Tweet
Woo, my first story!
I had a really strange member come in at the end of last month (and I'm just now getting around to posting this story here
)
I work at a really good wholesale club (that I love, and that ISN'T affiliated with Wal-Mart), in the Tech Center, or Majors department. My area is the electronics section, with the computers, TVs, MP3 players & accessories, stereos, etc. At any rate, I have this member come up to me asking if I know the password that we keep on all the computers (so that troublesome customers can’t destroy Windows or other computer settings on a whim). Naturally, I tell her I do, and then proceed to ask if she wants to look at the software that comes pre-installed on whatever she was looking at. As we’re walking over to the laptops, she basically says no, she just wants to go on the internet.
At this point, I tell her that none of our computers have internet access, as they’re just for display and demo (and not for surfing the web at a bored customer’s leisure, though I didn’t mention that). Still, she insisted on getting on, so I logged in to the laptop for her and took a few steps away. Keep in mind that anytime we log onto a computer for a member to peruse and take a look around, we’re to stay nearby, for obvious reasons. Not only to ensure the member doesn’t do anything they shouldn’t, but also so they can ask any questions.
Considering this girl didn’t really seem intent on actually purchasing the computer and trying to access the web despite my comments, I tried to preoccupy myself so it wouldn’t be too awkward with me staring over her shoulder. Fortunately, a few co-workers were nearby and talking about some job-related stuff and some tasks we had to do later on, so I listened in on that and made a comment here and there, occasionally glancing over towards the member.
Suddenly, the member looks over to me and asks, “Um, can I help you?” Now, understandably, I’m slightly taken aback, and after a few second’s pause, I respond with a no. Knowing that she apparently didn’t expect me to stand around, I continue by saying that anytime we let someone on the computers, we need to stick around. I didn’t bother continuing on with saying the reasons as I assumed she'd understand (ha!), so she turned back after giving me a strange look for a few seconds after I finished with my short explanation.
A bit of time passes as she really does nothing but try and waste time on the laptop. She was accomplishing nothing; not even looking in the start menu at the different programs, but just seemingly opening random folders and programs. Eventually, after she finishes, she addresses me in a huffy tone, stating something like I needed to tell people that I was going to stand around, and that me doing so made her extremely uncomfortable.
O.o Okay. Yeah. I was actually struck dumb for a few seconds there after she ‘berated’ me. Was this person really that 'special'? … obviously so. After that fairly long pause as I was trying to consider whether to argue the point (ie, informing her of my job to ensure she wasn’t some moronic twit trying to mess up computer files or put on a scrolling marquee screensaver with “*Name of Wholesale Club* SUX” or something like that), I simply gave a slight shrug and replied with an “Okay,” in a manner implying that I saw nothing wrong with my actions. I have no doubt she was totally ignorant to any subtleties, but ah well.
Fortunately, I rarely have people like this. Most of the rest of the ‘unique snowflakes’ fall in more stereotypical (and not as noteworthy) categories that you’d come to know over time.
I had a really strange member come in at the end of last month (and I'm just now getting around to posting this story here
)I work at a really good wholesale club (that I love, and that ISN'T affiliated with Wal-Mart), in the Tech Center, or Majors department. My area is the electronics section, with the computers, TVs, MP3 players & accessories, stereos, etc. At any rate, I have this member come up to me asking if I know the password that we keep on all the computers (so that troublesome customers can’t destroy Windows or other computer settings on a whim). Naturally, I tell her I do, and then proceed to ask if she wants to look at the software that comes pre-installed on whatever she was looking at. As we’re walking over to the laptops, she basically says no, she just wants to go on the internet.
At this point, I tell her that none of our computers have internet access, as they’re just for display and demo (and not for surfing the web at a bored customer’s leisure, though I didn’t mention that). Still, she insisted on getting on, so I logged in to the laptop for her and took a few steps away. Keep in mind that anytime we log onto a computer for a member to peruse and take a look around, we’re to stay nearby, for obvious reasons. Not only to ensure the member doesn’t do anything they shouldn’t, but also so they can ask any questions.
Considering this girl didn’t really seem intent on actually purchasing the computer and trying to access the web despite my comments, I tried to preoccupy myself so it wouldn’t be too awkward with me staring over her shoulder. Fortunately, a few co-workers were nearby and talking about some job-related stuff and some tasks we had to do later on, so I listened in on that and made a comment here and there, occasionally glancing over towards the member.
Suddenly, the member looks over to me and asks, “Um, can I help you?” Now, understandably, I’m slightly taken aback, and after a few second’s pause, I respond with a no. Knowing that she apparently didn’t expect me to stand around, I continue by saying that anytime we let someone on the computers, we need to stick around. I didn’t bother continuing on with saying the reasons as I assumed she'd understand (ha!), so she turned back after giving me a strange look for a few seconds after I finished with my short explanation.
A bit of time passes as she really does nothing but try and waste time on the laptop. She was accomplishing nothing; not even looking in the start menu at the different programs, but just seemingly opening random folders and programs. Eventually, after she finishes, she addresses me in a huffy tone, stating something like I needed to tell people that I was going to stand around, and that me doing so made her extremely uncomfortable.
O.o Okay. Yeah. I was actually struck dumb for a few seconds there after she ‘berated’ me. Was this person really that 'special'? … obviously so. After that fairly long pause as I was trying to consider whether to argue the point (ie, informing her of my job to ensure she wasn’t some moronic twit trying to mess up computer files or put on a scrolling marquee screensaver with “*Name of Wholesale Club* SUX” or something like that), I simply gave a slight shrug and replied with an “Okay,” in a manner implying that I saw nothing wrong with my actions. I have no doubt she was totally ignorant to any subtleties, but ah well.
Fortunately, I rarely have people like this. Most of the rest of the ‘unique snowflakes’ fall in more stereotypical (and not as noteworthy) categories that you’d come to know over time.
It HAS happened before. 
Comment