Our House, Not The One That’s Down Our Street! Our House…

I work as a supervisor in a home decor store. About a year ago, another store opened up two blocks down the street from us. They were a different company but had a similar name, like “In Your House” versus “Stuff For Your House.”

One afternoon, I was doing five things at once (quite normal) and I answered the phone.

Me: “Thank you for calling ‘In Your House’ in [Town]. How can I help you?”

Man: “Hi. I was just in there a little while ago and bought a sofa, and I’m here to pick it up.”

On the surface, this is not odd. We sell sofas. I wasn’t aware that we had sold any today, but occasionally things do happen without my knowledge, so I don’t think much of it.

Me: “Okay, sir, let me radio for someone in the back to bring it out to you. Are you out front?”

Man: “No, I’m at the rear of your building. I was told to pick it up here.”

Me: *Pauses* “One moment, please.”

I mute the call in confusion. While we do sell sofas and we do allow people to pick up their paid-for merchandise later in the day or week, all pick-ups are done at the front door. It’s a bit tricky to get to our back, and the doors are heavy garage-type doors, so we never tell people to go back there; hence my confusion. I get on the radio to talk to my boss.

Me: “I have a gentleman on the phone who says he’s at the back door to pick up the sofa he bought.”

Boss: *Pauses* “At the back door?”

Me: “That’s what he says. He said he bought the sofa earlier today and he was told to pick it up at the back door.”

Boss: “We haven’t sold any sofas today, and we definitely haven’t told anyone to go to the back door!”

Me: “I thought it seemed strange. Let me talk to him.”

I unmute the call.

Me: “Sir, we haven’t sold any sofas today, and we never tell anyone to do a pick-up at the back door. Are you quite certain you’ve called the right location? We do have other stores; maybe you meant to dial one of those?”

Man: “What kind of bulls*** are you trying to pull? I bought a sofa from you and the guy told me to come around back!”

Me: “Sir, we have no men working in our store today. I don’t know who told you to go around back, but it wasn’t anyone who works here.”

Man: “The h*** are you talking about!? You’re on [Street], right?”

Me: “Yes, sir.”

Man: “Isn’t this ‘Stuff For Your House’?!”

Me: “Aha. No, sir, they’re down the street. You’ve called the ‘In Your House’ store.”

I hear somebody in the background on his end, laughing hysterically.

Person: “You idiot! You called the wrong store!”

And of course, he then hung up the phone with no apology for how he’d spoken to me. We laughed about him for the rest of the day.