Retail Hell Underground

Target Cart Attendant Has Day From Bathroom Hell

From Target Slave: As a cart attendant, this is the kind of shit I have to deal with daily working at Target. Literally.

I covered up the mess for those of you who have queasy tummies or may be snacking or drinking while reading. If you'd like to see just how shitty this little Target piggy was click the pick or

CLICK HERE

 

 

 

 

Hilarious Text-to-Movie Animation of Walmart's Worst Custy

True story, this really happened. --Walmart's Bitch

 

 

So true in all forms of Retail Hell...I had this at The Big Fancy as well...what can you do but laugh about it at the end of the day! --Freddy

 

 

Retail Hell Story Time 2-Fer: Awkward Custy Moment and Mistaken Custy Identity

From Duke Of URL:

Here's a couple of  short anecdotes that are too short for a submission on their own.

The first one is from back when I was working at a computer store in Ogden, UT. I was in the back room where the computers get repaired. The daughter of one of the owners, who was then about 10-12 years old, came in so I greeted her in my customary fashion for greeting children I'm familiar with: "Hey shorty! (not that she's short for her age, it's just a thing I say to kids)"

Unbeknownst to me, there was a customer just on the other side of the door.

This lady was of small stature.

Luckily, she's a longtime customer and understood that I wasn't talking to her, since I didn't even know she was there.

*    *    *

The second one is much more recent, from a few weeks ago. A fellow associate came up to me at work and asked if I knew how to get fish from the aquarium.

Being that the pet department is one of the most understaffed in the entire store, most or all of the folks in the adjacent departments, especially the garden center, are trained to get fish, too, and I'm no exception. I wasn't sure which department he was in, but I took him over to the fish tanks.

There was a customer there - this detail is important. I proceeded to show him how to prepare the bag, which tools to use and where they're located, all that good stuff, and have him get the fish and put them into the bag. I demonstrated the procedure to tie it up in such a way as to leave a bunch of air at the top, then wrote in marker on the bag to identify the type (UPC) and quantity of the fish, then handed him the bag.

Well, as it turns out, the fish were for him, and the customer at the tank didn't even want anything. So in essence I just made a customer, who happened to also work at the store, get his own fish!

He wasn't upset about that, and I inquired about his fish's well-being a few times after that.

--Duke Of URL

 

Shopping Cart Wins Oily Battle

From Mick: Royal Oil Rumble at the Kmart in Caledonia, WI.

Kcart defeats Kcart for the coveted super xxx motor oil trophy.

Fed Up Retail Slave Changes Stores, Leaves Brutally Honest Exit Interview

From Melpomene:

So my last submission was about there being the possibility of a weekend manager role coming up. Which meant I put my job hunt on hold and jumped through hoops for the acting store manager and area manager. The new Store Manager came in, and I went into the store on one of my days off to introduce myself and ask about whether the weekend manager roles were something he was considering (he'd been in store 2 weeks at that point and I'd never met him) "No." No explanation, just no.

So I said "What I was interested in about the roles, was the chance to be trained to carry out counseling and disciplinary sessions, in order to nip any problems in the bud before they go too far. Is this something you would think about doing?"

"Yes,we can look into that" at which point he turned and started making a personal phone call. Ok, our little meeting is over then? Thanks. Basically I came out of that feeling really put off. I'd gone in to meet my store manager, and he just stared at me through most of it, as though I was a zoo exhibit, giving me the briefest answers possible. He had no manners, and it all seemed very surreal.

So no manager role.  Bum. I got a phone call from one of the places I'd applied for, asking if I wanted an interview, and my head nearly exploded with joy! There was a little voice in my head shrieking "YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!"

It then started screaming "OH MY GOD! WHAT are you DOING?!?!" as I heard myself say "No thank you, I am no longer interested in the job".

I was so shocked by what I'd said that I sat on my bed with my head spinning for a good ten minutes.

Oh well. Just had to restart the job hunt. I applied at a supermarket I shall call Asquith, which is owned by Hellmart.  I know, I know, the stories you guys tell about Hellmart should mean that I shouldn't even consider it in a million years. But I applied. Largely because they pay better than Primevil. (Primevil over 21 get £6.11, a supervisor gets £6.71. At Asquith I'd start on £6.54 and it goes up to £6.95 after probation, plus I'd get night rate after 10pm which is £8 odd - score!) I got the job as a runner, which apparently is unusual - they normally train people up to be runners instead of hiring in, but the job is basically the same as Primevil supervisor, only a lot less paperwork, and no responsibility (obviously, there  is some, but I mean responsibility for other people. I won't have to sort out breaks, shift cover, return to work interviews, probation reviews - nothing like that).

I've started my second week there now, and I'm actually really enjoying it so far. The other staff all seem really nice, my section leader is totally crazy, and the customers are the same people I've encountered in every job I've had in this city.

I kept it fairly quiet at Primevil that I was leaving though. One of the other supervisors (the second longest serving one, after me, who would also have been eligible for the manager role) arranged a card and a collection for me. My last day was really low key, and my exit interview was fun to write. I said I thought it was disgusting that when the air conditioning had broken the previous week, and the heating had turned itself on (this happened in the middle of a heatwave) staff were fainting and being told by the SM that they couldn't leave. Not one member of the higher management team was on the shop floor supporting the staff, or even acknowledging that it was stupidly hot and telling them we appreciated everything they were doing.

I also said I was outraged that they placed more importance on getting staff upstairs to complete an optional staff opinion survey ON A SATURDAY than they placed on customer service. I had to send till ops off to do this bloody survey when every single floor had a queue stretching halfway across the floor. How is that good customer service? How is that keeping staff happy for that matter, because the ones that are left have to apologize over and over again and take the abuse customers throw at them about the length of the queue.

I mentioned that my role as a supervisor did not include HR, and if they wished to change people's contracts and cut their hours it is totally unacceptable to force me to do that (there is a SM, ASM, HR manager, HM assistant, 2 senior Department Managers, 2 DMs, and 5 trainee managers - why are contract changes the responsibility of a supervisor? Especially when the majority of them weren't my floor?). So my exit interview was not the sweet and lovely one that most people give.

I did say that my direct manager is amazing (because she is - I genuinely love her to bits) and that I'd miss all my colleagues, but I said that morale is appalling and the higher managers need to do something, even if it's just walking the floor and saying thanks (New SM never did speak to me again after I'd gone in to introduce myself by the way, he just walks past everyone on the shop floor ignoring them all, on his single walk round per week at high speed, and then phones the floor manager to tell her it's all looking good - the man is apparently blind as well as pig ignorant and rude)

Anyway, I have since found out that the other supervisor who worked on my floor (I find her rude, lazy and unnecessarily rude to staff - she's made several of them cry in the past) has had 4 complaints about her in about 12 hours of work. The staff are complaining that she's rude to them, that she's heavy handed, aggressive and demeaning. She's unfair in her treatment of them and expects them to work in silence.

Once girl was telling a colleague "Those trousers are on the gondola over there" and got "That's your SECOND warning" barked at her, leaving her stood wondering 1) how is she supposed to help her colleagues, and 2) what the hell was her first warning? I have talked to a load of the staff in the last couple of days, and already they hate it. Several are looking for new jobs, the rest are asking to transfer floors.

So I think my wish is coming true. I am enjoying the new job, and the old place is falling apart without me. I think overall this is a massive win!

--Melpomene

 

Custy Decides To Reject In The Pet Aisle

 ...aaand the dog wins! From Humor Me.

 

Trick Treat Bag Win

Old Lady Hell: Custys Want To Create Their Own Layaway Plan

Fred's Photo Slut again and apparently, I am the holder of Fuck Meyer secrets. Yesterday was a crazy busy day for some reason. Maybe because it was Friday and people are starting to get the Christmas shopping buzz. Who knows.

So McGee and I are taking advantage of a short break between bursts of custys with some conversation. This doesn't last long as I have to greet an elderly woman and her sister when they enter the department. 

"Hey ladies! Anything I can help you with today?"

Older Sister: "Do you guys do layaway?"

"No, we stopped doing layaway a long time ago. I think I was in middle school when Fuck's stopped doing it."

OS: "HellMart is doing layaway this year."

"Yeah, I saw that on TV. I can get you an application for the Fuck Meyer's Rewards Visa."

OS: *dumb look* "We're just going to look around."

"Alright, let me know if you have any questions."

McGee and I continue our conversation and talk about the pros and cons of layaway. When I am again approached by Older Sister.

OS: "Why don't you do layaway?"

"I don't know. They stopped doing it a long time before I started working here. Probably an inventory issue."

OS: "Well, HelllMart and KMart do it. I really wanted to put a Kindle on layaway."

"Yeah, I'm aware of this, but we do not."

OS: "You can't hold something for me for a few weeks?"

"No, I can only hold something until closing tonight."

OS: "Looks like I'll be shopping at HellMart then. You're losing business now"

"OK, have a good afternoon." *cue eye roll*

I was half tempted to yell for McGee, GRAB THE CONFETTI AND RELEASE THE BALLOONS! SHE FIGURED US OUT!!! SHE KNOWS ABOUT OUR SUPER SECRET LAYAWAY!! PUT A KINDLE AND A 55" 3D TV IN OUR SUPER SECRET LAYAWAY FOR THIS CLEVER OLD FOX!!! SHE IS TOO WISE AND DESERVES A SPOT IN OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM!

26 Days until Black Friday...let's keep our sanity, fellow RHU's.

Cheers,

Fred's Photo Slut

Tale of a Nasty Ass Thieving Cashier

Hey RHU! My name's Cube, and I am a big fan of the site, despite being a Chronic Custy at the moment.

So, I figured I'd submit a tale from the other side of the counter. Allow me to tell you the tale of how one Nasty Ass Thief tried stealing a birthday present right from under our noses.

It was about five years ago. I was a sophomore in high school at the time, and my younger brother (who I shall refer to as Skipper, as he is currently payed to pretend to be one on a certain ride with a certain shark at a certain theme park) and I were going to purchase a birthday present for our father at a store I'll call Dartboard for now.

Now, Daddy Dearest is notoriously difficult to shop for, so Skipper and I decided we would go with a Dartboard Gift Card. Better than a tie, at least. So we spend some time in the Card Aisle, looking for a birthday card that'll make the old man chuckle a bit when we go to see him. Having figured all that out, we headed to the checkout lanes, grabbed a gift card from the rack, and game face to face with a with a rather rotund cashier. We place the birthday card and gift card on the counter, and get ready for checkout.

At this point, I roll a natural twenty on my spot check, and notice the cashier has two identical gift cards in her hand.

Me: Uh, hey? Why do you have two gift cards in your hand?

Cashier: Oh, I jus' gotta do this to put em' through the system, ya know?

Me: ...Just make sure you give us the right one, okay?

Now, I consulted with Skipper, who was a retail slave at the local Grocery Store, and he told me that cashiers have to do weird stuff like this all the time. That didn't stop me from being a bit suspicious. Still, I am a trusting soul. I figured she wouldn't steal from a pair of young teens. Especially not considering the fact that they had a brightly colored card on the counter that read "Happy Birthday" on it. Since, you know, stealing fifty bucks from a pair of kids is kind of one of the douchiest things you can possibly do. Still, I held onto the receipt. 

So, cut forward about a week, we had given our Dad the gift, and he decided to head over to the local Dartboard to pick up some stuff. We get to the counter, he pulls out the gift card, this cashier swipes it. And then...

"I'm sorry sir, this card was never activated."

... That bitch stole fifty bucks from a pair of kids.

Cue a trip back to the Dartboard where this NAT worked, receipt in hand. The good news is that everyone else at Dartboard was super helpful, especially with the Incriminating Slip as evidence. 

As for the NAT, as far as I know she got thrown out on her ass. We got our gift card returned, and all was right with the world. Hell, five years later and I'm applying for some part time work there while I go to college. 

I do wonder what happened to that NAT though. I wonder what she did with that gift card?

--Cube the Chronic Custy

Hellmart Halloween Aisle Hell

Old lady on The Simpsons: "I want all my groceries in one bag. But I don't want that bag to be heavy!"

Bagger: "That's not possible, ma'am"

Old lady: "What are you, the possible police? Just do it!"

And thus begins a mass walkout of retail slaves in an episode of The Simpsons. However, that old lady's mindset isn't just a fictional thing; oh no, not by far.

Someone in charge of purchasing Halloween items for the Hellmart in which I work, doesn't really know what they're doing. Duke of URL here, with yet another story from my new job.

My department is in charge of seasonal items, including Halloween costumes/decorations and Christmas decorations and other non-gift Christmas items. Trees, lights, ornaments, standalone decorations like these inflatable trees which Santa pops in and out of, or inflatable Santas, etc., we cover it all.

When I started, the Halloween aisle was already set up and we were making room for Christmas stuff. But this isn't about the Christmas stuff, it's about Halloween.

Like I said above, the purchaser doesn't know what they're doing. They ordered too much of everything, they want us to fit everything into a space that'll accommodate 1/3 of it, and when something fails to sell, they order more of it, letting the popular items run out and the unpopular ones overflow the area.

The result: It took three people, four man-hours (a lady from the Fabrics department spent two hours, then me and a co-worker from my department took over for another hour) to get it looking halfway decent - with all the product off of the floor (except the box that someone had left that was supposed to be overstock) and as much as possible on the wall.

The wall hangers are so overloaded that the sheer weight of the costumes is causing the pegboard to give way, breaking around the holes and necessitating, whenever possible, that the hanger be moved. And this whole situation isn't helped by the fact that we're more shorthanded now than when I was hired. In addition to the loss of a coworker I mentioned in my previous story, we also have another lady out for surgery for two weeks.

Lucky her, she gets to come back just in time for Halloween! Another lady injured her eye on the corner of a Halloween costume the other day, but after taking a half-day off she was back to work.

Granted, a good deal of the mess is from custys - but I can't blame them now for what is essentially a problem brought on by whoever it is ordering the wrong things and too much of everything for Halloween. 

Even the best of custys would just throw up their hands and say "not my problem" when faced with this; all you can really expect from any custy is that they put stuff back the way they found it and don't throw stuff on the floor - granted, there's a great number who don't even do that much.

The worst is the NAT leavings - empty or partially empty packaging.

Well this rant is turning into a ramble so I'll end it on a positive note.

The other day, I was once again watching the door. A lady and her young son came in. I did my standard greeting of "how are you today" and I forget what the mother said but the kid blurted out "You're handsome!"

That just made my day right there.

--Duke of URL

 

From The 9th Circle of Retail Hell: Christmas in September, Ungrateful Crazy Ladies, and F-bombing Entitled Custys

Why do we have Christmas stuff starting in SEPTEMBER?

 
From Bloody Register Slave:

Three scary custy tales from the 9th circle of hell.

All from the past week:

A crusty comes through my line at about 6:30 PM. He's got only a few items and is generally pleasant. After his transaction, he asks me to split his $100 bill. Well, I can only open the drawer if I:

1. am giving someone cash back

2. am doing a cash transaction

3. have a supervisor on hand

None of these were the case. Nor did I have a walkie talkie to call a supervisor. I explained these things to Mr. Crusty, who only repeated his request louder and angrier. He began to rant about why can't we help him, he wants a manager, etc, etc.

I tell him calmly that if I knew where a manager was, I could just get him his change. I search for one. He threatens to cut up his member card. And there's my supervisor all of a sudden, right in time for Mr. Crusty to complain about my lack of cooperativeness despite him yelling for 5 minutes with a line buildin behind him. ._.

*    *    *    *

Chicken lady was even more special.

Have you ever seen an elderly woman wander around with a box containing a rotisserie chicken in her arms whining, wailing and complaining that the box is too big and why don't have have smaller ones or plastic bags and she's a PAYING CUSTOMER wah wah wah? 'Cause I have. Even her son, who was with her, kept asking her to stop, and thanked me when I explained for the third time why that wasn't going to work, but that after I rung up her son I could see if I could get her a smaller box. Which I did. Was she happy? No. She just got quieter.

*    *    *    *

My poor supervisor was on the wrong end of a bomb tonight.

This guy came up to my register buying stuff for his restaurant. He was getting some food and some to-go containers, but he wanted full-size ones, not the hoagie-style he had. So I got my supervisor, COS(Check Out Supervisor) Newbie(he's the youngest and newest super), to help him out.

The custy asked COS Newbie to check on his computer whether or not we had the containers, so COS Newbie got on his handheld and did just that. Unfortunately, we were out of them, and he respectfully told the custy that.

Custy asked for a manager, so COS Newbie got him one. Custy's impatience was what should have tipped me off. But I was completely unprepared for what happened when the manager, Blue(he goes by this nickname in store), showed up, and asked what was wrong.

Custy: You need to get people who care about their damn jobs in here!

Blue: ...What happened?

Custy: I needed the full size to go containers that you always have and this ASSHOLE (*points at COS Newbie*) wouldn't go and check! I asked him to look it up on his computer!

Blue: Did he?

Custy: NO! He should have gotten his lazy ass back there to look! Well, I'm going to COSTHELL. (delivered as if it's a deathly threat)

Blue led him away and talked soothingly to him, but custy managed to get in a few f-bombs before this happened.

Poor COS Newbie could barely believe it. I just wanted to give him a hug.

--Bloody Register Slave

 

 

Custy Rejects PJs In Favor of Diet

"I can totally fit into a small instead of this medium if I just diet first..."

 

From Bloody Register Slave.

 

 

 

Costco Hell: Custy Returns Rotten Fruit

From CSI:

Someone returned these today. Got all their money back. It is people like these that make me so mad; how long have they been holding onto this?

This just goes to show how much I wanna reiterate...food goes bad! But don't worry.....apparently you can buy stuff and if you happen to not eat it just come get your money back!

I wish people would understand that when you do returns on stuff like this you are hurting the employees in the store. They cut our hours to.compensate.

Oh well at least they returned the whole product. The other day someone returned 2 cherries..1 cucumber..1 fig. They got a full refund on everything. Too bad we haven't even had cherries for over a month now. I still wonder what happened to the rest of the cucumbers and figs too. Lol.

--CSI

Jesus Christ is a Retail Slave! Just Ask Walmart or Nintendo

From Queer Geek:

Guess what RHU?!?

The second coming of our Lord and Savior has finally arrived! Yes, Jesus has made his appearance known by showing up in the clouds, window panes, a tortilla, and even a potato chip. Now he is conquering the retail world by making a surprise cameo for consumers. Check it this story out as he surprises an old school gamer on a Ninetendo box!

A Maryland woman said she was surprised to find what appears to be an image of Jesus Christ on the top of a used Nintendo Entertainment System she purchased on eBay for $31 this week.

Brittany Wampler, 24, tells Kotaku she noticed the image shortly after unpacking two NES consoles, she purchased from an eBay seller. Story here: http://kotaku.com/5844362/jesus-appears-on-miracle-nintendo-says-maryland-woman

Then again, he did pop in Wal-Mart a few months ago:

 

 

See even Jesus is a retail slave!

--Queer Geek

 

Hellmart Slave Makes a Bad Decision on Break and Pays The Consequences

Duke of URL here with my first tale from Hellmart, where I was recently hired.

This Hellmart is short-staffed and the personnel department is overloaded with the amount of new hires they're taking on - even moreso since one of the two personnel folks is away in the meat department for a few weeks.

Eight people were orientated on the day I was hired, eight the following week. So it comes as no surprise that often folks will have to take on another task than the one for which they were hired.

Such was the case today, when I was filling in for the greeter in the Garden Center, which is normally my section anyway but I'm not a greeter. This sets the stage for the events that follow, and the unfortunate consequences to the one most involved.

One of my coworkers, we'll call her Jamie, went on break. As she was heading out, she mentioned that she would be taking a look at a car she was thinking about buying, which was out in the parking lot.

Nothing of importance happened for about 10 minutes, then I heard a crash. I turn around and look, and when traffic cleared I saw that a car, a midsize sedan, had crashed into several of the displays of bricks in the parking lot.

I immediately ran to make sure whoever was in the car was OK, and quickly noticed a "for sale" sign in the window.

At that point I knew who was behind the wheel - Jamie. I asked her if she was OK and then a man who I believe was the owner of the car also came up. After making sure she was OK I went back to my post.

I asked her if I should locate a member of management and she said no, which in hindsight is really dumb because even if that's policy, someone in that situation is likely gonna try to get out of it.

A few minutes later, my coworkers from the Garden Center came out and saw what had happened, and it wasn't long before management was out there as well.

My department manager had already gone home for the day, but the Shift Manager (directly below the Store Manager) was out there as well as at least two managers I didn't know, and the overworked personnel lady.

At one point the police showed up, too, took statements from Jamie and probably a few others, though not from me. There were no injuries, the car was only scratched, but a pallet was destroyed and possibly some product as well, which I couldn't tell from my vantage point.

However, the worst part was that Jamie was fired.

She was a nice lady, though she seemed a bit dim.

--Duke of URL

 

Retail Slave Written Up For Having Childhood Cancer

Hello all in Retail Hell, NoFucksGiven again.

I was reading this post by Laughing Barista and it made me remember of something shitty that the Witch from Dicks did.

Before I go into to it I should say that when I was a kid I had bone cancer in my left femur 3 times. I'm alright now and I'm 10 years cancer free!!! But sometimes, my left leg gets stiff and throbs and I limp when on it for a while. I tend to stretch it out when it gets stiff. (important info for later)

We had an LP audit at my location because frankly...our store sucked and it was a red alert store. Many LP people came and our DM, as well as the regional manager. It was also crazy busy too, so answering LP question while checking out/ helping customers caused me much stress.

During my 7th hour working with no break in sight my leg started shaking and was in much pain. EVERYONE, bosses, coworkers, and some regular knew of the cancer I had so when they stretch it, they knew I was in pain.

I was dying down and I took all of 5 seconds stretching it when the Witch, DM, and RM came up to me. Here's hat was said (and I'm paraphrasing since it was a while back)

Witch: What do you think you're doing?

Me: Just stretching. My leg is in pain.

RM: If you can't preform the simplest of tasks as a CSS then you can always be a customer.

Me: I had bone cancer as a child and I've been standing 7hrs straight with no break.

DM: Then why didn't you regulate your break? 

Me: I regulated all the cashiers, but I was told MY break will be inconvenient because of the rush and was also told to wait until the rush as gone.

Witch: When there are no customers you are to be doing other tasks and I caught you slacking off and doing nothing. We are not paying you to do nothing.

Me: With all due respect, I haven't had a break because you said I couldn't until the rush was gone. I did your job and mine while these gentleman are here, which I have no problem with because we are team. But you have not had cancer and you don't know how bad this hurts and if I can take 5 seconds to stretch, I will be fine.

Witch: Consider this your break then.

Then they walk away. I was at the point of tears I was so angry.

After my shift finally ended the Witch, DM and RM called me into the office with write up papers for you guessed it. INSUBORDINATION.

I refused to sign it. I couldn't call HR, since HR was basically THERE. I called the BBB, and a month after that incident the Witch wrote me up for something else so it wouldn't look like she was punishing me for speaking up. As CSS I had to check in all shipment and document it in our log..and I put the previous day's date as that day by mistake, so she wrote me up for a paperwork error.

For a company that prides themselves on their charitable xmas time events for St. Judes Children Cancer Research Center, they certainly employs and sides with management who punishes  their workers....FOR HAVING CHILDHOOD CANCER.

So if you're at Dicks during xmas time, don't make your St Judes donation there; write a check to the hospital instead :)

--NoFucksGiven

 

RANT: Bad Grocery Store Produce: Custys Should Take Some of The Blame

So I am writing today because of something I run into on a daily basis...bad produce.

Bad produce you say..why yes bad produce, but not in the sense you may think. It is custys who complain about the bad produce.

Lets get something straight here..

1) Heat absolutely destroys produce/most foods.

2) Custys picking through the produce also destorys quite a bit of it.

3) Sometimes stores just get bad product.

4) Food goes bad!!! I dont know how much more I can reiterate this!

5) I am only ONE person working to the best of my ability to make sure only the best produce is for sale!

6) See #5

7)See #6

So why is it that custys wanna come in and destroy my displays and then complain the product is bad!?!?

First off they probably messed up/ruined some of it in their attack on the display. Second, see the above reasons! They come to me all disgusted saying this or that is bad and are really upset about it.

Worst is when they go to the managers about it! Do you realize how hard I bust my ass everyday? Now you wanna sick the manager on me because I can't keep up with them shipping bad product and custys destroying parts of it too?!?!

These last few months have been/ are the worst months for produce because the weather sucks! Seriously I wanna tell these people to fuck off! I wanna repeat all the above stated reasons! I wanna tell them, "fine go to the grocery store!"

Honestly, if it is that bad then just don't buy it! But alas I cannot say these things. I bite my tongue and say, "I am so sorry and I will look into it immediately."

I continue on with my day and wait until that rare custy comes and thanks me for doing a good job. It really turns your day around when the custys actually care.

Now if only I could get those rare custys to fill out comment cards...it's the only way it reaches the management.

Until Next Time,

--CSI

 

Checkout Custy Supports All Kinds of Trees

From Anonymous Retail Slave:

Just a funny story I gotta tell everyone about. 

My friend was working POS and I was in Jewelry (totally not paying attention) C was checking out a lady and she bagged her items up. 

The customer tells her that she does not need a bag she likes to save trees. 

We use plastic bags. 

C tells her that we use plastic bags and the lady says:

"Yes, I like to save plastic trees too."

Has anyone seen a plastic tree in the wild? Would love to know where are bags are coming from.

Well keep saving those plastic trees!

--love the kids ur parents told u about!

Retail Hell 2-Fer: Bullseye Memories of Entitled Custys and Heavenspawn

Bookstore Slave with a pair of Bullseye stories.

My Bullseye job was brief, because in the middle of the Great Recession of '08 (and beyond) I failed to hand out enough credit cards for the whopping 18%-22% interest, and for SOME reason, I took "No" for an answer instead of, I dunno, holding them at gunpoint and forcing them to take one.

Well, from the memory banks of this ridiculous job, I have two stories.

The first story involves a jerk who was outraged that he wasn't the center of my universe. Realizing mid-transaction that he needed one more thing, he left his items and WALKED AWAY from the registers.

I blinked a few times and suspended the transaction, figuring he'd be back whenever or if-ever and set the resulting slip aside. His items were bagged in preparation of his possible eventual return, just to shave a new seconds more off the time he had to wait.

I helped three people in the time it took him to return. He returned halfway through the third person and stood glowering at me in rage that I DARED help someone else, despite being allowed to slip into line just behind the person I was currently helping.

The other custys understood and had no problem waiting the 10 whole seconds it took to retrieve his transaction and add his new thingamajig. He even chewed me out, declaring that I "knew" he was coming back. I knew no such thing, nor did I know exactly how far he needed to go to get his all important last minute item. I told him as much, and he paid for his shit and stormed off to Customer Service to complain about my behavior.

When they told him that I could not refuse to serve other customers while he was out of line, he demanded a manager, who told him the same thing. He then stormed out of the store, berating all of us loudly. Life must suck now that scientists have proven that you're not the center of the universe, eh bucko?

The second regards much happier story:

A young kid doing as the adults do and buying what he wanted.

Under Dad's guiding eyes, he waited patiently in line, put his toy on the conveyer belt, waited for the total and counted out his money.

He paid, smiled, said "Yes please" to a bag and strode off proud as could be that he was a Big Boy who could buy his toys.

Then he said "Oh wait a minute" to dad and ran back to get a high five from me for a job well done!

He was so happy, friendly, polite and well behaved that I couldn't help grinning and chuckling for hours afterward. 

I guess it's the small triumphs of a happy little kid that make us jaded retail slaves happy too. (Dear Custys, PLEASE raise your kids to be like this one, I'm begging you!)

That's all from me for now!

--Bookstore Slave

 

Custy Doesn't Notice Being Helped Twice By The Same Person

Hello again from Canadaland, fellow RHU'ers, this is Spazzcat.

I hope the back-to-school season hasn't driven too many of you to mass-murder. Goodness knows I wanted to smack the hordes of custys coming into the store days before, or even after the beginning of school and then complaining that we're sold out of crayons, duotangs, markers, 2" binders, white erasers, and all but the most expensive gluesticks.

Life at the big Z has not been too terrible as of late, aside from the last Moonlight Madness sale when we had just finished signing the weekly ad when we were informed that we were supposed to do the MM sale signs first. No one told us this sooner, meaning we had about an hour and a half for three of us (myself, Flower, and Joy, as I shall call them) to sign for the MM flyer. Meaning practically all of bedding, and a ton of other stuff. But, in a heroic effort, we pulled it off!

Aside from that, I do have a custy story that wasn't bad, merely entertaining.

I was taking back an armload of stationary returns to the department, where I encountered an older woman custy (Mother custy, or MC) and her adult daughter (daughter custy, or DC), who were looking for some school supplies. I overheard MC trying to explain to DC what duotangs were, and knowing I had a few (probably the only ones in the store) in the returns in my arms, I pulled them out and handed to her. MC was grateful, but needed seven when we only had three, so I suggested she try a drug store, since they get school supplies but tend to be the last to sell out since people forget about them (keep this in mind for a little later).

MC and DC look for a few more things while I put away some of the returns around them. MC then asks me about one of the items on the school list she has, earbud headphones, not knowing what they are. So I explain carefully what they are, and tell her they'll be in our electronics department.

Then one of our electronics people, who I shall call Snake, pages me to call her. I do, and she wants me to cover her break, so I head over there, collecting the keys from Snake and paging a break cover.

Maybe a minute after I arrive there, in walk MC and DC. DC asks me where the headphones are. I respond "Right over this way, you're looking for the earbuds, right?" and show the two custies our earbud selection. I help them find a cheap pair and take them up to the register to ring them in. At this point, the conversation goes a little like this:

MC: Do you have a drugstore in this mall?

Me (momentarily being a derp): Well, we do have a pharmacy just over there. *points to instore pharmacy*

MC: No, she said to go to a drugstore. (Note the wording there, readers.)

Me: *lightbulb* Ah, yes, that was me. We do have a Shoppers at the other end of the mall.

MC goes wide-eyed and apologizes. I just laugh and repeat that yes, I was the one who had just helped them in stationary, and that's how I knew exactly what they were looking for. MC looks at DC and asks if she noticed it was the same person, to which DC says yes. I finish ringing up all their supplies and give them detailed directions to the Shoppers before wishing them a nice day.

It gave me a good laugh, and makes a great story, but it also makes me realize just how many customers only see us as walking uniforms.

Best wishes and good custys to my fellow RHU'ers!

--Spazzcat