You Listen To The Customers, You Get Written Up… You Can’t Win!

I work at a store that offers free membership for discounts at the register and offers via email and text. When a person signs up, the cashier must go through all the information to make sure it’s correct — name, email, phone number, and contact preferences.

One woman has somehow managed to have “HER” as a first name and “NAME” as a last name in our system. Her email is “HERNAME at HERNAME dot com” and her phone number is all fives. I’ve had her come through my line several times, and she is always aggressively against having her real information listed. I don’t get paid enough to force the subject, so I learned to only ask if the information is the way she wants it and move on.

My manager, however, is standing beside me at the register this time and sees the bogus information.

Manager: “I’m sorry, ma’am. What’s your full name so that [My Name] can get it right here?”

Woman: “Her Name.”

She glares at me.

Manager: “No, I’m sorry. I must have misspoken. We need your legal name for—”

Woman: “Her. Name.”

Manager: *Temper rising* “That cannot be your legal name.”

Woman: *Shrugs* “It’s been fine before.”

Manager: “Fine. If you will not provide honest information, we will not serve you. [My Name], go ahead to the next customer, and I will take her cart up to customer service to be returned.”

The woman has a death grip on the handlebar, and she’s practically snarling at [Manager]. They stare each other down until [Manager] throws her hands in the air.

Manager: “Fine! Fine, Ms. Name, if that’s the way you want it!”

I rang her up without any other problems, handed her the receipt, and bid her a good day.

Not long after, [Manager] called me to the office and wrote me up for allowing a customer to falsify information. I fought the write-up with upper management, stating that the customer had said several times that her name was “Her Name,” and without seeing her ID, we had no absolute proof that she was lying.

They knew I was full of crap but sided with me anyway, and the write-up was dropped. [Manager] retaliated by cutting my hours from four eight-hour shifts to two four-hour shifts per week: Saturday closing and Sunday midday.

I got a new job within two weeks and never went back.