Retail horror stories

[buckshot]

i know there are a good number of retail workers on here. we hear a lot about the horrible experiences customers have a walmart, best buy, etc etc. having worked in retail for a few years i've accumulate more than my fair share of horrible customer interactions. my favorite is:

While i was working at home depot working the self checkout. a customer came through and with a long piece of crown molding. he scanned the barcode and since its sold by the foot my computer prompted me to measure the length. "sir, i just need to measure that so i can ring you up."

"its 8 feet" he says.
"still, i have to measure it." i reply
"why, its eight #%*@% feet"
"well normally i wouldn't care, but my boss to my left (pointing to boss) appreciates it when i do"
"i don't care, its 8 god $#!^ feet."
this back and forth continues for a few minutes.
"listen man, you could have been done by now, just let me measure it and we can move on."
"FINE $@#$%#@$ YOU!"
at this point the customer throws the molding at me like he's leonidus or something. i move so it doesn't hit me, which it would have had i not. the customer then smashes a tile he was buying and stomp out shouting "F#@# home depot. Bunch of #@#$))*$P:">. AND }"?">$_$>@}!&)&^( YOU TOO!"

As he walks by i smile and say "have a great day sir, thank you for shopping at the home depot "

"**** YOU!!!!!" he replies as he walks out.

i measured the board. it was 10 feet.

anyone else had bad experiences from the other side of retail?

[Zyclone]

nothing that bad but iv'e had my fair share of *******s

last friday we had a black out knocking out the cities power (i work in a supermarket) we had a back up power source but there was no power to the freezers so i had to rope them all off and if it customer wanted something i had to get it out for them , instead of a customer opening the door and standing there i would quickly grab whatever they wanted and shut the door.

so im walking around the dairy helping people when i see a aussie red neck standing there with the door open so i go up and say sorry mate do you mind keeping the door closed until you've decided what you want and he goes i don't mind if its hot im using the icecream in a milk shake so i say well still do you mind keeping the door closed?

so the ****** opens the door and stares at me for a few seconds before walking off.

another lady walks by and goes can't i buy anything from the freezer? to which i reply you can but i have to grab it out for you so she gives me a look like iv'e just told her i've ****ed her mother and storms off.

[jsteinhauer]

Years ago, while in high school or college, I was working in the cafeterial part of a Meijer store (a Megamart type chain based in Michigan for those unfamiliar). A customer comes and demands a refund for a bacon lettuce tomato sandwich that she claims had no mayonnaise on it. I refuse, but she went over my head and got a refund from my manager...pretty much store policy. I had principles. If she really wanted mayonnaise, on the damn sandwich she could have had it piled high with mayo at no extra charge.

It was the same place that if you saw someone stealing and called security (loss prevention as they called it), they would ignore you and let them get away, if you were a minimum wage peon. Perhaps they've changed since the 1980's.



On a different note, I know physicians who get death threats (my wife included) for not prescribing narcotics to some who demand them.

[glenn22]

Not quite the same, but I used to work for an Internet company in the accounting department. Every now and again I would have to phone customers whose accounts were several months past due.... you've never met angrier people than those that don't pay their bills.

[tron3]

Oh geeze, where do I start? I worked at Radio Shack. I don't tell this story because it upsets me. Suffice it to say, I would have felt a lot better if I told the guy to get the h*** out of my store, rather than bite my tongue and let him berate me. But in the end I was better than him.

Let's see, petty theives, petty people in general, people asking for Mini-DV to VHS adaptors, people asking for dongles to replace the one for their notebook network card, people who complain about the prices, etc. Then there are those who you try to help but can not. They smile politely thanking you for trying, then go off to call the District Manager on you for not helping them.

Frikken sociopaths!

But this is my favorite story. It was a hard time in life when I worked for RS. I formerly was IT and just couldn't find a position, it was hell for almost 4.5 years. RS was sucking the self esteem out of me, and I really needed a boost.

Well, one snowy morning we decide to call this place for breakfast burritos only 2 blocks away, we waited for the delivery. Well, 30 minutes became 45, became 1 hour, it was about 2 or more hours with no delivery from TWO BLOCKS away when the manager made me call them back.

The order taker (I'll call her Sue.) remembered me and said, "Oh, our delivery guy will be there soon. He had an accident in the snow. I was trying to call you back all morning." That was BS as we had two lines and did not ring ONCE since the order was placed. I told her to forget it, you guys are taking too long. Cancel the order. She obviously did not listen or decided to cover her butt.

I explained to the guys what happened and said, listen, it's lunch time, I'll go get lunch. I grab my coat and stop to help a customer on my way out. While ringing up the customer the 23-ish delivery guy comes in.

"Sir, are you from "X" making a delivery?" "

Yes."

"You guys took over 2:30 minutes and I cancelled the order, we are not accepting it."

(Cocking his head a little and getting attitude) "You mean you made me walk 2 and 1/2 blocks in the snow for nothing?

"No, SUE MADE YOU WALK 2 and a 1/2 BLOCKS IN THE SNOW FOR NOTHING. I cancelled 20 minutes ago. We are not accepting it!"

(Sarcasm as he walked out): Have a nice day, sir.

(More Sarcasm) No. You have a nice day too!

I cannot tell you how much of an ego boost that gave me. I felt like such a man. It made me feel big! I must be the only retailer in history to have made a return to another store in my own store and win!

"I just like squeeling. It makes me feel big!" - Frankie the Squeeler / Simpsons

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

It was the same place that if you saw someone stealing and called security (loss prevention as they called it), they would ignore you and let them get away, if you were a minimum wage peon. Perhaps they've changed since the 1980's.

I used to live in Ohio, which has its fair share of Meijer stores. It's funny you mention the apathy of their LP's. In the early 90's, there was a guy who walked into a Meijer store with a battery in his pocket, as he needed to buy a new battery and brought the dead one for comparison. As the man left the store with his new batteries, the LP's tackled him because they thought he stole a battery out of a package, which turned out to be the one he brought with him. They broke his neck and paralyzed him.

Things definitely changed since the 80's

[buckshot]

Originally Posted by BStecke

I used to live in Ohio, which has its fair share of Meijer stores. It's funny you mention the apathy of their LP's. In the early 90's, there was a guy who walked into a Meijer store with a battery in his pocket, as he needed to buy a new battery and brought the dead one for comparison. As the man left the store with his new batteries, the LP's tackled him because they thought he stole a battery out of a package, which turned out to be the one he brought with him. They broke his neck and paralyzed him.

Things definitely changed since the 80's

LP's in general are kinda slow from my experience. another HD story was when I was in returns. some guys came in with a dryer to exchange. it was bought at another store so I refused the return. meanwhile the guy's friend was in appliances getting their replacement dryer. when he wheeled it to the front the LP stopped him. the friend pointed to us and told the LP he was exchanging it. the LP let him go. when the guy returning the dryer left I called the LP and told him they didn't return the 1st dryer and were walking off with the new one. he blew me off. I walked outside to see the lot attendants loading both dryers into the bed of the truck and the guys taking off. so I called up the store manager. who came up to find out why I was bothering him (PRICK). I explained the situation to him, he blew me off as well. so I called the original store and told them to call me if they came back in. about 45 minutes later they did. both guys were there returning both dryers (totalling $3000 these were nice dryers). turns out they had somehow found a way to forge appliance documents. I informed the store of the situation and both dudes got arrested (not my intention but whatever).

only thing I got was a damn merit badge. and that kids is why I no longer work there. $8.75 an hr for that bd. no deal howie.

[thewifeofbuckshot]

I had someone try to return a used pregnancy test at walmart once. they said "I know I'm pregnant, its wrong." So I made them clean my counter.

Another time someone threw a can of soup at my head because we couldn't return food.

but you know those stories.

[Rup_Muk]

^^ "thewifeofbuckshot"?

The same one that just became a mamma? If so, congratulations!

No matter what - welcome to the forum. We all like buckshot (most of the time). I've always been in awe of his avatar!

Rup.

[thewifeofbuckshot]

His grandpa was funny. My husband has his moments as well. shhhhh. He doesn't know i'm here yet.

Thank you for the congrats. My picture thingy should be up soon. Once i figure it out.

[buckshot]

aw damn. thats why you were using my computer. saying outloud what i am typing is weird. YES YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HEAR ME

chix

[blualaskan]

I used to own a store that rented machines similar to the rug doctor along with the cleaning supplies to do your rug or upholstery. So a couple comes in and picks up a machine on a 2 day rental and all the supplies to go with it the total comes to over $145.00. They leave no problem for about an hour. The guy comes in and demands I replace his products. I asked politely what happened to the other products if they were bad I will replace them. He then begins to relate a story to me that I could not believe. He said they had gotten home and he took the machine in the house after sitting the supplies behind the car. The wife is so excited to be getting her carpets cleaned she runs out to Mcdonalds. To her supprise when she reached the end of the drive she had ran over all the cleaning supplies. She then sends him to get new supplies not sure if this was his or her idea. I explained this was not going to happen and after a while he agreed when I picked up the new supplies and gave him a 20% discount.

[Rup_Muk]

Originally Posted by thewifeofbuckshot

His grandpa was funny. My husband has his moments as well. shhhhh. He doesn't know i'm here yet.

Thank you for the congrats. My picture thingy should be up soon. Once i figure it out.

Now I see the family resemblance in the great-grandchild.

Sorry, to have gone OT...

Rup.

[blualaskan]

In the same store time, I did training and even went on site to teach people how to use my products. I had a guy who had a cleaning business and was in all the time. This went on for a couple of years when one day he asked for a private conversation. He said we needed to negotiate a settlement due to my chemicals harming his body. He begins to show me discolored patches on his skin near his hands, feet and knees. Alarm bells are going off for me and I remember he had been to my classes and I had been on site with him for training. I asked him to explain to me how he thinks he was harmed. He said when he cleans a house he does the shower and tubs, he gets in with swimming trunks no shoes and sprays the shower down, with the cleaning supplies. He then scrubs the shower and rinses it all while he is still inside. I told him to reconsider since what he had done caused this. He then said we would have to go the lawyer route. Long story short first test he had came up with Hepatitas C incurable. He later came back and apologized for everything.

Worst day of my life when I thought I could have contributed to an idiot harming himself but then utter symapthy when he told me the news.

[MCWHAMMER]

This is my thread people. I could make a post in here every day for the next month, seriously (I am a frequent retail consumer).

So, let's start with one that really got my blood boiling.

HHGREGG. I should have known, with such a ridiculous name, the store was trouble. It had just moved into our town (First one in NC it was), and I kind of thought it was just an appliance store. While researching cheap HDTV's, I ended up at hhgregg.com. I liked that you could do an in-store pick up on one, and planned a trip down there to pick mine up after work Friday.

For some reason I cannot remember, I had to keep calling the store once a day, because they didn't send a confirmation of it being ready for pick up. Surely they recognized my voice the 5th time I called.

Finally, Friday rolls around, and I call right as I leave work to confirm that they actually have that model of TV in store. They do, and I didn't bother asking if my "In store pickup was ready". I knew it'd be a 45 min. drive to get it, so I hit the road.

Got to the store, handed off my printed email to the woman, and they immediately told me that it wasn't going to work. That I had to have some confirmation email. Already, I was kind of expecting this and this is my face when she said this -> . I said: "No, I just called 30 mins. ago, and the guy said that you had the TV in stock, so I am going to pick it up today". (THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE WHEN I HAVE CALLED A WOMAN A B*TCH, THOUGH ONLY IN MY HEAD. SHE ABSOLUTELY WAS THE DEFINITION OF B*TCH. TO TOP IT OFF, SHE USED TO WORK AT MEDIA PLAY BEFORE IT CLOSED, AND SHE WAS A B*TCH THEN TOO. HOPE HHGREGG CLOSES ON HER TOO)

Anyway, as she stood unresponsive, staring at me with her pudgy disgusting face, the manager came over and looked at the paper. I walked around the store for at least 25 minutes while they tried to figure out how to screw me over. Eventually, she told me that they were wheeling my TV out from the back, to pull my truck around. Ten minutes later, it was on my truck, and I was out of that hell-hole.

No apologies were given at any time. I never got the confirmation email, but they gladly took my 700 dollars.

I vowed from that day forward to never return to HHB*TCH ever again. They don't deserve my money, and I don't need the stress.

I'll be back to post my 30 days of retail horror stories each day for the rest of the month. I love it, I love burying a companies reputation. I've got a lot of Best Buy horror to speak of too, can't wait. I encourage people to avoid the companies that get mentioned in this thread, though I can't imagine why anyone would willingly go into an hhgregg. I was only curious, I had no idea what I was in for.

[Blu As Hell]

I haven't been in retail for a while so I'm trying to let that part of my life disappear over time.

But I will tell you my recent HHGregg story, wait till you hear this one MCWHAMMER, anyhoo...In march I purchased a Sony 60" LCD from them, I got my extended warranty with it as well. So about 3 months ago the amp went out for some odd reason, being that I don't use my TV's that much because I work all the time, so I call them up and tell them that my TV's lamp has went out and could they come fix it? The gentleman I spoke with, who acted like he didn't want to be bothered with me calling, said "No, we will come pick it up and ship it to Sony because we are not certified to work on Sony products." So after I got over the shock of having a TV in my living room, I say okay fine and I ask "When can the guys come and pick up the TV?" he says in about two weeks, now I'm kind of pissed. So I set up the time for these cats to come get the tv, the day comes and the drivers didn't get to my house until about 7:00 at night and when they pick up my TV off of my entertainment center (which was nice as hell) somehow the broke the back of it!!!!!!! I went off on them and they said that HHGregg will take care of everything and they would have the Store Manager call me about it.

So the manager calls me the next day and tells me that they will pay for the stand and everything (he was a nice guy!!). Okay now about two weeks pass again and I'm like what the hell's going on with my TV, so I call and the cats tell me that they have not gotten my TV back because Sony couldn't fix it. I was like why not? The young lady proceeds to tell me that Sony couldn't fix my TV because there was a crack in the screen!!!!!! The shit hit the fan!!!!! "WTF" I yell at this random chick, "How in the hell did a crack get in my TV's screen?" She said it was like that when it was brought in. I said "No the f*ck it wasn't and I have the work order that proves that it was just the lamp that went out. We go back and forth for about a minute so I ask to speak to the store manager again (the nice guy.) I get him on the line and now he's acting like a total bi*ch now like I did something wrong, and he says bring the work order to the store because "I don't believe you telling me the truth about the TV." Yes he said that to me. So I get to the store and now he's the nice guy again, at this point I'm quivering with anger, he then proceeds to tell me that his guys dropped my tv when they unloaded it and that they will give me a replacement free of charge. I told him to go to hell and give me my damn money back. So I got my money back for the tv and the stand which came up to a little more than 3 grand and I bought my new tv from Best Buy.

Moral of this story...don't buy from HHGregg.

[MCWHAMMER]

Originally Posted by Blu As Hell

So I get to the store and now he's the nice guy again

He had to be once he saw how angry you were . He didn't want to end up in a hospital.

at this point I'm quivering with anger, he then proceeds to tell me that his guys dropped my tv when they unloaded it and that they will give me a replacement free of charge. I told him to go to hell and give me my damn money back. So I got my money back for the tv and the stand which came up to a little more than 3 grand and I bought my new tv from Best Buy.

Moral of this story...don't buy from HHGregg.

That is a mess. I really do not have the patience with stuff like that, I am glad you stuck through it and got your money back. I don't think I could have kept my cool in that situation. How do they break an entertainment center?! And then they drop your TV off a truck! Bunch of morons.

I can't wait to see all of the other HHGregg horror stories, I didn't think anyone else tried to shop there.

[Zyclone]

oh crap there are two buckshots here now

[rragland]

Originally Posted by buckshot

i know there are a good number of retail workers on here. we hear a lot about the horrible experiences customers have a walmart, best buy, etc etc. having worked in retail for a few years i've accumulate more than my fair share of horrible customer interactions. my favorite is:

While i was working at home depot working the self checkout. a customer came through and with a long piece of crown molding. he scanned the barcode and since its sold by the foot my computer prompted me to measure the length. "sir, i just need to measure that so i can ring you up."

"its 8 feet" he says.
"still, i have to measure it." i reply
"why, its eight #%*@% feet"
"well normally i wouldn't care, but my boss to my left (pointing to boss) appreciates it when i do"
"i don't care, its 8 god $#!^ feet."
this back and forth continues for a few minutes.
"listen man, you could have been done by now, just let me measure it and we can move on."
"FINE $@#$%#@$ YOU!"
at this point the customer throws the molding at me like he's leonidus or something. i move so it doesn't hit me, which it would have had i not. the customer then smashes a tile he was buying and stomp out shouting "F#@# home depot. Bunch of #@#$))*$P:">. AND }"?">$_$>@}!&)&^( YOU TOO!"

As he walks by i smile and say "have a great day sir, thank you for shopping at the home depot "

"**** YOU!!!!!" he replies as he walks out.

i measured the board. it was 10 feet.

anyone else had bad experiences from the other side of retail?

I gave up retail because of people like this. I would have gotten fired had I been in this situation, because I probably would have gotten down on his level and engaged in a cursing match.

[buckshot]

Originally Posted by rragland

I gave up retail because of people like this. I would have gotten fired had I been in this situation, because I probably would have gotten down on his level and engaged in a cursing match.

see i get some sick pleasure out of toying with people who have already lost their temper. so i will be overly nice to them to piss them off.

When i was at home depot i ran the gambit of retail workers. when i started i was hard working, motivated, nice even. then i started to dick around with customers a bit. then i just got apathetic. "whats that sir. you want to return the bbq you bought 2 months ago because its now the fall and you won't use it for another year? Sure. why not? my manager would approve it anyway."

i'd return just about anything since when i'd say no my boss would just approve it and make me look like a douche anyway.

but if i started telling stories of my days at ace hardware. THAT could take up the entire thread. constructing a canned air musket, almost burning the building down, twice. medievel night with 5 gallon paint stirrers. chasing big jim around the store shooting bent up paperclips at him with a rubberband and calling it "mammoth hunting". duct taping newbies 5 feet off the ground to the support pole in the back. i could go into more detail about these if anyone is interested in hearing them, but i think i'll just leave them as short little blurps for the moment.
and this was to be for those of us who worked in retail to complain about you "NORMS" (customers).