The Demands of Mrs Night. (long)

[GingerBiscuit]

This will be a long-running, requently updated saga. Mrs Night (not her real name) is one of our regular SC's and an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE to deal with, over the phone or in person.
She's never rude or agressive, just very, VERY difficult.

Todays Mrs Night story:

Me: Brainy, Geeky, Hot.
MN: Mrs Night
SM: Store Manager.
AM: Assistant Manager
In brackets are my thoughts and reactions.

The phone rings. It's awkward to get to, you have to sort of squidge yourself in a small space to answer it.
So I answer, with my standard greeting.
Me: Hello, This is *store**city*, How can I help?
MN: This is Mrs Night
(at which point I have to suppress a groan. MN has been plauging us for years, since before I started working there)
MN: I want to buy some stuff, my daughter will be in later to pick it up.

And then she gives me her shopping list. Yes, she rings up three or four times a week to DO HER SHOPPING FOR HER. Can't she just give her daughter her list if she;ll be in later? As if I don't have anything better to do than her shopping. It's not like she disabled and can't do it herself, either.

Then we get to the yoghurt. Oh god, her and her f***ing yoghurt.
MN: What yoghurts do you have?
Me: I'm not sure off the top of my head, but I can see quite a few strawberry, so plain and one or two lemon.
MN: No vanilla?
Me: No, the vanilla spot is empty.
MN: Are you sure no vanilla:
Me: Definately no vanilla. We'll get some more in tomorrow. Chilled and frozen delivery is thursday.
MN: YES! I know. Could you CHECK on the vanilla for me?
M: Sure (I strangle a sigh, clamber out of the small space, bruising my shin in the process, and check. No vanilla)
Me: No vanilla, sorry.
MN:Oh. What OTHER yoghurt brands do you have?
Me: We have Little Swallow and Alpro Soya.
MN: I don't want to soya desserts.
Me: Not the desserts. the soya YOGHURT, in the fridge. Comes in plain and flavoured.
MN: I don't want the desserts. I know you do another yoghurt...
Me: Yes, the soya yoghurt in the fridge.
MN: Not the desserts?
Me: No.
MN: What flavours?
Me: Urrrmmm... I'll go check.

On my way back after checking (been on this phone 5-10 minutes now) my AM stops me and asks me to go to the bank before her lunch-break, or we'll be short staffed.
Me: Sure, in a sec, I'm on the phone with Mrs Night.
She rolls her eyes.
AM: [B]OH.[/B]

Long story short, I am ordered by Mrs Night to get her yoghurts of the shelf 'before anyone else gets them' and put them in the chiller for when her daughter gets there.
I do so then go to the bank, and finish off HER shopping for her when I get back.
SM agrees with me that she;s a nightmare, and I grump to some other staff members about the assumption I have nothing better to do on delivery day than run around with her shopping list.

She calls at least twice a week, if not more, and is even worse in person.

[technical.angel]

And you can't tell this person "no"?

[air914]

Questions....

1) Does your store offer this "shopping for someone" as a service?
2) Does this customer spend some ungodly amount of money in your store?
3) Do you really have the staff and the time to do this?
4) You said she's not disabled - so is she just rich and lazy?
5) Why can't you tell her no, you don't have the number of staff you need to do her shopping for her and it's not a free service that you offer - and let her be some other store's problem?

[strawbabies]

I'll bet if I called my local Publix and demanded they get my groceries together for me, they'd very nicely tell me to stuff it.

[wagegoth]

Really, just say, "NO."

Explain that you don't have staff to do her shopping, and that you have to go now, as you have customers waiting.

Puh-leez. As long as you let her get away with it, it's only going to get worse.

[GingerBiscuit]

Management says no we can't tell her no. The one time someone did, she kicked up a stink. WHile we don't offer it as a service as such, we will do it on occaision if people can't get about easily. But she really pushes it.
I wish I could tell her no. But I can't. And when I say years, I mean years. Manager says at least five, and if anyone should tell her- politely- to stop it, it should be him.

[Polenicus]

Yeah, this is bizarre. I can't think of a single grocery store, from the Mom & Pop outfits to the Huge megachains, that would do this sort of thing for free for someone who's not handicapped or disabled in any way. She's not even doing the shopping, she's sending her daughter, who I doubt is disabled either.

Most stores would be happy to check to see if they have something, like yogurt or whatever, but if someone asked them to run around the store grabbing things and putting them aside in chiller space usually used for something else, the most polite answer I can see them giving is 'Well, I'm afraid we can't set aside items for customers. However, we've got plenty, I'm sure there will be some left when you get in.'

I suspect she started this by asking for 1 or 2 items to be set aside for her so they wouldn't be gone, and gradually scaled it up. Which is manipulative and evil. I'd ask your managers for permission to stop doing that.

[air914]

If your manager is the one saying you can't say "no", then your MANAGER should be the one to run around and gather her groceries for her....... at least that's the way I think it should be

[GingerBiscuit]

Oh, yeah, I wish it could be that way.
To be fair, he IS more hands-on than most managers and often will collect up her stuff- when he's the one that asnwers the phone. WHoever gets the phone gets her. I reckon she'll stick like a limpet to us till she finally pops her clogs.

[wagegoth]

air914 kind of beat me to it:

My suggestion is that the next time Mrs. Night calls, hand the phone to the manager and walk/jog away quickly to the other side of the store/cooler/stockroom to take care of some "emergency" stocking.