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So, a little background. Several things have been stressing me out and making my life hard right now, but one of the biggest things has been the death of my beloved cat- she died 2 weeks ago in her sleep, at age 18, and we'd had her since 6 months. I am absolutely heartbroken and have been struggling. But my coworkers have been lovely.
However, I think the emotional state I'm in makes it harder for me to put up with bullshit right now.
My first 45 mins or so were ok until I was sent to the refund desk to assist my coworker, R. It was really busy, and she was due to have her 30 min lunch break, so they said to get the queue down, and then cover her lunch. Ok thats fine. We're both there for a little while getting the queue down, during which she gets a real dickhead customer- he seemed to be convinced he was smarter than her, that she was getting confused and being stupid and actually said to her "Well, if you had an Engineering degree like me, you'd understand!" The subject in question? Curtain poles
Anyway, she goes for her lunch, and I man the desk, and I'm doing mostly ok at first, but then it goes a bit manic. All stuff I can handle, but you got the phone ringing off the hook while I have some jackass asking me stupid questions, and other people just getting in the way, and I did get a tad frazzled. I'm dashing back and forth etc.
Then I get this guy trying to bring back some fence paint, claiming it looked "orange" on the fence (its clearly brown, its dripping down the sides) and that he should be allowed to get a new paint for free because he bought it at a staff member's recommendation. I called bullshit on it, but played it dumb and called a manager to just get some back up and confirmation that I couldn't refund (they are usually ok at backing you up, although some are spineless). I mean, it was clearly a case of "I just didn't like this colour".
I'm on the phone explaining to a manager, H (who is usually good at backing you up but it also sometimes a bit unhelpful) that I didn't think I could take it back because it didn't seem to be a fault, and the seals were cracked quite badly, to which the customer started raising his voice and having a go at me. I actually said the words "Will you just-!" to the customer and stopped myself. I was going to say "will you just let me speak to my manager, I cant hear him over you" but my tone was coming out very sharp because I was so exasperated. Fortunately for me, though, H heard everything, and said "Ok, just refund it, get rid of him." Ok, so its rewarding bad behaviour, but I reckon H decided it wasn't worth the hassle, and probably did me a favour.
By this point, R had been gone for an hour and a quarter. She came back from her lunch late, and then started going elsewhere, apparently on errands, taking items back and forth, but I suspected that she was also taking advantage of my presence and easy-going nature to go round and chat with people. I wouldn't have minded except that I had needed the toilet BEFORE I came down to refunds and I was bustin'. That and I could feel myself tearing up again because I was thinking about my cat (it had gone quiet again, no distractions). I called up my supervisor to ask if she knew where R was- she was hanging around the checkouts (where I was supposed to be!) chatting, so she sent her up.
I hovvered by the gate doing the wanna-pee-shuffle, and some customers came up to the desk- I could see R only a few yards away and told them she was coming so I could go pee, and she would be with them in less than a minute. As she approached, I shuffled past saying "There are some customers waiting, but I couldn't wait any longer!" At this point, the customers would have been waiting 10 seconds, and she was 5 seconds away from the gate, but still called back to me in an incredulous you-can't-do-that tone "You just LEFT them there?!"
Cue me muttering angry things to myself like "you fucked off for an hour and a quarter and I need to piss, what the fuck am I spose to do!?" I don't usually get annoyed with R, but I think my tolerance levels crashed today. And then as I was going towards the loos, I felt the tell-tale signs of "gonna cry". I felt so dumb, but the truth is, I just felt overwhelmed. Between mental images of my cat curled up peacefully asleep forever in my arms, R telling on me and getting me in trouble and the customers being jerks, I was just overwhelmed (although usually it wouldn't upset much if at all). By the time I was in a cubicle, I was crying.
I felt like such a jackass. I cleaned up my face as best I could (can't believe what minimal touch-up my makeup needed afterwards, usually looks awful when i cry!), then headed back to the checkouts (I had no intention of letting R doss around for the next hour until the end of her shift). I was actually due my own break now, and decided I would politely ask if I could go to calm down. Before I even said anything, my supervisor saw my face and said "Rabbit, are you alright?" She let me go for break, said I could have a chat if I wanted- I don't want anyone to think I can't be relied on to work properly or am taking the mick or something, so i declined, and to be honest, just sitting down, having something to eat and drink in peace and fixing my makeup was enough. I felt loads better when I came back. R clearly hasn't said anything, and nobody even bought it up. Which i'm grateful for, I have a feeling I'm going to remain emotional for a while, but it doesn't mean I'm going to let it impact my work.
I guess it was all stupid stuff, but it all got on top of me. The mania I was left to deal with alone, R taking the mick and being funny with me, the rude customers...just a bit much to handle at the second.
Bonuses
A Real Class Act
I had to laugh at this one- this woman was just such a snobby, stuck up bitch. One of those ones who refuses to lift anything out of the cart onto the counter, because she's too good for that. One of those ones who demands a plastic carrier bag, but doesn't say please or thank you. She clearly thought she was better people than everyone else, including a lowly cashier like me.
She was doing her decor shopping in PJ bottoms and slippers. SOO classy.
I just amused myself by sticking my nose up in the air and acting a bit stuck up in a very-polite manner :3
Black and White are Different Colours...
Another one I called bullshit on at refunds. Customer comes back with specially mixed Dulux (unless we fuck up the mix, specially mixed paints are non-refundable) in a colour not far off from white, sort of a vanilla-cream colour, complaining that it was coming up in loads of different patchy colours on the walls and that his wife was "in tears" over it. I doubted we could do much, but called the decor manager, J, to get back up on that. You see, I actually sent this jackass to the paint desk first and they told him no dice, and he came back to me demanding a refund anyway. So I have J on the phone, and its this little bit that makes me realise just how much bullshit this was.
(J said he was trying hard not to laugh when he heard this)
Customer: (in the background) IT COMES UP WHITE IN ONE SPOT AND BLACK IN ANOTHER!
Me: ...WHAT!?:eek:
The "what?!" on my part was at how crap his lie was! It so clearly is never going to come up black when it is "vanilla dawn" or some such off-white colour! XD He was clearly over-exaggerating to make his bullshit story sound plausible, but it just made it worse
In the end, he even admitted to me and J that he'd only been painting 2 hours before, and we said as it wasn't even dry, of course the colour would be patchy! But he still kept demanding a new colour for free or a refund, so it was obvious that he just changed his mind about it (also, he brought no photographic evidence or anything to show how "black and white" his walls were!).
Nope. Refund denied!
I needs some chocolate ^^;;
However, I think the emotional state I'm in makes it harder for me to put up with bullshit right now.
My first 45 mins or so were ok until I was sent to the refund desk to assist my coworker, R. It was really busy, and she was due to have her 30 min lunch break, so they said to get the queue down, and then cover her lunch. Ok thats fine. We're both there for a little while getting the queue down, during which she gets a real dickhead customer- he seemed to be convinced he was smarter than her, that she was getting confused and being stupid and actually said to her "Well, if you had an Engineering degree like me, you'd understand!" The subject in question? Curtain poles
Anyway, she goes for her lunch, and I man the desk, and I'm doing mostly ok at first, but then it goes a bit manic. All stuff I can handle, but you got the phone ringing off the hook while I have some jackass asking me stupid questions, and other people just getting in the way, and I did get a tad frazzled. I'm dashing back and forth etc.
Then I get this guy trying to bring back some fence paint, claiming it looked "orange" on the fence (its clearly brown, its dripping down the sides) and that he should be allowed to get a new paint for free because he bought it at a staff member's recommendation. I called bullshit on it, but played it dumb and called a manager to just get some back up and confirmation that I couldn't refund (they are usually ok at backing you up, although some are spineless). I mean, it was clearly a case of "I just didn't like this colour".
I'm on the phone explaining to a manager, H (who is usually good at backing you up but it also sometimes a bit unhelpful) that I didn't think I could take it back because it didn't seem to be a fault, and the seals were cracked quite badly, to which the customer started raising his voice and having a go at me. I actually said the words "Will you just-!" to the customer and stopped myself. I was going to say "will you just let me speak to my manager, I cant hear him over you" but my tone was coming out very sharp because I was so exasperated. Fortunately for me, though, H heard everything, and said "Ok, just refund it, get rid of him." Ok, so its rewarding bad behaviour, but I reckon H decided it wasn't worth the hassle, and probably did me a favour.
By this point, R had been gone for an hour and a quarter. She came back from her lunch late, and then started going elsewhere, apparently on errands, taking items back and forth, but I suspected that she was also taking advantage of my presence and easy-going nature to go round and chat with people. I wouldn't have minded except that I had needed the toilet BEFORE I came down to refunds and I was bustin'. That and I could feel myself tearing up again because I was thinking about my cat (it had gone quiet again, no distractions). I called up my supervisor to ask if she knew where R was- she was hanging around the checkouts (where I was supposed to be!) chatting, so she sent her up.
I hovvered by the gate doing the wanna-pee-shuffle, and some customers came up to the desk- I could see R only a few yards away and told them she was coming so I could go pee, and she would be with them in less than a minute. As she approached, I shuffled past saying "There are some customers waiting, but I couldn't wait any longer!" At this point, the customers would have been waiting 10 seconds, and she was 5 seconds away from the gate, but still called back to me in an incredulous you-can't-do-that tone "You just LEFT them there?!"
Cue me muttering angry things to myself like "you fucked off for an hour and a quarter and I need to piss, what the fuck am I spose to do!?" I don't usually get annoyed with R, but I think my tolerance levels crashed today. And then as I was going towards the loos, I felt the tell-tale signs of "gonna cry". I felt so dumb, but the truth is, I just felt overwhelmed. Between mental images of my cat curled up peacefully asleep forever in my arms, R telling on me and getting me in trouble and the customers being jerks, I was just overwhelmed (although usually it wouldn't upset much if at all). By the time I was in a cubicle, I was crying.
I felt like such a jackass. I cleaned up my face as best I could (can't believe what minimal touch-up my makeup needed afterwards, usually looks awful when i cry!), then headed back to the checkouts (I had no intention of letting R doss around for the next hour until the end of her shift). I was actually due my own break now, and decided I would politely ask if I could go to calm down. Before I even said anything, my supervisor saw my face and said "Rabbit, are you alright?" She let me go for break, said I could have a chat if I wanted- I don't want anyone to think I can't be relied on to work properly or am taking the mick or something, so i declined, and to be honest, just sitting down, having something to eat and drink in peace and fixing my makeup was enough. I felt loads better when I came back. R clearly hasn't said anything, and nobody even bought it up. Which i'm grateful for, I have a feeling I'm going to remain emotional for a while, but it doesn't mean I'm going to let it impact my work.
I guess it was all stupid stuff, but it all got on top of me. The mania I was left to deal with alone, R taking the mick and being funny with me, the rude customers...just a bit much to handle at the second.
Bonuses
A Real Class Act
I had to laugh at this one- this woman was just such a snobby, stuck up bitch. One of those ones who refuses to lift anything out of the cart onto the counter, because she's too good for that. One of those ones who demands a plastic carrier bag, but doesn't say please or thank you. She clearly thought she was better people than everyone else, including a lowly cashier like me.
She was doing her decor shopping in PJ bottoms and slippers.
SOO classy.I just amused myself by sticking my nose up in the air and acting a bit stuck up in a very-polite manner :3
Black and White are Different Colours...
Another one I called bullshit on at refunds. Customer comes back with specially mixed Dulux (unless we fuck up the mix, specially mixed paints are non-refundable) in a colour not far off from white, sort of a vanilla-cream colour, complaining that it was coming up in loads of different patchy colours on the walls and that his wife was "in tears" over it. I doubted we could do much, but called the decor manager, J, to get back up on that. You see, I actually sent this jackass to the paint desk first and they told him no dice, and he came back to me demanding a refund anyway. So I have J on the phone, and its this little bit that makes me realise just how much bullshit this was.
(J said he was trying hard not to laugh when he heard this)
Customer: (in the background) IT COMES UP WHITE IN ONE SPOT AND BLACK IN ANOTHER!
Me: ...WHAT!?:eek:
The "what?!" on my part was at how crap his lie was! It so clearly is never going to come up black when it is "vanilla dawn" or some such off-white colour! XD He was clearly over-exaggerating to make his bullshit story sound plausible, but it just made it worse
In the end, he even admitted to me and J that he'd only been painting 2 hours before, and we said as it wasn't even dry, of course the colour would be patchy! But he still kept demanding a new colour for free or a refund, so it was obvious that he just changed his mind about it (also, he brought no photographic evidence or anything to show how "black and white" his walls were!).
Nope. Refund denied!
I needs some chocolate ^^;;
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