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The weekend from Hell continues apace
Just another normal day at work, where I fight stupidity with almost as much success as the Wisconsin hockey team had against Boston College in the national championship last night...
Not longs after I start work, I get berated by the piece of breathing meat working the salesfloor because "your pull tags are all fucked up!" News flash: I only get time to count them once per week. After I'm done, there's an entire week's worth of time for customers to toss them around like a monkey tosses around poo, so don't be getting pissy at me, kthnxbai.
Later...woman buys a big bed and thoughtfully totes along her two young children, so I'm forced to try and drag the big long bed into her van through the side door, and then turn across the front seat so it can fit in her van. I loathe having to do this. In the process I banged the corner of the bed against my leg, and it hurt somewhat, so I got to hobble along for a good part of the day.
I also witnessed a possible clearance tag switcher trying to get a better discount on a room-sized rug than she was entitled to, by claiming the rug was in a clearance section and had a $9.99 clearance tag on it. She also happened to choose one of our n00b cashiers, by coincidence or otherwise. Cashier didn't fall for it, called for a price check, a manager was summoned, customer left sans rug, and LP lady was brought in to check the cameras and investigate.
After she left, I asked my manager and LP if that was the clearance tag switcher who was responsible for this incident. It was not. That clearance tag switcher has been caught and banned from the swamp.
But there's always somebody to take her place...
Moving right along, I next get called to carry out a wood rocking chair for a customer. I bring it up to the register, where the customer, who brought along with her two kids, is still in the process of paying for it, and she huffs "You mean it's not already assembled? Can't I just get the display?" BZZZT DURR. We don't sell displays until they go on clearance and the display is the last one left. "But I'm no good at assembling stuff and neither is my husband."
O RLY? If you two have so much trouble inserting Tab A into Slot B, then how the hell did you manage to have kids anyway? (<---Enjoy that little bit of IKEA eroticism, kids) She took the chair, but I suspect it be returned defective when the woman and/or her husband fucks up the assembly.
Super Duper Super Stupendous Stupidity upcoming: Viower excretion advisd:
The clearance swamp half an hour south of us. How I hate it. How I hate the bear feeders that work there. I wish corporate would close that trash heap, but with our luck their bear feeders would transfer up here, and I'd have to go jump in the compactor and have a closed-casket funeral.
I get called to deliver a queen-sized bed to some people. It comes in three boxes: headboard, footboard and rails. Upon closer inspection in the backroom, it turns out we only have one bed in stock, and only the last two pieces to it. The final piece--the headboard--is sitting by the office defective. The other two pieces weren't taken there along with it, even though they should have been. I think I know who did this, but I won't be too harsh on him. He's pretty new.
I head up front and greet the customers for the bed--a Hmong woman and her daughter. Daughter speaks and understands English pretty well, mother apparently doesn't. (I mention the nationality of the customers only so you understand that what happens next actually took quite a bit longer than it appears on screen, because I was more or less having to speak through the daughter, who acted as interpreter for her mother.)
I explain that we do not have the full bed for them to take home; only two of the three pieces. I then offer to call other stores to locate the headboard, or the full bed. Daughter asks mom what to do and tells me to go ahead.
I type the SKU into the scanner, look up on-hands at other stores, and find sucky store has 4 of the beds in stock. I call them, introduce myself, and sit on musical hold for a while while somebody in furniture is summoned.
I tell the person who answers my situation and asks her to see if they have any of the beds in stock for the customers. She looks in the back and tells me they have one of the beds in stock, and have all three pieces.
I ask the customers if they would like to have the bed sent up to my store or are willing to go down to sucky store. They say they'll go to sucky store. I pull the phone mouthpiece away from my mouth and tell them they'll need to have their money refunded here, and then re-purchase the bed at sucky store.
As I'm explaining this, person from sucky store on the phone with me chimes in: "Oh no, they don't need to have their money refunded. They can just come down here and pick it up. It's less stressful that way."
WE CAN"T DO THAT YOU FUCKING IDIOT.
For one thing, that will screw up the inventory counts at my store and sucky store. Also, if the customers determine there that something is wrong with the bed and can't take it (because remember sucky store said they only had one bed), the customers have to come back to my store to get their money back, unless sucky store would also like the till to be fucked up.
This is not the first time they've suggested this, and apparently they think it is perfectly acceptable to send customers on wild goose chases for their merchandise and their money.
After I got off the phone with that idiot and sent the customers on their way, I got someplace private with the manager on duty and told her of this. She said "That isn't surprising at all."
Tomorrow I have to count furniture for the week, and I guarantee it will blow donkeys. The furniture department was super trashed when I left this evening. I'd be hitting the booze pretty hard right about now, but I have a headache and that would only make it worse.
Not longs after I start work, I get berated by the piece of breathing meat working the salesfloor because "your pull tags are all fucked up!" News flash: I only get time to count them once per week. After I'm done, there's an entire week's worth of time for customers to toss them around like a monkey tosses around poo, so don't be getting pissy at me, kthnxbai.
Later...woman buys a big bed and thoughtfully totes along her two young children, so I'm forced to try and drag the big long bed into her van through the side door, and then turn across the front seat so it can fit in her van. I loathe having to do this. In the process I banged the corner of the bed against my leg, and it hurt somewhat, so I got to hobble along for a good part of the day.
I also witnessed a possible clearance tag switcher trying to get a better discount on a room-sized rug than she was entitled to, by claiming the rug was in a clearance section and had a $9.99 clearance tag on it. She also happened to choose one of our n00b cashiers, by coincidence or otherwise. Cashier didn't fall for it, called for a price check, a manager was summoned, customer left sans rug, and LP lady was brought in to check the cameras and investigate.
After she left, I asked my manager and LP if that was the clearance tag switcher who was responsible for this incident. It was not. That clearance tag switcher has been caught and banned from the swamp.
But there's always somebody to take her place...Moving right along, I next get called to carry out a wood rocking chair for a customer. I bring it up to the register, where the customer, who brought along with her two kids, is still in the process of paying for it, and she huffs "You mean it's not already assembled? Can't I just get the display?" BZZZT DURR. We don't sell displays until they go on clearance and the display is the last one left. "But I'm no good at assembling stuff and neither is my husband."
O RLY? If you two have so much trouble inserting Tab A into Slot B, then how the hell did you manage to have kids anyway? (<---Enjoy that little bit of IKEA eroticism, kids) She took the chair, but I suspect it be returned defective when the woman and/or her husband fucks up the assembly.
Super Duper Super Stupendous Stupidity upcoming: Viower excretion advisd:
The clearance swamp half an hour south of us. How I hate it. How I hate the bear feeders that work there. I wish corporate would close that trash heap, but with our luck their bear feeders would transfer up here, and I'd have to go jump in the compactor and have a closed-casket funeral.
I get called to deliver a queen-sized bed to some people. It comes in three boxes: headboard, footboard and rails. Upon closer inspection in the backroom, it turns out we only have one bed in stock, and only the last two pieces to it. The final piece--the headboard--is sitting by the office defective. The other two pieces weren't taken there along with it, even though they should have been. I think I know who did this, but I won't be too harsh on him. He's pretty new.
I head up front and greet the customers for the bed--a Hmong woman and her daughter. Daughter speaks and understands English pretty well, mother apparently doesn't. (I mention the nationality of the customers only so you understand that what happens next actually took quite a bit longer than it appears on screen, because I was more or less having to speak through the daughter, who acted as interpreter for her mother.)
I explain that we do not have the full bed for them to take home; only two of the three pieces. I then offer to call other stores to locate the headboard, or the full bed. Daughter asks mom what to do and tells me to go ahead.
I type the SKU into the scanner, look up on-hands at other stores, and find sucky store has 4 of the beds in stock. I call them, introduce myself, and sit on musical hold for a while while somebody in furniture is summoned.
I tell the person who answers my situation and asks her to see if they have any of the beds in stock for the customers. She looks in the back and tells me they have one of the beds in stock, and have all three pieces.
I ask the customers if they would like to have the bed sent up to my store or are willing to go down to sucky store. They say they'll go to sucky store. I pull the phone mouthpiece away from my mouth and tell them they'll need to have their money refunded here, and then re-purchase the bed at sucky store.
As I'm explaining this, person from sucky store on the phone with me chimes in: "Oh no, they don't need to have their money refunded. They can just come down here and pick it up. It's less stressful that way."
WE CAN"T DO THAT YOU FUCKING IDIOT.
For one thing, that will screw up the inventory counts at my store and sucky store. Also, if the customers determine there that something is wrong with the bed and can't take it (because remember sucky store said they only had one bed), the customers have to come back to my store to get their money back, unless sucky store would also like the till to be fucked up.
This is not the first time they've suggested this, and apparently they think it is perfectly acceptable to send customers on wild goose chases for their merchandise and their money.
After I got off the phone with that idiot and sent the customers on their way, I got someplace private with the manager on duty and told her of this. She said "That isn't surprising at all."
Tomorrow I have to count furniture for the week, and I guarantee it will blow donkeys. The furniture department was super trashed when I left this evening. I'd be hitting the booze pretty hard right about now, but I have a headache and that would only make it worse.
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