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Okay, I promised I’d type this one up, as I wanted to have the time due to being really busy. This happened a week ago and was the most surreal customer issue I have ever dealt with.
Please – read all the way through this before going to snap judgments – I guarantee you that your jaw will hit the floor.
I’m sitting at my desk when a car pulls up outside. It’s a mother, father, and son. They are already arguing when the father throws out a hefty “GET OUT OF THE CAR!” because the son did not want to get out.
So then they have the unimaginable pleasure of walking in and dealing with yours truly. I ask them what they are looking for and they want to see the sofa that we had in the ad. The son starts to wander around, and starts making comments like “Well, this one’s ugly, who would ever buy that?” and I know I’m in for quite a ride.
I’m speaking with the parents who are trying to get their son’s opinion on a few pieces of furniture. He just doesn’t want to participate at all – he starts calling his parents morons, idiots, the entire lot.
Then they ask me for my opinion – when there are two differing opinions, I hate that so much. No matter what you say – it will be the wrong thing to say, every time.
I try to find a compromise, but the son wants nothing to do with it and then things take a turn for the worse. Here’s a snippet of their conversation:
S: Son
F: Father
M: Mother
M: I think this one is nice, what do you think?
S: It’s a piece of shit.
F: Don’t speak to your mother that way.
S: Don’t talk to me like that, you drunk!
Me:
At this point, they all get into a shouting match. The son is screaming at the top of his lungs about how his father is an alcoholic, his mother is a whore, etc. I’m retreating to the desk area and just making it very clear that I will not deal with them until they all settle down. I tend to do this – if someone is talking on a cell phone, or getting into an argument, I excuse myself from the situation.
So voices are raised and I hear a SLAP! I look over and the father had popped the kid, who’s sitting on a sofa. He then grabs onto his ankle and punches him once, twice, in the leg.
I’m speechless at this point. I want to tell them they have to leave but the last thing I want is another Ghetto Superstar incident, when the DAD is the one throwing punches. The son gets super pissed and demands “I didn’t even want to come here!” and then wants the keys so he can sit in the car and listen to the radio.
I’m watching this entire situation bug eyed.
The mother had had enough at this point and declares in the prissiest attitude I have ever heard, “FINE! We’re leaving!” and drags her son out by the arm. The father says that he will do no such thing, as he came to purchase a couch and damnit, he won’t leave until he gets one.
Mother and son actually get in the car.
They leave.
Leaving a pissed off father in my store, who upon seeing his wife leave, yells “That bitch actually left me! ” and takes off out the front door, then walks down the street in the direction the car took off in, on his cellphone.
If there was a tumbleweed that passed through the showroom with a breeze, I wouldn’t have noticed it, I was standing there speechless.
I had never seen anything like this, with this age group.
Play the situation in your mind as you have just read it.
Then tack on 20 years to everyone involved except for yours truly.
That’s right – the “kid” was 29 years old. The parents were knocking on 60. I asked the mother about it while the father was off hitting him and the mother wandered over.
She said he does this stuff all the time – they were trying to get him new furniture for his first apartment.
Yeah, let that sink in. Imagine the brattiest temper tantrum you’ve seen at a store – combined with the father beating the kid, and imagine it one generation older.
Before anyone says anything – normally, when there’s a mental issue with someone that age, you can just tell that there is something there. I’m not saying that you can tell what deficiency they have – but if they speak fast, speak slowly, have an impediment, move slow, etc. There’s always some sign that they have that shows they have a handicap, albeit however slight, when behaving like that.
This son had none of that and that’s what threw me off – he just acted like a 9 year old – and gave no indication in his body language or actions that I could pick up that gave any type of reason as to why.
I was sitting there for the rest of the day wondering if I was set up, if I was the target of the prank. It was far too surreal for me to even begin to grasp.
So if you see me on TV, let me know, would ya?
Please – read all the way through this before going to snap judgments – I guarantee you that your jaw will hit the floor.
I’m sitting at my desk when a car pulls up outside. It’s a mother, father, and son. They are already arguing when the father throws out a hefty “GET OUT OF THE CAR!” because the son did not want to get out.
So then they have the unimaginable pleasure of walking in and dealing with yours truly. I ask them what they are looking for and they want to see the sofa that we had in the ad. The son starts to wander around, and starts making comments like “Well, this one’s ugly, who would ever buy that?” and I know I’m in for quite a ride.
I’m speaking with the parents who are trying to get their son’s opinion on a few pieces of furniture. He just doesn’t want to participate at all – he starts calling his parents morons, idiots, the entire lot.
Then they ask me for my opinion – when there are two differing opinions, I hate that so much. No matter what you say – it will be the wrong thing to say, every time.
I try to find a compromise, but the son wants nothing to do with it and then things take a turn for the worse. Here’s a snippet of their conversation:
S: Son
F: Father
M: Mother
M: I think this one is nice, what do you think?
S: It’s a piece of shit.
F: Don’t speak to your mother that way.
S: Don’t talk to me like that, you drunk!
Me:
At this point, they all get into a shouting match. The son is screaming at the top of his lungs about how his father is an alcoholic, his mother is a whore, etc. I’m retreating to the desk area and just making it very clear that I will not deal with them until they all settle down. I tend to do this – if someone is talking on a cell phone, or getting into an argument, I excuse myself from the situation.
So voices are raised and I hear a SLAP! I look over and the father had popped the kid, who’s sitting on a sofa. He then grabs onto his ankle and punches him once, twice, in the leg.
I’m speechless at this point. I want to tell them they have to leave but the last thing I want is another Ghetto Superstar incident, when the DAD is the one throwing punches. The son gets super pissed and demands “I didn’t even want to come here!” and then wants the keys so he can sit in the car and listen to the radio.
I’m watching this entire situation bug eyed.
The mother had had enough at this point and declares in the prissiest attitude I have ever heard, “FINE! We’re leaving!” and drags her son out by the arm. The father says that he will do no such thing, as he came to purchase a couch and damnit, he won’t leave until he gets one.
Mother and son actually get in the car.
They leave.
Leaving a pissed off father in my store, who upon seeing his wife leave, yells “That bitch actually left me!
” and takes off out the front door, then walks down the street in the direction the car took off in, on his cellphone.If there was a tumbleweed that passed through the showroom with a breeze, I wouldn’t have noticed it, I was standing there speechless.
I had never seen anything like this, with this age group.
Play the situation in your mind as you have just read it.
Then tack on 20 years to everyone involved except for yours truly.
That’s right – the “kid” was 29 years old. The parents were knocking on 60. I asked the mother about it while the father was off hitting him and the mother wandered over.
She said he does this stuff all the time – they were trying to get him new furniture for his first apartment.
Yeah, let that sink in. Imagine the brattiest temper tantrum you’ve seen at a store – combined with the father beating the kid, and imagine it one generation older.
Before anyone says anything – normally, when there’s a mental issue with someone that age, you can just tell that there is something there. I’m not saying that you can tell what deficiency they have – but if they speak fast, speak slowly, have an impediment, move slow, etc. There’s always some sign that they have that shows they have a handicap, albeit however slight, when behaving like that.
This son had none of that and that’s what threw me off – he just acted like a 9 year old – and gave no indication in his body language or actions that I could pick up that gave any type of reason as to why.
I was sitting there for the rest of the day wondering if I was set up, if I was the target of the prank. It was far too surreal for me to even begin to grasp.
So if you see me on TV, let me know, would ya?
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