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Long time, no post.
I went from the joys of working in the male-dominated game store industry to the joy of working in the male-dominated Big & Tall store industry, and today was a real whopper for me.
Apparently while I was in Kansas City this weekend (Overland Park, actually) the assistant manager of my store had a fine couple come in on Sunday and explain a lovely situation to him. They are getting married on November the 15th and the gentleman in the relationship needs a suit for the wedding. No problem there. The ass. man. explained that as of the 25th of this month we will be running a "wardrobe sale" promo during which if you purchase suit separates at full price (pants and jacket) you get a shirt and tie for free. We are supposed to use the tag line "Suits as low as $230."
Now this stupid toothless hick and her big fat husband are in TODAY with her parents from out of town to try on this suit they want... for $230 right this second. So I call the ass. man. and I'm like "DUDE! WTF is going on?"
He explains that he told this lady on Sunday when she was in, again on Monday night when she called, and a third time YESTERDAY that we would no honor that price until the 25th, not to come in before then. Now she is getting all irate with ME because she wants her $230 suit RIGHT NOW!!!
I get off the phone with ass. man. and call another store manager in the district and explain what's going on, and he tells me a way around it, and we can still offer it to them right now... so I pass along this information.
About an hour passes, and the stupid lady comes to the counter with a suit jacket that is $225, and pants that are $150. This is a $375 suit, yes? Not to her. She wants it at $230 because that's how much ass. man. said it would be! And she wants it now. I try to calmly explain that if she wants to get a shirt and tie for free, there is no way we are going to discount the whole suit to just $5 more than the jacket alone. So she gets all *OMG FREAK OUT!!*
I grab the flier for the UPCOMING sale that I am honoring anyway to be nice and I point out the BIG letters that say "Pay full price for any suit and jacket, get a shirt and tie are free! *excluding tax*void where prohibited." Oh, she'll have none of that. She wants this $375 suit for $230 NOW. In the meantime, her awesome husband, big and fat as he may be, was quietly shopping in the background... looking at stuff he liked better but couldn't get a word in edge-wise to tell this stupid bint.
More time elapses, and during this time, this lady has me cornered up against a trash can behind the register because every time I venture out, she has this SIREN-esque, mind-numbingly loud voice nagging at me for various other things and I really just want to choke her. So I am standing quietly practically atop the wastebasket and her awesome husband brings up a jacket and pants. Now, the jacket is too small and will have to be ordered, no big deal, but the pants, shirt and tie are all wonderful. I explain that he'll have to pay for the jacket separately (since it has to be ordered) $150, then we will ring the pants ($75), shirt, and tie as one, and I will still honor the wardrobe sale not going on for another 10 days. He thinks that's fantastic... then his stupid wife opens her big mouth again.
"I WANT THIS SUIT FOR $230 RIGHT NOW! I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL I SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER, I WANT IT AT THE PRICE LISTED!"
So I look at the tags... and I'm like "Ma'am, the jacket is $150, and the pants are $75. It's $225 for the whole wardrobe." (Cheaper than she wanted to pay)
"OMG I WANT IT FOR $230 RIGHT NOW. I'M CALLING YOUR DISTRICT MANAGER. I'M CALLING CORPORATE! BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!"
At about this point, her soon-to-be-husband clamps his hand over her mouth and she is STILL trying to scream at me. "Shut up, dear." he says rather dryly as he hands me his credit card for payment. I smile, ring him up, and she is NAG NAG NAG-ing away the whole time behind his giant hand. Finally, her mother comes up and asks what the problem is. The lady shakes free of her husband and calls me a stupid cunt because I don't know how to do my job... and I SNAP.
"Ma'am, two things. One, if you speak to me like that again, I will ask you to leave and have you escorted away by police. Two, I am SAVING you $5 AND offering a price that no other manager in the area would until the sale actually starts on the 25. Now, would you like the district manager's phone number or the corporate office's number to tell them that I went out of my way to SAVE you $5 and make sure you get a suit for your wedding, or would you like me to phone the police and marry your husband in overalls?"
Husband, lady's mom, and lady's dad all die of laughter, he signs his receipt, and she stands there, red-faced and in shock that I actually spoke to her like that, until they are ready to leave.
In the end, they saved $45 for the shirt that was free, $35 for the tie that was free, AND $5 because the suit separates were cheaper than the $230 quoted price... and the lady was STILL pissed off that she didn't get the suit for $230. I think her husband was seriously reconsidering marrying her at about that moment. I won't be surprised if he never shows up to pick up the suit jacket...
I went from the joys of working in the male-dominated game store industry to the joy of working in the male-dominated Big & Tall store industry, and today was a real whopper for me.
Apparently while I was in Kansas City this weekend (Overland Park, actually) the assistant manager of my store had a fine couple come in on Sunday and explain a lovely situation to him. They are getting married on November the 15th and the gentleman in the relationship needs a suit for the wedding. No problem there. The ass. man. explained that as of the 25th of this month we will be running a "wardrobe sale" promo during which if you purchase suit separates at full price (pants and jacket) you get a shirt and tie for free. We are supposed to use the tag line "Suits as low as $230."
Now this stupid toothless hick and her big fat husband are in TODAY with her parents from out of town to try on this suit they want... for $230 right this second. So I call the ass. man. and I'm like "DUDE! WTF is going on?"
He explains that he told this lady on Sunday when she was in, again on Monday night when she called, and a third time YESTERDAY that we would no honor that price until the 25th, not to come in before then. Now she is getting all irate with ME because she wants her $230 suit RIGHT NOW!!!
I get off the phone with ass. man. and call another store manager in the district and explain what's going on, and he tells me a way around it, and we can still offer it to them right now... so I pass along this information.
About an hour passes, and the stupid lady comes to the counter with a suit jacket that is $225, and pants that are $150. This is a $375 suit, yes? Not to her. She wants it at $230 because that's how much ass. man. said it would be! And she wants it now. I try to calmly explain that if she wants to get a shirt and tie for free, there is no way we are going to discount the whole suit to just $5 more than the jacket alone. So she gets all *OMG FREAK OUT!!*
I grab the flier for the UPCOMING sale that I am honoring anyway to be nice and I point out the BIG letters that say "Pay full price for any suit and jacket, get a shirt and tie are free! *excluding tax*void where prohibited." Oh, she'll have none of that. She wants this $375 suit for $230 NOW. In the meantime, her awesome husband, big and fat as he may be, was quietly shopping in the background... looking at stuff he liked better but couldn't get a word in edge-wise to tell this stupid bint.
More time elapses, and during this time, this lady has me cornered up against a trash can behind the register because every time I venture out, she has this SIREN-esque, mind-numbingly loud voice nagging at me for various other things and I really just want to choke her. So I am standing quietly practically atop the wastebasket and her awesome husband brings up a jacket and pants. Now, the jacket is too small and will have to be ordered, no big deal, but the pants, shirt and tie are all wonderful. I explain that he'll have to pay for the jacket separately (since it has to be ordered) $150, then we will ring the pants ($75), shirt, and tie as one, and I will still honor the wardrobe sale not going on for another 10 days. He thinks that's fantastic... then his stupid wife opens her big mouth again.
"I WANT THIS SUIT FOR $230 RIGHT NOW! I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL I SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER, I WANT IT AT THE PRICE LISTED!"
So I look at the tags... and I'm like "Ma'am, the jacket is $150, and the pants are $75. It's $225 for the whole wardrobe." (Cheaper than she wanted to pay)
"OMG I WANT IT FOR $230 RIGHT NOW. I'M CALLING YOUR DISTRICT MANAGER. I'M CALLING CORPORATE! BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!"
At about this point, her soon-to-be-husband clamps his hand over her mouth and she is STILL trying to scream at me. "Shut up, dear." he says rather dryly as he hands me his credit card for payment. I smile, ring him up, and she is NAG NAG NAG-ing away the whole time behind his giant hand. Finally, her mother comes up and asks what the problem is. The lady shakes free of her husband and calls me a stupid cunt because I don't know how to do my job... and I SNAP.
"Ma'am, two things. One, if you speak to me like that again, I will ask you to leave and have you escorted away by police. Two, I am SAVING you $5 AND offering a price that no other manager in the area would until the sale actually starts on the 25. Now, would you like the district manager's phone number or the corporate office's number to tell them that I went out of my way to SAVE you $5 and make sure you get a suit for your wedding, or would you like me to phone the police and marry your husband in overalls?"
Husband, lady's mom, and lady's dad all die of laughter, he signs his receipt, and she stands there, red-faced and in shock that I actually spoke to her like that, until they are ready to leave.
In the end, they saved $45 for the shirt that was free, $35 for the tie that was free, AND $5 because the suit separates were cheaper than the $230 quoted price... and the lady was STILL pissed off that she didn't get the suit for $230. I think her husband was seriously reconsidering marrying her at about that moment. I won't be surprised if he never shows up to pick up the suit jacket...
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