I Won’t Hold Your Item But I’ll Hopefully Hold My Job

I consider the first retail job I had to be one of the worst jobs I ever had. The owner of the store I worked in would not allow us to hold items that were on sale for customers who would phone in and ask. They said it was to be fair for other customers who would make the drive in to get it.

I had a customer phone me.

Customer: “Do you have [sale item]?”

I looked at my computer.

Me: “Yes, we have one left.”

Customer: “Can you put it on hold for me? I’ll be there in two days to get it.”

Me: “I’m not allowed to hold items that are on sale. You would have to come in right away to get it.”

He was almost begging at that point.

Customer: “You can put it on hold! Cut me a break!”

Me: “Sir, it’s against our store policy. If I did that, I could get fired.”

He kept insisting that I should cut him a break. He didn’t seem to care that I could get fired for breaking the rules.

I finally had enough.

Me: “Sir, I’m not risking my job for this. If you want the [sale item], come in right now to get it. If not, come in two days and see if we still have it on the shelf. But I’m not going to do anything else.”

He just kind of groaned, said, “Fine,” and hung up.