A Full List Of Entitlement

At the store where I work, customers can place an order online and pick it up curbside. When they place an order, they receive an initial email that reads something like, “Do not come to the store yet. Your order will be ready by 8:00 pm on [date]. You will receive an email when your item is ready to be picked up.” Then, usually a few hours later, they receive a second email that reads along the lines of, “Your item is ready to be picked up!”

I get this customer at 11:30 am on a day we are short-staffed and really busy with shopping for orders.

Customer: “I’m here to pick up an order for [Customer].”

Me: “I’m not seeing that name in our system. Could it be under an alternate name?”

Customer: “No, I placed the order myself.”

Me: “Did you place it for this store?”

Customer: “Yes, I placed the order this morning for this location.”

I realize what the problem most likely is. If she placed the order this morning, it most likely isn’t ready yet.

Me: “Have you gotten an email saying your item is ready for pickup?”

Customer: “Yes, I got the email.”

She shows me her email. It’s the “Do not come yet” email, not the “Your order is ready” email.

Me: “I’m sorry, but your email says it will be ready by 8:00 pm tonight. It’s only 11:30 am, so the order most likely hasn’t been shopped yet.”

Customer: “Well, I’m here. Go get it for me.”

I check the shopping lists our personal shoppers use to collect the items for customers. The list this customer’s item would be in isn’t due for three more hours, and we have several larger lists due before then. I cannot tell one of the shoppers to skip a big list and do this lady’s first because that could delay an order for a customer who scheduled pickup for noon or one o’clock, long before this customer. I explain this to the customer. She is not happy.

Customer: “I don’t understand why you can’t just get it to me. I’m here now. I want my order now.”

Me: “I understand that, but your order is not scheduled until 8:00 pm. We have customers who have orders scheduled before yours, and I cannot risk delaying their orders.”

Customer: “Then I’ll just go in and grab it off the shelf and show it to you. I’ve already paid.”

Me: “Actually, you haven’t. You don’t pay until one of our personal shoppers gives you the item. When we shop for it, we scan it with our computers and they print out a sticker with a barcode for it. When the customer arrives, we have to scan that barcode. You don’t get charged until we scan that. You have not paid for the item yet.”

Customer: “Then go shop it for me!”

There are several more cars waiting for their groceries. We are too busy today for me to leave the parking lot and shop for the lady’s item. Our shoppers are already behind due to call-offs and sick leaves. There is no way I or anyone else can get her order eight hours early. I explain that to her again.

Customer: “This is so f****** stupid. This whole department is so f****** stupid. I pay good money here and all I get are stupid, lazy workers who won’t do their f****** job. Just cancel my order. I’m not coming back tonight!”

Me: “Yes, ma’am.”

Customers choose their pickup time. If she had wanted her items at 11:30 am, why did she set 8:00 pm as her time?