The Complaint Doesn’t Fit(ting Room)

(I have been assigned the fitting rooms for this shift and cannot move away from them during this time. In fact, we had a talk at the beginning of that very shift stating that we must, under no circumstances, leave the fitting room unattended. A customer approaches…)

Customer: *carrying an item from women’s wear on the other side of the shop floor* “Do you have this in a 16? I couldn’t find one on the rack.”

Me: “I’m afraid I don’t know. I’ll call someone over to assist you.”

Customer: “Why can’t you help me?”

Me: *while ringing reception* “Sadly, the fitting room isn’t allowed to be left unattended, and that item is on the other side of the store.”

(I reach reception and they put out an announcement for a colleague to come to the fitting room.)

Me: “That’s the announcement. Someone should be down soon.”

Customer: *staring at me expectantly for about half a minute* “Well?”

Me: “Well, what?”

Customer: “Aren’t you going to help me?”

Me: “Madam, as I have already said the fitting room can’t be left unattended. Another colleague will be down in a moment to assist you.”

(I turn to another customer who has just exited the fitting room and when I turn back I see the other customer gone, so assume she has been attended to. Another minute or so goes by when the colleague who was called down arrives.)

Colleague: “Sorry, I got interrupted by another customer on the way down.”

Me: “That’s fine. If she hasn’t been seen to already, she might still be wandering around.”

(I look around briefly before letting my colleague continue the search. Another half an hour goes by before my colleague and the on-duty manager approach me.)

Manager: “We’ve had a complaint put in against you, about being uncooperative with a customer’s request.”

Me: *shocked* “My goodness. Did they say what I did?”

Manager: “She said she came to you asking for help finding something, and you refused to help before completely ignoring her.”

Me: *remembering the customer* “But I called [Colleague] down to help. I couldn’t leave the fitting room. What else was I supposed to do?”

Colleague: *to manager* “He’s right, [Manager]. You told us if we needed anything we had to call down instead of helping. And I helped the customer as I was walking down, not even realising it was her I was called down for.”

Manager: “I know. But we can’t ignore the complaint and you’ll have to be written up, [My Name]. [Colleague] will take over for you.”

(In my disciplinary meeting, we went through the fitting room procedure and it was agreed I had done everything correctly, but still was in the wrong because of the customer’s complaint. When asked if I would consider doing additional training, despite proving I was already competent, I instead requested to no longer be assigned fitting room duty. This didn’t happen, however, and I later found out that employees that management didn’t like were put on the fitting room because that is an area where most complaints come from. From that point on I disregarded the procedure and assisted customers in anyway I could. I was never written up for it and to date it remains my one and only complaint while working there for five years. I later moved onto admin and eventually left the company after finishing university because the management was so bad. From what I hear, the staff at that store routinely change, with those loyal to company telling me whenever I dare to shop there that things have only gotten worse.)