Retail Hell Underground

Psycho Crustys Throw Things During Black Friday Hell

Hello RHU, it's Rayven. I wish to share a Black Friday Memory with you. Let me say that if not for very close friends having to work Black Friday, I would have stayed inside working on a turkey induced coma. No, instead I left the land of safety and apple cider with rum to go bring much needed coffee and coffee gift cards to the retail slaves. The line wasn't too bad, people were for the most part polite and not shoving. That all changed once the doors opened.

My first clue to immediately going home came at Overpriced Makeup Store. I've grabbed coffee and baked goods for Rainbow (adorable gay slave with multicolored hair and Ke$ha makeup) and the girls. I'm making my way through the crowd when suddenly the woman at the register to be known as Discount Rat Bitch 1 or DRB1, starts throwing every piece of make up in front of her at Rainbow while screaming at the top of her lungs. She then ran out still screaming.

Rainbow's Manager, aka RM, let Rainbow step away to clean up and while dropping off goodies I managed to find out that DRB1 had lost her shit because Rainbow refused to break policy and sell her over the limit of OMS's $10 specials. DRB1 felt that because she was second tier customer program member that the rules for limited items suddenly didn't apply.

Rainbow and the others thanked me for the liquid gold and I hot footed it to Blue Electronic store.

...I really should have gone home.

Instead I go and price check a DJ deck I've had my eye on, grab and soda and a fresh pack of batteries and then got in my friend BBSlave's line. In front of me is DRB2. Once she gets to checking out it starts off like normal until she drops this gem, "And since you ran out of two hot ticket items I came for I expect insanely steep discount on the rest of this."

I'll give BBSlave credit for not laughing in this woman's face, because I would have. Instead, very politely BBSlave explains that he cannot do that. Now anyone who's been at BES during Black Friday knows that hot ticket items are limited and if you didn't get a slip/ticket for one while outside odds are slim on you getting one, once the frenzy has begun.

"Well that won't do. Do you know how long I stood in that line for? I'm not leaving without something being done to make up for my missed items!"

I don't have to turn around to know there are 10-20 people behind me ready to just toss her out of the store headfirst.

"Ma'am, as I said I cannot really authorize something like that. Everyone knew in advance we would have only so many of X and Y ticket items and that they needed to make sure to have slips for them, to ensure they got one."

BBSlave is one of those retail slaves who can present bad news in such a way you really can't argue too much with him over it. He's giving DRB2 every ounce of charm he has and thankfully it works. She pays for her things, while muttering about how BES doesn't give a damn about their customers.

Thinking that the end of things I step up, hand over my two items and set BBSlave's coffee card on the counter.

BBSlave: "You didn't."

Me: "Do you think I came out for my health? Well that and I needed to know how much I am gonna blow on Tuesday when I get paid."

BBSlave: "Well I do owe you a birthday gift so come in after my shift and we can use my discount."

And that's when all hell broke loose. DRB2 heard the magic word and came charging the register, shoved me out of the way (and into the second register) and threw the something at BBSlave's head (later found out it was a GPS unit).

DRB2: "WHY IS THAT SOMALI BI*** GETTING A DISCOUNT?! SHE'S JUST BUYING SODA AND BATTERIES. WHY IS SHE SO SPECIAL?!"

As she's ranting the couple behind me are helping me up and the cashier on the other register checks on BBSlave who is now bleeding from the head.

Me: "Lady you need to shut the hell up and leave now."

DRB2: "I'm not leaving until I get my discount. If you get one, I get one."

BBSlave: "You just committed assault on two people in front of 20 or so witnesses. All you're getting is an escort out of this store and the mall."

DRB2: "You can't talk to me like that I demand to speak to a manager RIGHT NOW!"

Manager LJ was just coming back from the store bathroom when this happened, so there is no explanation needed.

LJ: "Ma'am you need to leave the store immediately. You can leave on your own power or I can have security drag you out."

DRB2 opened her mouth to lay into LJ, but he just raised his hand, and said the best thing I have ever heard from any manager ever, "If you say one more thing abut a discount after what you just did, I will drag you out the other entrance and throw you at the police officers sitting in the parking lot. Get your stuff and get the hell out of my store."

You'd have thought the retail gods were after her, with the way she moved. LJ took over for BBSlave so he could go take care of himself and after giving BBSlave the rest of the coffee cards to hand out to the BES crew I got the hell away from the mall.

My shoulder was killing me, but it was worth it.

Beware of shit slinging custys,

--Rayven

Just For Laughs: Marines Kick Some Ass And Stop A N.A.T

This 'article' is a hoot and I wanted to share it with you. According to Snopes.com the story is a mixture of true and false information:

 

Origins:   On 26 November 2010 (Black Friday) at about 1:15 p.m., those manning the surveillance cameras at a Best Buy in Augusta, Georgia, spotted a shopper cutting a Dell laptop computer from its packaging and stuffing it down his pants. According to police, store security personnel approached the suspect, 39-year-old Tracey Attaway of Waynesboro, Georgia, and asked him to return the merchandise. Attaway became angry, released the laptop, and ran out the front door, pulling a knife and knocking down a Best Buy employee in the process.

Outside the store's entrance were four Marines and seven volunteers collecting donations for Toys for Tots. One of them, Cpl. Phillip Duggan, clotheslined the running man, bringing him to the ground. The assailant regained his feet and swung his knife, stabbing Duggan, then was quickly tackled by several other Marines and members of the store's loss-prevention team, who held him in the parking lot until deputies arrived.

The injured Marine was taken to Eisenhower Army Medical Center and released after receiving stitches. He was well enough the next day to drop off a toy for donation at a nearby Walmart.

Cpl. Duggan's attacker, Tracey Attaway, was jailed and charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a knife in the commission of a crime, and and in October 2011 he was sentenced to life in prison. (Attaway faced the maximum sentence on all assault and theft charges because he was a convicted felon with 30 arrests in his past.)

An account of the crime circulated via e-mail in December 2010 was presented as a 27 November Associated Press account of the incident. While the circulated account was indeed based on that very news article, it contained a paragraph not found in the original:

The suspect was transported to the local hospital with two broken arms, a broken leg, possible broken ribs, assorted lacerations and bruises he obtained when he fell trying to run after stabbing the Marine.

(The audience is supposed to read between the lines in the preceding text and conclude that the suspect did not fall but rather was beaten by the other three Marines.)

None of the news accounts we examined indicated that Attaway was injured, either while being subdued or afterwards. That bit appears to be pure invention on the part of the person who inserted the additional paragraph into the news account, thereby transforming it into a "Don't mess with the Marines" object lesson.

-------------------------

Although this isn't an official "retail in the headlines" story, I cracked up when I read it and wanted to give other RHUers a laugh while fessing up to it not being completely true, and to give a salute to the Marines who did indeed help out in a N.A.T. situation. :)

Jingle Bells, Shotgun Shells, Redneck Rampage All The Way

Dashing through the mall
8 PM Thankgiving Day
Through the stores they go
Charging all the way
Bells on registers ring
Make sure to ring them right
‘Cause angry bitch will pepper spray
Everything in sight!

Jingle bells, shotgun shells
Redneck rampage all the way
Hear the bash, the door doth crash
And then we start to pray
The gate is bent, Security went
To grab riot gear in Bombay!
Oh how we pray that we’ll survive
This curse’d holiday!

“I need new batteries!”
“I need to please my bride
Do you think she’d love
The whipsaw hanging by my side?”
“My kids just tipped the tree!
But not MY fault you see!
Nothing broke, but this store’s a joke
So it all should be for free!”

Jingle bells, shotgun shells
Redneck rampage all the way
Hear the bash, the door doth crash
And then we start to pray
The gate is bent, Security went
To grab riot gear in Bombay!
Oh how we pray that we’ll survive
This curse’d holiday!

They go to work each day
Making money left and right
So they all can come down
To kick and scream and fight.
Gushes crazed Gram,
“Sorry you have to work tonight!”
“Well it’s not like I had family
To make my evening bright.”

Queer Geek's Ridiculous Holidays Song Parody

 

 

THE HOLIDAYS ARE RIDICULOUS (A Retail Parody of Jolly Old Saint Nicholas)

 

By Queer Geek

 

 

The holidays are now ridiculous,

The economy is in a rut;

Greedy corporations exploit their slaves

So to all you retailers: KISS MY BUTT!

 

Obamacare is coming soon;

Those greedy bastards live in fear,

Companies are cutting hours and benefits

By making slaves work 365 days a year.

 

Holidays no longer exist;

Slaves must give their last blood and breath,

Family time is frowned upon

The new retirement is now called Death!

Black Friday is now the norm

Mass consumerism is celebrated on what you spent,

Expect more employee layoffs next year

As unemployment rises eight percent!

 

Walmart demolishes union efforts,

J.C. Penney replaces workers with automatons;

Sears and Kmart are closing more stores

While Target cracks the whip and the ownership baton!

High end retail continues to push luxury goods

While that poverty line does not bend,

Hurry up!  You Apocalypse of 2012;

And make this rotten world end!

 

--Queer Geek

 

Jon Stewart Rants About Walmart

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

 

 

 

Black Friday at a Dollar Store

   

 

 

Black Friday Custys From Hell: Bloodsucking Mother and Daughter Torment Walgreens Store

From Hellgreens_Slave: 

So all has been well at the Hellgreens.. I was promoted to Assistant Store Manager in June 2010 so I've been super busy! I hope you had a great turkey day - with my seniority I get to have xmas eve, xmas day off, new years eve & new years day off so I had to work thanksgiving which worked out cos I got to wear my turkey hat which kept all the crustys in good spirit because when they're mad & want to yell at a manager & then see my turkey hat they just started laughing LOL!

But I do have some unfortunate news:

Being with Hellgreens for eight years - the last 2 1/2ish of being a manager I've seen some crazies in my day (and I'm only 25! LOL) Some crustys never come back (yay!), others are regulars that are just a bit crazy and then there's this: 

Now, after bouncing around different stores for a few months I was placed in my current store in July 2010. As the manager somehow I manage my staff, Cosmetics & Cafe W SWIS departments, the rest of the store and take care of accounts payable as well as having to deal with the insane people of this town I'm stuck in.. it's not so bad being only a 30 min commute and I try to tell myself it could always get worse until it did. This area is mostly normal, middle-class working people but is about 10 minutes from a super-rich area so we get a random mix of customers and most of my regulars are super awesome.. some even found out my bday and chipped in to get me a card and a small gift each year! It's really awesome having nice customers - nicer than any town I've worked in - for the most part. 

But today I want to share my newest horror crustys.. a mother & daughter duo. 

Now these 2 put my usual crazies to shame!!! So they first came in (to my knowledge since according to some employees that were in the store before I got transfered in these women used to come in all the time & then disappeared until about a week ago!)

And so it begins... I got paged to the photo area for a refund.

The mother greets me with a "Hello sweetie how are you?"

And I processed her refund like any other - during which a girl about my age came up for help on the kiosk. The mother turned to her & asked if we were sisters or mother & daughter (wtf? I'm 25 and have no kids!!! and this girl & I didn't look anything alike!) lol.

So anyways the two women spent about 4 hours harassing my staff with every last insane request. (oh get more from the back - this package looks weird.... where is this? that?) She took three of my employees and made them wait on her hand & foot throughout the store until I quickly broke that up.

So then she started randomly singing songs to some random lady.. grabbed another customer & put her arms around the woman & got nose-to-nose with her while asking her really personal questions until the woman shook her off. She even dropped a bottle of nail polish all over our newly waxed floors and over her daughter's pants.

My photo tech filled me in that the day before (when I was off) they had come in & spent hours harassing everyone, had called him a jerk, had told our Hallmark lady she needed anger management and flipped on people for not saying, "Yes ma'am, No ma'am" to her, SMFH.

Finally she was ready to be rung up. OH LORD. She made my cashier ring her $600 worth of crap up in separate transactions.. and then inquired about a movie that's official release date was in 2 days. Now when a movie is set to release on a Tuesday we put it on display starting Sunday with a sign up saying "this may not be sold until XXXXXX date" and no one ever argues except this crusty.

She wanted that damn movie and wouldn't accept that when it's scanned the register tells us "ITEM MAY NOT BE SOLD UNTIL XX DATE" so of course I get paged up front - now I had four registers going and about 40 people in lines/shopping around up front.

I get to the register they're at & she's screaming at my cashier over the stupid movie. I tell her that the official release date isn't until the date on the sign right by them on the shelf behind the register & that there's no override function for it & that she'd have to come back & that we'd gladly hold a copy for her if she'd like.

Of course she didn't accept this & then her face got all red, her breathing all heavy, cheeks puffed out and then she started to cry like a baby who has a wet diaper - through tears & sobs this 70something y/o lady started to cry hysterically while gasping out a "but Hellgreens_Slave, baby, doll, sweetheart I need this movie for a little girl... wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Ok. People that know me know that I DO NOT tolerate "bullshit crying" from anyone over the age of 10. If you're crying over a death in the family, a tragedy, a super sad movie.. ok I can relate & understand but crying because the movie can't be legally sold for another few days is just ridiculous & if the powers were vested in me I'd give her something to actually cry about. SMH so I turned to her & said, "Ma'am the movie cannot be sold until XX date, there's no override for this & crying is NOT going to change that," and calmly walked away to the office to laugh my ass off.

So, a few days went by & I thought we were in the clear - until about 0900 today. All I know is I was working in an aisle one minute & the next hearing "Hellgreens_Slave where are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?!?!?!?!" in that all too familiar voice.

I attempted to hide in the pharmacy for a bit but that plan got foiled when I got paged up front for some codes - and then got stuck with her for ten minutes.. all the while she had a disposable camera & was trying to get me to let her take my picture until I literally had to pawn her off on one of the employees so I could duck out & take refuge in the office.

Luckily, they left after only an hour. The weird part is the daughter seems so normal & polite.. said hello, asked how my turkey day was, and thanked me for helping her find something.... except my co-manager told me the daughter told him his pants are too low in the back - which is odd since he wears a belt so obviously she just checks him out (kinda gross cos she's like 40 and he's 19.)

The mother wanted a train set which one of the guys had to get a ladder out to get off a deck - they're stacked up with one faced forwards - well she didn't want the one on the top of the pile nor the one in the front - he had to pull 36 of the them down for one in the middle that she wanted & then she ended up not even buying it.

Then, she walked around wearing a holiday hat she never ended up buying, either. She made my beauty advisor wait on her hand & foot and kept trying to shove that damn camera in my employee's faced.

AHHH! What's worse is I can deal with the occasional angry customer but this monster of a crusty will never stop coming in & thinks it's perfectly fine to harass my staff because she spends like $1,000+ a week in our store, HAHAHA.

I can't wait to find a reason to ban her! Which, sadly, corporate will probably find out about & will punish me for.

ARGG. Can it get worse?

I hope not. 

--Hellgreens_Slave

Black Friday Target Prank: Two Custys Pretend To Be Workers

  

Harmless prank or hell for a manager when the custy complain? Hopefully they told the custys it was a prank after the cameras were off.

 

Black Friday Walmart Custy Attacks Other Custys For Their Shopping Carts, Gets Tazered By Cops and Looses Her Black Friday Loot

So I’m not sure what this qualifies as, but it made me giggle.

Foofy Sparklepants LOVES her some Black Friday. She went around our giant retailers and managed to make it out without getting anyone trampled this year (A different story for a different day) and with a couple of funny stories.

At Bullseye, they had this sale they didn’t advertise. One of those ‘Hey! You made it! You braved the crowds and didn’t die! Here’s an awesome sale JUST FOR YOU!’ things.

It was a home speaker set that was something like $398.98 that was marked down to $40. She grabbed one for herself and then another for a lady behind her. That’s when this old bitch began punching her in the ribcage to make her let them go. Foofy elbowed her in the eye and ran down the aisle with the other lady following her, using the boxes as battering rams to move people out of the way.

And then at Hellmart, there was one custy who would physically attack people to be able to rifle through their carts and run. She’d punch them or kick them or scratch them… anything to move them from their carts long enough to grab and go.

That’s when they called the police on her.

As was told to me (since I was smart enough to sit at home all day and not go out into the world of crazies) the cops showed up and got to the lady and tazed her. They tried getting her in the neck, but she moved around and they got her in the face. The lady got tazed in the FACE! She fell to the ground and peed on herself and everything, and by this time, a large circle had formed around the cop and the woman. Everyone knew she was getting taken out of there, and her cart was up for grabs.

No one moved a muscle. No one dared make the first move. It got quiet in the area, and the only thing you heard was a loud, shrill voice.

Foofy: (To a friend) GET MY CART!!!!!

Foofy ran into the center of the circle after the cop got the woman up, grabbed the woman’s cart of ill-gotten gains and ran off with it to the sporting goods section with her friend to divide the plunder.

Regardless of it all, it made me laugh.

--Terah

 

 

Black Friday LOL: Funniest Customer Lines Ever

Hi Womens Retail Slave here writing to you after all that mess we call Black Friday.

I had a pretty easy going day, which really scared the hell out of me. However like always there are a few people who live in a dream land and have expectations that cannot be met ever.

So climb down from your pedestal and I'll try to meet you half way. Put on that fake smile and grit them teeth.  Much like many stores out there we had doorbusters and free gifts, and coupons, and all that jazz.

Here are some doozies I heard this Black Friday and Saturday.

-"Can you hold one of the free gifts for me, I'll be in around 3pm. Its way to early to shop."

-"I work in the mall. You can give me your discount.*WINK WINK*" <--no

-"What do you mean you're out of the doorbusters? That's bait and switch. I am a lawyer. I'm going to sue you for false advertising."

-"Since you're out of doorbusters, can I get this twice as expensive item at the same price?"

-"I want you to hold these, I'm going to see what your competitor has to offer. Oh, I still want them at the price that ends in 30 mins"

-"I'm shopping with my family of 6 with includes 4 children under 8. So that means I get 6 free gifts right?"

-"I can't believe I had to wait outside in the cold for you to open!!" <-- this was the top dumb comment since we are INSIDE A MALL

-"Why did the store across the way close?" Where is it?" What were their Black Friday sales?" 

-"Why isn't xxxx store open. I really wanted to shop there."

-"So I have a 20% off coupon. If I use it on stuff that's 80%, it should be free."

-"I found this on a 50% off rack. Is it on sale?"

-"I found this on a 50% off rack. How much is it?"

-"The tag said it was $40, but I found it on a 50% off rack. How much will it be with the discount?"

-"Oh you poor thing had to be here at 2am. Who would come shopping at 2am?" <--- um, you. You came shopping at 2am.

-"How could you already be out of the free gift its only 8am. You only opened 2 hours ago" <---um no we opened 8 hours ago

-"I was here 6 hours ago during your doorbuster sale. I want more at the same price."

-"If I return my free gift, how much money can I get?"

-"Can I return my free gift and get something different?"

-"This doorbuster was on sale for $10 but the tag said $40. So I should get $40 back on my return"

-"This rack said 40% off ALL COATS IN THE WHOLE STORE. Does that mean just this rack?"

-"So ALL COATS? What about this one? What about this coat? What about this one? What about this one?" <---- isn't that the webster's dictionary definition of insanity?

-"Blah blah, I hate this store, you never do anything right. Are you hiring? I should work here to get a discount" <-----wait, what? You hate us, but want to work here?

-"I can't believe you were closed yesterday. I came here and all the lights were off and the doors were locked to the mall" <--- did the empty ass parking lot NOT tell you something?

-"I deserve another free gift since I was upset by (not telling me merry Christmas vs happy holiday)(you didn't thank me sincerely enough)(I had to wait in a line)(my card declining)(my lack of social skills when interacting with another customer who wants the same item)(store lighting/temperature/music choices)(the smell of your store/my allergy to perfume that you sell/other people wearing perfume)(the act of bending over to get something off shelf)(walk from my car to your store)" Seriously. No seriously.

All in all I had a fairly fun day. Most crustys were nice enough, some were a little bat-ass crazy due to lack of sleep or sunlight.

I did have 1 crusty derailed my whole happy train with one comment. But she's a whole catagory of beeeotch that I won't go into detail, since I can't mask the comment that she made or the backhanded apology that I gave back to her. That's all for now, I am truly counting down the days until Xmas and the breath of fresh air called January where vacation is all new and reset and exciting!

Good luck and God speed to those fellow retailer's out there.

P.S what is happened to the youth of society. I have gotten more phone #-less job applications in the last 2 months than I have ever in the 15+ years I have worked in retail. Also booty-shorts, tube tops, facial gang tattoos, cell phone dependent, pajamas, and scuzzy flip flop feet are not acceptable EVER for job application pick up, drop off, job interview or onboarding EVER. More stories about applications and the people that turn them in later!!

--Womens Retail Slave

 

Terry Hatcher's Black Friday Thanksgiving

Do you think it's funny or should it die? I'm pulling out the carving knife...

 

 

NC Tony's not so bad Black Friday

Okay, for the moment, let's push all the negativity surrounding Black Friday aside. After fearing the worst, especially after seeing the line outside my store going around the corner, I can honestly say Black Friday was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Not to say that there weren't complaints, there were, but not as many as I feared. The Mighty Thrognar was looking over me this night.

Luckily(?) Soul's decided to open at midnight, not at stupid o'clock on Thursday, when most people would still be eating dinner (although Mrs. NC, who works at Wal-Mart had to be in at 6PM on fucking Thursday night). That didn't stop us from having a shitload of people shopping. So I get to work about 11:45, see the line and get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I get inside, and look at the listing of who goes where in the back... and fail to see my name. Don't tell me I came in for nothing! I go and find the manager, Perky (so named because she has a perky sounding voice) and Cue Ball (so named due to his shaved head) and ask them where they want me. They set me up bagging on one of the registers (each cashier had a bagger). No problem, being behind the register is probably the safest place in the store, out of the way of the stampeding customers and the noise drowns out the shitty music we play.

12:59:50. "Everybody ready?"
No not really, but let the zombie horde in anyway.
LP opens the door and here they come... in a calm and controlled manner? Ok, where the fuck is Rod Serling? Yes, the first few idjits through the door were practically running in, but other than that, because we only had one door open, the custys couldn't trample each other. So a few minutes go by and then the line forms, and the fun starts. Now don't get me wrong, we didn't have a whole lot of crusties, we had a few, but if we had any really bad ones, they didn't come through my register. In fact, a lot of the customers were nice, joking around with us, and genuinely making me smile. Then there were the idiots. Some of our items were items that you got a mail-in rebate for. Not everyone wanted that, they wanted their savings NOW DAMMIT! I understand that sometimes rebates take a while to come in, but that's not our fault. The receipt came with a form to fill out and the address to send it to to get your rebate. Yes, I know snail mail sucks, but if you want your rebate, you gotta mail it in.

Then there were the people who didn't understand how our Soul's Cash promotion works. It works thusly. For every fifty dollars you spend, you get $15 in Soul's Cash. A coupon that can only be used between November 26 - December 3. However, the $50 you have to spend has to be BEFORE taxes and AFTER any discounts (customers had special coupons that could take $10 and/or 15% off their purchase) in order to get the Soul's Cash. We had to explain the above over and over again. People were trying to buy more and more stuff just to get the Soul's Cash. Then there were the people complaining about the sale prices (we had to point out on the register screen that the discount would be taken off at the END of the transaction, not in the middle).

Memorable customers:
$2 man: This guy was kinda funny in that he paid with (perfectly legal) $2 bills. Luckily not his whole purchase, but it did throw off my cashier and she had to recount his money 4 times because the $2 bills kept throwing her off.
The discount twins: They were having a good natured argument about who was going to end up saving more, and getting more Soul's Cash. Twin 2 ended up saving more than Twin 1 as well as getting more Soul's Cash. Although I did like Twin 1, when getting her Soul's Cash, said "Yeah, bitches I'm rich!", but she only said it loud enough that I could hear it. We both had a good laugh.
Towel lady: "Quick give me another towel!" She had her sister hand her towel after towel to try and push her total over $50 so she could get her Soul's Cash. She missed it by two dollars.
Imelda Marcos: I ended up using six bags to pack all the shoes she bought.
The "I hate shopping with my mom" teens: Kids who swore they would NEVER go Black Friday shopping with their mothers ever again!

I know we all hate it when customers say "If it doesn't scan/have a price tag it must be free" and "I just printed that this morning" when giving you a $50 or $100 bill. Here's the opposite of those types. One woman came up with a shirt she wanted, but before she got to the register she realized the one she wanted didn't have a price tag, so she got one of a different size, with a price tag on it. Turns out it wasn't necessary because the cashier was able to punch in the UPC manually from the size tag, but it was the thought that counted. No one made the joke about just printing money, just the opposite, a woman came up and paid with a couple of $50's. She said, "Trust me, those are real, I didn't just make them." to which the cashier and I replied "Well if you did, I'd ask you to hook me up, because I could use a little extra cash!" and we all had a good laugh. Finally, the cashier was checking ID's on Soul's Credit cards and regular credit cards. People were actually thanking her for checking the ID's saying most people didn't bother checking. I explained "Well, we have to, if we don't they take us in the back and beat us severely." The customer asked "20 lashes with a wet noodle?" Again, much laughter was had. A customer genuinely thanked me when I helped her lug an ottoman out to her car.

All cashiers and baggers were given bottled water, since we couldn't leave the registers, and they bought in breakfast sandwiches from Bojangles (and Quizno's for the afternoon/evening shifts). At about 4am the crowd died down and Cue Ball pulled me from bagging and had me walk the floor to help customers and re shop the store (after I took a fifteen minute break). Even then customers were nice (for the most part). Finally 6am rolled around and I went up to Cool Manager and asked her "Permission to run screaming into the night?"
"It it six am already?"
"Yeah."
"Permission granted."

And with that I was gone. All in all, not a bad Black Friday. Even if I did have to go back that night and work ad set. But if all Black Friday's are going to be like that, I won't mind working them. I don't want to, but with the asshole crustys being far and few between, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I still think Black Friday should be outlawed.

 

A Selfless Saturday Thanks To All The Service Workers of Black Friday and Beyond

From StarBitchSoldier:

Now since Black Friday, the worst retail workers' day of the year, has passed, I'd like to take a little time to say thanks to EVERYONE who works over the holidays.

Thanks to every retail worker who had to sacrifice their holiday for not going insane and by making the best of the situation. You guys see people at their worst who scream over not getting the last $100 TV or $10 blender during the holiday season and somehow keep a smile on.

Thanks to the restaurant workers who always miss at least one holiday a year and deal with the same crazy people for a pre shopping coffee or after post shopping meal. I've been there before, and know how insane that feeling is of trying to quickly process orders of hungry, antsy crusties who are trying to speed away to stand in an unmoving line for an XBox.
Thanks to doctors and nurses and other medical staff who keep hospitals and emergency rooms open for those in need of care for illness or unfortunate holiday accidents. The pay may be much, much higher than most people's, but the constant stress from having lives in their hands in addition to long hours are always there.

Thanks to emergency service workers. There's always a news story over the holidays of a fire or break in or some other misfortune that none of us would want to experience, especially over the holidays. Fire fighters, police, and all other emergency first responders help alleviate some of the pain that comes with these tragedies.

Thanks to the deployed troops who not only spend the holidays away from home, but months to a year away, all while having the possibility of never coming home at all. Whether you support the war or not, we all know that spending so much time away from family, friends, and the familiar is no easy task.

Thanks to everyone who works in television and sports over the holidays. Its easy to forget there are people behind the screen who make sure everything runs smoothly so we can watch a football game together after indulging in three plates of turkey or that the players themselves have families, many of whom have young children.
Thanks to those working in assisted living homes for the handicapped and elderly. While many do visit their relatives living in these situations, there are many who don't get visitors for the holidays for whatever reason. Employees here may be all the company some of these people get to spend the holidays with.

And lastly, thanks to those who sacrifice their holidays to do a little good in their community. Workers and volunteers for homeless shelters, food banks, as well as animal shelters all make sure the holidays are a little better for others while they could be indulging themselves and the only payment here is gratitude from those they help. This sort of sacrifice is the embodiment of the holiday spirit.

I hope I didn't leave anyone out of my thank you list but if I did, or you'd like to write your own list, add it in the comments. Despite our own individual hardships, let's be thankful for everyone who makes these hardships a little easier to deal with.

May all your custys be nice,

--StarBitchSoldier

Black Friday Is Almost Over, Celebrate Selfless Saturday Tomorrow

Sales Agent Guy here.

I'd wish you a Happy Turkey Day, but given how Black Friday is for some, I doubt it's happy for you.  Whether you started the night before or on Black Friday, I want to give all of you who survived Black Friday a shout out of recognition.  You made it through one of the hellish days of retail, and I salute all of you.  Sure, Selfless Saturday might be there for some of you (myself included,) but you made it this far, so I applaud you.

On the topic of Black Friday, I got a call from my manager who wanted to know if I could come in for a few hours.  With very few shifts right now, I figured, 'Sure, why not?' Believe it or not, my shift wasn't that bad.  In fact, the only thing I can think of is when a woman purchasing some items asked for a package of cigarettes.

You have to understand that in my city, there's a law that outlaws the sale of tobacco products in any store that has a pharmacy.  Well being and whatnot... stupid I know, but I digress.

I told her that we didn't carry cigarettes. She seemed to take that in stride and left.  Right after that, a guy came up and asked for a pack of the EXACT same brand the woman asked for.  Was he not listening or was he just being annoying? I told him we didn't have any.

So aside from that, I made it through Black Friday OK, and Selfless Saturday is tomorrow.  I should be OK, just need a good night's sleep and a good breakfast. 

I can do it..

Again, I applaud all of your courage and endurance for making it through Black Friday, and I hope you have a good Selfless Saturday.

--Sales Agent Guy

 

 

Black Friday Bingo