Seriously, **** retail.

[Wallcrawler]

I firmly believe that anyone who has ever worked retail at any point in their life has had to have had their faith in the intelligence of the human race badly shaken.

We're so advanced, top of the food chain, all that good stuff. However, I swear to everything that is holy that the average human loses minimum 40% of their I.Q. capacity upon walking through the doors of a retail establishment.

You could be standing there, sticking out like a sore thumb dressed in the required uniform that makes it glaringly obvious that you belong to the staff of that store and still yet, the most common question you will hear from customers that need assistance is "Do you work here?". Ive entertained the idea of simply answering "No." to that question and continue working on what I was doing, just to smell the wood burning in their little heads as they wrestle with what I just said in relation to what Im doing.

Decisions on which associate to ask for help boggles the mind quite often as well. We're fully staffed for a Saturday, and there are no less than five other uniformed associates in my vicinity as Im carrying a bigass extension ladder to the back of the store to change out some lights. Does this dumb bitch ask any of the other completely unoccupied associates for assistance? No. She comes directly to me and asks where she could find the country CDs. I point her in the right direction as Im holding this ladder, but that's not quite good enough. She wants me to hold her ****ing hand and show her to the rack. Then she asks "Oh, are you busy?". Nah I just carry this thing around in case I need to reach something at a moment's notice.

Personal responsibility is non existent with customers now. Its something most companies don't even hold customers accountable for anymore. I worked for a Hastings Entertainment store for about five years, and I can tell you that out of the hundreds of thousands of video membership cards I gave out, you would be lucky to see 10% of those cards even used because people never had them when they wanted to rent. Oh its fine, Ill just extend the wait time of everyone in line while I look your dumb ass up on the computer. I remember when if I went to the library without my library card, guess what? I couldn't check out a ****ing book. Now, we just let people wander around like clueless dumbasses and there are no consequences for coming to the checkout unprepared.

"Good afternoon. May I scan your membership card?"

"Naw. I got mah ID."

Well if I were selling you cigarettes or alcohol, or pulling you over for a traffic violation, that would be helpful. Since we're not doing any of those things, I need your ****ing card.


The people that drive in excess of 50 miles with gasoline at 3 bucks a gallon because they could save 25 cents crack me up. We were totally slammed on a weekend and this lady figured out that she could save a quarter if I had told her by doing separate transactions, she would save around a nickel on each pair of items she bought. She had driven 30 miles back, and there was a massive line behind her and she expected me to return every item she bought and then perform five separate trasactions in order to save a quarter. I stared flabbergasted at her for a moment unable to believe she was serious, but she was.

In the end, I refused to do it because of the line, and when she started to protest I reached into my pocket and produced a shiny quarter for her. I put it on the counter and slid it toward her and said "There you go, you're all set." She started to refuse to take the coin and I said to her "Its fine, this is so much faster. There's so many people waiting, and you clearly need this quarter more than I do. Have a nice night."

She storms off in a huff shouting something about principles followed by the laughter and applause of those waiting in line.

Ive seen people smack the credit card reader repeatedly, telling me my piece of shit machine isn't working, only to have me point out that they are swiping an incorrect card, such as an EBT card or a driver's license. Its still of course, somehow my fault that they have their head up their ass.


I worked for a Big Lots for a couple years and this hag comes in and she clearly wanted to be at Wal-Mart. Everything out of her mouth was "At Wal-Mart they have this. At Wal-Mart they have that. At Wal-Mart...At Wal-Mart..At Wal-Mart.....At Wal-Mart....."

When she reached the front of the store, in front of the giant windows, a small scene flashed through my mind of the movie 300, and when this bitch said "At Wal-Mart..." one more time I would shout '"THIS IS...BIG LOTS!!!" and Spartan kick her old ass through the window and out into the parking lot.

I suppose dealing with the dregs of society on a daily basis is my penance for not going to college to better myself.

[King_Chief_Fan]

The customer is always right!!!!!!!!!!!
sounds like you need to change jobs....you went to college to work at Big Lots?

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by Wallcrawler

I firmly believe that anyone who has ever worked retail at any point in their life has had to have had their faith in the intelligence of the human race badly shaken.

We're so advanced, top of the food chain, all that good stuff. However, I swear to everything that is holy that the average human loses minimum 40% of their I.Q. capacity upon walking through the doors of a retail establishment.

You could be standing there, sticking out like a sore thumb dressed in the required uniform that makes it glaringly obvious that you belong to the staff of that store and still yet, the most common question you will hear from customers that need assistance is "Do you work here?". Ive entertained the idea of simply answering "No." to that question and continue working on what I was doing, just to smell the wood burning in their little heads as they wrestle with what I just said in relation to what Im doing.

Decisions on which associate to ask for help boggles the mind quite often as well. We're fully staffed for a Saturday, and there are no less than five other uniformed associates in my vicinity as Im carrying a bigass extension ladder to the back of the store to change out some lights. Does this dumb bitch ask any of the other completely unoccupied associates for assistance? No. She comes directly to me and asks where she could find the country CDs. I point her in the right direction as Im holding this ladder, but that's not quite good enough. She wants me to hold her ****ing hand and show her to the rack. Then she asks "Oh, are you busy?". Nah I just carry this thing around in case I need to reach something at a moment's notice.

Personal responsibility is non existent with customers now. Its something most companies don't even hold customers accountable for anymore. I worked for a Hastings Entertainment store for about five years, and I can tell you that out of the hundreds of thousands of video membership cards I gave out, you would be lucky to see 10% of those cards even used because people never had them when they wanted to rent. Oh its fine, Ill just extend the wait time of everyone in line while I look your dumb ass up on the computer. I remember when if I went to the library without my library card, guess what? I couldn't check out a ****ing book. Now, we just let people wander around like clueless dumbasses and there are no consequences for coming to the checkout unprepared.

"Good afternoon. May I scan your membership card?"

"Naw. I got mah ID."

Well if I were selling you cigarettes or alcohol, or pulling you over for a traffic violation, that would be helpful. Since we're not doing any of those things, I need your ****ing card.


The people that drive in excess of 50 miles with gasoline at 3 bucks a gallon because they could save 25 cents crack me up. We were totally slammed on a weekend and this lady figured out that she could save a quarter if I had told her by doing separate transactions, she would save around a nickel on each pair of items she bought. She had driven 30 miles back, and there was a massive line behind her and she expected me to return every item she bought and then perform five separate trasactions in order to save a quarter. I stared flabbergasted at her for a moment unable to believe she was serious, but she was.

In the end, I refused to do it because of the line, and when she started to protest I reached into my pocket and produced a shiny quarter for her. I put it on the counter and slid it toward her and said "There you go, you're all set." She started to refuse to take the coin and I said to her "Its fine, this is so much faster. There's so many people waiting, and you clearly need this quarter more than I do. Have a nice night."

She storms off in a huff shouting something about principles followed by the laughter and applause of those waiting in line.

Ive seen people smack the credit card reader repeatedly, telling me my piece of shit machine isn't working, only to have me point out that they are swiping an incorrect card, such as an EBT card or a driver's license. Its still of course, somehow my fault that they have their head up their ass.


I worked for a Big Lots for a couple years and this hag comes in and she clearly wanted to be at Wal-Mart. Everything out of her mouth was "At Wal-Mart they have this. At Wal-Mart they have that. At Wal-Mart...At Wal-Mart..At Wal-Mart.....At Wal-Mart....."

When she reached the front of the store, in front of the giant windows, a small scene flashed through my mind of the movie 300, and when this bitch said "At Wal-Mart..." one more time I would shout [b]'"THIS IS...BIG LOTS!!!" and Spartan kick her old ass through the window and out into the parking lot.

I suppose dealing with the dregs of society on a daily basis is my penance for not going to college to better myself.

It seems to me that you shouldn't have so much contempt for the people that pay your wages.

[The Franchise]

You think retail is bad? Try doing Tech Support or Telemarketing.

[blaise]

I hated retail. Customers could just say anything they wanted, lie, etc. and get away with it a lot of the time.

[ThaVirus]

The food biz is also bad.

[Ceej]

I've worked retail 99% of my life.

I've been working non-retail for the past 3+ months. There's been a heavy burden lifted off of my shoulders. There's really zero stress.

Overall I feel much better and my fiancée loves the new, less stressed Ceej.

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

It seems to me that you shouldn't have so much contempt for the people that pay your wages.

Originally Posted by Randall Graves

This job would be great if it wasn't for the ****ing customers.

.

[ptlyon]

Maybe dante84 can get you a job

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

You think retail is bad? Try doing Tech Support or Telemarketing.

I did telemarketing when I was in high school. Hated it. I wound up getting fired because I told a guy (who to my credit was acting like a dick) that he was being a dick. Supervisor was listening in. I'm pretty sure I made that vein in his forehead pop out 3 inches.

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by Ceej

I've worked retail 99% of my life.

I've been working non-retail for the past 3+ months. There's been a heavy burden lifted off of my shoulders. There's really zero stress.

Overall I feel much better and my fiancée loves the new, less stressed Ceej.

Ahh.

Envy is my sin.


Ive pretty much adopted the "I hate you, but I need your money" approach to customers. Im really not a people person, mostly because people in general tend to be assholes to people they know are unable to defend themselves because they have bills to pay.

Im having a shitty day. Hey, I know, Ill go dump on the guy behind the counter that can do absolutely nothing about what I say.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I did telemarketing when I was in high school. Hated it. I wound up getting fired because I told a guy (who to my credit was acting like a dick) that he was being a dick. Supervisor was listening in. I'm pretty sure I made that vein in his forehead pop out 3 inches.

I started out in Credit Card debt collections. I've been jaded since the beginning.

[Big Poppa Payne]

I been in sales for 15 years and what I've learned is this, people in general are assholes. It doesn't matter if you work at Best Buy, sell cars, work at the Red Lobster or work at a bank people are complete assholes and it won't ever change.

[BlackHelicopters]

Ruck Fetail

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I did telemarketing when I was in high school. Hated it. I wound up getting fired because I told a guy (who to my credit was acting like a dick) that he was being a dick. Supervisor was listening in. I'm pretty sure I made that vein in his forehead pop out 3 inches.

I worked for Qwest communications for about a year. Hated every bit of it but it was killer money if you hit your goals.

People are much braver over the phone, and we weren't allowed to hang up. This lady was being a raging whore over her bill and after numerous attempts to explain her bill to her, I was getting nowhere. Finally I asked her if the phone she was using had a flash button on it. She confirmed that it did, and I said well lets try something. Go ahead and press that flash button and let me see what I see on my end when that happens.

She did it, and the conversation was mercifully over. I feel bad for the rep who ended up with her next call in, whoever he/she may be.