that threat is even less effective.

[Nekojin]

Last time I bought a battery at a Wal-Mart (only because there weren't any other shops nearby that carried this particular battery number - Wal-Mart buys by the squajillion, so they stock everything but the really esoteric ones), the clerks that worked Electronics would have given me one hell of a dumb look if I'd asked them to change the battery for me.

[Shabo]

When I buy watches (which is never now that I have a cell phone) I get the $10 from Wal-mart so when it dies in a year, I buy a new one. No losses there. No batteries to change. Done.

[Becks]

I only have one watch that is fancy enough that I might someday have to get a replacement battery for.

My everyday watches are so inexpensive that when the battery dies, I just go buy a brand new watch.

[Andara Bledin]

By the time my watch batteries are dead, I've usually banged up the band and casing that I wouldn't want to just get a new battery anyway.

I imagine if I had a watch that ever cost more than $20, I might care. But then again, I can't see myself ever really wanting a watch that costs more than that unless it's some special thing. Like, say, one that runs backwards....

^-.-^

[GayleShy]

LAC: "You don't want me to go to Wal Mart, do ya?"

At the Wal-Mart I worked at, we wouldn't change watch batteries unless the watch had been bought from Wal-Mart and the customer either had the recept, or the jewlery clerk could remember selling that same watch. This was because someone tried to say that the clerk had broken his watch when she was changing the battery and he wanted compensation for it. It supposedly a very expencive watch and he just wanted us to give him cash so he could buy a new one at the store he bought his watch at.

[LonelyStr8manInSF]

I imagine if I had a watch that ever cost more than $20, I might care. But then again, I can't see myself ever really wanting a watch that costs more than that unless it's some special thing. Like, say, one that runs backwards....

^-.-^

It is my dream to one day own one of those old fashioned wall clocks that goes "tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock," except have it be run by a random number generator. It will be accurate to the minute, but the seconds will be entirely irregular.

Yes, I love the Patrician.

[JustaCashier]

I imagine if I had a watch that ever cost more than $20, I might care. But then again, I can't see myself ever really wanting a watch that costs more than that unless it's some special thing. Like, say, one that runs backwards....^-.-^

I have a desktop electric clock from probably around the 40's.

Once it's plugged in, you spin a knob on the back, that not only turns the second hand, but also starts the clock. It can also be spun backwards, and thus, the clock will run backwards.

I remember my dad running it backwards, to see if visitors would notice, and what their reaction would be.

Mike

[Retail Associate]

Would walmart change the battery for him when they sell it to him?

I guess it depends on which Wal Mart. From what I understand, some do and some don't.

...the clerks that worked Electronics would have given me one hell of a dumb look if I'd asked them to change the battery for me.

I never knew how helpless people were until I started covering the jewelry counter at night. I can't imagine expecting someone to change my battery for me. They not only want us to change the batteries in their watches, but their keyless entry do-dads, garage door opener remotes, kids little electronic games...you name it. Helpless idiots! Unbelievable!

...Like, say, one that runs backwards....

Speaking of watches running backwards, my co-worker went to help a man at the counter a week or so ago who's watch was running backwards. He told her it was because the girl who changed the battery for him the day before had put it in backwards. But when she opened the watch she could see that it was put in correctly. He then wanted to know why it was going backwards. She had no idea, and neither do I.

At the Wal-Mart I worked at, we wouldn't change watch batteries unless the watch had been bought from Wal-Mart...

We're only supposed to change batteries in watches they've bought from us, too. But the girls who work first shift only have to work the jewelry counter, so they have plenty of time on their hands. They'll change batteries for everybody, including those with screws.

When we cover jewelry on second shift, we also have to cover several other areas. It's a PITA having to go up there over and over again to change batteries for lazy-ass customers. Before I knew that we weren't to remove screws I had done them several times. But one night I lost one of the tiny screws from a guy's watch and he ended up getting a free watch out of the deal. It wasn't until after that incident that my manager told me we are never to remove screws from the backs of watches.

...someone tried to say that the clerk had broken his watch when she was changing the battery and he wanted compensation for it.

We have been so short-handed that people from other depts have been coming over a few nights a week to help us out lately. One of them used to work the jewelry counter. She was called up there to put new batteries in three very old, very ugly watches. As she snapped the back of one of the watches back into place, the minute hand came off inside the watch. That customer got a $25.00 gift certificate because of it. BUT before she accepted the certificate, she asked if it was going to come out of the girl's paycheck. If it was, she didn't want it. I thought that was pretty nice of her.

The whole thing about this is that the store doesn't make any money by offering this service except for the cost of the battery. It wastes our time when we could and should be doing other things. Some nights I probably spend about a third of my shift going up there and changing batteries. I truly hate it. All of us do, even our manager but the store won't stop offering it. On really busy battery nights I usually end up with over-time because I spent most of my shift at the jewelry counter and have to scramble to get my real duties finished.

[Andara Bledin]

It is my dream to one day own one of those old fashioned wall clocks that goes "tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock," except have it be run by a random number generator. It will be accurate to the minute, but the seconds will be entirely irregular.

Yes, I love the Patrician.

That would be a riot, but I'm one of those people that would be driven absolutely bonkers by that. Vetinari is wickedly clever.

^-.-^

[air914]

Me too! Although the last one I bought was $14.99 I think.... b/c it was the nicest looking digital one I've seen... small, simple, black band and silver face with easy to read digital numbers. I like digital But they never make any really nice looking ones..... it's like an untouched corner of the market.......

[Sharsarannon]

My watch is about two inches across and is a pocketwatch. No electricity involved whatsoever. With that and a sextant to find noon, I could handle the apocalypse! As a traditional pocketwatch, it winds, so if you keep it wound it always runs.