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I now work in retail. We have a strict policy that we do not do holds on clearance stock. If it's on clearance, you either buy it now, or walk away. This has been the same since long before I worked here.
Enter this woman, incredibly self important and confident. She has an armful of clearance items, and she brings them to our counter. She plops them down and informs us that we are GOING to hold them for her until noon the next day. We tell her we cannot accommodate her request, due to the aforementioned policy. Bear in mind that all emphasis is, unfortunately, not mine but is actually how this woman spoke.
Oh, but she's a PERSONAL STYLIST. Not only that, but she has WORKED IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT BEFORE and she KNOWS HOW THESE THINGS WORK. She demands that we call our manager, which we do. Unsurprisingly, B, with better things to do than reiterate a policy that even the newest of newbies can parrot verbatim, just tells us to tell this woman no, then hangs up.
LET ME TALK TO YOUR MANAGER, comes the cry. But the manager has hung up. However, by some sort of divine providence, B has made her way downstairs and is now within hailing distance (she was on her way to do something else). We flag her down, and the customer tells her how she is a PERSONAL STYLIST and how HER SISTER IS A RETAIL MANAGER (really? Your sister? Two minutes ago it was you) and she KNOWS WE CAN DO THIS FOR HER. B keeps calmly repeating that the store policy is not to do holds on clearance stock.
Well, this woman does not like to be told no. Loudly and plaintively, she tells B that she is VERY INFLEXIBLE, and that she has JUST LOST A SALE. B shrugs, and prepares to go back to what she was doing.
And because of the way the store exits are set up, and where Personal Stylist Lady and B were standing as this back-and-forth played out, Personal Stylist Lady is denied a quick flounce to the nearest exit (B was in the way). Instead, she had to do the Flounce of Shame, the long way, past all the other departments, to get to the front exit.
Enter this woman, incredibly self important and confident. She has an armful of clearance items, and she brings them to our counter. She plops them down and informs us that we are GOING to hold them for her until noon the next day. We tell her we cannot accommodate her request, due to the aforementioned policy. Bear in mind that all emphasis is, unfortunately, not mine but is actually how this woman spoke.
Oh, but she's a PERSONAL STYLIST. Not only that, but she has WORKED IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT BEFORE and she KNOWS HOW THESE THINGS WORK. She demands that we call our manager, which we do. Unsurprisingly, B, with better things to do than reiterate a policy that even the newest of newbies can parrot verbatim, just tells us to tell this woman no, then hangs up.
LET ME TALK TO YOUR MANAGER, comes the cry. But the manager has hung up. However, by some sort of divine providence, B has made her way downstairs and is now within hailing distance (she was on her way to do something else). We flag her down, and the customer tells her how she is a PERSONAL STYLIST and how HER SISTER IS A RETAIL MANAGER (really? Your sister? Two minutes ago it was you) and she KNOWS WE CAN DO THIS FOR HER. B keeps calmly repeating that the store policy is not to do holds on clearance stock.
Well, this woman does not like to be told no. Loudly and plaintively, she tells B that she is VERY INFLEXIBLE, and that she has JUST LOST A SALE. B shrugs, and prepares to go back to what she was doing.
And because of the way the store exits are set up, and where Personal Stylist Lady and B were standing as this back-and-forth played out, Personal Stylist Lady is denied a quick flounce to the nearest exit (B was in the way). Instead, she had to do the Flounce of Shame, the long way, past all the other departments, to get to the front exit.
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