Time Keeps on Ticking

[Deevil]

At Pink Flamingo Party Supplies & Novelties, the cutoff for next business day shipping is noon central time.

Me: PinkFlamingoPartySuppies, this is Deevil. How may I help you?

Caller: Umm, if we placed an order today, could we get it by Monday? I mean, do you have a next day shipping?

Me: Yes, we have a next business day shipping. (glance at clock on computer, 11:54) However, you only have five minutes to get an order placed to be able to get it on Monday.

Caller (talking to somebody else in background): She said they can get it to us Monday if we get the order in in five minutes, do you want to do it? <pause> Okay, I want to go ahead and place an order.

Me: Do you have a promo code to use today?

Caller: I don't know. (asks other person with her about promo code while I enter the "no promo code" code trying to get everything done as fast as possible to get order entered before noon)
<tick, tick>

Me: What's your day time phone number?

--skip my verifying/entering info at lightning speed since there is a time crunch---

Me: I'm ready for your items. May I get the item number please.
(11:56)

Caller: I don't know any item numbers. We are looking to get some "MBL team" items. I saw some napkins on your website, but I don't know what else you have.
<tick, tick>

Me: (doing a search on team name) I see the napkins, you get 36 napkins for five dollars. How many units do you need?

Caller: One

Me:One unit for five dollars. And what's the next thing you are looking for?

Caller: I saw some plates that had baseballs on them

Me: (search baseball plate) Okay, did you want the dinner or desert plates?

Caller: Dinner

Me: You get 18 plates for four fifty, how many units would you like.

Caller: I don't know. (repeats what I said to other person and asks her how many she thinks) Just one, no better make it two.
<tick, tick>

Me: Two units for nine dollars, and your next item you'd like.

Caller: Hmm, do you have any streamers?

Me: (search red streamer) Yep, We have a 500 ft red streamer roll for 3.99 or an 81 ft red streamer roll for 99 cents. Which would you like?

Caller: Do you have streamers that are red and white?

Me: Streamers with both red and white on it?

Caller: Yes

Me: I don't know,let me look....

Me: No I'm sorry we don't

Caller: Let me get the 99 cent one

Me: And how many would you like?

Caller: Four

Me: That's four for three ninety-six. And the next item?

Caller: Do you have any other items besides the napkins that are "MBL team"?

Me (after doing a search on team name): No, I'm sorry the only MBL team item we have in stock are those napkins that you ordered....and looking at the clock it is now 12:02 and I'm sorry but it is too late now to get anything to you on Monday.

Caller: I guess you'll have to cancel the order then, because we had to have it Monday at the latest.

Me: Okay, I'll do that. Sorry we couldn't get this to you in time. Have a nice weekend.


TL, DR--Customer told they had five minutes to get order placed to get to them by day they needed and they dilly-dally for eight minutes before being told too bad so sad.

[XCashier]

How difficult is it to have everything decided upon and ready to order when you call the place to order it?! They should've had all that sorted before calling you (and called earlier)!

Nobody thinks or plans ahead anymore.

[wolfie]

Sounds like the sort of person who calls a pizza place during the dinner rush, and only after they're connected to the order taker do they and their friends start discussing what kind of pizza they want. Meanwhile, the order taker isn't able to take calls from OTHER customers whose conversation with the order taker goes like "I'd like a large Hawaiian and a medium Canadian delivered to 123 Sesame Street. You say that'll be $19.95, and be here in 45 minutes? Fine."

[Deevil]

How difficult is it to have everything decided upon and ready to order when you call the place to order it?! They should've had all that sorted before calling you (and called earlier)!

Nobody thinks or plans ahead anymore.

When the woman said she didn't have any items numbers, I pretty much figured
the order wouldn't get placed in time. Heck, even if they knew what they wanted, there was still a good chance the order couldn't get placed in time. But, judging from what little they did order, even if they had called with plenty of time they most likely would have cancelled the order when they were told how much the shipping would be--Next Business Day starts at $29.99 for orders $25 or under and goes up the higher the merchandise total is.

[notalwaysright]

Yeah, I get this all the time. For example two ladies come up, pull a number, chat until number gets called. Come up and try to put all the fabric on the counter, and are dumbfounded when I tell them there isn't enough room for me to cut the fabric, so could they leave some in the cart? Then they say those infamous words. "Okay, how big should we make the blankets?"



So they debate every single piece, and heaven forbid I have to tell them there isn't enough fabric, and do they want to make smaller blankets, or pick different fabric. It's basically like asking how many pizzas does it take to get to Narnia?

[EricKei]

and only after they're connected to the order taker do they and their friends start discussing what kind of pizza they want.

We got those fairly often back when I slung pizzas, but I can do you one better: Every so often, we'd get someone who waited until we had gathered their info over the phone to begin discussing whether they even wanted to order pizza >_<

[XCashier]

Yeah, I get this all the time. For example two ladies come up, pull a number, chat until number gets called. Come up and try to put all the fabric on the counter, and are dumbfounded when I tell them there isn't enough room for me to cut the fabric, so could they leave some in the cart? Then they say those infamous words. "Okay, how big should we make the blankets?"

Yes, it is such a pain to deal with people who refuse to plan ahead. If I had a dollar for every blockhead who wanted to make curtains or reupholster furniture but didn't take measurements, I wouldn't have to work! Or they ask how much fabric a dress needs, but don't bother to look for a pattern, don't even know what kind of dress they're making and never took the measurements of the person they're making the dress for.