From okayellie, Tales From Retail:

This happened last week and it still makes me smile.

At my store the fitting room attendant is also the phone operator. I was scheduled fitting room for the last leg of my shift and answered the phone to a woman who explained to me that as she was at our checklanes, she told the cashier she didn’t want a 12-pack a soda she was going to purchase. The cashier set it to the side and the customer spaced and ended up taking it with her.

I was already grinning when she said, “I live 2 towns over, I can give you my store card number for you to charge, I’m so sorry!”

I walkied for my manager who told me to have her bring it back whenever.

I thanked her for her honesty and told her it was no rush, and the next time she was in town she could bring it back. She thanked me and threw in a few more apologies as well. She was so sweet! It just made me smile.

--okayellie

From blackdeava, Tales From Retail:

This took place on a very busy weekend at my workplace.

I was midway through my shift when I noticed that someone threw everything off an arm on to the floor in my department. This is a very common occurrence at my work and usually it's people who want to grab something from the back or kids. For some reason I thought it was those pesky kids.

I was picking everything up and putting them back when I saw a little boy no older than 5 years old with his slightly older siblings and his mum. As they walked passed me, the younger boy bent down and started to help me pick everything up and put them back, without being asked or told by anyone.

His mum noticed when I was thanking him and said well done to him but he shrugged it off as it was nothing and something anyone would do(you would think).

Anyways, it made my day and thought I would share it.

Thank you kiddo and his mum for teaching him well.

--blackdeava

  From The Keyoracle:

The department store where I used to work had 5 selling floors, the basement and floors 1, 2, 3, and 4. On all the store directories this is how each department was listed, ie., Hardware in the basement, Men’s wear on 2, etc. And of course the elevator had buttons labeled “B”, “1”, “2”, “3” & “4” and all was well with the world.

Then a second elevator was installed in the store and its buttons were labeled “1”, “2”, “3”, “4” & “5” which led to mass confusion. Now whenever a customer asked where something was on another floor we had to tell them that it was on the 3^rd floor unless they took the new elevator in which case it was on the 4^th floor. Then we had to explain how this was possible.

If a customer read a directory and then hopped on the new elevator, well they were just hopelessly lost.

Most people I tell this story to are surprised to hear that I took just over a year to get the correct buttons in the new elevator, I and my fellow employees were not.

-- The Keyoracle

From  AcerGray,Tales From Retail:

So I work at a department store where I'm more or less in charge of the Electronics Department. My end of the store tends to not really have much customer traffic, so I frequently just need to patrol my surrounding area asking if customers need help, putting broken items in the back, etc.

So, one night I was in the stockroom trying to put away a can opener that someone had removed from the packaging and left on the shelf when I heard a voice from a little ways away in the stockroom. Thinking it was one of my managers or a coworker, I walked over towards them to say hello. Well, turns out the voice belonged to a customer who had wandered into the stockroom and was calling out "Hello? Hello!" in an attempt to get someone's attention. I put on my best smile and asked her how I could be of assistance as I escorted her out of the stockroom.

Turns out she wanted to buy a camping chair, which was all fine and dandy, except for the fact that she had taken the chair that she wanted to buy off of our camping display where we have a tent and other camping supplies set up. So, this customer had taken our display apart and was carting the chair around the store, leaving a messed up display in her wake. She asked me to "check in the back" for another one of the chairs, because she really wanted this specific one.

Now, normally I carry a scanner that I can use to check prices and item stocks, print labels, etc. That night I didn't have one, so I couldn't scan the chair on the spot. As I walked the customer to my register in Electronics where I was able to scan the chair, I tried to explain to her how if this is the only one of these chairs we have, I can't sell it to her, because I'm not authorized to sell our displays. She wasn't listening.

So, we get to my register and I do an On-hand check, and it turns out we have two of the chairs in stock, one of them being our display chair. The customer, seeing this, says "Well, that's good! I want both of the chairs, then!"

I had already explained to her that I could not sell her the display chair, but nonetheless I walked her back to the camping goods section to see if we could find the other one. I couldn't find it after looking all over the area, so I eventually just told her that I would call a manager and get help for her.

As I walked back towards electronics so I could call a manager to come out and help, I heard the customer behind me saying "That's good, because I want both of those chairs!"

I really hope my manager was able to handle it, because I wasn't about to stick around to see how that turned out.

-- AcerGray

From inspectorgadget88, Tales From Retail:

I have discovered that these are my favorite words.

We had an incident tonight, to put it mildly. A small bit of background - smaller big box general retail in a rural area. Working, we have yours truly, 3 associates, service desk, and the general manager.

I get a call from on of my associates asking for help at the layaway register. I hear a man yelling in the background over the radio, and my associate (who is 17 btw) sounds rather distressed.

So, I apologize to the customer I am ringing out. Sorry ma'am, someone is yelling at my associate I will be right back.

In the time that sentence took to speak, we can now hear this gentleman at the front registers. Lady understands (shocker!) And I dash towards the commotion.

This guy is upset that his item is ringing up wrong. Pitching the hissiest of fits, screaming and hollering about false advertising and that's illegal and all that jazz when I calmly inform him that I will not be taking over $100 off the price of the vacuum.

He demands to show me where they found it. Okay, dude, still doesn't change the outcome here. So he and his wife follow one route to the aisle. I intentionally took a different path to cool down and arrive faster. Once we get there he is stomping his feet and slapping the shelves, still cussing and invoking the almighty false advertising.

Right as he started to get in my face, my general manager comes around the corner. We both have cell phones in hand, calling the cops.

"Get out of my store. I am calling the police to remove you if you choose to continue."

Her and I formed a wall, and started towards him. He shoves the cart into his wife (who has been trying to calm him this entire time while facing the same abuse that he was flinging at me) and storms out.

Phew. So now I have a young associate in tears, helping the woman I abandoned earlier on my register. Abandoned shopper, thank you for your understanding through this. It is more appreciated than you know. Sent associate to the back with the boss lady to calm down. Finished checking people out, then closed the store.

Had a solid conversation with my boss, amounting to "no one talks to anyone here that way. Throw them out if it happens." Yay! Empowerment is the best.

TL;DR Dude wanted a huge discount, was refused, made threats and was a general jackass. Got thrown out, and I now have the power!

--inspectorgadget88

From  iloveblacklicorice, Tales From Retail:

Loss prevention here!

I was just reminded of a story I wanted to share with you all about a woman who complained about somebody that didn’t exist.

So, I’m walking the sales floor in my very obvious loss prevention uniform. All black with “Loss Prevention” written in bold yellow lettering on the back. I’m strolling through the home department, just looking around, when I notice a woman looking at the wind chimes. She didn’t look suspicious, so I kept walking. I leave the area and walk over to the kids department, when I hear a woman’s voice yell, “Excuse me!” from behind me. I’ll be Me, she’ll be W (for woman).

W: “Excuse me!”

Me: “Hey! Can I help you with something?”

W: “Yes, I just wanted to say the way people are being treated in this store is not okay. I’m honestly so embarrassed right now.”

Me: “Ooh, I’m sorry ma’am, what happened?”

W: “I was just in the wind chimes area, and I heard one of your coworkers say ‘There’s a suspicious person in the home area.’ I was the only one in that department, so I know they were talking about me.”

Now, this is strange. Because nothing was said on the walkie. Nobody communicated to me, or any other loss prevention, about a suspicious person. Not only that, but I was just over there and there were no other associates. But, maybe I missed something, so I continued on with her.

Me: “I’m so sorry ma’am, nobody should be calling people out like that. Do you know who said it so I can talk to them about it?”

W: “Yes she was a white lady, with blonde hair.”

Strike two, we don’t have any blonde women working in the store right now. In fact, the only white woman who works at the store is one of the managers, who was off that day. I was the only associate in the home department at the time, and nobody is mistaking me for white or blonde.

Me: “A lady with blonde hair? That’s odd, we don’t have any blonde associates working right now. Were they wearing our uniform?”

Her whole tone changed after that. She went from concerned to angry in zero seconds flat.

W: “You know, I just don’t like being accused of stealing. My husband works for the local police department, there’s no way I would embarrass my family by stealing from a discount store! I’m never shopping here again!”

With that, she walked out.

Funny thing is, a few months later I saw her come in again. This time she gave me a nasty look as she walked through the door. To be fair, she was in and out in less than a minute.

-- iloveblacklicorice