Customer Demands "Common Courtesy"

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I wish I had the ability to embed a youtube video on this site but the comment about UPS racking up parking tickets reminded me of a great movie I loved from the early 1990s called "Crazy People". An advertising exec ends up getting a bunch of folks from a mental institution to come with with commercials for him that give a whole new meaning to "truth in advertising".

Anyone one of the ads is for a delivery company:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4nzYGHxzf0

Good stuff.

[Andara Bledin]

Get down there and oh what's this a note in my mail box letting me know I have a package but I wasn't home to receive it? Shocking should I use my invisbility to fight crime or girls locker room?

They all do that. It's irritating as hell when the only come up to stick a call tag to your open door because they're too fscking lazy to actually carry the package in from the curb.

^-.-^

[Shalom]

Back when I was the overnight pharmacist for the chain that rhymes with Tight Fade, we shared a not-very-large parking lot with a Chinese laundry/dry cleaners. This was in Hoboken, where parking is always at a premium because of the people who drive there and take the PATH or the ferry to Manhattan. You actually can't park in much of Hoboken for more than a small number of hours without a residence permit. Even I needed an employee permit sticker in my car window just to leave my car in the lot all night.

There were signs all over the place saying "Parking for customers of ---- --- Pharmacy and ------ Cleaners only, everyone else will be towed as per local ordinance #Whatever." and a phone number underneath for the towing company.

Now there was a pool hall (aka billiards for the rightpondians) across the street. They only had a few parking spaces on the street, so of course all their patrons would squat in our lot, where they had no business being. Remember, the only cars that should be in that lot at that time belong to employees of Tight Fade and customers currently in the store.

So every night about 11:30, a tow truck operator would come in the store, borrow our PA mike and announce, "Will the owner of a car with license plate xxx-xxx please come to the front of the store." If nobody answered within about ten minutes, he'd hook the car and take it off to his yard. It never failed, at precisely 3:05AM, five minutes after the pool hall closed for the night, that someone would be in the store demanding to know where his car was. We would tell him the lot was reserved for shoppers, and to call the number on the sign to find out how to retrieve their car. (I think that would cost them $175, if I remember correctly, between the ticket and the tow charge.) Of course they'd start screaming at us. "But I was shopping here!" Um, no you weren't, we would have noticed you if you'd been in the store for the past four hours.

Sometimes they'd even wave a receipt in our faces, which helps not in the least. Sorry, fella. Buying a pack of cigarettes at 11:00 and walking out doesn't give you the right to leave your car here all night.

As far as those call tags are concerned, I'm right with you on that one. Once I even surprised the postman in the act of sticking the tag on my door that says "Sorry we missed you" and demanded my package. He was embarrassed to inform me that he didn't even have the damn thing on the truck. I called the post office and raised holy hell, and told them they'd damn well send it back out the same day.

[EvilEmpryss]

I'm on a first name basis with my postal workers (both at the office and the actually drivers), so that might have something to do with the good service I get. Only once did I have a problem with a delivery from them, and that was when a guy from a different route was filling in for the regular who was out sick. The worst there was that he left the package at the bottom of my three-step porch instead of up by the door.

But I get livid if I come in the house to check the status of my delivery from Fed-UPS on the internet and see that it's marked as "delivered" or -- even worse! -- "no one available for signature" after I've been working in the yard all morning! I live in a cul-de-sac, so there is no way I would have missed the big-ass truck pulling up. At least "delivered" means that the guy is on his way and is just trying to make his time look better by fudging the receipts. My concern is that one day something expensive won't make it to my door, and I'll have to fight with the delivery service over whether or not their driver is a lying sack of shit because he's saying it was delivered and I'm saying it wasn't.

And the last time I complained to a company I bought something from that shipped it through FED-UPS the response I got from them was "They're the cheapest service available and customers won't pay for anything more expensive." When I offer to pay extra to have the stuff shipped USPS I get told that their shipping department isn't set up to handle special orders like that. *sigh* So I cross my fingers and hope the inevitable doesn't happen this time.

[jackfaire]

When I offer to pay extra to have the stuff shipped USPS I get told that their shipping department isn't set up to handle special orders like that. *sigh* So I cross my fingers and hope the inevitable doesn't happen this time.

*The sound of his mind going pop* Wait uhm Mr. No we don't like money so please don't give us more your not equipped to ship through the one delivery service that comes by your office daily? God if only they were more reliable like you know would deliver in rain, sleet and snow then maybe you would make sure you were equipped for them.

[hotelnpa]

Just watching PARKING WARS makes me feel the suckiness from customers. Although I have to admit, Philadelphia (one of the cities they film) can be a pain in the ... to park in though.

I couldn't imagine working at a tow place or a parking authority.

[mattm04]

I have to agree about how crazy people are about parking see this thread.

I also had an incident happen last month at another of my stores. we are located in a strip mall at the end of which is a Dollar Store. To the side of the Dollar store there is limited parking, mainly handicapped. One day some lady saw that all the parking on the side was filled up so she simply parked next to the last space, blocking the back alleyway behind the strip mall and blocking in our delivery truck. Apparently the driver noticed her parking there and told her to move her car and she said that she'd only be in the store a minute and ran into the store. Needless to say the driver of the truck had a few choice words for her upon her return and she took her complaint all the way to me about it. I told her that because she was parked, blocking access and exit of our delivery area, given the choice between being cussed out and having her card towed she got off lucky by simply being cussed out. Anyway he wasn't my employee and she would have to make a complaint to his superiors not me.

I'm going to assume it was most likely marked "NO PARKING FIRE LANE" or something like that. I would have had her towed.

[DeltaSierra]

Oh, I refuse to shop at Sears for that very reason... their delivery van will ALWAYS park in my space rather than in the visitor lot on the other side of the property... I have called their customer service number several times and one manager even told me that if parking in my space was so important I could just wait until the delivery is finished... never in my life have I felt so justified in going SC on a bad CSR.

My Brother had this issue several times with UPS. The way the parking area is set up, his parking spot was the last (closest) to the building so they'd use his spot a lot. He'd get even by parking BEHIND the UPS truck. The truck would have no place to go becasue they'd have one car parked beside them, and a building on the other side and in front of them. Of course UPS would call the apartment complex. The manager got so used to this he'd tell them "Did you park in the visitor parking? NO? Well then you'll have to wait until Mr Smith decides to move his vehicle since you are parked in HIS SPOT! Have a great day *click*"

[AccountingDrone]

My Brother had this issue several times with UPS. The way the parking area is set up, his parking spot was the last (closest) to the building so they'd use his spot a lot. He'd get even by parking BEHIND the UPS truck. The truck would have no place to go becasue they'd have one car parked beside them, and a building on the other side and in front of them. Of course UPS would call the apartment complex. The manager got so used to this he'd tell them "Did you park in the visitor parking? NO? Well then you'll have to wait until Mr Smith decides to move his vehicle since you are parked in HIS SPOT! Have a great day *click*"

LOL a friend of mine got the best revenge in the same situation ... she lost a leg in an accident, and her parking spot got a handicapped sign and paint job ... the guy from UPS had the balls to *complain* when the tow truck arrived to haul it away one fine morning. He *always parked there* so he should be exempt ....

[EricKei]

the guy from UPS had the balls to *complain* when the tow truck arrived to haul it away one fine morning. He *always parked there* so he should be exempt ....

Lack of enforcement does nt make something legal ^_^

I would be rather impressed to see a tow truck large enough to reasonably handle a UPS truck

Andara -- It's been some time, so I don't recall. I think I complained, but then again I may have just been too happy with my new toy (original 60gb model) actually "arriving" safely that I forgot. Dunno anymore.

These days, my problem with UPS is that, while they're reliable in that they always show up at the same time ("Out for delivery: 7:30 am --- get to my house: somewhere after 5 pm), they don't knock, they ignore the milk crate with the big sign that says "leave packages here", they ignore signs that say "please knock/ring", etc...Then again, the PO does the same thing. They BOTH leave packages leaning on my doorstep even tho I have foliage near my door with plenty of room to hide boxes, and notes on the door to that effect. I've complained about the PO doing it so many times that I've stopped bothering, it doesn't do any good.

[Argabarga]

Lack of enforcement does nt make something legal ^_^

I would be rather impressed to see a tow truck large enough to reasonably handle a UPS truck

We've got one, we've towed quite a few RV owners who thought thier sheer size would insulate them from illegal parking...

that was, incorrect thinking...

[LadyAndreca]

My concern is that one day something expensive won't make it to my door, and I'll have to fight with the delivery service over whether or not their driver is a lying sack of shit because he's saying it was delivered and I'm saying it wasn't.

Happened to me. My parents bought me a dinnerware set from World Market back home as a wedding present--a real nice glass set that I love to death. They had to send it in two boxes because of weight/packing issues, but I don't remember which company it was with (I think it was UPS). One box arrived, the other...vanished. Mom had a receipt to prove she dropped it off, but nobody's sure if it ever left the building again. Mom couldn't even get a straight answer if had been assigned a tracking number. She got a lot of crap from the company, had to demand to be escalated twice because nobody would give her an explanation, a solution, an apology, or even a 'we're looking into it'. I got a visit from them and had to sign a form saying I never got that second box.

And then...nothing. She was never compensated, the box was never found. I'm missing half the dinner plates and all the glasses from my dinnerware set. Mom bought new plates but the store sold out of the glasses, then shut down that location and don't offer that set online. But Mom's never sent the remaining plates to me because she doesn't trust any of the shipping companies anymore.

I use USPS, because I've found them to be far more reliable than the other two. But that's just me.

[bainsidhe]

The very first apartment sis and I shared had a small parking lot with assigned spaces. I think we had our neighbors towed about 4 times in the course of a year. You'd think they'd advise their friends to park on the street, but nope. Had them towed instead. Another neighbor never used his spot, since they didn't have a car. So our jerkwad neighbors used his spot religiously in addition to their own. Come to find out, they parked a broken-down jeep in the spot, so it never left. Suddenly, the generous neighbor needed his spot back. So he waited. And waited. He finally had jerkwad's jeep towed away - oh the crying that ensued.

The small lot also had a slope to it. It was immediately behind the building and winter brought ice and snow. Because of the slope, we often had to park on the street or risk sliding backwards into the building. Jerkwads' friends would park their cars on the sidewalk directly behind the line of cars. Not only were they illegally parked, they were begging to get smushed.

[Ad_Astra]

This thread reminds me why I love watching Parking Wars so much. I am constantly going at the massive disrespect and aggression of people I see on this show. The last ep I saw the following:

I have gotten exactly ONE parking ticket in my life, it was because I parked in a permit space without a permit. Entirely my fault for not noticing the sign. I paid it and life went on, these things do not have to be such major drama.

Ok, I HAVE to get into this. Parking Wars takes place in my LOVELY home sweet hometown. Parking in this city is a disaster. I spend upwards of 45 minutes when I get home from work (on average) finding a spot--and a lot of times it's not a legal one. This city is overpacked with too many people and too many cars and nowhere to put them--at some point it stops being "entitlement" and starts being "I just want to stop burning gas driving all over the place and go home", if you have to double park, etc.--so be it. I have lived in my current neighborhood about a year and have received at least 8 tickets.

The signs a lot of times aren't marked, have fallen over, or simply don't exist. I have gotten ticket notices in the mail for tickets I never even got on my car.

I am not inclined to feel sympathetic to "entitled" city parkers. The spots are first come-first serve, there's more cars than there are spots, you have to do what you have to do sometimes.

[depechemodefan]

I remember once the mailperson left a neighbor's book on top of our mailbox. Well, it was a book-shaped package. I was going to drive to the neighbor's house (it was't next door, just in the neighoborhood) but mom wanted to go to the post office to complain so we went the next day. Mom wanted to complain about not getting our mail. And we had exhibit A: the neighbor's package. The neighbor already called that day to complain (that is what the manager said). Mom was about to start complaining and the manager wanted the book right away since the mail person was about to leave on her rounds.


About parking, bunch of losers are always parked in the red zone in front of a store waiting for their passenger to shop. How fucking hard is to pakr the car and just watch to see when the passenger gets out?

The other day I'm at Krogers. The front of the store is set up where there is room for a car to pass east and one west. There is a stop sign also in front of the door. A fucking idiot was parked at the stop sign, one foot from the curve. She was siiting in the car. Now she is facing west. A car going east is going to turn right, but is waiting for a car to get out of a space. So no one can go east or west. I told the idiot she was blocking but she looked confused and looked behind her.

I should have told the manager about it, but I assumed the person would move soon.

I get out of the store and see the idiot and another idiot parked behind her.