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  • You're Not Paying Me Enough To Do That...

    Hi everyone, first time poster. Wish I had found this place a long time ago! I work for a supermarket chain and deal with customers 24 hours, 3 days a week.

    I really didn't have anywhere else to vent about this incident, so here goes:

    Several months ago, I was asked to go around the store and help this mostly regular customer (I say "mostly" because I work weekends and I do not see her all that often).

    One problem: she has mental illness and I have absolutely NO experience nor the expertise on how to deal with mentally ill people, especially if they're customers. And she was not on her meds either.

    For however long, I was going around the store, trying to do what I can. I'm trying to talk to her while she's riddled with severe anxiety, and at the same time, my options on what to do are running low.

    The only reason they had me go with her was because the person who was with her before was due for her break. One of my coworkers felt really bad for me, because she had seen this customer before, and she [the customer] had prior incidents of coming to the store while unmedicated.

    So however long later, I'm finally finished getting her items and we head towards the checkouts. Now here's where the sanity breaker comes in: the regular checkouts were packed (it was a really busy day), she had no idea how to use our new self serve machines, and she couldn't handle waiting in line for the regular checkouts.

    I was never trained on conflict management nor was it ever brought up during orientation when I first started nearly 5 years ago. It would have been a big help if they went over this with us, instead of sending us off into situations that might be beyond our abilities to control.

    I'm sorry, but what if we say or do something and they freak out and possibly harm us? I can't afford to have the crap beaten out of me or possibly end up with a debilitating injury or a disability.

    When I told my mom about this, her reponse was along the lines of "They're not paying you (enough) to do that".
    "Any kind of hereditary privilege is wrong, it's not just anti-democracy, it's just like inherent wrong" - Robert Smith

  • #2
    Sorry for the delay in approving your post - didn't see it soon enough

    Anyway, sounds like your managers dropped you in it. Someone who's not trained should not be doing a sensitive role, and I'm sure you did as well as you could in the circumstances.

    Rapscallion

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    • #3
      Not only are you not paid enough to do that but effectively dealing with those kinds of situations isn't in your job descrption.

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      • #4
        It sounds like this customer is possibly not fit to be on her own and should have a trained companion to be with her. Supermarkets don't (and shouldn't have to) have staff trained to deal with mental illness.
        Fiancee: We're going to need to do laundry. I'm out of clean pants.
        Me: Sounds like a job for Gravekeeper!
        Fiancee: What?!
        Me: Nevermind.

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        • #5
          Quoth thehuckster View Post
          It sounds like this customer is possibly not fit to be on her own and should have a trained companion to be with her. Supermarkets don't (and shouldn't have to) have staff trained to deal with mental illness.
          I can only assume the store is doing so anyway because they may be afraid of backlash if they refused service - even if it was on the grounds of employee safety.

          However it's a gamble because ... if an employee IS injured then the store may not be prepared for the liability costs.

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          • #6
            I wonder if there's a personal shopping service you could find locally to recommend to the woman so she wouldn't need the stress of trying to do it yourself. I agree, you're not trained for that, and if something happened to you or the customer while you're trying to 'help' the company might throw you under the bus!
            "If anyone wants this old box containing the broken bits of my former faith in humanity, I'll take your best offer now. You may be able to salvage a few of em' for parts..... " - Quote by Argabarga

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            • #7
              Quoth The Hurting View Post
              I was never trained on conflict management nor was it ever brought up during orientation when I first started nearly 5 years ago. It would have been a big help if they went over this with us, instead of sending us off into situations that might be beyond our abilities to control.
              Of course you weren't. No retail/grocery store trains their staff in conflict management. That's not a job for them. That's a job for LEOs (law enforcement officers).

              Next time they try to get you to do it, ask where it says that in your job description.
              It's floating wicker propelled by fire!

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              • #8
                I wouldn't suggest going to the job description; I've yet to see one that didn't include "other duties" in there, somewhere.

                However, there is the liability issue involved with offering special services to someone who is known to fail to manage her own medications.

                ^-.-^
                Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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                • #9
                  Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                  Sorry for the delay in approving your post - didn't see it soon enough

                  Anyway, sounds like your managers dropped you in it. Someone who's not trained should not be doing a sensitive role, and I'm sure you did as well as you could in the circumstances.

                  Rapscallion
                  No biggie! I eventually gave up after a while because I was missing my break or nearly missing it, and because the situation went beyond my control. I don't react well to stress and I have epilepsy, and even though I'm always on meds, anything can possibly happen.
                  "Any kind of hereditary privilege is wrong, it's not just anti-democracy, it's just like inherent wrong" - Robert Smith

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Andara Bledin View Post
                    I wouldn't suggest going to the job description; I've yet to see one that didn't include "other duties" in there, somewhere.
                    Actually, there's a pretty good case load built up around the inclusion of that phrase. Current precedent leans heavily in the direction that those words only apply to reasonable extensions of the duties already detailed in the job description. For instance, having a cashier empty the trash for all the lanes is a reasonable "other duty" where painting the entire store exterior probably is not.

                    The inclusion of "other duties as required" is not a free ride for the employer. Check with a lawyer if there is a real issue, though.
                    The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
                    "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
                    Hoc spatio locantur.

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                    • #11
                      You also might want to ask the local labor board what your options are. It's one thing to deal with a regular sucky customer, but when you're working with one whom you feel poses a real threat - or if you feel the customer's safety is also at risk - then they may have some advice on how to approach the situation, or at least information on what your rights and responsibilities are.

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                      • #12
                        She came in unmedicated another time shortly after that, but this time her brother was called to the store to accompany her. They tried to ask me this time around, but I said that I had other things to do. If they ask me again, I'll be telling them that if they want us to deal with these types of people, then they need to prepare us for these situations.
                        "Any kind of hereditary privilege is wrong, it's not just anti-democracy, it's just like inherent wrong" - Robert Smith

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                        • #13
                          Back at BoutiqueGrocery (when I was a teen), they tried to get me to hold up traffic and help to direct an 18-wheeler who was reversing into the back area from the main drag (which was one lane in each direction plus a shared turn lane...) -- Fortunately, I was able to convince one of the managers en route that this was probably not a good thing to have a teenage peon doing, especially a minor.
                          "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                          "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                          "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                          "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                          "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                          "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                          Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                          "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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                          • #14
                            Now there's thinking. Pair up an untrained employee with a customer with known emotional/mental problems that could lead to her flipping out and causing the employee bodily harm.

                            Hey look, a hand grenade! I'ma just pull the pin and shove it down my pants! Zozz!
                            Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

                            "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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                            • #15
                              Quoth EricKei View Post
                              Back at BoutiqueGrocery (when I was a teen), they tried to get me to hold up traffic and help to direct an 18-wheeler who was reversing into the back area from the main drag (which was one lane in each direction plus a shared turn lane...) -- Fortunately, I was able to convince one of the managers en route that this was probably not a good thing to have a teenage peon doing, especially a minor.
                              That's definetley not something you should be doing. Have they heard about the accidents that have involved 18 wheelers on freeways? Those things don't hold up under serious weather conditions, and if the driver loses control under normal conditions, you could possibly die.
                              "Any kind of hereditary privilege is wrong, it's not just anti-democracy, it's just like inherent wrong" - Robert Smith

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