You Are Not A Unique Little Snowflake

[TruthHurts]

We had this lady come in to buy beer. Now this girl has a reputation for being snotty with the other clerks in the store but has been nothing but pleasant to me until today.

After putting her beer on the counter she asks for American Spirits but doesn't specify which one she wants (we have 10 different styles.) I ask which ones she wants when she says in a snappish tone "Lights Duh!"

I tell to not take that attitude with me as I didn't know which kind she wanted. "You should know," She snaps "I come in here all the time."

Yes she comes in there all the time, so do a ton of other cigarette buyers. It'd be awesome if I could memorize everybody's brands but I can't. So being a little more specific and a little less rude would work wonders for the situation.

[Bobsentme]

"You should know," She snaps "I come in here all the time."

My reply:
"Right. So do I. Can you guess what *I'M* thinking? No? That makes us even then."

[Anakah]

Okay sometimes I wonder if people who come in have NEVER had jobs. Do they remember everybody who comes in or came in? I usually remember the really rich ones or the completely sucky ones. There are few nice ones that I know. Usually I don't even look at their face, just their names and their cash. And by their names, I mean they hand me their players card. But no, why should you have to know her?

[Kogarashi]

:oints accusingly:: You stole my Cigarette Princess!


You can keep her.

[Lingering Grin]

Okay sometimes I wonder if people who come in have NEVER had jobs. Do they remember everybody who comes in or came in? I usually remember the really rich ones or the completely sucky ones. There are few nice ones that I know. Usually I don't even look at their face, just their names and their cash. And by their names, I mean they hand me their players card. But no, why should you have to know her?

Exactly, I never remember people. Except like 5 of the regulars.


There's the one guy, probably about 20yrs old, that comes in all the time. I remember him because I was bowling on the lane next to him once and we ending up talking.

There's the older guy (he's 90yrs old but looks like he's 65, it's amazing, I hope I look half as good at that age). He's there EVERY DAY, he's awesome, we love him.

The guy and his wife that come in and get two lanes to practice before their league. They NEVER take their change, and one time that guy actually handed me $5 for no reason.

And then there's the guy who comes in with his son (who's probably 12 yrs old at most) and pays with an AMEX Black card. For those who don't know, those cards are pretty much only given to corporate CEO's or Celebrities. You have to spend something crazy like $250,000 a year on the card in order to keep it. They're actually about 3 times as thick as a regular credit card, are made out of metal, and are JUST able to be slid through the machine.

[blas]

I will be honest here.....sometimes I did remember regular SCs. But I didn't make an effort to have "their" cigarettes or lotto tickets ready because of how rude and entitled they were.

Good regular customers, on the other hand, the moment I saw them pull up, I'd grab one or two packs of their smokes and was ready to serve them with a smile.

[Boochan]

No consistent ("the usual") purchases in my store thankfully, so regular customers are generally fine for me. The regulars don't usually actually supply a big deal of our sales though (most of them are just the ones that probably spend around $20/wk at the store and do a lot of window shopping/browsing), so they don't get any special treatment.

We lost many of them after we removed a lot of slow moving, low profit, space taking up sort of stuff (wire, random tools and other electrical miscellany), and so far a loss of a large amount of regular customers has caused no dent in our sales, which makes me even less partial to special treatment unless they're repeat ones for large sales.

Regardless, for customers to be that rude.. why would you want them to be regular in the first place? I'm sure their beer or cigarette purchase isn't going to be the highlight of a long working day..

To the above regarding the elite AMEX card, it would be pretty cool to see one of those. I don't see any interesting C/Cs sadly, just the usual array of stuff..

[friendofjimmyk]

I have a friend whose daughter is named Unique. She's five now - but I imagine situations in the future for her if someone she doesn't really know says to her "You are not a unique little snowflake!" or "You are not unique!" It's cute now - but I can see her working it to an advantage as a teenager - young adult.

[Dreamstalker]

AMEX Black card. You have to spend something crazy like $250,000 a year on the card in order to keep it. They're actually about 3 times as thick as a regular credit card, are made out of metal, and are JUST able to be slid through the machine.

I thought those things were an urban legend (I'm actually surprised my mom's boss doesn't have one...or maybe she does).

[Racket_Man]

I tell to not take that attitude with me as I didn't know which kind she wanted. "You should know," She snaps "I come in here all the time."

.

"I don't care where you come just clean it up afterwards"

sorry just getting into Rocky Horror mode for the May show

[chainedbarista]

i'm with blas on this one; i remember scs sometimes, but i'll be damned if i go out of my way for them.

not 'green apron' service, but then again, they're not 'green apron' level customers.

[LifeCarnie]

I thought those things were an urban legend (I'm actually surprised my mom's boss doesn't have one...or maybe she does).

The official name of the card is the AMEX Centurion card if she want's to apply. And she needs to have an established minimum expense line of $150,000 a year on her other AMEX cards before they'll even except an application for the Centurion.

If you qualify, they issue two cards, one for personal use, one for business use, and they come with a little scanner which will tell you the balance of the cards.


Have you ever seen the cheesy Fed Ex commercials with the "customer service reps" sharing stories about how they hooked their customers up?

They say things like:

"This one client wanted tickets to a concert and before they were even on sale to the public, we got him the best seats."

"One client wanted to suprise her husband for her anniversary and so we got her plane tickets and reservations at a really romantic Italian restuarant."

Yeah. The "clients" they are talking about are Centurion card holders. They don't TELL you this in the commercial, but that's the only card that offers those kinds of services.

[mattm04]

I tend to only remember only the really nice customers or the really bitchy ones. They have to do something special for me to remember them.

[prb]

I thought those things were an urban legend (I'm actually surprised my mom's boss doesn't have one...or maybe she does).

And then there's the guy who comes in with his son (who's probably 12 yrs old at most) and pays with an AMEX Black card. For those who don't know, those cards are pretty much only given to corporate CEO's or Celebrities. You have to spend something crazy like $250,000 a year on the card in order to keep it. They're actually about 3 times as thick as a regular credit card, are made out of metal, and are JUST able to be slid through the machine.

I actually saw one once. I was at the pet store, Petcetera, and was buying a bag of dog food. They have a thingy where members of their FREE Petcetera Plus program get discounts, that week they offered fish tank gravel - buy 1 get 2 free. The guy ahead of me was buying 6 bags, and when asked if he has a membership said "no", then was told "well, if you sign up, for free, you'll get all 6 for the price of only 2" and he said "it's okay" and pulled out the Centurion card.

I was paying for the dog food and the cashier said that "she wonder's why he didn't join, and asked why his credit card was so heavy", I just told her "Amex Centurion Card, $250,000 annual spending minimum" and then she understood.

[zzapp the witch]

Saw one of those last summer. Gal's husband was buying her a piece of jewelry I had designed and grabbed it out of his wallet to hand to me. I had to say, "Sir, I can't accept that here." He got this DER look on his face and dug for some cash. Gave me a 100% tip and told me to stop undervaluing my work.

I was so red I has tears in my eyes. Best. Compliment. Ever.