Some People Just Want To Watch The Store Burn

(I work as a personal shopper. We have one shopper who is absolutely awful. She has been banned from every other store in our district, but not ours. Yet. To ban her, we have to get approval from corporate, so until then, we’re stuck with her. Every single time she places an order — and they’re always huge orders — we have to have at least one manager check it over and sign her statement saying it was checked by a manager.

This particular time, this horrid customer managed to get a large credit from someone, something like $60 or so. I look out for her next order because I want to be the one to shop it, as I am the most senior shopper on our team. However, when she places her next order, a coworker gets to it before I do. I glance over the order when she’s done, checking the things she would most likely complain about, and the customer service manager does a thorough job of checking it over. Everything is perfect. That’s three people who’ve looked over this woman’s groceries.

The problem comes when my coworker is putting the order through the register. She forgets to add the credit. We solve this by subtracting $60 off her total and writing the new total on her statement next to the receipt. It is written very clearly and near impossible to miss. Her husband picks the order up later that evening. He is charged the adjusted total and we think nothing of it.

The next morning, I am shopping my first or second order of the day and guess who calls?)

Customer: “You guys charged me the wrong amount!”

Me: “Can I get the name on the order?”

(I recognize her voice; I just need time to pull our copy of her statement.)

Customer: “It’s [Customer]. I can’t believe you guys! I spend so much money at your store every week—” *a lie, at most once a month* “—and you guys always screw up my orders! I know you don’t believe me—” *Gee, whatever gave you that idea?* “—but you messed up and I want this fixed! I was supposed to have a credit and you didn’t give it to me!”

(While she rants, I pull her statement and I pull out our card reader and look through yesterday’s transactions. I see a charge for the adjusted total. The adjusted total is in the $400 range, while the original total was for over $500.)

Me: *once she lets me speak* “Ma’am, you were only charged [$400 amount].”

Customer: “No, I wasn’t! The receipt says [$500 amount].”

Me: “Yes, but if you look on your statement form, you will see where we subtracted the credit amount from the total.”

Customer: “The what?”

Me: “The statement. It’s the white piece of paper that the receipt was stapled to.”

Customer: “I never get those. Should I have one?”

Me: “Yes. We give those to every customer when they pick up.”

Customer: “My husband picked up.”

Me: “Is it possible he has the statement, then?”

Customer: “I don’t know. All I know is that you charged me the wrong amount.”

Me: “No, we only charged you [$400 amount]. That amount was charged to a [Credit Card] at 7:29 last night. Do you have the card? I can confirm the last four numbers.”

Customer: “It’s my husband’s card.”

Me: “Okay. Uh, is it possible for you to log into the account and see the transaction there?”

Customer: “No, it’s my husband’s card. You charged me the wrong amount! I should’ve been charged [$400 amount] and you charged me [$500]!”

Me: “I assure you, you were not charged [$500 amount]. I’m looking at our card reader history right now, and that amount is not in here. You were not charged the wrong amount.”

Customer: “Yes, I was!”

Me: *pause* “Please hold while I get a manager.” *puts her on hold before she says anything*

(I run and find my manager. It happens to be the same manager who looked over the order the previous evening. I explain what’s going on and she takes the call. Fifteen minutes later, she calls me into the office.)

Manager: “Well, I finally convinced her we didn’t charge her the wrong amount. She said she would try to get the statement from her husband. But she complained her mushrooms were bad.”

Me: “They weren’t bad.”

Manager: “I know that, and you know that, but she insisted they were all brown.”

Me: “I bet you she had old mushrooms in the back of her fridge and she wanted them replaced.”

Manager: “Probably, but it sounded like she would complain to corporate if we didn’t do anything. So just give her some more mushrooms on her next order.”

(I groaned and left. If a customer complains to corporate, it affects our store negatively and impacts our bonuses. It also means managers could potentially be reprimanded for too many complaints. Not so much a spineless manager as stuck between a rock and a hard place.)