(I am walking into my job, carrying my purse and lunchbox and wearing a jacket over my store t-shirt. A customer watches me walk in and then approaches me.)

Customer: “Hey, can you help me?”

Me: “Um, this isn’t my department. Why don’t I get someone from the Men’s Department over here for you.”

Customer: “But I need help with this suit now, not in half an hour!”

Me: “I’m sure I can get someone over here quickly. I really don’t know anything about the suits and I am not even clocked in yet.”

Customer: “But you work here, so you should be able to help me.”

Me: *getting desperate* “I can’t carry my things around the store. Security doesn’t like that.”

Customer: “I’m sure it will be fine. Now, does this suit come in black or gray? I need a 34.”

Me: “I really don’t know.” *I catch sight of a coworker who actually works in the suit section* “[COWORKER]! Could you please help this gentleman find a suit?”

Customer: “No, I asked you to help me, not to pawn me off on someone else.”

Me: “Sir, I really don’t know anything about the suits. [Coworker] knows everything about them, and she can certainly help you much more than I can.”

(I turned and practically ran to the break room. Later on my manager said that the man had complained about my attitude, and about the fact that I was carrying my purse and lunch bag around the store.)

(At 6:45 pm the store starts to close. We make announcements to alert customers that the store will be closing in 15, then ten, and then five minutes time. At 6:45, we close the fitting rooms to stop customers from hiding or spending too long trying on clothes when the store closes at 7:00. I am doing the closing announcements when an irate customer storms up to the customer service desk. It is currently 6:55 pm, and we only have supervisors on the floor due to the late hour and to the fact our floor is small and understaffed.)

Customer: “I want to make a complaint! One of your staff was rude!”

Coworker: “Would you like to speak to a manager?”

Customer: “NO! I don’t want to talk to someone; I want to write this down. Give me an address I can write a complaint to. An email address!”

Coworker: “I can give you the head office’s address if you want.” *starts to search for the information*

Me: *indicates where to find the information, which lacks an email*

Coworker: “If you write to this address, you can make your complaint.”

Customer: “No, I don’t want to write a complaint; I want to send an email. Give me an email.”

Me: “We don’t have an email for head office; we could give you a manager’s email for this store, if you want?”

(My coworker and I then try to contact a supervisor to find out if we’re able to provide the manager’s email. In the midst of doing, this the customer changes their mind again!)

Customer: “No, I don’t want to write anything; let me talk to a manager right now!”

Coworker: “Er, yes, I can get you a manager; wait a moment.”

(They then call over a supervisor to locate an absent manager. I call the 7:00 pm closing announcement, and the manager still has not been found. We make an announcement asking for a manager to contact our floor but are still left waiting.)

Supervisor: “There isn’t a manager available right now; is this something we can resolve ourselves?”

Customer: “Yes, I don’t know. Your staff downstairs was very rude! I wanted to try on one top but she wouldn’t let me in the fitting room. I didn’t see her name.”

Coworker: “That’s okay; we can work out who it was by the shift roster if you like. I’m sorry that this has happened. We’ll just wait for the manager to take details.”

Customer: “I’ve never been spoken to so rudely before! I want to make a complaint.”

Supervisor: *comes over to try and help* “Do you need to speak to a manager? I can probably help.”

Customer: “Yes, it was the girl on the fitting rooms! I want to make a complaint.”

(Finally the store assistant manager turns up. It’s now 7:10 pm and the security guard is waiting to escort the last customer out so he can go home.)

Manager: “Yes, how can I help?”

Customer: “I want to complain about one of your staff!”

Manager: “All right, then, what happened?”

Customer: “Oh, I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”

(They then left without taking any offered information or resolving the fuss they had made for the last 25 minutes!)

(I get a coupon in the mail that allows me to get $5 off an animated DVD. I decide to pick it up while grocery shopping. Because of my husband’s pay schedule, I can only buy groceries once every six weeks, which means I have to buy enough food and supplies to last us that long. It’s not an easy thing to do with a newborn in diapers and a toddler. I get two carts up to the check out, pushing one cart with the toddler in it and pulling the other with the baby. The poor cashier has a hard time because I have so many coupons, including several buy-one-get-one coupons that require the price of the item to be written in. Finally, after 25 minutes, we get everything paid for and someone helps me take the bags out to my car. When I get home and look over my receipt, I see I was not charged the $20 for the DVD, but did have the $5 coupon applied to my total. I call the store and get the manager.)

Me: “Hi, I was in earlier today buying groceries. I bought a DVD with a coupon. The problem is that the cashier took the $5 off the bill, but she never charged me for the DVD. I know it was because she was distracted by me talking to her and by all my coupons. I can come in and pay for it, but I won’t be on that side of town for another six weeks, and I can’t afford the gas right now. Can I mail you a check?”

Manager: “…”

Me: “Um, hello? Are you still there?”

Manager: “Yeah, sorry; you kind of threw me off. I have never had anyone actually call me with this offer. Most people just steal the DVDs. Tell you what: why don’t you just keep the DVD as a gift, but let me know which one it is so I can take it out of stock?”

Me: “Really?! Oh, thank you! Are you sure?”

Manager: “Lady, it would be my pleasure. And the manager that is sitting next to me listening to the whole conversation agrees.”

(Honesty is the best policy.)

My mother-in-law passed away during the week. I went to work the day after but was in too much of a mess to stay. I arranged someone to take over for me, did all the tasks that I knew she couldn’t do, and sent emails to my line manager to explain my situation before heading home. The next day was my rostered day off.

When I got home I noticed a huge bouquet of flowers on the table and realised that [Husband]’s work had sent them to him.

What did I get? A message from my line manager at 8:35 am the next day, demanding to know why the store was closed. We don’t open until 9 am, and the opening staff was already inside the store.

(My family and I are doing some grocery shopping. As my sisters and I are not big fans of walking around department stores, we go to the book aisle to read until our parents are done. We’ve been doing this since we were little kids and have never had a problem before. As we’re sitting there with our books, this irate-looking woman in a store uniform comes marching over to us.)

Employee: “You can’t do that here!”

Me: “What?”

Employee: “You can’t read these books!”

Younger Sister: “Well, then how are we supposed to know if they’re worth buying?”

Employee: “YOU HAVE TO BUY THEM FIRST! YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO READ THESE BOOKS!”

(We all just stare blankly at her, pulling our youngest sister a little closer to us as we’re a bit concerned by this woman. She flounces off and we go back to our books as if nothing happened.)

Younger Sister: “I won’t know if the book is worth buying if I don’t read at least a little of it.”

Youngest Sister: “Do you think she knows books are supposed to be read?”