Former Co-Worker's Entitled Bitch of a Wife

[anyanka2]

I was working last night at the liquor express lane and the wife of an older co-worker who left a couple months ago came through my lane with her granddaughter. She had three items - a gallon of chocolate milk and two canisters of whipped cream. I rang all three items up and she told me that the whipped cream had rang up wrong at $2.99 and it was supposed to be $2.09. At this point she mentioned that she was former co-worker's wife.

We went back and I showed her the shelf tags and that it rang up correctly. It was the smaller canister of another brand that was the lower price. She insisted that she should get it at the lower price because it was placed above it. I told her that where items are placed are beyond my control and I have to go by the scanned price. I also told her that I had no authority to give the larger canister to her at a lower price. I informed her if she wanted to let someone know about the somewhat confusing placement, go to the courtesy counter and speak to a supervisor.

She leaves to speak to a supervisor after I suspended her order. She comes back less than five minutes later claiming that she the supervisor was busy, which led me to think that she didn't even try to find the supervisor. She pays for the items.

Less than ten minutes later, her husband, the former co-worker came in. He's an older man in his 60s who does not have the best customer service skills at the grocery job or his other job at the DMV. I had one customer ask after he left if he got fired because she felt he was very rude to her elderly mother at the DMV when he denied the mother her driver's license. A number of my co-workers had their issues with him for being not much of a team player overall.

He comes in and doesn't even say hello to me. He marches back to the dairy and says that the price is $2.09 and demands I call a supervisor to do a refund. I was within my rights to tell him no, because that's what he would have done in a similar situation when he was a cashier. I called the supervisor up and she gave into him and his wife's scam in the name of good customer service. After he leaves, I told the other person working with me in liquor that I was shocked he had the nerve to come in to pull that stunt. The co-worker wasn't surprised because he thought that the former co-worker thought he was better than the rest of us.

I hope he doesn't call to complain because I don't want to get written up over him and his wife's bitch fits. They chose to ignore the proper signage and look at what they wanted. I already have a statement drafted to back me up in case he has the nerve to call. I'm sure my immediate manager will back me up because he knows what a pain in the ass this guy can be, but I'm not so sure about the head manager.

[Amina516]

Theyre both twatwaffles.

Make sure someone who was also there that night can back you up. Otherwise, forget about them. They were obviously meant for each other.

[Mnemjian]

Man, I know times are tight and all but to waste all that time and energy on $0.90 seems really pathetic. Even if they were entitled to a refund (which they most certainly were not), was it really worth it to come back to the store and argue about it? Yeesh. If you do get a complaint from him, maybe they will remember what a crappy employee he was and not take it seriously

[MoonCat]

I've noticed people will actually drive back to a store to complain about piddly little amounts of money they were supposedly "overcharged"...$2.00 or less, as in this story...thereby using up gas worth more than the money they claim they were scammed out of. There's no logic, reason or common sense at work.

[RxBoy]

Why are you worried about getting written up? You didn't do anything wrong.

[ralerin]

There's no logic, reason or common sense at work.

Sure there is. "Cutting off your nose to spite your face" comes to mind, as does "spending a dollar to save a penny". Makes no sense to us but it makes plenty to them. There's being cheap, and then there's being dirt cheap.

[anyanka2]

I'm worried because it doesn't take much to set off the husband. He takes many things too personally and blows them out of proportion. The store is putting extra emphasis on customer service, especially appeasing difficult customers like him. It's easier to throw someone like me, a mere cashier, under the bus than to call him out on his bullshit.

The only real competition in town is Wal-Mart and most Wal-Marts are not known for providing excellent customer service. We're also the only place in town where high demand items like canning supplies are not out of stock for up to a week. I don't think they should be too worried about customer service but for some reason, the people in the office think that the people on the ground are not providing good enough customer service. It's easier to blame the perceived decline on the younger employees and newer hires than admit that some of the more senior employees are more to blame for poor customer service.

A co-worker a few years younger than me in her early 20s got chewed out by a supervisor for failing to provide good customer service. In that supervisor's opinion, that meant leaving her lane during a rush and walking the customer to where the string cheese was located. The co-worker thought that the supervisor needed a reality check and instead of wandering around socializing during her shift, she should have to stand in a lane and have to deal with repeated customer abuse. That is why I am worried about getting written up because she got a verbal warning for a minor and vastly exaggerated offense.

[emax4]

If you're working for a business that allows customers to abuse its employees, you and nobody else should be working for them. in the latter case the coworker WAS providing good customer service by escorting them to the product rather that simply pointing them in the direction of said product. It sounds like a no-win situation, and if potential employees knew this, they wouldn't work there either.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Good grief, was that piddling amount of changer really worth the effort both of them put into it?

Some people work cheap, don't they?

[Ironclad Alibi]

A co-worker a few years younger than me in her early 20s got chewed out by a supervisor for failing to provide good customer service. In that supervisor's opinion, that meant leaving her lane during a rush and walking the customer to where the string cheese was located.

in the latter case the coworker WAS providing good customer service by escorting them to the product rather that simply pointing them in the direction of said product.

You got it backwards. She refused to leave her very busy lane to personally guide someone around the store.

Perhaps she should have called over the supervisor to lead the person around the store.

[emax4]

Sorry about that. I did read it wrong. Can cashiers explain to customers that they can't leave their stations? If they can do that, that should at least get the manager on your side since the cashiers are doing what the managers want. If the mgrs yell at the cashier for leaving their station to help another customer, perhaps they should demonstrate how not to piss of a sucky customer in line while helping another sucky customer.

[Mytical]

Emax, that would require managers with some common sense, which sadly is all too rare. Cashiers are not supposed to leave their registers except for breaks and lunches. There are exceptions if it is slow (but then they are shipped out to other areas to WORK, you know cause management seems to think cashiering is not work. How wrong they are, but that is another thing). Yet, heaven forbid if you don't placate the almighty customer. I mean just because you are TOLD not to leave your register, doesn't mean you can't show the customer where something is, even if it is on the other side of the store. Wait, you left your register?! Oh noes! Not supposed to do that!! (If anybody can explain how to do both..without cloning or teleportation technology I am all ears).

[Marmalady]

Mytical, you are singing my song loud and clear.
Our store is hopelessly under-staffed and has been for ages, people leave and aren't replaced and the rest of us are being spread ever more thinly. When there's a rush (which is just about constantly at this time of the year) those who have departments to take care of keep getting called to the tills. Then, when we're calling for a price check there's nobody on the shop floor to help.
We only have half the number of supervisors we used to, very often there's only one and they are expected to cover the Customer Service desk as well as the tills. We're told we can't leave our tills unless a supervisor or manager says so, but very often we do because there's no other option if we're to get things moving again.

[Mytical]

Oh you work at a Mart of Walls? Seems every last one has NO help whatsoever. At least at Frogers I can find help when I need it. Or at least the one in my town.

Management has their heads where the sun don't shine. Helping customers > anything. You have to have people to help customers.

[Whiskey]

Oh you work at a Mart of Walls? Seems every last one has NO help whatsoever.

Preach to the choir. Pedersen convinced me to call walmart about a bike. I did an entire sinks dishes before someone picked up. I am not that fast.

edit: 5-7 minutes, am i unreasonable? I expect a "im sorry, i'm with a customer right now, would you hold a bit longer?" I got silence. I had to check to see if I was still connected twice. You would think after 2-3 minutes i would ring back to the CS desk.

regardless, i wont be buying there. I can pay 75$ there, or 88$ at target. Target, overalll, has 100000))))% better customer service.

Sorry about that. I did read it wrong. Can cashiers explain to customers that they can't leave their stations? If they can do that, that should at least get the manager on your side since the cashiers are doing what the managers want. If the mgrs yell at the cashier for leaving their station to help another customer, perhaps they should demonstrate how not to piss of a sucky customer in line while helping another sucky customer.

LOL girl youre cute. You're supposed to do everything at once! My manager was mad that I shut the window and called my manager because a customer threatened to hit me in the face (fast food drive through). According to my manager, I should have stayed there and placated her. Girl, no.