If Customers Give You Crap, Give It Right Back

I am working on the loading dock where we load up larger bags of dog and livestock feed for customers who have paid inside. I meet a customer in the parking lot, take his loading ticket for a couple of bales of grass hay, and walk over to the small storage garage while he gets in his truck to back up. It starts up, and then I see it.

I see his hand reaching out the driver’s side door and casually tossing a small blue bag with a bit of weight to it next to the fence and onto our line of garden soils. I recognize that kind of bag, and I recognize what weight it must have had. There is no question in my mind — that is dog s***.

I’m giddy at this moment. I have thirty seconds to ponder my thoughts while he backs up, and yet it feels like years. Finally, he steps out of the truck. I’ve since hauled the two bails up to the bumper, but I stop my advance.

Me: “Sir, did you just throw something out of your car?”

Customer: “Uh, no.”

Me: “Yes, you did. Was that dog crap?”

Customer: “Don’t worry about it.”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Customer: “I said don’t worry about it.”

Me: “No. No. You do not get to throw your dog poop onto my store!”

It’s not my store, but the pronoun choice gives me apparent authority.

Customer: “I wasn’t aiming for the store; I was aiming over the fence.”

Over the fence is a railway and bike path.

Me: “I don’t care where you were aiming! You can’t just throw dog crap wherever, and on top of it, I’m not responsible for your bad aim!”

Customer: “It’s not mine.”

Me: “Then why the h*** is it mine now?”

Customer: “So, what do you want me to do?”

Me: “If I move that pallet, will you go pick up your dog crap and properly dispose of it in the dumpster?”

Customer: “Ugh, sure.”

And he did. The dumpster was only thirty feet away, too. It made my day. It was the only time in seven years of working with this company that I allowed myself to chew out a customer, with great success.