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I haven't had very many sucky customer stories for a long time because for the past couple of years, I've been working an overnight shift. I took it specifically so I wouldn't have to deal with SCs as much, and for the most part, I haven't.
I have to come in for about an hour before the store closes, because that's when I'm scheduled. I try to avoid customers as much as possible during that hour while beginning to put the freight out if it's come off the truck already or help the people in my department clean up so they can leave and get out of my way.
I usually have to take some shopping baskets from the front of the store where they are kept and push them back into the department where I will be working. The other people in my department and I use them to move product out where it needs to go during the night. I need to get the baskets before the doors at the front are locked, which usually means I need to get them before the customers leave and the registers are shut down.
Like any normal night, I went to the front and got three baskets and began to push them into the store. I need six total and this was my second trip because if I try to push more than that they're hard to control, and strapping them together with the child safety belts makes it difficult to unstrap them again so I usually just get three at a time.
A woman asked if she could have one. This is a little bit annoying to me, as I'm getting them for me and the other people in my department to use overnight, not for customers, but it's a regular occurrence and not something that I really have a problem with.
I say "Ok" and I give the cart to the customer. Now I have two baskets and I still really need three, so I turn around and go back through the sliding doors to get another one. As I'm getting it, I see the customer with a shocked, obviously unhappy expression on her face.
I don't know why she's upset. I tell her "It's ok, I just need to get another one". I figure that should be the end of it. When I walk back through the doors I see her shopping, but her shoulders are slumped and she looks miserable. I am afraid she's going to try to report me for something although I have no idea what she would actually say. I wondered to myself if she was angry that I went back and got another one.
Granted, I didn't really say that much. I figured she'd wanted a basket, not a conversation. Unfortunately people in general apparently need to be treated like little babies and coddled. So rather than going back and getting the basket I should have stood there and chatted with her or something apparently.
I push the carts back to my department and start working. Some of the freight is ready so I'm loading it and trying to fit it onto the shelf (I would normally set it on the floor, but during that first hour I have to just try to fit it in to allow the closers to clean up their own mess first plus not create trip hazards). I'm loading up another basket full of products when she finds me, and starts apologizing for "taking my basket". Her voice was breaking and she had tears in her eyes.
I told her that almost every night someone asks for a basket and it's not a problem at all and that she was more entitled to it than I was because she was a customer and that's what they are there for, and she shouldn't feel bad for wanting one. She said "Yeah but I could've gone and gotten it myself they were right there". I was so tempted at this point to say "Yeah, I know", but I was trying to make her feel better, not worse. I also told her I wasn't the best with people which is why I went on the overnight shift and I might've seemed a little abrupt when I gave it to her and walked away immediately to get another one, but I didn't want her to feel like I was angry with her. She was telling me that my job was important, etc. Anyway I talked her into a calmer state of mind and she seemed a lot better when she left.
Part of me thinks that it would be a better world if more people were sensitive to the feelings of store workers like that, but another part of me just thinks she's got to have some major emotional problems to get that worked up over a darn basket. I'm not usually the type of person to laugh about someone crying, but when I thought about this incident later I started laughing a little bit at just how strange it all was.
It didn't make any logical sense to me at all, but then most of my SC encounters didn't make any logical sense and were all about them not being treated like little babies.
I have to come in for about an hour before the store closes, because that's when I'm scheduled. I try to avoid customers as much as possible during that hour while beginning to put the freight out if it's come off the truck already or help the people in my department clean up so they can leave and get out of my way.
I usually have to take some shopping baskets from the front of the store where they are kept and push them back into the department where I will be working. The other people in my department and I use them to move product out where it needs to go during the night. I need to get the baskets before the doors at the front are locked, which usually means I need to get them before the customers leave and the registers are shut down.
Like any normal night, I went to the front and got three baskets and began to push them into the store. I need six total and this was my second trip because if I try to push more than that they're hard to control, and strapping them together with the child safety belts makes it difficult to unstrap them again so I usually just get three at a time.
A woman asked if she could have one. This is a little bit annoying to me, as I'm getting them for me and the other people in my department to use overnight, not for customers, but it's a regular occurrence and not something that I really have a problem with.
I say "Ok" and I give the cart to the customer. Now I have two baskets and I still really need three, so I turn around and go back through the sliding doors to get another one. As I'm getting it, I see the customer with a shocked, obviously unhappy expression on her face.
I don't know why she's upset. I tell her "It's ok, I just need to get another one". I figure that should be the end of it. When I walk back through the doors I see her shopping, but her shoulders are slumped and she looks miserable. I am afraid she's going to try to report me for something although I have no idea what she would actually say. I wondered to myself if she was angry that I went back and got another one.
Granted, I didn't really say that much. I figured she'd wanted a basket, not a conversation. Unfortunately people in general apparently need to be treated like little babies and coddled. So rather than going back and getting the basket I should have stood there and chatted with her or something apparently.
I push the carts back to my department and start working. Some of the freight is ready so I'm loading it and trying to fit it onto the shelf (I would normally set it on the floor, but during that first hour I have to just try to fit it in to allow the closers to clean up their own mess first plus not create trip hazards). I'm loading up another basket full of products when she finds me, and starts apologizing for "taking my basket". Her voice was breaking and she had tears in her eyes.
I told her that almost every night someone asks for a basket and it's not a problem at all and that she was more entitled to it than I was because she was a customer and that's what they are there for, and she shouldn't feel bad for wanting one. She said "Yeah but I could've gone and gotten it myself they were right there". I was so tempted at this point to say "Yeah, I know", but I was trying to make her feel better, not worse. I also told her I wasn't the best with people which is why I went on the overnight shift and I might've seemed a little abrupt when I gave it to her and walked away immediately to get another one, but I didn't want her to feel like I was angry with her. She was telling me that my job was important, etc. Anyway I talked her into a calmer state of mind and she seemed a lot better when she left.
Part of me thinks that it would be a better world if more people were sensitive to the feelings of store workers like that, but another part of me just thinks she's got to have some major emotional problems to get that worked up over a darn basket. I'm not usually the type of person to laugh about someone crying, but when I thought about this incident later I started laughing a little bit at just how strange it all was.
It didn't make any logical sense to me at all, but then most of my SC encounters didn't make any logical sense and were all about them not being treated like little babies.
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