Angry Meat Customer

[purplecat41877]

Yesterday, a customer placed an order for meat which no one could find. He had specifically requested that his order be put in the non kosher meat freezer. The employee who put the order aside put it in the kosher freezer and only employees who work in the kosher department are allowed back there. The customer kept asking for the manager and I let him know that the situation was being taking care of and I finally let him know that neither the store director or assistant store director were there at the time.

One of the checkers refused to deal with the customer anymore because he was so angry sounding. My service desk coworker, the checker, and a deli employee ended up helping this customer and I handled the desk. The meat manager was called but wasn't available to answer the call so a note was left. The customer even got into an argument with a customer that I was doing lottery for.

The customer even went behind the service desk a couple times even though he's not allowed back there. No one told him that probably because he might've gotten worse. I had to hold off on one of the checker's pickups because of the customer. Not only that, he had gotten in line and held up the customers in back of him so some of them came up to the service desk to get checked out.

The customer mentioned a few times that he needed to get home. He even mentioned that the store just lost an order but he did leave with the store director's name and number.

[depechemodefan]

Well, first, there was the idiot employee who put the meat in the wrong place, but yeah, that escalated into SC-dom in record time.

Though I giggle at "angry meat customer"....I'm 12!

[DevilBoy]

Yesterday, a customer placed an order for meat ... He had specifically requested that his order be put in the non kosher meat freezer.

The employee who put the order aside put it in the kosher freezer

The customer ahd made a very simple (but by no means unimportant), very specific request, but some idiot in the meat department still managed to screw it up and turn it into a complicated ordeal unnecessarily.
Dude had every right to be pissed and IMHO, any suckiness that ensued was certainly justified in this case.

[South Texan]

I could understand someone following a kosher diet not wanting non-kosher foods kept in the same place as his order, but how did a non-kosher order suffer from being placed with kosher items? I really do not see how he was harmed by where his order was placed, so I have trouble understanding his anger.

Was this guy trying to be respectful of those on a kosher diet or does he have something against kosher?

[DevilBoy]

I could understand someone following a kosher diet not wanting non-kosher foods kept in the same place as his order, but how did a non-kosher order suffer from being placed with kosher items? I really do not see how he was harmed by where his order was placed, so I have trouble understanding his anger.

How does a kosher order suffer from being placed with non-kosher items?
Religious belief.
Yes, Judaism can require that kosher meats be kept separate from non-kosher meats.
I would imagine that a Jewish customer might take great offense if this situation had been the opposite, finding out that his kosher order had been stored in the non-kosher freezer. Would his anger and disappointment be justified? Most certainly.

I'm no theologian, but if Judaism dictates kosher meats can become tainted by being stored with non-kosher meat, it would stand to reason that some other religion may find it harmful to have non-kosher meat stored with kosher.

It is not the store's place to dictate what is acceptable and what is not acceptable with regards to a customer's religious belief.

We don't know the nature of why he made the request.

Maybe it wasn't religious in nature at all.
Maybe this was not the first time this has happened.
What if he had placed an order in the past, it was stored in the kosher freezer and the guy had a hassle when he came to pick it up?
Therefore, he specifically requests that it NOT be placed with the kosher meats so when he comes to pick it up he can avoid any delay. Instead, an employee disregards his request and the customer has to go through a repeat performance of hassle and inconvenience.

Either way, his anger is justified because a simple request was ignored. Had the store not been able to accommodate such a request, they should have been upfront about it from the start.

[Ronald]

Sounds like a big meat market. You said this happened yesterday. Would I be correct in assuming that because it was Yom Kippur, all of your Jewish staff (who most likely are the only ones allowed into the Kosher meat freezer) were not working? If I am correct, I would also assume that your regular customer knew of the significance of the holiday and that there would be no way in hell that he could get his meat if it was in the wrong freezer, and therefore just wanted to make sure that it was available when he came for his order.

If I am right, he is justifiably pissed at what happened. Trust one staff member to screw up everyone's day. You must have a pretty great place for him to want to come back.

[PepperElf]

well obviously they shouldnt put non-kosher meats in a kosher-only section. Many jewish people still follow strict kosher rules, which means not only is the meat kosher, it also cannot be kept with non-kosher foods. And on top of that dairy and meat cannot hang out together either... so many of them have 2 refridgerators and often 2 sets of plates and dishes. One is for Kosher-dairy and one is for kosher-meat. Regular kosher items that can be used with meat or dairy (Pareve) can be used with either.

so... maybe the customer knew it couldn't be stored with kosher items...
or it might be the fact that the only people allowed in that area are the ones who work in the kosher meat department, meaning... only a few people can get his meat for him. it sounds like someone stored it there when they weren't suppose to even go in there... and then he was stuck waiting for his meat cos everyone else was obeying the rules on who can go into that area.

(and also breaking kosher rules can really screw up a business cos most places that claim kosher have to get certified / inspected by a rabbi... and from what i know, they are strict)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

"Angry Meat Customers" would be a good name for a rock band.

[South Texan]

I would also assume that your regular customer knew of the significance of the holiday and that there would be no way in hell that he could get his meat if it was in the wrong freezer, and therefore just wanted to make sure that it was available when he came for his order.

Thank you for pointing that out, Ronald. Yom Kippur. THAT makes perfect sense.

I buy and use many kosher products even though I am not Jewish nor a follower of a kosher life, so I did not understand why anyone who is not kosher would be upset that their item was put in with kosher items unless it had to do with respecting those who are kosher or the man having some sort of abhorance to kosher things. I also was wondering how he would even find out about it.

Your explanation makes perfect sense. The man could not get his order because his request had not been followed.

[purplecat41877]

This happened on the 10th but by the time I was able to make the post, it was the 11th which would make it the previous day. Also, the kosher department was locked and only those who work back there are allowed back there.

The assistant store director was informed about this customer today. I even mentioned the customer coming behind the service desk and she mentioned something about looking at the cameras and then I punched out.

The customer wanted the meat in the non kosher freezer since the kosher department would've been closed by the time he was able to get there. The bakery manager mentioned how kosher couldn't be mixed with non kosher which is why the order was put in the kosher freezer since the meat was kosher.

[PepperElf]

ah that makes more sense now.

i can kinda understand why he was upset. since it was meat he was buying for himself i dont see why it couldn't go into the non-kosher section... and why he was upset that the butcher said "no" after the arrangements were made.

[depechemodefan]

I don't know, getting upset over a piece of meat is stupid. yeah, it was inconvienent, but if this happened to me, I just ask for a diff. piece of meat not blow my top off. In general, I think people get off at an inconvience so they can call other people stupid or incompetant or something, just to make themselves look better

Now if this was a pharmacy, where someone promised that his medicine was ready and when he showed up they said that they didn't have the medicine, oh so sorry that when he dropped it off they said it was there, so there is no medicine for him, I can see being mad. Medicine is serious crap.

[Mordecai]

I don't know, getting upset over a piece of meat is stupid. yeah, it was inconvienent, but if this happened to me, I just ask for a diff. piece of meat not blow my top off. In general, I think people get off at an inconvience so they can call other people stupid or incompetant or something, just to make themselves look better

That's pretty much my view on this topic as well. Being slightly annoyed is one thing, but he took it too far.

[Ree]

i can kinda understand why he was upset. since it was meat he was buying for himself i dont see why it couldn't go into the non-kosher section... and why he was upset that the butcher said "no" after the arrangements were made.

It's pretty straight-forward. It didn't matter that it was for him, personally, and he didn't care.

It was kosher meat, and the store policy is to keep it in the kosher area.
Just because it was promised to him by someone else, that promise was actually breaking store policy. Guess what happens when exceptions get made? Mistakes happen. If you break the policy once, then another time, it might go in that area by mistake, and the customer will raise hell because their kosher meat ended up in the non-kosher section.

Besides, it's not for us to say whether or not purplecat was justified in venting about her customer, or making a judgment on whether her customer was sucky.

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=34921

Some people were in violation of that rule in several places in this thread.

[South Texan]

Besides, it's not for us to say whether or not purplecat was justified in venting about her customer, or making a judgment on whether her customer was sucky.

I am hoping I am not one whom you think was judging Purplecat. I honestly was not, and apologize to Purplecat if that is how my posts came across.

I really was trying only to comprehend why the guy would get so upset in the first place. I had not realized he was unable to get his order due to where it had been stored.

The guy acted like a grade 'A' jerk, none-the-less.