No Fragrance Can Cover Up That Stinky Attitude

I am a teenage girl working the men’s fragrance counter. Quite often, I get older men looking for the fragrance they’ve been buying for years. We usually only have three sizes of each fragrance: a travel, regular, and a jumbo. If the fragrance is popular enough, they’ll make a pocket size, which is about a third of the size of a travel, but usually, vendors reserve pocket sizes for value gift sets to make the set seem more appealing and exclusive.

Customer: “Can I get a refillable pocket-size of [Fragrance]?”

That fragrance is not popular anymore, so even the gift sets I have in stock are limited.

Me: “We don’t carry the pocket sizes of [Fragrance] individually, but I have one more gift set that has the pocket size in it.”

Customer: “But I bought it here six months ago!”

Me: “Sir, I am very sorry, but this is the only option available. Let me check [Vendor]’s website from my phone and see if they just don’t send it to [Department Store] to sell on their behalf.”

He just waits while I pull it up. The vendor website doesn’t even carry a pocket size of that fragrance or the gift set, let alone a refillable one. So I tell him that it just doesn’t exist.

Customer: “But I told you that I bought it here six months ago, and as an employee in customer service, isn’t it your job to get me what I ask for?”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but there is nothing I can do. I can check other nearby department store websites to see if they might carry it, but it looks like the item doesn’t exist anymore.”

Customer: “I want to speak with [Vendor], then.”

At this point, I’m at a loss because we have vendor representatives, but it’s not like I could just call up the CEO of this French beauty giant, so I tell him I can get my manager.

Customer: *Jabbing his finger at me* “No! I said I wanted to speak to [Vendor]! You’re in customer service and you have an obligation to get me what I want. Now either give me what I want or get me the man in charge of [Vendor]!”

I call over my manager and she tells him exactly what I told him, but gives him [Vendor]’s customer service number. As he leaves, he needs to get one more jab in at me.

Customer: “You little teenage cretins don’t know a thing about customer service, and the absolute only thing you should be doing is the housework, not working men’s fragrances. I hope your womb dies!”

He walked off.