its been a while since I've posted. Life has been a tad nuts. Mainly, I got promoted to customer service at "Anthracites." It's basically the complaint department, so all of my customers are sucky and have a chip on their shoulders. Normally i can handle it, but today was the straw that broke the camel's back. I've never had a customer make me cry before. Anyway, here goes.
Me: moi.
SL: Sucky lady
12: My supervisor.
Today I had a lady come in , who was returning a load of items she bought in February....of 2011. Now, if you know anything about "Anthracites," You will know that we have a open return policy. Receipt or no, we have no date on our returns, and will take anything back that was bought from our store. There is one exception. We have a promotion that is basically called, "Anthracite Cash" . If you spend $50, you get $10 dollars of this "A Cash". thats for every 50. so if you spend 200, you get 40, etc, etc. If you make a purchase where you earn this cash, and later spend that cash, when you return the item that was purchased to earn the cash, your return amount is reduced by the amount of cash you earned. so if you buy a sweater for $50, and get 10 in this cash, and then use the cash to buy say, a cup, if you then return that sweater, we will give you back $40 dollars. its complicated, but it makes sense to me.
So, This lady came in today with her return, from last year, each of the 4 items were on a different receipt. No problem, i can condense multiple returns onto one receipt. Heres the problem. She earned and spent the "Anthracite's cash" on each separate receipt. each being for $15 dollars instead of the usual $10, as it had been for a valentines day promotion. So the three $18 dollar sweaters she bought, she was now only getting $3 back in return. She of course..... did not like that. it went pretty much like this.
SL: What! WHY DO I ONLY HAVE 3 DOLLARS?
Me: "Ma'am, It shows here that you earned on each individual purchase, $15 Anthracites cash. You've spent it already, and since you are returning the items used to earn the cash, your refund is being reduced by the amount of the Anthracites cash. That is our policy.
SL: Oh hell no. you WILL give me my money.
ME: I'm terribly sorry but the system will not allow us to override this, so theres nothing i can do. I'd be happy to get you a manager.
SL: NO YOU WILL GIVE ME MY DAMN MONEY. no. you know what? you are INCOMPETENT. you are INCOMPETENT AND STUPID. for all i know your lying and your going to POCKET MY MONEY.
ME: Ma'am, the policy is written right here, right in front of the register. see? it says exactly what i just told you. I'm not trying to cheat you out of anything, nor do I have any designs on keeping anyones money. This is how our system works.
SL: is IT? i doubt you know. Your an idiot. thats why you only work in retail. Well you won't for long. Get me your manager. I'm going to see you fry.
So i called the boss. Fortunantly i got the 12(our bosses have numeric codes. we never use their names) The 12 is a great guy. he still has about 1/4 of his spine left. So he came over to see what was wrong. By this point i was shaking and about to cry so he sent me into the little customer service work room where we keep holds. So i sat there and had a good cry while he dealt with this woman. he spent 40 minute. FOURTY MINUTES. with her. He told her EXACTLY what i had said, and restated that there was nothing that could be done, this is the policy. finally she accepted the refund, and he gave her a 10 dollar coupon to use on her next purchase so she wouldn't call corporate. Then she said this.
SL: By the way, That little bitch you have back there? you need to fire her. she's obviously too stupid to do anything other than flip burgers. She's incompetent. you better get rid of her or i'm never shopping here again.
now, the 12 is an ex marine. And he views those of us who work for him as his regiment. especially the girls. we are "His girls" he is kind to us, he makes sure we are treated decently, and he's an all around great dude. When someone says something like that about one of us, he goes on the warpath. this is what he did.
12: "Do you mean "Iloveasunflower?" Well ma'am, she's been with us for two years and i've never had a complaint about her, so i'm thinking that the incompetence is on your side. since you won't be shopping here anymore, i'll just be taking that coupon back. *Reaches over and takes it* Now you just go have yourself a very nice day."
as i said, he still has a quarter of his spine. so it ended well. lady made a catbutt face and huffed off. afterwards the 12 gave me a break so i could splash some water on my face since i had been crying. I've never had a customer make me cry but that one was a doozy. thank god for managers that still have some spine!!
Me: moi.
SL: Sucky lady
12: My supervisor.
Today I had a lady come in , who was returning a load of items she bought in February....of 2011. Now, if you know anything about "Anthracites," You will know that we have a open return policy. Receipt or no, we have no date on our returns, and will take anything back that was bought from our store. There is one exception. We have a promotion that is basically called, "Anthracite Cash" . If you spend $50, you get $10 dollars of this "A Cash". thats for every 50. so if you spend 200, you get 40, etc, etc. If you make a purchase where you earn this cash, and later spend that cash, when you return the item that was purchased to earn the cash, your return amount is reduced by the amount of cash you earned. so if you buy a sweater for $50, and get 10 in this cash, and then use the cash to buy say, a cup, if you then return that sweater, we will give you back $40 dollars. its complicated, but it makes sense to me.
So, This lady came in today with her return, from last year, each of the 4 items were on a different receipt. No problem, i can condense multiple returns onto one receipt. Heres the problem. She earned and spent the "Anthracite's cash" on each separate receipt. each being for $15 dollars instead of the usual $10, as it had been for a valentines day promotion. So the three $18 dollar sweaters she bought, she was now only getting $3 back in return. She of course..... did not like that. it went pretty much like this.
SL: What! WHY DO I ONLY HAVE 3 DOLLARS?
Me: "Ma'am, It shows here that you earned on each individual purchase, $15 Anthracites cash. You've spent it already, and since you are returning the items used to earn the cash, your refund is being reduced by the amount of the Anthracites cash. That is our policy.
SL: Oh hell no. you WILL give me my money.
ME: I'm terribly sorry but the system will not allow us to override this, so theres nothing i can do. I'd be happy to get you a manager.
SL: NO YOU WILL GIVE ME MY DAMN MONEY. no. you know what? you are INCOMPETENT. you are INCOMPETENT AND STUPID. for all i know your lying and your going to POCKET MY MONEY.
ME: Ma'am, the policy is written right here, right in front of the register. see? it says exactly what i just told you. I'm not trying to cheat you out of anything, nor do I have any designs on keeping anyones money. This is how our system works.
SL: is IT? i doubt you know. Your an idiot. thats why you only work in retail. Well you won't for long. Get me your manager. I'm going to see you fry.
So i called the boss. Fortunantly i got the 12(our bosses have numeric codes. we never use their names) The 12 is a great guy. he still has about 1/4 of his spine left. So he came over to see what was wrong. By this point i was shaking and about to cry so he sent me into the little customer service work room where we keep holds. So i sat there and had a good cry while he dealt with this woman. he spent 40 minute. FOURTY MINUTES. with her. He told her EXACTLY what i had said, and restated that there was nothing that could be done, this is the policy. finally she accepted the refund, and he gave her a 10 dollar coupon to use on her next purchase so she wouldn't call corporate. Then she said this.
SL: By the way, That little bitch you have back there? you need to fire her. she's obviously too stupid to do anything other than flip burgers. She's incompetent. you better get rid of her or i'm never shopping here again.
now, the 12 is an ex marine. And he views those of us who work for him as his regiment. especially the girls. we are "His girls" he is kind to us, he makes sure we are treated decently, and he's an all around great dude. When someone says something like that about one of us, he goes on the warpath. this is what he did.
12: "Do you mean "Iloveasunflower?" Well ma'am, she's been with us for two years and i've never had a complaint about her, so i'm thinking that the incompetence is on your side. since you won't be shopping here anymore, i'll just be taking that coupon back. *Reaches over and takes it* Now you just go have yourself a very nice day."
as i said, he still has a quarter of his spine. so it ended well. lady made a catbutt face and huffed off. afterwards the 12 gave me a break so i could splash some water on my face since i had been crying. I've never had a customer make me cry but that one was a doozy. thank god for managers that still have some spine!!
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