Tweet
I made it through the weekend without too many noticeable incidents, aside from these two customers - one from yesterday and one from today. This might be long and a little rant-y but I just got done working a week straight at my store and I need to vent a little. 
The one yesterday was a customer one of my cashiers had. My cashier called me over the walkie and asked me if I could come back to see what we could do about a belt for a customer. The cashier had been trying to help this lady find a belt, and the lady picked out one that somehow didn't have a price tag and was the only one like it. No big deal, usually we just grab a similar item and scan it (it does throw off inventory but there aren't really any other options for this situation on a busy Saturday). Oh, but if only it were that easy with this lady. There were some belts on clearance for like $4.99 and of course she was asking my cashier if we could just use one of the clearance belts so she could get the belt for a lot cheaper because, in the customer's words, "There are belts on clearance that have more gems on them and this is just a simple plain belt" (Okay, that's cool, but we have simple plain belts that are like $15 - just because something is more plain doesn't automatically make it cheaper. But of course your average customer won't know that.)
So I grudgingly allow my cashier to scan a clearance belt for $4.99 (this is the cheapest price we have for the belts) and the customer seriously after already getting a nice belt for $4.99 tries to barter with me further and asks if there is any way to "make the price lower" than $4.99. FOUR NINETY-NINE.
Now we have an option where we can do a 10% discount on items that are defective, or for "customer satisfaction" but we are not allowed to do more than 10%. We can use the discount at our discretion, both managers and cashiers alike. So I told the lady the most I could do without getting into trouble was to give her another 10% off of the clearance price which I thought was more than fair. I cannot, however, actually change the price of the item as price override is only for situations where our discounts or promos are not ringing in correctly.
She hesitantly agreed to this, I thought the problem was solved, and I left my cashier to finish up with her. About five minutes later, my cashier comes and finds me in the store and tells me that the lady still didn't want to get the belt even after that and asked for her to get her manager again because she didn't think that price was fair.
SERIOUSLY THIS IS NOT A FREAKING STREET FAIR! We do NOT negotiate prices! What is wrong with people, honestly? I don't get to just make up a price and change the price on an item in our system. It asks for a reason why you are overriding the price and LP flags price overrides. They are not to be used willy-nilly. That's what the customer satisfaction discount is to be used for. I don't understand why people think it's okay to bargain and try to get me to lower the price. This is not a Middle Eastern bazaar or a flea market or something, it's a corporate owned store.
I guess the lady left when my cashier came to find me so I didn't have the pleasure of informing her that the price was final and she could take it or leave it because I knew full well that the belt was not a clearance belt so really I was already giving her a deal and she couldn't even be happy or thankful for that? I could have told my cashier to use one of the UPCs from one of the full price belts instead but I was trying to be nice and let her use a UPC from a clearance belt to get it for the sale price and she still had to push to get even more of a discount. Like I might as well give you the damn belt for free, right?
UGH. PEOPLE.
Then today, we close at 6 on Sundays, like pretty much EVERY mall in America. I don't work Sundays that often but it was my Sunday to work this week. However, I have worked many Sundays at this particular mall (different store) and every week it's like people just really either forget it is Sunday or they just don't care. So we lock the doors and turn off the music, and we still had a couple people finishing up in the store. One lady was wandering around just slowly picking at everything and taking her sweet time. She didn't get to the register to pay until like 6:15. Then there was a couple who walked in at 6:01 and when my co-worker asked them if they needed help, they were like, "Oh just browsing."
So they were slowly meandering around the store during this entire time as well and finally my co-worker told them, "Guys we are getting ready to close the registers." And the guy was like, "Alright." No, "Oh I'm sorry!" or, "Oh my god didn't realize you were closing!" Just, "Alright." like we are inconveniencing them or something. So finally they paid and left and we finally were able to get cleaned up for the night. Of course we clocked out late because of this couple. We're not allowed to tell people we are closing until around a quarter after if they're still shopping but at least we can say something at some point. Some places I've worked didn't want you to say anything at all which I think is completely ridiculous.
I don't think it's rude to tell customers you're closing and they need to pay for their sh*t or get out honestly. If I'm somewhere and I hear a closing announcement or I know it's close, I skedaddle. I knew this even before I worked in retail. Why are people so inconsiderate when it's closing time? I don't know if people who have never worked in retail realize that we don't just lock up and go home. We have to stay for at least another hour or more after people leave.
So anyway, not huge ones but just aggravating enough for me to feel the need to post here and validate to myself that I'm not the crazy one for thinking that my store should not be a free-for-all with every item costing whatever the customer thinks it should cost, or a place where people screw around after close and keep us late.
The one yesterday was a customer one of my cashiers had. My cashier called me over the walkie and asked me if I could come back to see what we could do about a belt for a customer. The cashier had been trying to help this lady find a belt, and the lady picked out one that somehow didn't have a price tag and was the only one like it. No big deal, usually we just grab a similar item and scan it (it does throw off inventory but there aren't really any other options for this situation on a busy Saturday). Oh, but if only it were that easy with this lady. There were some belts on clearance for like $4.99 and of course she was asking my cashier if we could just use one of the clearance belts so she could get the belt for a lot cheaper because, in the customer's words, "There are belts on clearance that have more gems on them and this is just a simple plain belt" (Okay, that's cool, but we have simple plain belts that are like $15 - just because something is more plain doesn't automatically make it cheaper. But of course your average customer won't know that.)
So I grudgingly allow my cashier to scan a clearance belt for $4.99 (this is the cheapest price we have for the belts) and the customer seriously after already getting a nice belt for $4.99 tries to barter with me further and asks if there is any way to "make the price lower" than $4.99. FOUR NINETY-NINE.
Now we have an option where we can do a 10% discount on items that are defective, or for "customer satisfaction" but we are not allowed to do more than 10%. We can use the discount at our discretion, both managers and cashiers alike. So I told the lady the most I could do without getting into trouble was to give her another 10% off of the clearance price which I thought was more than fair. I cannot, however, actually change the price of the item as price override is only for situations where our discounts or promos are not ringing in correctly.
She hesitantly agreed to this, I thought the problem was solved, and I left my cashier to finish up with her. About five minutes later, my cashier comes and finds me in the store and tells me that the lady still didn't want to get the belt even after that and asked for her to get her manager again because she didn't think that price was fair.
SERIOUSLY THIS IS NOT A FREAKING STREET FAIR! We do NOT negotiate prices! What is wrong with people, honestly? I don't get to just make up a price and change the price on an item in our system. It asks for a reason why you are overriding the price and LP flags price overrides. They are not to be used willy-nilly. That's what the customer satisfaction discount is to be used for. I don't understand why people think it's okay to bargain and try to get me to lower the price. This is not a Middle Eastern bazaar or a flea market or something, it's a corporate owned store.
I guess the lady left when my cashier came to find me so I didn't have the pleasure of informing her that the price was final and she could take it or leave it because I knew full well that the belt was not a clearance belt so really I was already giving her a deal and she couldn't even be happy or thankful for that? I could have told my cashier to use one of the UPCs from one of the full price belts instead but I was trying to be nice and let her use a UPC from a clearance belt to get it for the sale price and she still had to push to get even more of a discount. Like I might as well give you the damn belt for free, right?
UGH. PEOPLE.
Then today, we close at 6 on Sundays, like pretty much EVERY mall in America. I don't work Sundays that often but it was my Sunday to work this week. However, I have worked many Sundays at this particular mall (different store) and every week it's like people just really either forget it is Sunday or they just don't care. So we lock the doors and turn off the music, and we still had a couple people finishing up in the store. One lady was wandering around just slowly picking at everything and taking her sweet time. She didn't get to the register to pay until like 6:15. Then there was a couple who walked in at 6:01 and when my co-worker asked them if they needed help, they were like, "Oh just browsing."
So they were slowly meandering around the store during this entire time as well and finally my co-worker told them, "Guys we are getting ready to close the registers." And the guy was like, "Alright." No, "Oh I'm sorry!" or, "Oh my god didn't realize you were closing!" Just, "Alright." like we are inconveniencing them or something. So finally they paid and left and we finally were able to get cleaned up for the night. Of course we clocked out late because of this couple. We're not allowed to tell people we are closing until around a quarter after if they're still shopping but at least we can say something at some point. Some places I've worked didn't want you to say anything at all which I think is completely ridiculous.
I don't think it's rude to tell customers you're closing and they need to pay for their sh*t or get out honestly. If I'm somewhere and I hear a closing announcement or I know it's close, I skedaddle. I knew this even before I worked in retail. Why are people so inconsiderate when it's closing time? I don't know if people who have never worked in retail realize that we don't just lock up and go home. We have to stay for at least another hour or more after people leave.
So anyway, not huge ones but just aggravating enough for me to feel the need to post here and validate to myself that I'm not the crazy one for thinking that my store should not be a free-for-all with every item costing whatever the customer thinks it should cost, or a place where people screw around after close and keep us late.
Comment