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Feel free to hold up my register anytime, folks (long)

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  • Feel free to hold up my register anytime, folks (long)

    Not "hold up" in the cops-and-robbers sense, by the way.

    Couple comes through my line to pay for two large orders. They're not being taken home that day; they have to be called up from within the system using an irritatingly complicated procedure (DOS-based computers, remember ...)

    Sales Associate has come up with the customers.

    I enter the necessary info and ONE order pops up.

    Sales Associate: "Oops, mine is still an 'estimate'. Wait a minute; I'll fix that."

    She runs to another register and taps away. In a couple of minutes, she says "Okay, there it is." I run through the call-up procedure again and there's the second order.

    We go through the rest of the process and the guy goes to pay.

    Card is declined.

    Uh-oh ...

    He tries a couple of more times and gets the same result. He remembers that he had already bought some lumber, and realizes this order might be putting his card over its limit.

    "We'll run and get the cash," he says.

    No problem, I say. I plan to leave the order up on my register till they get back, rather than going through the whole mess again of calling both up. I move to another register and start ringing other customers out. Periodically, I go back to "my" register and tap the space bar or backspace keys to keep it from automatically shutting down.

    Half an hour passes.

    An hour.

    An hour and a half.

    By this time I'm conferring with the head cashier about how long to keep this transaction open on "my" register. We're starting to agree that they are not coming back today ... didn't actually have the cash, unknown problems with the bank, who knows what. I say let's wait until 2 p.m. and head cashier says no problem.

    Eventually somebody elsewhere in the store notices that this transaction is on hold and comes over to see WTF. At which point somebody from Customer Services tells me ... I can't just cancel it. See (probably thanks to our ancient computer system) it won't just go back into the system to be called forth again. There will be some horrendously complex procedure involved to get it back to the "just call it up" status it originally had.

    CW tells me she will MAKE A LIST OF EACH ITEM BY ITEM NUMBER in case they actually come back (which, of course, means the cashier will have to type each item in by number ...)

    She's got about three items written down when here comes ... the guy. "Hi, remember me? My card wouldn't work?"

    Apparently he'd tried to call the bank. Repeatedly. Couldn't get through. When they arrived AT the bank, it was to find a lineup stretching OUT THE DOOR.

    Hence the delay.

    So CW stops copying numbers, guy hands over the cash, I cash him out and give him his receipt and all is well.

    The reason for the title? Well, when we'd first been going through the transaction process, I asked if they had an Air Miles card. They didn't. Guy looks at me and says "Do you?" Actually, I do, and as luck would have it, it was in my pocket right then (I have a number of cards, including my debit card, stuffed into one cardholder and sometimes I have it in my pocket in case I want to buy something on my way out of the store. Which I rarely do.)

    Guy: "Okay, well, you take our Air Miles then."

    Me: (to Head Cashier): "Can I do that??" She shrugs, so I pull my card and scan it.

    The order was just a tad over $2,000. That's 100 Air Miles in one fell swoop. Still not enough to take me to the UK, but .. it's a damn sight more than I'll ever get again in one transaction!
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero

  • #2
    Wow, that's really cool. I thought this was gonna be a sucky story.
    "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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