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So as I have posted before or as you can probably tell from my name I work at McDs. What you probably don't know is that I used to work at a thrift store. I definitely got less SCs there, but when I got them they were worse than anything I ever get at McDs. Something about the atmosphere at McDs makes the arguing end a lot sooner than it did at the thrift store. They take their time at the thrift store.
Anyway, just as a little background I was a supervisor at the thrift store, just like how I am a manager at McDs - basically same duties, just different environment and job. Anytime a customer wanted to do an exchange (we did not take returns) I had to do it. There was only one supervisor on duty at any time, except while the store manager was there, but we didn't really bother her with customer stuff unless we had to - she had other duties to attend to.
Anyway, here are a few of the stories from the thrift shop:
1. Customers thinking they could exchange anything they wanted.
We had a really strict exchange policy. From what I have seen from other thrift stores it is similar, but customers think that it is the same as Walmart and they can return whatever. First of all, we could not give cash back. The exchange had to be over the amount they were returning or within two dollars. I could give up to 2 dollars cash back. Any more and I would be in serious trouble. Also, they had to have a receipt, be within 14 days of purchase, and have all tags attached. They could only exchange clothing and household items. Electronics, books, and anything else was final sale. If something didn't work, tough cookies. It was all as is. I'm not saying I didn't feel sorry for some of the people that bought something that didn't work, but I couldn't do anything about it.
I also had a lot of people that thought they could bring stuff from home they didn't want anymore and exchange it with our stuff we had for sale. I had one lady harassing my cashier about how she bought a basket at another store for $5, but she liked the basket we had for sale for $3 and wanted to swap it out. He had been working there a long time and knew his job well and was telling her no, but she got irate and demanded a manager. I go up and tell her the same.
SC "But you will be making money! This basket is worth $5 and yours is worth $3"
Just because you bought that basket for $5 doesn't mean we will be able to sell it for $5. Everything that gets donated here has to be weighed, sorted, and priced in the back. This requires us to pay people to do this. It's not that simple as just switching baskets.
I also had a couple that wanted to exchange their books from home for ours. I told them this wasn't how our store worked so they pointed to the sign on our wall that said 'Exchanges gladly accepted' and said that "clearly we weren't gladly accepting their exchange". I tried to explain that it didn't mean that kind of exchange, but they just rolled their eyes and looked at me like I was stupid and then left.
The worst one by far was a pair of "ladies" that came in for an exchange and wound up having the police called. They had their receipt and their merchandise qualified for an exchange, BUT the tags weren't attached. They brought the tags with them, but they weren't attached to the pants. This was a very common way for people to steal. They would buy stuff, go home, bring back their own clothes they don't want anymore, and try to do an exchange. However, I wasn't getting the thief vibes from them and had a little leeway so I was going to do it... UNTIL:
Me: "Okay, guys, everything looks good, except your tags aren't attached to the clothing, so I'm not supposed to do this return, but -"
SC *interrupts me* *snotty tone* "Well, can't you just attach them again?"
Oh hell no, you do not go all SC on me when I'm about to do you a favor.
Me "No. The tags cannot be removed"
SC "Yes they can, show me in your policy where it says they can't"
I point out their receipt, the big sign on the wall, and the sign on my register that states our return policy.
SC "Let me talk to your manager."
Me "I'm the manager."
SC "Well, let me speak to your manager."
Me "I am the highest manager in the store at the moment. If you like to speak to someone else, you can come back tomorrow and speak with *other manager's name*."
SC "Oh we will, bitch."
Me "You need to leave."
SC "Or what?"
Me "I will have to call the police and report you for trespassing."
SC "We aren't trespassing, this is public property."
Me "No, this is a private business, and I have asked you to leave. You are now trespassing."
SC "Call the police, I dare you."
I pick up the phone and explain to the dispatcher what is happening. The whole time I am on the phone they are yelling over me to the dispatcher about how I am lying, etc. The dispatcher even comments on how she can see why I want them to leave. They do eventually leave, but right as they are walking out the police show up and talk to them. I guess they gave the police a lot of crap too, because the officer I was talking to seemed really perturbed with them. He asked if I wanted to do a trespass order and prevent them from coming back for a year, which I said no to. (I have no idea to this day why I said no to it.)
I called the manager that was working the next day and told him what had happened. He wholeheartedly agreed with how I handled it, but said I should have done the trespass order. Then they come in the next day and he did the exchange for them.
2. People stealing from us
We've had to call the cops on people for stealing from us, but nothing was as appalling as this lady:
She rang up through my line and had a TON of stuff. To give you an idea most of our stuff was priced under $5 and she had over $300 in merchandise. As she was paying she had to run out to her car. I cannot remember why - if it was to get change or a card or what, I don't know, but as she was doing this she TAKES HER CART WITH HER! I didn't notice at first, because I was explaining to the next customer that I couldn't suspend the transaction and it would be a second and then I look next to me and realize the cart wasn't there. I look out the window and see her loading up her car with her stuff!! I run out there and stop her, but the whole time she didn't seem like she understood why she couldn't do that. She did wind up paying and everything was okay, but I still wonder if she was trying to steal or just really thought "Hey, I'll save some time (i.e. make everyone wait longer on me) by loading up the car and then I'll go pay and then I can just leave, how easy and clever of me."
3. Telecheck
I know a lot of you are familiar with how Telecheck works. You run a check through it and it tells you whether to accept it or not. It cannot access the bank account balance of the customer. It basically tells you if the customer has had issues in the past with bad checks, among other things. BUT IT CANNOT TELL IF THE CUSTOMER HAS ENOUGH MONEY TO COVER THE PURCHASE. Period.
Anyway, I had this old lady get declined on a check she wrote. I explain to her and she says she has enough money in her account. I tell her that that may be the case, but Telecheck can't tell that and to clear up the issue she will have to call Telecheck and I gave her the phone number and the reference number to do so. She is pissed, but leaves.
Fast forward half an hour - I have a long line and this lady is back. She approaches me from behind, which I hate, but is another rant. I tell her I need to finish with the customer I have, but then I will help her. She says okay, but then gets impatient and goes to the back of the line. I still don't know why she thought that would save time since there was at least 5 people in my line, but I digress. When she gets up to me she shows me her BANK STATEMENT to prove to me - the evil cashier - that she has money and I am a horrible person who knows nothing. I explain AGAIN that Telecheck doesn't know how much money she has in her account, I STILL cannot take her check, and she will have to clear it up with Telecheck. She says some other stuff that I can't remember about how I'm stupid and she has money, but leaves.
TL;DR
Working at a thrift store sucks.
Anyway, just as a little background I was a supervisor at the thrift store, just like how I am a manager at McDs - basically same duties, just different environment and job. Anytime a customer wanted to do an exchange (we did not take returns) I had to do it. There was only one supervisor on duty at any time, except while the store manager was there, but we didn't really bother her with customer stuff unless we had to - she had other duties to attend to.
Anyway, here are a few of the stories from the thrift shop:
1. Customers thinking they could exchange anything they wanted.
We had a really strict exchange policy. From what I have seen from other thrift stores it is similar, but customers think that it is the same as Walmart and they can return whatever. First of all, we could not give cash back. The exchange had to be over the amount they were returning or within two dollars. I could give up to 2 dollars cash back. Any more and I would be in serious trouble. Also, they had to have a receipt, be within 14 days of purchase, and have all tags attached. They could only exchange clothing and household items. Electronics, books, and anything else was final sale. If something didn't work, tough cookies. It was all as is. I'm not saying I didn't feel sorry for some of the people that bought something that didn't work, but I couldn't do anything about it.
I also had a lot of people that thought they could bring stuff from home they didn't want anymore and exchange it with our stuff we had for sale. I had one lady harassing my cashier about how she bought a basket at another store for $5, but she liked the basket we had for sale for $3 and wanted to swap it out. He had been working there a long time and knew his job well and was telling her no, but she got irate and demanded a manager. I go up and tell her the same.
SC "But you will be making money! This basket is worth $5 and yours is worth $3"
Just because you bought that basket for $5 doesn't mean we will be able to sell it for $5. Everything that gets donated here has to be weighed, sorted, and priced in the back. This requires us to pay people to do this. It's not that simple as just switching baskets.
I also had a couple that wanted to exchange their books from home for ours. I told them this wasn't how our store worked so they pointed to the sign on our wall that said 'Exchanges gladly accepted' and said that "clearly we weren't gladly accepting their exchange". I tried to explain that it didn't mean that kind of exchange, but they just rolled their eyes and looked at me like I was stupid and then left.
The worst one by far was a pair of "ladies" that came in for an exchange and wound up having the police called. They had their receipt and their merchandise qualified for an exchange, BUT the tags weren't attached. They brought the tags with them, but they weren't attached to the pants. This was a very common way for people to steal. They would buy stuff, go home, bring back their own clothes they don't want anymore, and try to do an exchange. However, I wasn't getting the thief vibes from them and had a little leeway so I was going to do it... UNTIL:
Me: "Okay, guys, everything looks good, except your tags aren't attached to the clothing, so I'm not supposed to do this return, but -"
SC *interrupts me* *snotty tone* "Well, can't you just attach them again?"
Oh hell no, you do not go all SC on me when I'm about to do you a favor.
Me "No. The tags cannot be removed"
SC "Yes they can, show me in your policy where it says they can't"
I point out their receipt, the big sign on the wall, and the sign on my register that states our return policy.
SC "Let me talk to your manager."
Me "I'm the manager."
SC "Well, let me speak to your manager."
Me "I am the highest manager in the store at the moment. If you like to speak to someone else, you can come back tomorrow and speak with *other manager's name*."
SC "Oh we will, bitch."
Me "You need to leave."
SC "Or what?"
Me "I will have to call the police and report you for trespassing."
SC "We aren't trespassing, this is public property."
Me "No, this is a private business, and I have asked you to leave. You are now trespassing."
SC "Call the police, I dare you."
I pick up the phone and explain to the dispatcher what is happening. The whole time I am on the phone they are yelling over me to the dispatcher about how I am lying, etc. The dispatcher even comments on how she can see why I want them to leave. They do eventually leave, but right as they are walking out the police show up and talk to them. I guess they gave the police a lot of crap too, because the officer I was talking to seemed really perturbed with them. He asked if I wanted to do a trespass order and prevent them from coming back for a year, which I said no to. (I have no idea to this day why I said no to it.)
I called the manager that was working the next day and told him what had happened. He wholeheartedly agreed with how I handled it, but said I should have done the trespass order. Then they come in the next day and he did the exchange for them.
2. People stealing from us
We've had to call the cops on people for stealing from us, but nothing was as appalling as this lady:
She rang up through my line and had a TON of stuff. To give you an idea most of our stuff was priced under $5 and she had over $300 in merchandise. As she was paying she had to run out to her car. I cannot remember why - if it was to get change or a card or what, I don't know, but as she was doing this she TAKES HER CART WITH HER! I didn't notice at first, because I was explaining to the next customer that I couldn't suspend the transaction and it would be a second and then I look next to me and realize the cart wasn't there. I look out the window and see her loading up her car with her stuff!! I run out there and stop her, but the whole time she didn't seem like she understood why she couldn't do that. She did wind up paying and everything was okay, but I still wonder if she was trying to steal or just really thought "Hey, I'll save some time (i.e. make everyone wait longer on me) by loading up the car and then I'll go pay and then I can just leave, how easy and clever of me."
3. Telecheck
I know a lot of you are familiar with how Telecheck works. You run a check through it and it tells you whether to accept it or not. It cannot access the bank account balance of the customer. It basically tells you if the customer has had issues in the past with bad checks, among other things. BUT IT CANNOT TELL IF THE CUSTOMER HAS ENOUGH MONEY TO COVER THE PURCHASE. Period.
Anyway, I had this old lady get declined on a check she wrote. I explain to her and she says she has enough money in her account. I tell her that that may be the case, but Telecheck can't tell that and to clear up the issue she will have to call Telecheck and I gave her the phone number and the reference number to do so. She is pissed, but leaves.
Fast forward half an hour - I have a long line and this lady is back. She approaches me from behind, which I hate, but is another rant. I tell her I need to finish with the customer I have, but then I will help her. She says okay, but then gets impatient and goes to the back of the line. I still don't know why she thought that would save time since there was at least 5 people in my line, but I digress. When she gets up to me she shows me her BANK STATEMENT to prove to me - the evil cashier - that she has money and I am a horrible person who knows nothing. I explain AGAIN that Telecheck doesn't know how much money she has in her account, I STILL cannot take her check, and she will have to clear it up with Telecheck. She says some other stuff that I can't remember about how I'm stupid and she has money, but leaves.
TL;DR
Working at a thrift store sucks.
What a doofus.
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