Retail Hell Underground

Discount Rat Hell

March of The Flip Flops

...marching onto the floor with the help of some piggy shoppers!

Pizza Shop Gives Out Discount to Gun Owners Who Flash Their Weapon Inside Store

From Gawker: Flash a piece, get some cheap pizza.

That's the motto of a pizza shop owner from Virginia Beach who recently started handing out discounts to gun owners, provided they bring their weapon into the restaurant.

Or, failing that, their concealed weapons permit.

Jay Laze of All Around Pizzas and Deli says he was inspired to offer gun owners a 15% discount on pizza after learning of a Utah frozen yogurt shop that had done the same.

"I thought it was a great idea and I was wondering why nobody here was doing it," he told NewsChannel3. "It should be happening all around the country."

Though he intend the offer to last only a limited time, the overwhelming response had convinced him to consider making it a permanent feature.

Laze told the Associated Press that some 80 percent of all customers have come in carrying a weapon. One customer even brought in his AK-47.

"It's part of our rights as Americans and everybody should be entitled to the option if they want to," said patron Brendan Kelly, "so it's nice to have an incentive."

[screengrab via WTKR]

via gawker.com

When Old Slavery Brands Open The Floor To Puns

Dweazzle here.

Darn it if my last post didn’t make me remember some of the good times at Old Slavery. They were few and far between, but they did happen. Like this one. It was a little far to go for a joke, but oh, so worth it.

Back in the day (’06 or ’07, I think) Old Slavery didn’t have much of the licensed merchandise they sell now. The designs on their “graphic tees” looked like someone force fed whole milk to a severely lactose intolerant person and had him squat over a blank shirt. They were awful. Every so often, after the poor lactose intolerant soul had come up with a new design, possibly by wiggling, corporate would send us a small shipment to see if anyone would buy them. These were called, with a straight face…

Wait for it…

“Test Tees”

I know, right? Had I not been a retail veteran when I learned this, I would have been unable to believe that anyone would slap such a label on a product without smirking and giggling like a 13 year old boy, but, y’know. Corporate, ass-finding, both hands, map.

I had helped the GM organize a table of the above named items and had gone about my usual business for most of the shift. Towards the end we had an incident where we were forced by our spineless “Loss prevention” policy to let merchandise walk right out of the store because God forbid we should actually prevent some loss.

Immediately afterward, the GM, another employee, and I were standing next to the table of horrible shirts, and I was complaining about being unable to do anything about shoplifters.

GM: I understand how you feel, but its policy.

Me: Because Old Slavery doesn’t have the cojones to do anything about it.

GM: …I guess.

Me: (Having a sudden, wicked inspiration and pointing) but we do have test tees!

GM: …Wow. I’m going to go wash my brain out now.

Coworker: *Falls over laughing*

To this day, the memory of the look on the GM’s face makes me smile.

Stay sane, my friends,

--Dweazzle

99 Cent Store Valentine Ad Classic

Posted this last year, but it meakes me LOL every time. I love how Condoms are on both sides! Which one is your favorite? What would you add to the lists?

 

Badass Cookies

I think Big Lots has a big seller! I already want one!

 

 

Walmart Employee Quits and Rants: They Threatened To Terminate Me For Helping Customers

From Meowth, who gets a Retail Balls Award for standing up to Bad Walmart Management and not allowing himself to be subjected to an work environment of fear: 

I wanna share a story about the near-year I had working at Walmart....

It......

Was............

AWFUL!!!

What was wrong with it? Lemme try to give a list without screaming.

1. I've got Asperger's Syndrome (a high-functioning form of autism characterized by slightly impaired social skills) and I was hired on through a work program to work in Electronics. But when I came for my first day, they told me I had been pushed down to a cart-pusher.... JUST a cart-pusher! I GOT DEMOTED BEFORE I EVEN STARTED MY FIRST DAY! When I asked why, they never TOLD me!!!!!

2. For the first few months, I got average hours, like 12-15 a week, (I have to rely on a special bus service to get there since I'm not exactly the best driver), which wasn't too shabby.... but when March came (I started in November)....... NOTHING! Between March and November.... I ONLY HAD ONE SHIFT ALTOGETHER!!!!!!!

3. This was the third strike and what led to me quitting. I WILL use real names because frankly I don't exactly CARE if they see this, plus the turnover rate is insane. Come November, I actually started getting weekly hours again and, on my first shift back, I got a performance review, calling me a solid worker and even giving me a 40-cent raise (yay for that), with the recommendation that I ask around for getting training at other departments. So I start offering help to customers in other sections, even getting complimented on my politeness and desire to help out.

But 3 weeks after I returned, I get pulled aside by my manager...... and THIS is what broke me....

Instead of getting complimented on actually being able to help other people.... I was CHASTIZED and told I would likely NEVER get advancement BEYOND being a cart-pusher and that if I offered to help out another customer again...... I'D BE FIRED! All they hired me to do was just push carts...... in shifts upwards of 6 hours!!

...I'm gonna repeat that, because it bears repeating.

I was threatened with termination for HELPING customers out when the store was short-staffed and told advancement would NEVER happen!

I actually CRIED in front of another coworker! 

A few days later, I put in my resignation. If that was how I was gonna be treated for trying to help out... Fuck Walmart.

Did I do the right thing?

I know the economy's hard right now..... but I just couldn't take it anymore.

--Meowth

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 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

 

Nightmare Discount Rat Custys Cause Store Closing Hell

Hey everyone, Tea Queen present and accounted for.

I remember last summer, reading all the horror stories from all the poor slaves who had to endure the bankrupcy of Hoarders and the process of closing a store. Well, fortunately my store isn't bankrupt, but it is closing. There are many reasons, but the main one is our lease is running out and corp doesn't want the current store owner owning more than one store (guy who used to own this store got canned so the current owner stepped in and is running it till it closes). The current store owner owns a much bigger location down the street, so lucky for me when it closes im going to be transferring to a store that is actually much closer to my house then my current one is. The only downside is I will be moving with a whole staff of people so my hours will get cut drastically.

But the real reason why I decided to write in is to talk about the tom-foolery that is going on in regards to the store closing.

There are actually two brothers that own the two big stores in the downtown area of my city (large canadian city on the west coast). It is quite common that when one store is short handed, staff from another store will work a shift at a different store. I've worked at both big locations during big sales etc. About a few months ago, they started transferring people out of my store.

Well, they eventually are going to get tranferred anyways, so why not when the store needs them, right? Wrong. We have 4 departments in our store, and the busiest department now has ONE staff member who works PART TIME on WEEKENDS. We only have four customer service representatives, two of which during mon-friday mornings and two of which are supposed to cover mon-fri closing AND weekends. The two that work mon-fri absolutely refuse to work weekends, which means that the other two girls never get weekends off on top of closing every night.

Now you see, this wouldnt be so bad all on its own. Except for the sign.

Oh god the sign. Management thought it would be a great idea to put a giant sign on the front of my store that goes something along the lines of....

"CLOSING SALE 50-90% OFF OF SELECTED ITEMS. ALL MERCHANDISE MUST GO"

Now I am not maliciously racists. However the city I am living is is accurately nicknamed "hongcouver"  because Caucasians are actually a minority in the city, despite being a Caucasian nation. Living in a city full to the brim with all sorts of different cultures makes you realize that hey, some stereotypes are actually quite true. I have dubbed this sign the "asian magnet" because the moment we put the sign up, the store's sales started doubling. DOUBLING. Mostly because the local asians see "50-90% off" and get an insta-boner. I can't even count how many times I have had to explain to someone that no, it is not 50-90% off the entire store, just on the clearance items and the current price tags reflect the current price.

Remember how I said that since the stores had owners that were related, sometimes staff will go between stores if needed? Well we SORELY needed it and not a single helping hand was offered. Our store had been consistently destroyed on weekends and the only sliver of hope we had to hold on to is the fact that we were closing soo.

Another big pain in the ass is when we have little to no english speaking individuals who try to return items that have high FINAL SALE stickers on them, and get extremely upset when they dont understand why they can't get their money back. We USED to have staff that spoke cantonese and mandarin, however they got transferred out (lucky us). Usually another customer who is fluent in both languages will step up and act as translator (more to get the line moving since they are usually stuck behind this customer). Or, if someone buys a refurbished item, our return policy is repair only. You cannot get your money back, however we will send it off for repairs, only my store is closing so we can't send shit off for repair because we wont be here in a few weeks when it comes back.

And of course to top it all off, we still have hoards of people who are batshit crazy.

First we have Old Asian Lady. OAL has been in twice a week since the sign went up and each time she comes in, she NEEDS an associate to follow her around to give her the prices on everything, even though the shelf says it right there.

After about an hour of shopping, and filling her cart to the brim with random stuff, she will proceed to the cashier where she will watch as everything is scanned and ask "is that half off?" for every. item. Even though she just spent the last hour with an associate saying "no thats not on sale" to EVERYTHING in her cart, she refuses to believe them. Even with three people (myself, a manager and the guy who helped her shop) are practically yelling at her that NOTHING in her cart is on sale, she still insists on scanning everything and then arguing that it should be cheaper.

The best night was when she walked in half an hour before close. We were 1 hour late getting out that night.

Another gem is a lady name Judy (Name changed for security purposes). Judy was a crack whore.

I am not over exaggerating.

We actually caught her multiple times shooting up in the parking lot. She was a skinny, wrinkly old lady who would always stink of B.O. and Alcohol and wore clothes way to revealing.  We always knew she was there before we even saw her because of the smell. Judy always tried to rip us off by switching tags on clearance items and damaging product. But the weird thing about Judy is she would always act like she was your best friend. She learned everyone's names, consistently tried chatting the staff up and generally trying to distract us all from our jobs.

When it comes to clearance, there are two ways a clearance item can be priced. It can be marked down off of it's regular price (which means we ring it in by its product number and change it in the computer) or it can be written off and given a random price (which means it is rung in using a "clearance" product number and allows us to just enter any price for it). Judy would actually bring in a pen and cross out the real number and put on the "clearance" number and lower the price almost 75%.  But she never got the number right. Ever. We always caught her. She always made a stink. She would leave with the random ugly christmas ornaments that she liked and she would come back next week and try again, smelling even worse, and reminding you about how good friends you guys are because she comes in so often and tries to rip us off each time.

I could go on forever about all the crazy people that we encounter. However I want to end this post with a story of epic.

We have been slowly selling our light fixture displays. You know, those lights that hang above the aisles as displays for the light that you probably wont buy? Those things. We were selling them at $15 each, including the light bulb.

Cue an old asian lady (what a shocker) who wishes to purchase said light. During the cashing out process, somehow the light bulb is broken.

This lady is LIVID.

She demands, not asks, that we replace the light bulb for free. My manager refused to open a new box of light bulbs (that probably cost just as same as the light) just to satiate this woman because lets be real, $15 for a light fixture is a fucking steal, with or without the light bulb. If this lady does not want it, the reality is that we will probably sell this fixture within an hour anyways.

The lady is not pleased to hear this. She is so unpleased, that she screams in a very high pitched voice, shouting chinese slurs at the staff for about 5 minutes (we only knew what she was saying because one of the ladies who usually works upstairs balancing cash was  helping at the tills and she was fluent in Mandarin).

After about a minute of abuse, my store manager had enough and tells the woman that if she does not leave the premises, she will call the cops.

Thankfully, the old asian lady vacates the store, leaving all her unpaid merchandise and cart at the front. This is not the end however, because about ten minutes later, she comes back, yelling that we owe her a dollar for the cart that she left behind. She is yelling in the face of everyone that she can, getting in people's personal space and accusing everyone of stealing her money.

My store manager (who is a 5'2 woman that is VERY fit and plays tons of high physical contact sports) puffs her chest up and starts slowly "pushing" the old asian lady out of the store, via her chest (more like walking to the door slowly, making sure the lady was between herself and the door).

Once the lady had been moved to the door, my manager runs to my till, opens it and takes a dollar (in Canada they are coins) and THROWS it at the old lady. She left after that for good and the police showed up and took statements from the managers.

The best part?

The lady didnt even fucking have a loonie in her cart.

Anyways. Keep chugging and dont let the shitty customers get the best of you.

Next week, I tell off a customer for lying straight to my face.

--TeaQueen

 

 

WTF Displays: Crucified Elmo

Creepy halloween costume display.

 

 

Satan Comes To Target

 

Secret Shopper Douchebag: Custy Told To Pay For Package Opened By Their Austic Child

Hey everyone!

Slave With No Name back again!

So this is going to be short and not so sweet. Tonight I was slaving away like usual when my boyfriend comes up and tells me that our secret security shopper informed him that a kid opened up some merchandise and the secret security shopper told the kid's mom she had to pay for it.

He told the cashiers so they would know. I didn't think anything of it except that they were probably going to buy it anyway, but obviously I wouldn't be writing to you if it wasn't that simple.

Now before I continue, a little background info. My store hires an outside company and their employees pretend to be customers and they watch both customers and employees to prevent theft. The particular person that worked tonight takes his job a little too seriously to the point where everyone in the store knows he's not a simple customer. His first day he grilled 3 employees and questioned a cashier as to whether those 3 employees paid for their things (they did, they all have worked for 5+ years in my store).

So I'm by myself when the secret shopper comes up and points out the child and mother who need to pay for merchandise.

I go from fine to fuming mad in 3 seconds.

The child he zeroed in on is severely autistic and they are regular customers who shop in our store.

The secret shopper walked away and I was so pissed.

Eventually they made their way up and rightfully asked to speak to my night manager. He came up and he was pissed what the secret shopper did and told her she didn't have to pay for whatever it was. He also talked to the secret shopper and told him he 1. Needs to learn some sensitivity and 2. Let him make a call like that. For the record, my night manager is a very kind hearted guy and would always make the right call like he did tonight.

I just couldn't believe the audacity that the shopper had in telling this woman she HAD to pay for it. She already deals with enough on a day to day basis. My cousin is also severely autistic so I have a little insight on what she has to face everyday. Being grilled by him is the last thing she needs. It just pissed me off. I hope this woman complains to corporate and they either get him some sort of sensitivity training or get him out of my store for good.

Thanks for letting me vent, be well!

--Slave With No Name

 

 

Coworkers From Hell: A Tale About Turkey and Holds

Hi everyone, it's Luna.

I have a short and funny Turkey story for you. However, first I'd like to answer some questions I read in your comments.

First, our store is supposed to have ten employees, and right now we're running on seven. Two of which can only work one shift per month. That puts all the pressure on Angel, Assistant Manager, and me to get everything done. There's only one associate that works more than 4 hours a week, and that's Sweetheart. She's a good friend of mine. Turkey is useless, but we can't let her go until we find a replacement for her.

When I reported the incident to Angel, she asked me if I wanted to file for sexual harassment. I said no, only because it means I have to take a leave of absence for a few days while corporate comes in and investigates. I can't afford that, and the store really needs me. I didn't file an injury report. It wasn't serious enough in my opinion.

I also do not want to go above Angel's head to the DM. That lady scares me. Besides, DM is aware of the situation.

Angel knows how bad Turkey is. She is tightening the rules now. If Turkey continues to break them, she won't last until Black Friday.

On with the story!

Yesterday I worked another closing shift with Turkey. Turkey is, well, bird-like. She is attracted to shiny things. She must spend $100 every month on cheap costume jewelry at our store. She also "steals" coworkers' items. Say I buy a necklace. Next day Turkey buys the same one. I try on a shirt and plan on buying it my next shift? Turkey buys it out from under me, even though I'm three sizes smaller than her. She stretches it to the bursting point and then struts around saying how she's my size.

Yesterday was no exception. Turkey saw a bright blue outfit that a customer tried on. She HAD to have it, so she put it behind the counter. This is a HUGE no-no. We are not allowed to put anything on hold for ourselves. If we want something, we either buy it right away or hope it's still in when we come in next. If not, we can always order it from the warehouse or another store. We have to keep merchandise out for customers - they pay full price, we get a discount, ergo it's better for the company if a non-employee makes the purchase.

Anyway, Turkey put it behind the counter, but it was still up on a rack for anyone to see. Another customer comes in looking for the outfit, and sees the one Turkey put away.

Custy: Oh, is that the 2X? Can I try it on, please?

Turkey: No, it's mine. I'm saving it for me.

Me: But if you want it, you can certainly have it.

Turkey: NO! It's MINE, LUNA!

Me: I'm sorry, ma'am. Associates aren't actually allowed to put anything on hold, so of course you can try it on. (I start to hand over the outfit.)

Custy: I don't want to cause a fuss-

Turkey GRABS the outfit out of the customer's hands and turns to me.

Turkey: How DARE you give her my clothes?! I'm SO reporting you for stealing!

All in all, I managed to get the customer another outfit while Turkey actually reported me to Loss Prevention. I told her to go ahead, and if they actually took her seriously I'd quit right there.

From what I heard, they laughed at her and asked if she was joking.

Then today there was a note on the counter for everyone to see, from Angel:

"There are to be no holds for any reason, at any time. This is grounds for immediate termination. If I see or even hear of this from anyone, the offending party will be fired immediately. See me with any questions."

YAY!! Turkey can't go for two days without stashing things to buy later. Hopefully this is the last straw!

--Luna