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No, I don't set the prices, no, we're not trying to rip you off (.. much)

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  • No, I don't set the prices, no, we're not trying to rip you off (.. much)

    So yesterday a customer stopped me while I was trying to stock the dairy cooler. I was already in kind of a crappy mood, because I had never worked dairy before and was pretty much thrown into it. Midshift dairy guy called in sick, opening dairy guy had to leave early and took about 2 minutes to tell me "okay, yogurt is here, milk is here, eggs are here. I'll see you later." On the plus side, at least I got a couple of hours of overtime out of it, and got to see a lot of coworkers that I normally don't see (I work 4am to noon normally, some of the closing shift was starting to come in when I left at 2:30).

    "Why has it gotten so expensive?" from a customer while holding a gallon of milk. I started trying to explain why dairy products have gotten so expensive - milk shot way up last year and never really came back down. He stops me and says "No, everything in your store keeps getting more expensive!". I bit my tounge and stopped myself from asking him if he's been in the Kroger across the street recently, their prices have gone up just as much. In fact, some of our stuff is a little cheaper if you compare the exact same item - most other grocers don't do much with organics, whereas it's our business - so they can't buy in the same kind of quantity that we can.

    Instead, I tried to tell him the biggest reason - energy costs have skyrocketed - fuel for the trucks, energy for the factories, energy to keep the store running, it's all gone way up in the past few years. He stopped me again and said "But everything comes on one truck once a week right?". I almost laughed in his face at that - we get 20+ various smaller deliveries per day, have 3 loading docks, and get two nearly full 18 wheelers every night from two distribution centers (one in Colorado, one in Austin). He actually got pissed when I told him that no, everything does not come in on a single truck, and couldn't understand why we couldn't just get everything once a week on a single truck. (maybe a small mom and pop grocery store in the middle of nowhere could survive on 2 or 3 trucks a week, this is a large, busy store in the middle of a metro area that has over 6 million residents, and we're always in the top 5 in the region and usually top 10-15 company wide).

    I gave up and just let him rant.. while a couple of other customers were starting to look quite annoyed because he was taking up my time and I couldn't help them until he was done.

    Apparently this guy doesn't understand the concepts of "inflation", "fuel costs", "energy costs", and "increased cost from our suppliers". (I didn't mention wages, he'd probably croak if he found out that *gasp* I make twice the national minimum wage AND get bonuses on top of that.. instead of 5.85/hour) He swore up and down we're just trying to cheat our customers - while the store I'm at is on the expensive side, our profit margin is pretty much the same on every item in the department. Supplier increases our cost? We'll eat it for a bit, then raise the price. Decrease in cost? Well okay, we probably won't lower the price for a month or two. And I sure as hell wasn't holding a gun to the guy's head to make him shop here.

    Did I mention I hate working dairy? I also refuse to get baited like that again.... grr.
    Last edited by bean; 02-27-2008, 01:14 PM.

  • #2
    Just say, "That's what makes this such a free country, if you don't want to shop somewhere, you can go somewhere else."

    I like using the "free country" or "great country" tag because it sets the other person up as anti-patriotic if they persist with their case. And we all know that anti-patriotic REALLY means "terrorist". So by complaining about their grocery prices, they might as well take responsibility for 9-11.
    Last edited by poofy_puff; 02-27-2008, 02:19 PM.
    I was not hired to respond to those voices.

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    • #3
      What did he excpect you to do about it? Pull a new price out of your arse? please...
      "They're magically delicious, bitch!"- Kara, http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=34968

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      • #4
        Quoth poofy_puff View Post
        Just say, "That's what makes this such a free country, if you don't want to shop somewhere, you can go somewhere else."

        I like using the "free country" or "great country" tag because it sets the other person up as anti-patriotic if they persist with their case. And we all know that anti-patriotic REALLY means "terrorist". So by complaining about their grocery prices, they might as well take responsibility for 9-11.
        Your logic is infallible. i live in the southeast so im surrounded by "patriotic" hicks. These people they by having a gun and driving a truck around in the mud makes you a model American. I don't know about you but i see a model American as someone not only tries to be successful in life but tries to stay aware of the world out side the borders. some of these people don't know of the world outside their YARD.

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        • #5
          Indeed, and you gotta figure, the OP is in TEXAS.
          I was not hired to respond to those voices.

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          • #6
            Quoth poofy_puff View Post
            Indeed, and you gotta figure, the OP is in TEXAS.
            Hey! I'm in Texas, not by choice...
            "I call murder on that!"

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            • #7
              Quoth poofy_puff View Post
              I like using the "free country" or "great country" tag because it sets the other person up as anti-patriotic if they persist with their case. And we all know that anti-patriotic REALLY means "terrorist". So by complaining about their grocery prices, they might as well take responsibility for 9-11.
              If you don't buy the milk, the Terrorists win.

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              • #8
                Quoth Juwl View Post
                Hey! I'm in Texas, not by choice...
                Oh noze!

                I meant it like it's the home state of our goofy esteemed Prezident (I wish there was a backwards "R" in the character set). I did NOT mean it like everyone who ever set foot in the state is an inbred redneck.

                BUT, did you's know that little GW was actually BORN in the laid-back state of Massachusetts? That's right folks, MY state is the REAL home state of Patriotic Terrorism! It just FEELS better when you masturbate to think of Texas! Yee-hah!


                Thank you's for listening!
                I was not hired to respond to those voices.

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                • #9
                  Quoth Juwl View Post
                  Hey! I'm in Texas, not by choice...
                  I'd rather be in NorCal personally. Or Austin.

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                  • #10
                    He could go buy a cow & get milk that way...lol.

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                    • #11
                      driving a truck around in the mud
                      it's not a real truck if there's no mud on it!

                      but seriously... can you imagine just one truck... if it could hold all you needed that'd be one freakin big truck. one of those DC-10 trucks maybe

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                      • #12
                        I feel you get more SC's in Dairy than the normal Grocery/Merchandise department.

                        I've also had to fill in for Dairy a few times and I hated it for that reason.
                        I don't care how cold it is, I don't care if I have to work by myself for 6+ hours. I just wish the customers would f*ck off AND LET ME WORK!
                        If for any reason you're not satisfied with our service, I hate you.

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                        • #13
                          Hey Bean, was he an old fart? They seem to be the worst for understanding that the cost of things does tend to go up. Reading you post I kept expecting him to say, "Well, back in my day <insert idiot comment here>."

                          DamnTexans. (That's not a typo, it's one word to me.) Sorry, it's a New Mexican thing. We, as a rule, really really dislike y'all.
                          It's floating wicker propelled by fire!

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                          • #14
                            Friendly reminder that politics (even bashing political figures) is best left for Fratching, eh? So tone it down, please.
                            Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

                            http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

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