Just when you thought the last worst was the worst..

[PastryGal]

Another new level of worst comes along.
It's been pretty good lately, no major SC's. Which meant one was on it's way, and boy was it ever.
BG I work at the customer service desk at a hardware store. My job is answering the phone, answering questions, doing rain checks, special orders, ringing in large items, taking excess customers from check outs. END BG

This happened yesterday. One of my managers called up for me to print an information sheet on a wood stove for a customer who'd be coming to get it. Cool, I print it, staple it and put it aside. The woman comes up and I hand her the sheet. Everything is nice and good at this point. She wants to order the stove. Ok cool. At this point the phone rings and I excuse myself to quickly answer it (note: we get a lot of calls, and part of my job is to always answer the call, it's usually just to redirect to a department)
Woman-"You WILL NOT answer that phone!"
Me-"I have to answer the phone"
Woman-"I AM THE CUSTOMER WHO IS HERE!!! SOMEONE ELSE WILL ANSWER THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Me-"There's no one else to answer the phone, nor does it ring anywhere else"
Woman-"I DON"T CARE!!!! I'M here to spend $1000 and I WILL NOT have you answering the phone!!!!!!"
At this point I don't know what to do. I'm supposed to answer the phone, like I can get in trouble for not answering. But I didn't want to get in trouble for losing a big sale either. So I decide to ignore the phone, which continues to ring the entire time.
Me"Ok can I get your phone number?"
Woman"Why do you need my phone number????"
Me"So I can set up a profile in the computer to place the order, also so we have a way of contacting you when the item comes in"
Woman" No I am not giving you my phone number to put in the computer. Just put a fake one in and I'll write down my real one"
So I put a fake one in, get her Name, lord knows if it was real, lol. I order the item, she pays and I give her her paperwork. She tries to be nice by commenting on my nail polish but I am so angry at this point I don't say anything. I could feel that my face was red hot. How I managed to be civil through the whole thing I'll never know. I should have paged for a manager to deal with it but the managers don't know how to do special orders so I would have been forced to. I'm going to talk to our HR guy today to see if I'm able to refuse her service if shes like that ever again. But if she ever calls in, I plan on putting her on hold and forgetting about her, lol. After all, customers in store are more important right? lol

[Antares]

Your plan appeals to me.

[bhskittykatt]

I'm willing to bet if she was calling on the phone and it just rang and rang she'd complain that employees were ignoring the phone.

[Automan Empire]

-"I AM THE CUSTOMER WHO IS HERE!!! SOMEONE ELSE WILL ANSWER THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I hate this kind of attitude. As if YOU are somehow more important of a customer than anyone else, ever.

It is like someone asking their parents, which of us kids do you love the most? Honestly love all equally, but if forced to choose, the favorite will NOT be the one forcing a choice!

[BrenDAnn]

Unfortunately, the corporate heads of the C-Store chain I work for enforce the sort of attitude your SC had there. That's right... We are told NOT to answer the phone if there are customers in the store. So... tell your SC to go to a C-Store. Just... not mine, or Gaki's, or any other that one of my fellow c-store workers here is employed at!

[Enjis]

While I will agree that the customer in front of you has top priority, I would never object to a clerk answering the phone (after excusing herself, of course.). That being said, as long as that phone call only results in a 'I'll take your number and call you back after I've helped my current customer' I'm perfectly happy.
If the call turned into 'I'll go find that item for you now' while leaving me waiting, THEN I would be unhappy!
The OP customer was being a bitch.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I frequently take the view that "customers I can see in front of me take precedence over those I can't see over the phone," but if I'd been in a situation where I must answer the phone, I would politely but firmly tell the caller to please hold, so I could deal with the person in front of me.

Although if faced with the attitude like the bitch in the OP, I'd probably take my time about that caller.

[raudf]

Oh, I hated this when I worked at the repair center. The rule actually was, "Deal with the counter customer FIRST." We weren't even supposed to interrupt the transaction to answer the phone. It could ring all day long, as long as the people at the counter were taken care of. The reasoning was that they'd taken the time to come to the shop and thus deserved to be handled as quickly as possible. Of course, common sense was used... and so was ghosting four of the five customer lines when the manager was out. Hey, I'd rather get a busy signal than no answer of any sort!

[PastryGal]

I don't just get calls from customers, sometimes it's people who have already bought stuff and left it behind to pick up later, people calling regarding a delivery they have scheduled, people calling to speak with the owner, the receiver, a manager, other stores calling for a stock check. I am the gateway to everything in the store. There's no automated system for different departments. Once all 4 lines were busy and the owners father(aka previous owner) was trying to call in and couldn't get thru and when he finally did he decided to rip me a new one over the phone. He also called the cells of ppl who work there trying to find out why I wasn't answering the phone. Nothing I can do if all lines are busy. I wish I could just ignore the phone and I will sometimes for a couple rings just to finish with a customer.

[ASM826]

The Yelling Part is Rude

I wouldn't yell at them, but I do not like to be in a store, being attended to by a clerk, and have them be responsible for answering the telephone. I have taken the time to come in, I've selected my purchases and now I have to stand cooling my heels at the register while a series of telephone calls are being dealt with? That's poor service on the store's part.

I understand it is not the clerk's decision and do not take it out on them, but it's unjustified. I'm in your store, prepared to pay for your products, I should be treated with some consideration. Set the phones to ring in the manager's office.

[Gaki]

Unfortunately, the corporate heads of the C-Store chain I work for enforce the sort of attitude your SC had there. That's right... We are told NOT to answer the phone if there are customers in the store. So... tell your SC to go to a C-Store. Just... not mine, or Gaki's, or any other that one of my fellow c-store workers here is employed at!

She can come to mine. She'll get the same treatment that all of my EWs get. A "really ma'am" eyebrow and everything she wanted (whether she likes it or not.) We don't answer the phone mainly because nobody ever told us we had to and because it's usually someone who wants to waste our time anyway. 90% of phone calls to the C-store are "Can you tell me the daytime numbers?"

No. I can't. Goodbye.

[EricKei]

Pizza places do it the opposite way. At the ones where I worked, failing to answer a phone after TWO rings was a "You'd better have a damn good reason or you're getting a writeup" offense. Only person on phones because you're incredibly busy, all of the drivers are out on runs, and your insider is making/cutting pies, and all FIVE lines go off at once? Answer them all in sequence and let them rot on hold. Of course, we were supposed to get back to the Held lines ASAP. People would often hang up, and call right back, slowing everything else down, demanding to know why they were put on hold. It was extra funny if a custy was inside and placing an order at the time. Note that being asked to hold was often met with a reply of "Yeah, large Works, a pepperoni and some breadsticks..."

The DM absolutely loved to call in at times when he knew we were getting slammed, just to make sure we were answering phones. The filthy sadist also liked to call at 1-2 minutes before closing time to make DAMN SURE we were still taking orders (as opposed to, say, starting cleanup early so we could get out at the scheduled time and meet his labor percentage requirements...which were also the reason we might have two insiders at that time instead of four) >_<

[Racket_Man]

Pizza places do it the opposite way.

<snip>

The DM absolutely loved to call in at times when he knew we were getting slammed, just to make sure we were answering phones. The filthy sadist also liked to call at 1-2 minutes before closing time to make DAMN SURE we were still taking orders (as opposed to, say, starting cleanup early so we could get out at the scheduled time and meet his labor percentage requirements...which were also the reason we might have two insiders at that time instead of four) >_<

OH YOU ARE SO RIGHT. PREACH IT BROTHER ERIC

BUT you forgot to mention the phone surveys to make ABSOLUTELY sure we were aggressively upselling, and following the phone script TO THE LETTER (and I mean to the letter) like a good little robots.

I have always hated the "YOU MUST answer the phone in 2 rings" rule. Sorry if I am elbow deep in greasey dishes and pans, it take me a bit to at the very least, rinse off my hands and try and somewhat dry them.

[EricKei]

OH YOU ARE SO RIGHT. PREACH IT BROTHER ERIC

YAYUS-uh! I come to speak the WOR-UD of tha PIE-yuh! Can I get an AMEN up in hee-yah?

Trying to "run" (read: minimize) Labor was always fun. I wanna say my record was 18% of sales (anything above 25% was pushing it, and over 33% was "send someone home already!") once in a while, tho there were some managers who were lucky to keep it under 30, ever. x.x Note that general "wisdom" was to send half the inside crew home as soon as the initial dinner rush ended, even if we weren't exactly dead after that, sometimes before having them do any real cleanup at all >_> I was usually able to avoid that nonsense.

I will admit, tho, that Corporate and the DM loved us come Mardi Gras time -- we would just make pizzas (all day) to sell out on the parade routes (Thank goodness for hotboxes!!) -- 3 smalls side by side and back to back, nonstop for 16+ hours a day, in both ovens, for the last 6 days of the parade season...Back in (circa) very early 2000's, our gross sales were 27 grand a day during the last 3 days of parades each year (Sun/Mon/Tues) at our store, and we weren't even directly on the parade route. In our market, that was normally an impressive amount for a month. Keep in mind that walkin and delivery sales were basically nonexistent during those times, as the locals were either at the parades or out of town (because of those damn tourists ).

I'm so glad I'm not in that business anymore >_<