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Maybe if I just ask ONE more member of staff.....

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  • Maybe if I just ask ONE more member of staff.....

    I am currently at another WHShit. I am helping out in Books and sorting the stock room out. I have been up to my ears in books and could tell you with 99.9% accuracy if we have a certain book in stock. I have been there for 4 weeks now and, trust me, I know. If I have any doubt at all, I will go check for you, but I pretty much know what we have.

    Anyway......I get this asshole in the other day who wants the construction health and safety test book. For those who don't know, the health and safety test is a must for all UK construction workers now. Kind of like a driving test, so we get alot of people wanting them.

    Let me just say that since I am at a different shop and do not work there, I am in normal clothing. I also try to let my tattoos show when I am different shops (I help at other shops often) so I do not look like I work there and I am not bothered. Somehow this has the oppisite effect as no one, including the aforementioned asshole, asks me if I work there. They just come up and ask me questions about stock. When I am in unioform they say "do you work here?". Puzzles me.

    Ok...so asshole comes up and the following conversation takes place. Pretty much word for word......

    A= asshole
    M=moi

    A- Excuse me, where would the health and safety book for construction be?
    M- It would be down that aisle there, second shelf on the last drop.
    A- Thanks....(goes to look).....(comes back)
    A- It wasn't there, do you have any someplace else?
    M- Nope. If it isn't there then they don't have any.
    A- Are you sure?
    M- Yes, I am positive.
    A- Could you check in the back?
    (I hate that expression)
    M- Well, there is no reason for me to do that as I know we don't have them. I am certain.
    A- Is there someone else who would know?
    M- Well, I KNOW they don't have them. See, I am from a different shop and have been sorting out the books and the stockroom. I know what books we have and what we don't have. I have been through every book in the shop for the past four weeks. I know for a fact that they only have what was on the shelf and there was only 2 on the shelf this morning. They sell out quickly, so I am 100% sure there are no more in stock.
    A- Can you check? There might be some in the back.
    M- I am not checking downstairs because there ARE NONE down there. I told you I have been sorting the stockroom out. All they have are the old versions, but they are useless now.
    A- Could I order it?
    M- Well, that is a bit complicated. Do you have the ISBN?
    A- I-S-C-9?
    M- ISBN. It is a number that is unique to a book, nevermind. You don't have it then?
    A- Uh....no but why can't you order it without it?
    M- Well, you see I have ordered it for someone that had the ISBN before and the book actually comes up on the system as something like 0011116000044999A Health and Safety ACU PJU (whatever). It is a really complicated title and it won't come up without the correct numbers or the ISBN. Sorry.
    A- Could you try?
    M- There is no point in trying as either nothing or 1000 titles will come up.
    A- Can't you type in Health and Safety and some numbers?
    M- No, it doesn't work like that. Your best bet is to try another book store.
    A- Can you tell me what other WHShit would have it?
    M- The only way for me to check would be to call every shop and I can't really do that. I can give you the numbers....
    A- No thats ok, thanks anyway.

    he goes away and I start to do something near the tills...then about 5 minutes later I see him at the tills asking another staff member!

    The conversation goes the same as mine only she goes and checks for him. I was waiting for her to come up with an old version as some people don't realize. She comes up and tells him we have no more left. He asks to order it and she explains to him that we can't without the ISBN. Blah blah blah.

    He goes away and I see him ask another member of staff!!!!!!!

    WTF?

    I explained to him in painful detail that we do not have the book and WHY we don't have the book. You think that after all the explaining, he would be certain that I wasn't lying to him or being lazy. And then when someone else told him the same thing, he would really be convinced. Nope.

    What a jackass. I really hope that he eventually fails his test and is forced to go to the JobCenter.

    I know that I may have sounded unhelpful, but why should I go to check if we have something that I KNOW we don't have? It is a waste of the customers tije and mine. I am not going to do something just to make him feel better.

    So, yeah....grrrrrrrrrr.

    I am really thinking of making a nametag that says "Hi. I am Jaime. I do not work here. Fuck off"

    Yeah.....
    "If it offends one person, it effects everyone".....me, on the PC world in which we dwell.

  • #2
    I hate customers like that myself, especially those who ask me if I am sure. They don't trust us so they ask another person and they will probably say the same thing. Stupid customers.

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth WHShit View Post
      "Hi. I am Jaime. I do not work here. Fuck off"
      Perhaps as a tattoo? That way, when it's exposed, you can just point at it.
      "I call murder on that!"

      Comment


      • #4
        I've decided it's not worth the argument when they ask "can you check in the back?" and I know it's not there. I would just decide it's time for a drink of water . Then I'd come back out and say, sorry, we don't have it. Unless I've already looked for it for someone else, or I know I just sold the last one. Then I tell them exactly that.

        It might be a good idea to post a note with the ISBN near the computer, if people come looking for it that often...just a thought.

        A- Is there someone else who would know?
        This pisses me off. If I've just said "I don't know" then it's a perfectly legitimate question (though if I do have to say I don't know I will follow it up with "let me see if I can find out"). But if I've just explained the situation in no uncertain terms, then yes, there is someone who would know. That someone would be ME, and I just told you the answer! grr.
        I don't go in for ancient wisdom
        I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
        It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

        Comment


        • #5
          Ahh the magical backroom where all the stores keep the good stuff we dont want to sell to the customers because it's so overpriced and will make lots of money off of. IDIOTS!

          Comment


          • #6
            I had one of those today! (I don't normally work Sundays, but I had a project to complete before opening.)

            Customer wanted to sign up for high-speed internet so he could get a promotion available through our store. I checked our computer system. The only high-speed service available at his address (according to our database) was a satellite-based service, which was $60/month plus at least $200 for equipment and required a contract. He didn't want that (and I don't blame him). So I called up Q and CC (the two major high-speed providers in the area) just to verify that the service is not available because our database is not 100% accurate. Nope. No Q or CC, so I can't sign him up for anything other than the satellite service. Disappointed, he left.

            A few minutes later, I see a co-worker checking availability for him and making the same phone calls. Same result.

            A few minutes later, I see a supervisor doing the same dance.

            Then he caught me again. He asked if it would help if he called Q and CC. I told him he was welcome to do so, though I doubted their answer would change within twenty minutes. He wanted to try anyway, so I gave him the phone numbers and watched (while helping other customers) as he called them on his cell phone. After the first call he made, he scowled. After the second call, he stomped his foot, looked at me, proclaimed that this was Male Bovine Excrement, and stormed out.

            They're persistent, I'll give them that... Persistent at banging their heads into brick walls, but persistent nevertheless.
            I suspect that... inside every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants everything his own way.
            - Bill Watterson

            My co-workers: They're there when they need me.
            - IPF

            Comment


            • #7
              I have that happen to my a the grocery store often. I work in bakery along with about 6 other people. Customers come up and ask me if we have any of X in stock. If I am not sure i will check in the freezer. If i know we are out because I have checked for another customer, stocked the shelves etc. I tell them that we are out of stock, our next load will be in on <insert day here>. Most accept that as life and move on.

              Some decide to argue with me, others ask another employee who leads the customer over again and we repeat the whole thing OR they call me I tall them to tell the same customer we are out. Once a customer asked a produce clerk, bagger, cashier, grocery clerk, porter and dairy clerk the same question. It was funny and annoying getting all these calls about the same question.

              A few weeks ago on a really hot day I got one customer asking about a product. I had just sold the last one. I knew more would be in the next day. I told her this and she says "well, the OTHER people will look in the freezer for me!" I tell her we have none I put the last tow out three hours ago, they are gone until tomorrow. She was on the verge of tears because I wold not look for a non-existent item. I finally go in the freezer, and sit down for a minute or two cool off and tell her no, we are out of stock. She finally leaves and returns a few minutes later with another employee. Same question. Other employee and I go in the freezer chill for a minute and we both tell her we are out. She finally goes up front with her purchases and wants an discount of $50 on a $70 order because her item was out of stock. She argues with the MOD and leaves, minus the discount we had to give her "by federal law."

              Comment


              • #8
                Hatred...for managers...that give sc's discounts...

                Don't encourage them...please?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth WHShit View Post
                  Let me just say that since I am at a different shop and do not work there, I am in normal clothing. I also try to let my tattoos show when I am different shops (I help at other shops often) so I do not look like I work there and I am not bothered. Somehow this has the oppisite effect as no one, including the aforementioned asshole, asks me if I work there. They just come up and ask me questions about stock. When I am in unioform they say "do you work here?". Puzzles me.
                  Remember, if it makes sense, it's not allowed.™®©

                  Also, you exude some retail aura that people pick up on at the wrong time.
                  Unseen but seeing
                  oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
                  There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
                  3rd shift needs love, too
                  RIP, mo bhrionglóid

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth BeckySunshine View Post
                    Also, you exude some retail aura that people pick up on at the wrong time.

                    Actually, this is true. I don't know if you read my posts from years ago about when I went to visit my family back home in America and was shopping in a department store wearing a tube top, skirt, sunglasses atop my head and carrying my bag. I was also drinking a lemonade and eating a pretzle. Not to mention my very large, obnoxious tattoos were on show. I had two women ask me where things were and one of them yelled at me because I apparently "went to get her shoes and never came back and should not have a job because I was a bad worker".

                    WTF? This was a department store where the staff had to dress nicely, not like a beach bum with tattoos stuffing their faces with tasty treats!

                    This is NOT an exaggeration of any kind! It really happened and it still confuses me to this day.

                    I have also had this so many times that I have lost count. At various shops....always when what I am wearing looks NOTHING like what the employees wear.

                    There were only two times that I was mistaken for an employee and felt ok about it. One was in a tattoo shop and in Hot Topic. Cause, I do look like an employee of those places! Lol.
                    "If it offends one person, it effects everyone".....me, on the PC world in which we dwell.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth BookstoreEscapee View Post
                      If I've just said "I don't know" then it's a perfectly legitimate question ... But if I've just explained the situation in no uncertain terms, then yes, there is someone who would know. That someone would be ME, and I just told you the answer! grr.
                      What these geniuses really mean to ask is something along the lines of "is there anyone who is more willing to tell me what I want to hear, regardless of its truthfulness?" or else "is there anyone here who has magical ass-pulling powers and can just get one from 'the back' so to speak?"
                      "I'm not a crazed gunman, dad, I'm an assassin... Well, the difference being one is a job and the other's mental sickness!" -The Sniper

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth WHShit View Post
                        Actually, this is true. I don't know if you read my posts from years ago about when I went to visit my family back home in America and was shopping in a department store wearing a tube top, skirt, sunglasses atop my head and carrying my bag. I was also drinking a lemonade and eating a pretzle. Not to mention my very large, obnoxious tattoos were on show. I had two women ask me where things were and one of them yelled at me because I apparently "went to get her shoes and never came back and should not have a job because I was a bad worker".
                        I don't recall reading that post before, but I believe it. Similar situations have happened to me.
                        Unseen but seeing
                        oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
                        There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
                        3rd shift needs love, too
                        RIP, mo bhrionglóid

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I keep wishing that an SC mistakes me for an employee but it never happens
                          No longer a flight atttendant!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth WHShit View Post
                            he goes away and I start to do something near the tills...then about 5 minutes later I see him at the tills asking another staff member!
                            That behaviour is actually a pet hate of mine. It happened to me today too.

                            I was on the phone with a woman who called in as her third part product software wasn't configured right.

                            She wanted to speak with our technical support. I advised her that as the software wasn't made by our company our techs won't have any training on it. I even gave her the support number for the company that do make it.
                            She argues with me a bit over this, i have no idea why, its perfectly logical to contact the manufacturers to get something fixed. Anyway, in the end i get her off the phone.

                            Two minutes of wrap up time later, phone rings again. Guess who?

                            She proceeded to tell me that the person she spoke to on the last call (me) wasn't helpful and she launched into her story again. I didn't even bother telling her it was me she spoke to.
                            This time i was feeling a bit more generous and as i KNEW i was right, i rang through to tech anyway who, suprise suprise, told me they couldn't support it as it wasn't our companys product.
                            Tried once again to explain this to dimwit who told me i was more helpful than the first person she spoke to and she would contact the manufacturers support line.



                            Why, why why can these people just not believe us the first time? Why do they think they are going to get a different answer from someone else, we're all given the same training
                            Last edited by MadMike; 08-28-2007, 10:44 PM. Reason: Excessive quoting

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Fraggle..............

                              I have had a man call five times one day. In the space of about 10 minutes. He wanted a book that was no longer published. I amswered the phone each time. The first two times I informed him he could not buy/order the book from ANY shop as it was not being made anymore. I suggested the internet. The two more times I told him (after he told me that the "people he spoke to before were rude..even though I wasn't) that I WAS the "people" he spoke to and that the original answer still stood. Last time I WAS rude and told him to stop calling and wasting time as he will keep getting the same answer. I also said that if he doesn't believe what he hears he should try another shop.

                              He stopped calling and didn't ask to speak to someone else. LOL...jackass!
                              "If it offends one person, it effects everyone".....me, on the PC world in which we dwell.

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