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  • Woman Threatens to Sue Us and I Die a Little Inside.

    Girl who works at hippy dippy soap store here! Back with another story...ugh.

    Okay, so, on top of mall customers being particularly INSANE lately (maybe because of the holiday season?? I have no idea), the internet at my store has been down for the past TEN DAYS. That means we cannot swipe any debit/credit/gift cards, we can't sell gift cards, and we cannot clock in or out. Because we can't swipe cards of any kind, we have to call every card in to receive an activation code for every non-cash purchase. That means that every card transaction takes about five minutes to complete, and customers. are. pissed.

    Needless to say, tension has been incredibly high in the store lately. I come in to work last weekend and see a line of about 30 people waiting to be rung out, and my one coworker scrambling behind the register trying to call every card transaction in all by herself. The store is in pandemonium-- people are getting tired of waiting in line and are literally just dropping their baskets full of stuff on the floor and walking out with nothing, while others are just standing around yelling, "How LONG is this going to take- I have other places to go!!" etc etc...

    I go in the back and put down my stuff, throw my apron on and come out onto the sales floor immediately because I can't clock in. I'm on the floor all of two seconds when a woman walks in and gets right up into my face-

    Woman: YOU! Come here! You helped me last time!

    Me: Oh hello--

    Woman: You told us to use these solid shampoo pucks! *thrusts the pucks into my face* Well, GUESS WHAT? They made all of my hair fall out! This is CRAZY! *turns to her daughter* Right, Sally??? Didn't they make all of our hair fall out?

    Sally: *in the same damn voice as her mother* YEAH! They made all my hair fall out!

    Woman: Come here! Get closer! *she puts her scalp right in front of my face and starts pulling her very thick, seemingly undamaged hair into sections so I can see her scalp* LOOK! Look at this damage! This is insane!

    I see literally NOTHING wrong with her hair, but I decide to humor her.

    Me: Oh no! I'm so sorry that happened--

    Woman: You better be! I'm FURIOUS!! I thought these products were luxury! I thought these products had quality ingredients! I never expected this to happen! When you pay this much money for something you expect it to work!!!!

    Me: You're completely right, and I'm sorry this happened. If you'd like to return the shampoo pucks, just head right on over to the register and speak with our manager in training *I point out our MIT watching over my coworker calling in the cards behind the till* Show her your receipt and she can help you--

    Woman: I don't have my receipt! What can you give me??

    Me: If you don't have your receipt than you can exchange the shampoo for something else.

    The woman agrees and approaches my MIT while her daughter begins to look around the store. I lose track of them for a while because our store is in such chaos. About ten minutes later, I'm busy helping a few people when I hear the Woman scream, "Are you kidding me?! I should SUE YOU!!!"

    I turn around and see the woman at the front of the line at the registers, screaming at my MIT who is now behind the computer. Apparently our network was being even more unreliable than usual and our POS system wouldn't allow her to make the exchange right then. Instead, she would have to buy stuff from the store, pay for it, and in a few hours her card would be reimburse for the shampoo pucks she was returning, and then the exchange would be complete.

    (I think this is what happened- I wasn't directly involved, so I'm not entirely sure, but it had something to do with our POS being unable to accept returned products back into the system right then- so there would be some delay for the reimbursement to show up on her card, blah blah blah...)

    So, instead of this woman understanding that there is LITERALLY NOTHING we can do to help her, and that we're all stretched incredibly thin and dealing with a plethora of computer problems, and we're doing everything in our power to help her and apologizing like crazy, she decides that the perfect resolution to this problem is to threaten us.

    Woman: *screaming* You are SO LUCKY I am not going to sue you! You understand that I could, right??? You understand that I could sue the shit out of you, right?! This shampoo made my HAIR FALL OUT! Are you HEARING ME?!

    MIT: M'am I am SO sorry. We're doing everything we can-

    Woman: You are so lucky I'm not SCREAMING RIGHT NOW! I could be making such a scene, but I'm NOT! You should count your lucky stars I'm not suing you! Fix this!

    This continues on and I am pulled away to help another customer- I pass by our front display window as I'm running to fetch something for said customer, and I notice that Sally, the Woman's daughter, is standing in front of it, facing the window looking out in the mall. I think it's strange that she's just standing there, so I walk over to see if she needs help and, I'm not kidding...
    She had pushed our ENTIRE window display to the side of the table, laid down a napkin on the surface, and was eating her lunch off our window display table. I literally just stood there staring at her with my mouth open. I couldn't even DO anything about it because we were so busy, but seriously, who DOES THAT?? I felt like my brain was melting out of my head.

    Eventually the Woman accepted her fate and made the exchange, swearing that "she would be BACK!!!" if her card did not get refunded that day, and she and her daughter left.

    It's been a week and I still can't get over it. Is the holiday season making people nastier? I just don't get it, but this whole experience BLEW MY MIND.

  • #2
    Wow, my sympathies to you and your coworkers! TEN DAYS??? Is anybody higher up in the food chain doing anything to get this fixed?

    And no, I don't think the holidays are bringing out more SCs ... I think they are always like that; it's just that stores are so busy as the holidays approach that you're seeing them massed together instead of maybe one or two a day. I hope things get better for your store very soon!

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    • #3
      Jesus, EATING HER LUNCH right there in the display window?! Not only unsanitary and inconsiderate, but bound to drive business away from window shoppers who expect to see decorative soaps and instead see some budding bitch chewing her cud.

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      • #4
        Quoth Pixilated View Post
        Wow, my sympathies to you and your coworkers! TEN DAYS??? Is anybody higher up in the food chain doing anything to get this fixed?

        And no, I don't think the holidays are bringing out more SCs ... I think they are always like that; it's just that stores are so busy as the holidays approach that you're seeing them massed together instead of maybe one or two a day. I hope things get better for your store very soon!
        We have no idea what's wrong with our connection I've been working at this store for over a year and I'd say we don't go a month without the internet going down at least once. Last Christmas our internet was spotty leading up to and through the entire holiday season and it was a nightmare. We've done everything to try and keep that from happening again this year-- we've had IT visit numerous times, done phone consultations, had new routers mailed to us, nothing seems to work. We've resorted to ordering entirely new computers, hopefully they get delivered before Christmas. It's awful.

        And I think you're right. It's been a year since I've seen so many angry customers in our store at once and I've forgotten what it's like x_x But thank you for the well wishes!

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        • #5
          Quoth mallsheep View Post
          We have no idea what's wrong with our connection I've been working at this store for over a year and I'd say we don't go a month without the internet going down at least once. Last Christmas our internet was spotty leading up to and through the entire holiday season and it was a nightmare. We've done everything to try and keep that from happening again this year-- we've had IT visit numerous times, done phone consultations, had new routers mailed to us, nothing seems to work. We've resorted to ordering entirely new computers, hopefully they get delivered before Christmas. It's awful.
          Has anybody checked the actual *connection*. Routers and computers are all well and good, but the problem (given what you've described) is more apt to be the modem or the actual "connection" (phone line for DSL, cable for cable internet)

          Being in a mall also makes it a *lot* easier for a DSL connection to get screwed up because while working on some other stores phones, a technician can swap wires and that'd get you on a set of wires that *isn't* "cleaned" for DSL.

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          • #6
            GOD, I feel bad for you guys!! Honestly, having to stand and wait for FIVE measly minutes is enough for these people to go off? That's just pathetic.

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            • #7
              Quoth mallsheep View Post
              It's been a week and I still can't get over it. Is the holiday season making people nastier?
              I'm seriously starting to think so. So much for "peace on earth, good will to all", eh?

              I sincerely hope you get those new computers in PDQ and they work properly. That's one more headache you don't need. And I really hope that your evil customers (and mine and everyone else's) all end up getting
              I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
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              • #8
                Quoth XCashier View Post
                ... end up getting
                And as we all know, S**t makes the flowers grow. (NSFW)

                Folk Uke: Cathy Guthrie & Amy Nelson, with the unfamous Duelin' Dads
                Last edited by dalesys; 11-23-2013, 12:25 PM.
                I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
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                • #9
                  Holidays always tend to bring out the worst in people, making all retail employees DREAD holidays in return.

                  This is my first Thanksgiving in 5 years not being a retail employee. My jobs are letting their employees go for a 4-day weekend starting Thanksgiving. That is unheard of for me, but I have never planned on being a jerk in that time the moment I step inside some store!

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                  • #10
                    Don't you know that it's no longer "peace on earth and good will to man", it's give me a piece of the earth and good will to ME!
                    Sorry, my cow died so I don't need your bull

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                    • #11
                      I can't top ten days, but two stores in a chain I worked at was seven days without internet. I found out about this the day I started my new job as their systems administrator. Fixing the problem required exactly three mouse clicks.

                      Curiously, nobody seemed to think that doing transactions with a calculator and handwriting receipts was a problem.

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                      • #12
                        I'm kinda surprised Not-so-bald woman agreed to that (kind of bizarre sounding) exchange. She had all the earmarks of a scammer: immediately confrontational, aggressive, baseless accusation, "sue" "you're lucky" etc.

                        I'm a hippy soap lover and I would probably be unable to make a purchase at the store over twenty dollars or so; I simply don't carry that much cash around and might not have the time to wait on such an unexpected delay. I'm sure I'm not alone.

                        Ask around the mall, especially employees in the same wing as your store, if they have/have had connection problems and what their stores are doing/did about it: could be infrastructure. Is your store locally owned or a chain? In any case, they are hemorrhaging money because of this and really need to lean on mall maintenance/the ISP/the store IT for a fix ASAP.

                        (If you're tech savvy at all, try throwing the bare-bones of this in 'Unsupportable.' There's probably some general trouble shooting that can narrow it down.)

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                        • #13
                          I wouldn't mind working with a vintage mechanical till, to be honest. Although perhaps not in a busy retail environment...

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                          • #14
                            Sounds like the day a couple of years back when all the credit card machines in the entire country went down. I was sooo happy that day... that I worked in the petrol station and not in the supermarket, cuz it was utter bedlam over there. O_o From what I heard off checkouts later, the supermarket was crammed full of angry customers, shrieking at the hapless staff at Customer Services, demanding a manager RIGHT NOW!

                            None of them would shut up long enough to listen to the facts, ie that this was a national problem and there wasn't anything that anyone could do about it. Apparently, only a few customers had the sense to realise that the only thing to do was to ask a member of staff to guard their trolley while they popped out back to use the cashpoint.
                            People who don't like cats were probably mice in an earlier life.
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