Today I had my first (and possibly only) shift in electronics (I'm not scheduled in there for the next three weeks, so I don't know what's going on). Wasn't too bad, except for the very first phone call I took.
Background: Last week we had a special on 32 inch LCD HDTVs (something we do NOT normally carry). $500, marked down from $800. The sale ended Saturday night, so any remaining stock is now $800. Also, there was a bizarre fault with a number of these where for some reason, the channel memory would not work at all.
*Business Machines has calls holding. Business machines*
Me: Thank you for calling Staples. This is Dave1982. How can I help you?
IC (Idiot Customer; more stupid than sucky): Hi, my name is ****** and I bought one of that 32 inch MagTVs last week.
Me: OK.
IC: Well, it wasn't remembering the channels I programmed into it.
Me: Ah, yes. That did seem to be a problem with those; we've had several come back for that reason. Unfortunately, I don't have any more of them, but you're more than welcome to bring it back for a full refund.
IC: I already did.
Me: Um, OK. What was the problem, then?
IC: I still want one. At the sale price. Do you have any?
(I wanted to slam the phone down after that. It would have been one thing had he wanted to do an exchange, but he already returned it. So this is for all intents and purposes a new sale, and therefore he can't get the old price. At least, I can't give it to him. Plus, I had JUST SAID we don't have any!)
Me: Well, we don't have any available. Just the four damaged ones. Now, our [other local store #1] has 3.....
IC: So you have four?
Me: Yes, but they're all marked as damaged.
IC: Oh...........do any of your other stores have any?
Me: Yes, [other local store #1] has 3.
IC: OK. Now, about the price. Could you call that store for me and have them set one aside for me, and TELL them to sell it to me at the sale price?
Me: Well sir, I do not have the authority to authorize that at THIS store. And even if I did, I couldn't tell another store what to do.
IC: Oh.......well, is there a manager there that could?
Me: Well, you're more than welcome to talk to a manager, but as I said, we can't tell another store what to do. You'd be better off calling them directly and talking to THEIR manager.
IC: Oh.......well, do you have their phone number.
Me: Yes, it's xxx-xxxx.
IC: That's the new store that just opened up on Route ###A, right?
Me: Ah, no.....this is the store off exit [exit]. The one you're thinking of is [local store #2] in [town], one exit further north.
IC: Oh......do they have any?
Me: Let me see.......they have.....5.
IC: So can you call them and tell THEM to set one aside for me at the sale price?
Me: No sir, like I said, we can't boss the other stores around.
IC: Oh yeah.....I guess that makes sense......what's their number?
Me: Hold on sir, I don't have it handy. *punches hold; looks skyward for a moment*
Thankfully, he hung up in the time it took me to get the second store's number.
Moron with a capital M. LISTEN ALREADY!!!!!!!!!
I told the sales manager, Dan, about this call when he came back from lunch and he got a kick out of it.
Dan: Sir, the price is now $800. Take it or leave it, have a nice day.
You want ME to tell ANOTHER STORE what to do?
"You'd feel a Hell of a lot better if you'd just rip into the occasional customer." 
Linear Mode
