Me: “The parking charge is—”
Guest: “What?! Can’t you waive that for me?”
Me: “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
Guest: “Why?! Not?!“
Me: “Because it wouldn’t be fair to the guests who have already paid.”
Guest: “That’s so stupid!”
I get this all the time.
The shoe department where I work has a stockroom which doubles as our break room. There is another employee working with me, so I decide to take my fifteen-minute break and check my text messages. A customer barges into our stockroom, where customers aren’t allowed.
Customer: “Excuse me! Can you help me?!”
Me: “There’s another girl out on the floor who will assist you. If you didn’t see her, she’s just getting a shoe for another customer and will be out in a second.”
Customer: “Can you help me?”
Me: “Sure! How may I help you?”
I go to the sales floor to see what shoes she wants. After getting them, I help her put on each pair.
Customer: “Won’t you get in trouble for being on your phone?”
I assumed she knew I wasn’t on the clock, because I was sitting in the back.
Me: “Oh, no, it’s okay.”
Customer: “Um, no! It’s not okay, honey! You’re not getting paid to be on your phone!”
Me: “I’m sorry. I was on my break; that’s why I was in the back where you found me.”
The customer is now visibly blushing.
Customer: “Oh! Then go back to your break!”
Me: “Thank you, but it’s already over by now. It’s all right, though.”
As I left to throw some of the tissue paper away, she sped off as fast as she could.
A guy approaches my desk. He has an aggressive stance, fists clenched, and a nasty glare. I know I’m in for it.
Guy: “Give me a room!”
Me: “No, we don’t have any rooms.”
Guy: *Barks* “NOW!”
Me: “I said we don’t have any rooms.”
Guy: “Liar! Give me your name!”
Me: “My name is [My First Name].”
Guy: “And your last!”
Me: “No.”
Guy: “I want your last name! You are required, by law, to give me your full name!”
Me: “No, I’m not, and if you don’t leave I’ll call the police.”
He slapped his palm on my desk loudly and stomped off, twisting his neck to glare at me as he went. Later, he put in a complaint that I had discriminated against his race because I didn’t give him a room. The manager checked and saw that we were indeed sold out, but I admit, I wouldn’t have sold him a room anyway because of his nasty attitude!
My mom goes to the deli and orders a certain type of turkey but forgets to ask for it to be sliced thin. As the girl behind the counter starts slicing it, my mom speaks up.
Mom: “Oh, could you make sure to slice that thin, please?”
The girl keeps slicing and does not acknowledge that she heard anything, so my mom, thinking she must be too far away for the girl to have heard her properly, gets the attention of another deli worker walking by.
Mom: “Could you ask her to slice that thin, please?”
Girl Cutting Turkey: “I heard you!”
Mom: “Maybe let me know that, then!”
I am running the register at the lumberyard of a hardware store I work at. It is incredibly busy this afternoon. Just then, a young guy with a tool bag is approaching the exit from my right side. He is a scrawny-looking twenty-something white guy with black curly hair and he wears square black glasses. I look over at him and begin my usual customer service spiel.
Me: “Hello, sir! Do you need help with anything?”
He looks at me and holds up the bag.
Bag Guy: “Oh, uh… I already paid for this. My buddy is behind me with the receipt.”
Before I can ask him for more information about this buddy of his, he walks toward the exit. Bear in mind, the store has two sets of sliding doors, so he has only passed the first set.
In the vestibule between the two sets of doors, there is a coworker sitting near the second set of sliding doors. He is there for two reasons: to watch the door and make sure no one tries to enter in that way since it is designated as an exit only, and to update a running counter application that we have on the current number of customers in the store.
We have this happening because of CDC guidelines of allowing only a limited number of people in our store due to current events.
The coworker sees the bag guy heading toward him and notices me trying to ask him about the receipt. He approaches and asks him for a receipt. The bag man pretty much gives the same spiel about the receipt. The coworker tries to get him to stop and produce a receipt, but he keeps walking out of our store.
He is a shoplifter.
At this point, there is nothing we can do. Management forbids us from trying to chase down or confront anyone that steals from us. There are two reasons why this rule was put in place:
So, the doorman and I, along with two more coworkers who had tailed the thief, are watching him walk away, feeling rather angry. Suddenly, a rather obese old man in a bright orange shirt runs out the door after the thief. [Orange Shirt] is a regular customer who comes in and buys any leftover non-stock and damaged goods from us for renovations of properties he has.
[Orange Shirt] manages to catch up with the thief, who has been walking towards his truck and not really paying attention. [Orange Shirt] confronts the bag thief, who thinks that [Orange Shirt] is a worker here. He gets rather cocky toward [Orange Shirt].
Bag Guy: “You can’t do anything against me.”
Orange Shirt: “Yeah, I can, because I don’t work there.”
Realizing this, the thief gets rather angry at [Orange Shirt], possibly trying to intimidate him.
Bag Guy: “You think you’re some kind of bada**?”
[Orange Shirt] is having none of it. He stands his ground and glares at the thief.
Orange Shirt: “No… I know I’m a bada**.”
The thief realized he was fighting a losing battle, so he gave up the tool bag and walked away, looking angry. My coworkers and I had a laugh after seeing this, and [Orange Shirt] came back in the store with the tool bag.
Managers checked the tool bag and it was stuffed with a complete toolset worth hundreds of dollars. Apparently, he had been spotted cutting open random tools and stuffing them inside the bag to try to sneak out with them.
What an idiot.
