It has come to my attention, by way of some CSers that have become friends off the boards, that I don't post my stories nearly often enough.
Part of that is due to my move to working in mattress stores 7 years ago. This job is FAR less stressful than the others I've worked, and on the whole, I deal with a LOT less asshats than I used to!
But since some have asked, I'm dredging up old memories today.
Setting the Way Way Back Machine for roughly 15 years ago...
{Insert time travel sound FX here}
The year is 1998, and your fellow retail wage slave Jack is gainfully employed at a Super Crown bookstore. Yes, good old Crown Books, the company that brought discounted books to the masses many years BEFORE the gigantic interweb retailer that associates itself with Greco-Roman mythology!
Some of the shenanigans we would see included...
--Thieves that would go to the computer books section, grab the most expensive tomes on the shelves (hardbound things the size of an unabridged dictionary that would cost $80-100 each), drop them into their Bags of Holding, then vamoose... only to return later and insist that they "lost their receipt" but HAD to have a return for cash! This was, of course, against company policy, as posted on a HUGE sign in plain view right behind our cashwrap area. No Receipt, No Return for You! AT BEST you were supposed to get an exchange or store credit. And get this... our District Manager would MAKE our Store Manager take the clearly fraudulent return without a receipt, causing the company to pay for the same book AT LEAST twice!
--One woman that I clearly remember came in with a STACK of VERY worn textbooks, very heavily used, heavy creasing on the spines, dirt on the pages, scuffs, chips, etc on the covers. In no way were they in anything LIKE resellable condition. She produced a receipt from A YEAR AND A HALF EARLIER and wanted a return for her money back. AFTER USING THE TEXT BOOKS FOR 18 MONTHS!!!! And with a GINORMOUS sign on the wall right behind us stating no returns after 30 days! And yet, our frakwit of a DM was called by the Store Mgr, and INSISTED that he take the return to keep the "customer" (and I use that term very loosely) happy!
--Then there was the guy that would come in first thing after we opened and go into our public rest room, with the door propped wide open (we used to clean the rest rooms right before we opened and leave the doors propped open so the wet floor would dry), whip it out of his pants, and start peeing WITH THE DOOR STILL OPEN for all to see! I believe after several incidents, he was eventually escorted out by the local constabulary and banned from the store for indecent exposure.
Stuff like the first 2 happened ALL THE TIME. And yet, I'll bet there's STILL people that wonder why Crown Books went out of business.
So, that's just a tiny taste of my many years in Retail Hell. At this point, I've done it all, I've seen it all, I've heard it all... I just can't remember it all.
Part of that is due to my move to working in mattress stores 7 years ago. This job is FAR less stressful than the others I've worked, and on the whole, I deal with a LOT less asshats than I used to!
But since some have asked, I'm dredging up old memories today.
Setting the Way Way Back Machine for roughly 15 years ago...
{Insert time travel sound FX here}
The year is 1998, and your fellow retail wage slave Jack is gainfully employed at a Super Crown bookstore. Yes, good old Crown Books, the company that brought discounted books to the masses many years BEFORE the gigantic interweb retailer that associates itself with Greco-Roman mythology!
Some of the shenanigans we would see included...
--Thieves that would go to the computer books section, grab the most expensive tomes on the shelves (hardbound things the size of an unabridged dictionary that would cost $80-100 each), drop them into their Bags of Holding, then vamoose... only to return later and insist that they "lost their receipt" but HAD to have a return for cash! This was, of course, against company policy, as posted on a HUGE sign in plain view right behind our cashwrap area. No Receipt, No Return for You! AT BEST you were supposed to get an exchange or store credit. And get this... our District Manager would MAKE our Store Manager take the clearly fraudulent return without a receipt, causing the company to pay for the same book AT LEAST twice!
--One woman that I clearly remember came in with a STACK of VERY worn textbooks, very heavily used, heavy creasing on the spines, dirt on the pages, scuffs, chips, etc on the covers. In no way were they in anything LIKE resellable condition. She produced a receipt from A YEAR AND A HALF EARLIER and wanted a return for her money back. AFTER USING THE TEXT BOOKS FOR 18 MONTHS!!!! And with a GINORMOUS sign on the wall right behind us stating no returns after 30 days! And yet, our frakwit of a DM was called by the Store Mgr, and INSISTED that he take the return to keep the "customer" (and I use that term very loosely) happy!
--Then there was the guy that would come in first thing after we opened and go into our public rest room, with the door propped wide open (we used to clean the rest rooms right before we opened and leave the doors propped open so the wet floor would dry), whip it out of his pants, and start peeing WITH THE DOOR STILL OPEN for all to see! I believe after several incidents, he was eventually escorted out by the local constabulary and banned from the store for indecent exposure.
Stuff like the first 2 happened ALL THE TIME. And yet, I'll bet there's STILL people that wonder why Crown Books went out of business.
So, that's just a tiny taste of my many years in Retail Hell. At this point, I've done it all, I've seen it all, I've heard it all... I just can't remember it all.
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