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The Joys of Being a Customer Service Associate

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  • The Joys of Being a Customer Service Associate

    I'm sure that every single customer I've dealt with has been described somewhere in these forums but give me a break, I don't have the time or patience to go through them all. Besides, who doesn't want to hear about my time spent working for Wal-Mart.

    As a cashier:

    The Price Nazi- An often hostile person who watches every single item you scan to make sure it rings up at the correct price. The Price Nazi's vigilence is rewarded with an average savings of $0.21.

    The Coupon Librarian- Often the same as a Price Nazi, the Coupon Librarian has a coupon for every item in their cart. Very often, the Coupon Librarian's coupons do not even match the item's in the cart, but you had better not point that out, or a hissy fit will ensue.

    The Coupon Thief- No, the Coupon Thief does not steal coupons but rather attempts to rip off the store through the use of expired coupons. You can tell the difference between a Coupon Thief and a person who genuinely didn't notice the coupon was expired because the Coupon Thief pulls the stunt frequently. Coupon Thiefs will also attempt to "accidentally" tear off the date.

    The Price Switcher- You know 'em. You love to hate 'em. The Price Switcher pulls the theivery classic of switching the price tag on something with another tag of less value. "You mean that huge area rug isn't five dollars?"

    Everybody's Friend- Working at the store directly across from the Wal-Mart Home Office made this one a picnic indeed. Everybody's Friend knows lots of people in high places and isn't afraid to let you know it. Everybody's Friend often wants special courtesies because of their status.

    The Company Employee- Akin to Everybody's Friend, the Company Employee believes that just because they work for the same company as you, and they hold a higher rank, they should be allowed to do whatever they damn well please.

    The Long-Time Customer- Akin to the previous two, the Long-Time Customer obviously deserves special treatment because he's been shopping at your store for years, never mind you're the only one in town and he's lived there all his life.

    "I Didn't Want Cash Back"- The machine askes them about three different times if they would like cash back AND they so obviously didn't but they somehow ended up with the cash anyway. This person often wants you to work some form of magic and make the money reappear in their account.

    The Chronically Late- This person can't be bothered to wait in line for more than two seconds because they are late for something and obviously the world revolves around them. I know I like to go shopping when I'm running late for something.

    The Mid-Morning Me- The Mid-Morning Me shops at ridiculously early times and wonders why there aren't more employees to cater to their every whim.

    "Make People Appear"- This person fully expects you to make more associates appear out of thin air to open up more registers. Like your store has a secret supply of them in the back and you don't have every register trained associate on a register.

    The Lazy Parent- The Lazy Parent let's their child reak havoc upon your register while pretending it's normal.

    El Familia Mexicano- No, I don't know if that's actually Spanish and I'm not usually rascist but this one deserves a spot. El Familia Mexicano is a large hispanic family that is incredibly difficult to communicate with. The youngest person seems to be the only member of the family who can speak English and thus, acts as a spokesman for the family.

    Soda Pop Drop- If you or this person drops any of their carbonated beverages, they demand that somebody go back and get them a new one. Obviously, the beverage will be flat and unfit for consumption by the time they make it home.

    The Angry Smoker- No, you can not purchase cigarettes here. Why not? Because they can only be purchased at register 12. BUT I DON"T WANT TO USE MY CARD TWICE! Looks like you're going to have to.

    The Garden Center Entrant- The Garden Center Entrant obviously enters the store through the Garden Center. They then check out their two cart loads of items at the Garden Center registers that were only built to be express lanes; all without a single Garden Center item.

    The Weakling- The Weakling puts his cart in front of you and proceeds to stare. Obviously, this person can't lift a finger and means for you to unload his cart for him.

    The Unattended Child- The unattended child makes a mess of the store's aisles, rides anything remotely rideable, and pays with nickles for a single slushy.

    The Fruit Thief- The Fruit Thief spends their time in your store eating from a bag of fruit, knowing full well that fruit is weighed and they won't be charged for their greedy consumption.

    The Pedophile- The name pretty much says it all. This person spends their time hitting on your underage female coworkers. I personally enjoy playing the jealous boyfriend.

    I have many, many more but I figure twenty is enough for now. Trust me, they'll get better when I work my way up to my Customer Service experiences.
    "The Customer is Always Right"

    That one phrase gave the entire country a green light to be as rude and demanding as they please.

  • #2
    The Chronically Late- This person can't be bothered to wait in line for more than two seconds because they are late for something and obviously the world revolves around them. I know I like to go shopping when I'm running late for something.
    But it makes life so much more exciting. Gets that adrenaline going!

    The Fruit Thief- The Fruit Thief spends their time in your store eating from a bag of fruit, knowing full well that fruit is weighed and they won't be charged for their greedy consumption.
    I say weigh the customer and charge them for all 263 pounds.

    El Familia Mexicano
    La Familia Mexicana...for the record

    "I Didn't Want Cash Back"-
    How do you screw up hitting the "No" button?

    Soda Pop Drop- If you or this person drops any of their carbonated beverages, they demand that somebody go back and get them a new one. Obviously, the beverage will be flat and unfit for consumption by the time they make it home.
    I'll take it - I like my soda flat
    I don't go in for ancient wisdom
    I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
    It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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    • #3
      For the Weakling, I'd stare right back. Or say 'Umm, you somehow managed to put ALL of that stuff in there, didn't you? Or did you just stare at the person beside you until they did it for you?'.

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth The_Scarlet_Speedster View Post
        El Familia Mexicano- No, I don't know if that's actually Spanish and I'm not usually rascist but this one deserves a spot. El Familia Mexicano is a large hispanic family that is incredibly difficult to communicate with. The youngest person seems to be the only member of the family who can speak English and thus, acts as a spokesman for the family.
        My husband coaches a soccer team that is mostly immigrant kids. It never fails that when they call him with questions, the little kid is on the phone doing the talking while Mom or Dad is in the background speaking their native language.
        All in all, he loves them, though. They seem to have(in his case, at least) generally good attitudes and don't pull the typical American-Sports-Parent entitlement bullcrap.

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        • #5
          Since I live in Texas, I see the La Familia Mexicana a lot while I'm standing in line at the cashier. They hold up the line while the kid has to translate for the parents. It's so annoying.
          For the most part, I don't care about what everyone else is doing, or what is popular.
          -Namie Amuro (Japanese singer)

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          • #6
            Mr/Ms "I'll do my banking elsewhere"-- This person is obviously a banking customer. One with extreme checkbook balancing issues. They frequently bounce checks and overdraft their account then DEMAND all fees be waived on account of "good service." If you refuse to waive said fee they treaten to take their negative balance elsewhere as if that is an actual threat.

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            • #7
              Quoth The_Scarlet_Speedster View Post
              The Garden Center Entrant- The Garden Center Entrant obviously enters the store through the Garden Center. They then check out their two cart loads of items at the Garden Center registers that were only built to be express lanes; all without a single Garden Center item.
              Yeah, I, uh, I've done this. Sorry.

              Comment


              • #8
                Ah. Living in southern California, I see a lot of La Familia Mexicana.

                My favorite is when we get these oversized families of unemployeds walk in through our door looking for work because the Social Services people (there's a building around the corner, practically) require that they make some sort of token effort and the only ones who speak any English are the teenagers and younger. We have it easy, however. If you don't speak English, you don't get hired. It's a safety issue. Thankfully, language isn't a protected status.

                ^-.-^
                Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Rolling Star View Post
                  Since I live in Texas, I see the La Familia Mexicana a lot while I'm standing in line at the cashier. They hold up the line while the kid has to translate for the parents. It's so annoying.
                  I don't get how that works. I live in South Florida. When I was 15 (nearly 20 years ago) I worked at a grocery store. The Mexicans (who work out in the orange fields) would come in van-loads with only the 6 year old to speak for the entire family. Now, don't you think that these little bilingual wonders would teach his/her kids English and Spanish, thus ending the cycle of "Que?!" at the register? No. I'm STILL dealing with 6 year-olds speaking for the family!

                  Where have these now grown-up kids GONE?
                  Teach a SC to fish... and they will whine about you not catching, filleting, frying, and serving it up on a silver platter for them. - EvilEmpryss

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                  • #10
                    Whats even more annoying about La Familia Mexicana, is when they go through the drive thru. And the little obviously doesn't know what they are ordering, and they turn down our offers of an inturpitor so the parents can order.

                    The lazy parent isnt even there most of the time, they just sent their kid down.

                    I have something better than the Soda Pop Drop. The Wheres My Cup. The people whom ignore me putting their cup on the counter and stand there for 3 minutes waiting for me to pick up the cup or hand it to them. Or worst walk away from the cup and then come up complaining they never got their cup, because someone else took it when they didn't.

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                    • #11
                      Wow

                      Dang, I didn't think I'd get that many posts. I especially didn't think I'd get that many posts about my most controversial customer; well, posts that aren't negative.
                      "The Customer is Always Right"

                      That one phrase gave the entire country a green light to be as rude and demanding as they please.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I did have misgivings about this thread. We've had a complaint.

                        We don't single out racial groups on here unless it's relevant - the race card being played etc. We also have a stickied thread for a canonical list of customer types.

                        Rapscallion

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Sliceanddice View Post
                          =
                          come up complaining they never got their cup, because someone else took it when they didn't.

                          That happened to me once. I was at McD's just wanting to get a large soda. They took my order and everything, but since there was a lot of people. I saw them put a cup down, and I thought it was for the one, that ordered in front of me. Someone took my cup, and I waited for 26 minutes. I didn't complain, because they were busy, and well I could have asked. They offered me a free meal for the trouble, and I told them no. But they insisted and mentioned that it would make her(the manager) feel better. So I got a free meal from them. It wasn't there fault. It was just busy at that time
                          Under The Moon Paranormal Research
                          San Joaquin Valley Paranormal Research

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