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I am counting down the hours I have left until I am finished with this job and onto the next crappy one. Right now, I work in a grocery store in customer service until I move for college.
(Lottery)
Sometimes, I buy lottery tickets. My state has some of the cheapest universities in the United States because so much of it goes to education. My sister attends one of these universities, and gets the scholarship that the lottery funds, so I have no problem blowing a few bucks on tickets.
When I do buy them, I anticipate them losing. I check my numbers with the printout we provide at the terminal. I simply cannot comprehend the thoughts going through the minds of these folks (read on).
Lately, every single goddamn person is asking in that special stupid way "IS IT A WINNAR?" or some variation of. I'm required to ask, "Is there anything else I can get for you today?" and inevitably, this is what follows. "Ha, ha! Only the winner!" "No thanks, I already have the big one!" It was cute at first, but now 7/10 people do it.
I'm sick of people getting pissed at me because they don't win. I think that these people want to hold up the line having me check their tickets (we have printouts), if only so that in the end they can berate me for not selling them the winner. I don't mean, "Aww, shucks, I didn't win" but people literally yelling at me, "I AM SO SICK OF NEVER WINNING!!!11" Most people are just rude, only a handful have actually done this.
There's on obnoxious old guy, who will buy $5 scratchies. He takes his stuff, hop up on the safe and scratch away like he owns it. "Give me a winning number (#)!" he declares. After several of these and he's wasted his daily $20, he'll declare, "You've done enough damage for today!" and walk away. No, jackass, YOU have done enough damage to yourself for today. You're an ADULT, take responsibility for your actions.
Also, I am to blame if the customer has no clue how he should order his tickets. Our lotto recently added the option of playing an extra dollar or two on the same number to have a chance at a higher jackpot, adding to the confusion.
<story> Customer comes up, starts describing what he wants. I forget exactly what he said, but it was somewhat ambiguous, and he spouts some nonsense and makes hand gestures while he's speaking. After he's done, I say, "So, you want one number for ten plays, ten days in advance?" He says yes. I show him, he yells, "NO! THIS IS NOT WHAT I SAID I WANTED! I WANT (whatever he had said before, also wrongly describing what he wanted)" I print out ten normal tickets, and he accepts them. The man did NOT know what he was asking for, he took at least a paragraph's worth of words to describe what he wanted, which could have been accomplished by saying, "Ten quick picks, please." </story>
That's another thing. People will throw money on the counter, and demand, "(#) for lotto." No please or thank-you. They ignore my offer of additional assistance. Also, they are not pick quicks, or easy picks, or anything else, they are called quick picks. I don't know why that annoys me so much, but that's like going to another country that has pesos and calling them dollars.
(Returns/policy)
It's cool if you don't want something. Let's talk about what I can do for you (takes a few quick questions, such as, "Do you want to get another?" "Do you have a receipt?") Don't get pissy, that is really all it takes. I'm not going to tell you I need a receipt, unless it's a high priced, classic theft item. I'm not going to tell you that you aren't allowed to get the kind you want. Let's just calm down and take care of this.
I can tell when you've purchased something from another store. If it doesn't ring up in the computer, we do not carry it. You're lying when you say you just bought it here last week. Despite being in my box all day, I am very familiar with the items we have. And I know you're trying to return it here because they won't take it at the other place. Piss off, be honest, and stop whittling away my bonus because you hate wasting money on shit you didn't use and it expired.
When something rings up incorrectly, it is our policy to give the customer one of that item for free, and it they have more, price match the rest to what it should have been. And yet, the customer bitches when they can't get all four of their items for free.
This becomes obvious when you bring these items to me, and tell me, "These were marked $0.87 and I was charged $0.89!" And when I give you $0.95 back, stop bitching. Piss off, you've made your point. I can tell that you and I will never have anything in common because you just can't let things go. It's one thing if the price difference is more than a dollar, but two cents? Yeah, it's the principle of the thing, I know, but I'm not the MAN, I'm not trying to bring you down, get over yourself and on with your life.
I love when this happens with beer or cigarettes, since the policy doesn't apply to those. When it's a $0.30 difference*, I hand them their change and wait for them to fly into a rage, because policy clearly states that it doesn't apply to this, and they look like an idiot for getting angry and looking cheap and no amount of bitching to a manager will fix it.
*If it's legit, fine, but more than often they're reading the tag wrong.
<story>One man is notorious for this, and it was only recently that he started shopping at my store. He seemed perfectly normal the first time, when he said his eggs were ringing up wrong ($0.50 too much), and when I checked, there was simply no tag on the shelf, meaning that somebody was in the process of adjusting it. I told him I couldn't honor policy, and he said, "No, it is YOUR fault that I will be paying extra for this item. I DEMAND that you give it to me for free, RIGHT NOW." Complete with banging his fist on the table.
I told my manager, as we don't have to take their abuse, but she just told me to honor it, and I did.
The next time, I was in the line and didn't even recognize him again until the transaction was nearly complete and his wife made a comment about taking it up to the service desk. I knew I was to step in, since my coworker/buddy was at the counter and I didn't want them to start abusing him (<3) . Once again, as soon as I began to tell him why he was wrong, he started yelling things at me, the only one I can remember is, "Who do YOU think you are to tell ME that I'm wrong when it's YOUR fault?" Or, at least, I think it ended that way, because then raised my voice so that the entire front end was staring and told him he could wait for a manager. I think they caved, but they sent me to lunch since I had missed going on time trying to straighten things out for this man. When I came back, I learned from my coworker that the guy said I'm "a crazy bitch that doesn't need to be working here." I really pissed the guy off.
I saw him today, probably the last time I'll ever see him. Again, something rang up wrong, I honored it. He noticed the look of disgust I gave him and said, "You remember me?" I scoffed at him, "Yes" and he pretty much dropped it. Good riddance, asshole. </story>
I'm kind of going to miss working here, as all of the kids my age like me because I'll back them up when someone abuses them, and the adults like me because I can fix whatever they need me to. I definitely won't miss some of my coworkers and these customers, though.
I don't care if nobody reads this, I feel tons better now. *shudder* Doesn't even include general suckage or Western Union.
(Lottery)
Sometimes, I buy lottery tickets. My state has some of the cheapest universities in the United States because so much of it goes to education. My sister attends one of these universities, and gets the scholarship that the lottery funds, so I have no problem blowing a few bucks on tickets.
When I do buy them, I anticipate them losing. I check my numbers with the printout we provide at the terminal. I simply cannot comprehend the thoughts going through the minds of these folks (read on).
Lately, every single goddamn person is asking in that special stupid way "IS IT A WINNAR?" or some variation of. I'm required to ask, "Is there anything else I can get for you today?" and inevitably, this is what follows. "Ha, ha! Only the winner!" "No thanks, I already have the big one!" It was cute at first, but now 7/10 people do it.
I'm sick of people getting pissed at me because they don't win. I think that these people want to hold up the line having me check their tickets (we have printouts), if only so that in the end they can berate me for not selling them the winner. I don't mean, "Aww, shucks, I didn't win" but people literally yelling at me, "I AM SO SICK OF NEVER WINNING!!!11" Most people are just rude, only a handful have actually done this.
There's on obnoxious old guy, who will buy $5 scratchies. He takes his stuff, hop up on the safe and scratch away like he owns it. "Give me a winning number (#)!" he declares. After several of these and he's wasted his daily $20, he'll declare, "You've done enough damage for today!" and walk away. No, jackass, YOU have done enough damage to yourself for today. You're an ADULT, take responsibility for your actions.
Also, I am to blame if the customer has no clue how he should order his tickets. Our lotto recently added the option of playing an extra dollar or two on the same number to have a chance at a higher jackpot, adding to the confusion.
<story> Customer comes up, starts describing what he wants. I forget exactly what he said, but it was somewhat ambiguous, and he spouts some nonsense and makes hand gestures while he's speaking. After he's done, I say, "So, you want one number for ten plays, ten days in advance?" He says yes. I show him, he yells, "NO! THIS IS NOT WHAT I SAID I WANTED! I WANT (whatever he had said before, also wrongly describing what he wanted)" I print out ten normal tickets, and he accepts them. The man did NOT know what he was asking for, he took at least a paragraph's worth of words to describe what he wanted, which could have been accomplished by saying, "Ten quick picks, please." </story>
That's another thing. People will throw money on the counter, and demand, "(#) for lotto." No please or thank-you. They ignore my offer of additional assistance. Also, they are not pick quicks, or easy picks, or anything else, they are called quick picks. I don't know why that annoys me so much, but that's like going to another country that has pesos and calling them dollars.
(Returns/policy)
It's cool if you don't want something. Let's talk about what I can do for you (takes a few quick questions, such as, "Do you want to get another?" "Do you have a receipt?") Don't get pissy, that is really all it takes. I'm not going to tell you I need a receipt, unless it's a high priced, classic theft item. I'm not going to tell you that you aren't allowed to get the kind you want. Let's just calm down and take care of this.
I can tell when you've purchased something from another store. If it doesn't ring up in the computer, we do not carry it. You're lying when you say you just bought it here last week. Despite being in my box all day, I am very familiar with the items we have. And I know you're trying to return it here because they won't take it at the other place. Piss off, be honest, and stop whittling away my bonus because you hate wasting money on shit you didn't use and it expired.
When something rings up incorrectly, it is our policy to give the customer one of that item for free, and it they have more, price match the rest to what it should have been. And yet, the customer bitches when they can't get all four of their items for free.
This becomes obvious when you bring these items to me, and tell me, "These were marked $0.87 and I was charged $0.89!" And when I give you $0.95 back, stop bitching. Piss off, you've made your point. I can tell that you and I will never have anything in common because you just can't let things go. It's one thing if the price difference is more than a dollar, but two cents? Yeah, it's the principle of the thing, I know, but I'm not the MAN, I'm not trying to bring you down, get over yourself and on with your life.
I love when this happens with beer or cigarettes, since the policy doesn't apply to those. When it's a $0.30 difference*, I hand them their change and wait for them to fly into a rage, because policy clearly states that it doesn't apply to this, and they look like an idiot for getting angry and looking cheap and no amount of bitching to a manager will fix it.
*If it's legit, fine, but more than often they're reading the tag wrong.
<story>One man is notorious for this, and it was only recently that he started shopping at my store. He seemed perfectly normal the first time, when he said his eggs were ringing up wrong ($0.50 too much), and when I checked, there was simply no tag on the shelf, meaning that somebody was in the process of adjusting it. I told him I couldn't honor policy, and he said, "No, it is YOUR fault that I will be paying extra for this item. I DEMAND that you give it to me for free, RIGHT NOW." Complete with banging his fist on the table.
I told my manager, as we don't have to take their abuse, but she just told me to honor it, and I did.
The next time, I was in the line and didn't even recognize him again until the transaction was nearly complete and his wife made a comment about taking it up to the service desk. I knew I was to step in, since my coworker/buddy was at the counter and I didn't want them to start abusing him (<3) . Once again, as soon as I began to tell him why he was wrong, he started yelling things at me, the only one I can remember is, "Who do YOU think you are to tell ME that I'm wrong when it's YOUR fault?" Or, at least, I think it ended that way, because then raised my voice so that the entire front end was staring and told him he could wait for a manager. I think they caved, but they sent me to lunch since I had missed going on time trying to straighten things out for this man. When I came back, I learned from my coworker that the guy said I'm "a crazy bitch that doesn't need to be working here." I really pissed the guy off.
I saw him today, probably the last time I'll ever see him. Again, something rang up wrong, I honored it. He noticed the look of disgust I gave him and said, "You remember me?" I scoffed at him, "Yes" and he pretty much dropped it. Good riddance, asshole. </story>
I'm kind of going to miss working here, as all of the kids my age like me because I'll back them up when someone abuses them, and the adults like me because I can fix whatever they need me to. I definitely won't miss some of my coworkers and these customers, though.
I don't care if nobody reads this, I feel tons better now. *shudder* Doesn't even include general suckage or Western Union.
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