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Shopping help, yes. Slave, hell no.

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  • Shopping help, yes. Slave, hell no.

    I have no qualms about helping people shop, but when they start acting like I'm their personal slave...just no. There is a difference between having someone shop for you because you're disabled, and taking advantage of such.

    We have two semiregular customers; one guy is completely blind and his friend is legally-but-not-totally-blind. I don't mind helping the man shop when he comes in alone; he's a very sweet guy. His friend is...control freak is the best way I can put it. She thinks I've never worked with blind people before and likes to order everyone around, can be contradictory ("I want X. No, I didn't say I wanted X, I want Y.") and generally a pain in the rear.

    So I got to help both of them yesterday. It started fine enough; except I asked her three times if she needed a cart and she said no. Look at shopping list...okay, maybe I can handle this. She has a scan gun...why get a gun if you don't need a cart? OK, your friend has a cart...wait, what? Splitting up? And you don't want a cart with this list. Okay, okay, geez, you can stop blocking me now (she physically stood in my way so I could not get a cart).

    We get the produce, then to the meat. What I didn't realize is that the lox she was grabbing was frozen -_- At that point a friend of theirs comes over to steer her to where the guy is, he has a cart. Good, my fingers are getting frostbite here. Over to the bakery case, which involves a lengthy discussion of what danishes to get and how many. You need to scan the barcode on the case once for each danish. No, it's not buy three get one free, you need to scan them all.

    More frozen stuff. And then...12-pack of water. Okay, I can handle a 12-pack plus a basket (won't be fun, but I can do it).

    Wait, what? She's getting a 24-pack instead She scans the one at the back of the shelf; they're all the same barcode so I grab one that I'm sure I can lift/wrangle without hurting myself.

    SC: "Take the one I scanned, in case they have to scan it again."
    Me: "It doesn't matter, I can't reach that one."
    SC: "It does matter, take the one I scanned!" *whaps me with her cane--an inch to the right and she would have hit me in the head* "Now go get some soy sauce, ginger and bagels."
    SC plops down on the floor to wait, and giggles at me. I go off in the direction of the soy sauce, but instead go up to the desk.
    Me: "S, I can't help the customer shop anymore. She hit me, is ordering me around and I need to watch selfscan."
    Unfortunately it's busy, so I can't pass her off on anyone else--FEM who gave me this assignment is herself busy--and I can't ditch her (I can't find their friend anyway). I take my time and answer some questions from nicer people, dreading that she'll come up with several somethings that are not on the list. Which she does.
    SC: "*giggle* "See, I told you we should have taken R's cart." *cackle* (no, you bodily prevented me from getting a cart)

    Another regular sees me struggling with the basket and water, and offers to carry the basket. Now we have to find her friend. After wandering the packed main aisle for a bit, I strongly suggest that she wait up at the desk, she demands I go to the desk and have her friend paged *giggle, laugh like this is the funniest thing ever* Awesome Regular and I exchange a look, and we both go to the desk.
    Me: "I am SO sorry you got dragged into this, I didn't realize what a chore it was going to be, I thought we were just going to go to checkout."
    S: (she knows I have a hard time handling 24-packs with both hands)
    AR decides then to put in a compliment about me, and complaint about the girl: "She has poor Dreamstalker running all over the store, and she was sitting on the floor and giggling."
    We get in line, I tell AR to go, I can handle it from here.

    Turns out that the two of them have two separate orders, and they start arguing with each other and the cashier. At that point I can safely bail (who, me? Happy to see an SCO freeze? Yes, at least that I can do something about).

    My back and shoulder hurt for about an hour after that, but I was able to move around which helped.
    "I am quite confident that I do exist."
    "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

  • #2
    No, no, and HELL no. the moment she hit you with the cane it's assault. Don't give a damn if the senile old bat is blind or not. UN ACC EPT A BLE. I'd have dropped everything right there on the floor and walked off. There's no law ANYWHERE that says you have to put up with that behavior, and management CAN NOT legally require you to do so.

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    • #3
      I've never had to deal with a customer getting violent with me, but I would have refused to serve her any longer, and if no one else had time, tough for her.

      Disabilities do not excuse SC behavior.

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      • #4
        Quoth ADeMartino View Post
        No, no, and HELL no. the moment she hit you with the cane it's assault. Don't give a damn if the senile old bat is blind or not. UN ACC EPT A BLE. I'd have dropped everything right there on the floor and walked off. There's no law ANYWHERE that says you have to put up with that behavior, and management CAN NOT legally require you to do so.
        100% completely agree. You can fire me if you want to for refusing to help a customer, and even though I don't know the law that great, I'm almost positive I can sue the company if they do fire me. However I don't think any business is going to tolerate any customers, regardless of their handicaps, to hit me with anything, regardless of how hard they hit me or if they miss me. You do something like that, I'm done with you, asshole.
        There are 1 or 2 of my many friends that I know, who will respond in kind to anyone who assaults them, at work or off work. May not be the right thing to do, and I personally would really have to hold myself back from retaliating, but these kinds of people deserve it. I was just wondering, if companies allowed employees to fight back, people would quickly understand that they cannot get away with stupid shit like this. Should it be allowed? I would not blame a single employee who fought back, as long as they aren't beating the customer to death

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        • #5
          Disability is not an excuse for misbehaviour.

          Someone who truly cannot control misbehaviour should have a carer to handle it. Otherwise, you behave. Like the rest of us.

          SC assaulted you. If it was caught on camera, press charges.
          Seshat's self-help guide:
          1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
          2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
          3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
          4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

          "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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          • #6
            What's done is done and you can't change the past, however you can refuse to help her in the future. I suggest talking to management and getting the complaint in writing to cover your ass.

            She was a Grade A jerk.
            A lion however, will only devour your corpse, whereas an SC is not sated until they have destroyed your soul. (Quote per infinitemonkies)

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            • #7
              Quoth BowserKoopa1 View Post
              There are 1 or 2 of my many friends that I know, who will respond in kind to anyone who assaults them, at work or off work....I was just wondering, if companies allowed employees to fight back, people would quickly understand that they cannot get away with stupid shit like this. Should it be allowed? I would not blame a single employee who fought back, as long as they aren't beating the customer to death
              Anyone who hits me should not be shocked if they get hit right back. Nobody anywhere should have to put up with that kind of abuse, particularly someone who is merely trying to earn a living and assist others.

              I am very sorry it happened to you, Dreamstalker. You would've been well within your rights to hit her back, or at least grab the cane and verbally rip her a new one. Nobody should have to just roll over and take that.
              I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
              My LiveJournal
              A page we can all agree with!

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              • #8
                I totally agree, if that were me I'd have dropped her stuff on the floor right there (and possibly on her foot--accidentally, of course) and left her there. What kind of nutcase hits someone like that?? And then SITS ON THE FLOOR? She's insane.
                When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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                • #9
                  You guys are all so much nicer than me. I likely would have taken her cane and busted it over my knees and told her she'll probably need to go to the geriatric isle to buy a new one as I drop her shit on the floor and walk out. :|

                  No job is worth that bs.
                  Getting offended is a great way to avoid answering questions that make you sound dumb. - exmocaptainmoroni

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                  • #10
                    Joining the chorus of people who would have refused to carry her items after she hit me. I would have put her items down right then and there and abandoned her in the aisle, you do NOT hit people with your cane.

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                    • #11
                      I'm with Grendus.

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                      • #12
                        Think I would have been injured when that lunatic hit me with the cane. Unable to continue working, ya' know?
                        Here Mr Customer, let me pull that out of my arse for you!

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                        • #13
                          1. Don't break her cane. She's legally blind, I'd wager we're talking about her "white cane." She needs that.

                          2. If it were me, assault charges would have been filed.

                          3. If I were your manager, she would have been perma-banned immediately. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.00.
                          I will not be pushed, stamped, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own. --#6

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                          • #14
                            Quoth bainsidhe View Post
                            What's done is done and you can't change the past, however you can refuse to help her in the future. I suggest talking to management and getting the complaint in writing to cover your ass.
                            My mom knew exactly who I was talking about; this SC used to monopolize the electric cart and ram into people. ASM told me she doesn't come in that often, but he would tell all the shift leads not to ask me to help her again (he didn't ask why, which leads me to think he knows about her).

                            So she's a known entity in the store; were she not disabled, her behavior would mean an insta-ban.
                            "I am quite confident that I do exist."
                            "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth Dreamstalker View Post
                              So she's a known entity in the store; were she not disabled, her behavior would mean an insta-ban.
                              Her disability should not be taken into account. She should be banned.
                              Seshat's self-help guide:
                              1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                              2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                              3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                              4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                              "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

                              Comment

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