Background: I work in the technology department of a store who's name rhymes with Naples.

( Chauvinism rant )

Dear, customers,

I ask a series of questions. I don't like it, but at the most, only one is required. That's the question where I ask you if you have our awesome rewards card. That usually comes after "How're you?" and "Did you find what you wanted today?"

A calm, considerate reply can be one of the following:

a) Yes, here it is
b) Sorry, I don't have it with me, can you look it up?
c) No, not interested

A douchebaggery, inconsiderate answer would be:

a) [icy death glare] Stop asking questions
OR
b) You ask too many questions.

I've gotten this about 4 times in the holiday season, which is fine and not necessary a C_S, but I still think it's rude. Yeah, I'm getting paid, but I'm still offering my services to you. Kindness goes a very, very long way. Especially when I'm asking you questions that might pertain to you, such as "Would you like a bag?" or "Do you want the receipt in the bag?" Yes, I've gotten that choice response after that, too, like I actually give a shit if you have to haul your one book or CD or calendar off to your Lexus.

Love,
Disgruntled Cashier

A note to the man at the bar last night:

It was totally cool that you were trying to chat with me while I was hanging out at the host stand because I only had one table. Asking me where I went to college is perfectly acceptable. Saying "Oh, man, working with the public is hard! I bet you hate your job, huh? I used to work retail. It sucks" is not so acceptable. My boss was sitting not three seats from you, for one. Also, we then had fourteen tables come in at one time with two servers and no hostess because the guy running the cabaret was seating people and not telling the servers (he was running the performance but isn't actually affiliated with the restaurant, so I guess that's another suck right there). When the other server and I are trying to figure out if we've split all the tables and not missed any? That's so not the time to pop up and ask what my major was. I was in the middle of a sentence and clearly very busy, so please don't yell at me when I ask if we can talk later.

My brother is one of the managers at a locally owned movie store. He's been there off and on for about 13 years. He see's some crazies now and again, but most of the renters are regulars.

A woman rented a movie called "sunshine cleaning"...77 days ago. After it initially being late, he calls..no answer, leaves a message letting her know it's late. Every few days they call, but no luck. Most times when this happens, the customer is dodging calls from the store, so one person might use their personal cell phone in hopes this will get the customer to answer. When they got a hold of her, she did not complain about anything. She brought the DVD back, or so they thought. It ended up being just the case. What good is a case without the DVD?

After much of her dodging, the head manager left a message,on day 60 of being late, telling her if the DVD isn't returned then it'd be considered theft and they'd file charges. This prompted her to call right back, complaining that the DVD never worked so she didn't bother putting it in the case. If it didn't work, why still have it?

When she brought it back, on day 77 of being late, she barged into the store arms flailing & screeching like a banshee on how she'd never been treated so badly and she shouldn't have to pay anything because the DVD never worked. She screamed that it ruined a work party since it wouldn't play. Employees tried to reason with her, let her know that her fee's add up to about $120 which needs to be paid. She refused to pay it. They let her know it'd hit collections if she didn't. They have her credit card on file (it's in case of late fee's they can charge it. Customers sign an agreement when they open an account), so they're currently trying to charge that card.

Oh, and the DVD played with no problem.

Reports from the tuxedo mine again. There really isn't much for us to do over the holidays much less much to complain about (other than trying to find parking, but that doesn't have anything to do with customers). However, we did take care of the tuxedos for the Symphony Guild's debutante ball this year. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but what I think it is is where the daughters of the Symphony Guild members have a 'coming out' party of sorts. The girls are presented with two marshals--generally a father and a friend--both of whom need tuxedos, as well as any guests. It's a real boon for us this time of the year.

However, I was a little worried because it sounds more like an event where the five rich people left in my rinky-dink city get together to flex their wallets at each other. Unfortunately, that was also right. While most of the people that came in were nice, several were more polite than my usual clientele, there were a handful that fit every snobby, rich-person stereotype.

Dear Entitled Assholes that I spent my Christmas with: 

NO! I am not your coat check.
NO! I will not drive an hour and a half to get you last-minute exchanges. You knew you needed to try this on.
NO! I don't think you need to steal the tuxedo, but I do have to see your license. No ID, no tux. Rental rules, bub.
NO! I am not required to take your tuxedo to the convention center.
NO! I am not required to pick up your tuxedo from the convention center. Or any of the hotels near by.
NO! I'm not going to give you a refund; you didn't try on your tuxedo, and you already got a 50% discount! Cheap-o
NO! I am not a pleb, nor am I your whipping boy. Stop talking to me like I'm a dog that peed on your rug. 

YES! This is a real job.
YES! I do have a brain, despite the fact that I don't make seven figures.
YES! I do have somewhere to be, I do not want to stay AN HOUR after the store closes just to hold your hand.
YES! I know your friend is DOCTOR Important!Pants. Stop correcting me.
YES! You have to return your tuxedo the next day, and yes I will charge you if you're late.
YES! I know that your shirt is OMGWTFBBQ!! a half inch short. Saying, "I thought you were a professional, hmm?" does not make me want to help you.

Screw you, guys. If you were so rich and so important, wouldn't you have bought a tuxedo by now? Quit bitching at me and my co-workers. Your money really doesn't make you that important. I really wish we could do something other than smile and ignore it, but this is a really bad time of the year for us and we need all the money we can get. >.< At least it's done until next year.

((Also, to the guy that defended us to one of said Entitled Assholes, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.)) 

Current Mood: tired

Today, I took my little sister to the nearby mall. We left at around 5 and shopped for 4 hours, ending at 9, when the mall closed. Our final stop was to a Victoria's Secret, because she had a store card. I browsed around for that elusive simple black bra for use with certain outfits that I could never find. By the time I stepped up to the line, there was a line 15 people long. Little sister said "aw hell no" at the sight and decided to wait for me instead of buying anything.

I stepped up to the back and started waiting when there was a call from the other side of the store. More registers opened! Great! I and about 4 other people wenat over to wait. A mother and her children were on one register as another woman is putting a large order on a second register.
( In which a grown woman acts like a child )

Current Mood: amused

Manager of an independent bookstore. Though we sell new books, we do offer an out-of-print ordering service (via abebooks.com) as many of our customers are not familiar/comfortable with the internet. For this service, we do add a markup on the book cost -- gotta pay our bills -- but it's the minimum cost-to-selling-price for the book industry. We're always up front that customers can go to abebooks.com directly if they wish to save our markup.

( Dear Madam )

On a normal day, this wouldn't bother me so much, but Canada's largest independent bookseller (and my former employer) just filed for bankruptcy protection. A hundred and seventy-five independent bookseller employees lost their jobs today.

Health insurance phone wench here. Even though we don't have anything to do with the normal retail holiday fuss and bother, the hateful attitudes people have this time of year still manage to spill over into our call center anyway.

Hey, I understand that it sucks that you have to pay your bill right now. Everyone's a little tight after the holidays. But just because you decided to buy a plasma screen, a PS3, and sixteen Blueray movies (someone actually complained about this) for Your Holiday Of Choice, doesn't mean you can verbally abuse me while you call to pay your premium. And no, I can't give you a discount/extend your pay period just because you're having a rough time paying. I especially love this when they mention that they're on unemployment. Which means they make a decent chunk of money more than I do. *bitter*

But the real kicker for today was this one lady.
( I'm going to sue you! )

I sooooo do not want to have to call this bitch back. x____X

Dear Sir/Madam,

Those newspapers are COMPLIMENTARY. That means WE pay for them so YOU can read them for free. Therefor, don't bitch and moan during the lunch rush when there are no newspapers free. We have a full house, odds are, they've already been grabbed by other customers. What do you expect me to do about it? Snatch a paper off another customer? Run over to the newsagency, thereby leaving a flat-chat cafe one staff member down, to get another paper? I don't think so.

And when I suggest that there's a newsagency close by and that you have plenty of time to get your own paper before you meal is ready, PLEASE do not reply with a snarly/huffy 'well, I'm not PAYING for it'. Dude, you just spent $20+ on your meal. If you're too cheap to pay for a $1.50 paper, then you're clearly not THAT concerned about catching up on current events.

Love me.

Ironically, we usually end up with far more papers from people who buy their own and then donate them to us. I guess 'cos you don't have much use for a paper once you've read it, so I can kind of understand people's irritation at having to buy one or go without. But seriously? Expecting one to ve available in the middle of a lunch rush? And getting pissed if they're not? I don't think so.

Someone at my new job asked me the longest I ever had to stay after close at my restaurant job.

I told him this story, which happened years ago. It wasn't the longest I ever stayed, but it was the most maddening.

At about five minutes to close, we had a table of 4 men come in. They were not my table, but the other closer's, so I sat them. They were not my favorite table, as we had been customer-free for almost an hour and would have gotten out exactly at one, but they were in before close, so not sucky (yet).

I finished up a few things and at one sharp locked the doors. The other closer took their order and by ten after one they had their food in front of them.

At 1:30, they are almost done eating when one of them waves me over. Not seeing my coworker around, I go over and ask what I can help him with. He hold his cell phone up and says that they have someone who is outside and can't get in.

I apologize and say that the doors are locked as we closed half an hour ago. He says 'Oh' and starts to talk to the people at his table. I head towards the back to finish closing the restaurant.

When I come back to the front of house, I immediately notice their is a new person at their table, looking at a menu.

They had opened the doors and let someone in our locked restaurant.

I gaped for a little then headed for the office to see what the manager decided to do- which was let their server decide. She decide to do so, even though everything in the kitchen had been turned off so the food choices were limited.

I got to ignore them until the left- they weren't my table so I could avoid looking at them. But I did get to hear the complaints the woman made about not getting her fried chicken.