Retail nightmares

[Guest Luke Cage]

I saw this topic at a Delphi forum and thought it would be fun to start up here. f there is an older thread I missed, I apologize. I'm on a slow PC and didn't search the archives.

Simply, does anyone want to share "Clerks" level horros stories about their time as a register jock? Had a bad experience with an indifferent Best Buy employee? Please chime in.

 

I as’st managed a B. Daltons in Baltimore in the late eighties. We used to get applications from some of the scariest humans on the planet. One fellow came up to me while I was on register detail and demanded to know what became of his app. After getting his name, I checked the file in the back office (we were required to keep all apps on file, no matter how little chance the person had of being interviewed, much less hired). He had checked yes on the question about being arrested/convicted. The reason? Written in all caps, serial killer scrawl, “I STABED SOMEBODY” (sic). I went back out and told him that we weren’t hiring at the time, but would keep his application on file( our standard answer). He accepted that answer with a derisive grunt and stormed off.

That was one of the better applicants. He may be a regional manager with the company by now…

 

In the mid nineties, I was a collections officer (repo man) for Rent-A Center. I worked at offices in Frederick MD, inner city Baltimore and Howard County. For those who aren’t familiar with Rent-A Center, they rent furniture, electronics, even beds and jewelry. They prey upon people with bad credit, no ability to save and poor mathematical skills. Example: At the time, I worked there a 19” Goldstar TV cost over 900(!) dollars to rent to full ownership. I would warn people that if they missed payments I would have to recover the merch, but they hardly listened. I would further tell them that if they saved the weekly payments we asked for about 15 weeks they could just go BUY the same set from Wal-Mart. They rarely even paid attention to me. All they could think of is having a TV delivered to their homes for 15 bucks out of pocket.

 

Once I had to go into a trailer that appeared to be a recruiting center for the local chapter of the Klan. The house itself had no indoor plumbing. It was surrounded by a virtual moat that appeared to consist of human waste .This was a hot and humid summer day in MD, so the smell was unbearable. In order to get to the house I had to walk over a poorly handmade bridge that consisted of a couple of wooden planks nailed together. Once inside I saw that they had hate literature all over the place. They were also viewing a video tape detailing the virtues of a hate camp for children. Of course, they had no idea I was/am black because I didn’t speak in the manner they expected. Someone jumped to switch off the tape and they were very respectful of me the whole time I was there.

 

There was a time I had a customer who was out of work and I had to reclaim the merch. After weeks of ignored calls/visits and legal threats, I finally got him to open his door. He met me dressed in his bathrobe and pointed to a gun on his coffee table. “If you think you can get this stuff back, you just come inside.” I thought of all of the crap I went through to get to him and how much crap I’d get if from my boss if I came back empty handed. I still don’t know why I said this but I told him “If you were going to shoot me you would have had the gun in your hand when you opened the door.” At this he freaked and began tossing electronics components out the door. I stepped aside, and just collected the things after they crashed to the ground.

 

Finally, there was a time my partner and I had to reclaim a house full of furniture and electronics from a customer who has skipped town without paying. We got the call to reclaim our merch from the landlord. The former customer kept the house so filthy that it was INFESTED with roaches…I’m talking horror movie level here. The entire row of townhomes had to be shut down so they could be fumigated. Roaches were dropping onto our heads from the ceiling and swarmed from behind every piece of furniture. Once we got the stuff back to our office the manager just junked it. There was no chance of recovering any of it. Even the innards of the electronics were caked with filth. I must have showered three times when I got home that night and I threw the clothes I was wearing in the trassh.

 

I have more horror stories, but would like to hear from others.

Thanks!

[Guest Matt Young]

I'm not here to share a story, but I'm curious- What are the prerequisites I would have to meet to be able to rent something from a place like Rent-A-Center? I've been considering it for a couple weeks.

[Guest crandamaniac]

This happened to me a few weeks ago, and this is one of my more tamer customer stories.

 

I work at Wal-Mart, in electronics. With my customers, I'm usually courteous to them, I'm not particularly nice, but then again, I don't insult them or be rude to them. Anywho, I was working when this guy came in there. He asked me about the tape recorder, said he was going to use it to catch a rat. So I showed him the tape recorders, and answered al his questions he had about them. He looked at me and said "Now if this doesn't work right, I'm going to bring it back" I smiled and said "Well if you're not satisfied, keep the receipt and you can bring it back". The next exchange really creeped me out. He said "Does this thing work rectally?" Me: *laughs* "No, I don't think it works like that"

Guy: "Well if it doesn't work like I want it to, You're gonna find out!

 

 

Fucking asshole

[Guest The Metal Maniac]

This is more funny then horrible, but whatever...

 

I work at Wal-Mart, in Store Standards.

 

This old woman asked me if we had small plastic bags, about 2 inches or less in size, with ziplock tops.

 

I was asked by a senior citizen if we had FUCKING DIMEBAGS.

 

I found it comical.

[Guest Mark4steamboat]

I worked at an independently owned cd store that sold wrestling videos/dvds and regular movies as well and one day we got an elderly man in a wheelchair that couldnt be any less than 70 years old. The man came in with his grandson <im guessing> that looked about 10 or 11 and the man asked if we had an pornographic videos. I responded "Yes but we only have soft core and no full scale hardcore pornography due to certain laws" The man, with his grandson still behind him, raises up in his wheelchair and begins yelling at me and asking "why the fuck we dont have anal videos" I remained calm with the gentleman of course but the guy kept swearing at me as to why we did not carry videos of that nature and why we should. I told him that i would talk to my boss and he said that i should and he wheeled out the door. The man never came back in and i ended up quitting the next month. Cd stores are damn fun to work for though.

[Guest Kingpk]

Heh, today some guy came in with Toys R' Us coupons. The problem? I work at a KB Toy Works. Had a good laugh at his expense.

 

I also hate stupid parents that yell at me because I won't sell GTA: VC to their 13 year old unless the parent is there with them.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

I dont know how many people got up at the crack of dawn (or in my case, 4:30 am which is roughly 1 1/2 hours before dawn) to go shopping friday.

 

Out the door at 5:30, knowing that only KMart opened at 5 and there was nothing there I wanted, so I had time to get breakfast. This was a mistake, because that took up almost 1/2 hour of my time in the drive thru including 15 in the drive thru (should have gone in, not busy at all inside) and 10 minutes parked in the lot wiping up a whole container of spilled orange juice..

 

Went to Staples and sat in the car and ate my breakfast, sans juice and waited in the car while there was no one around waiting in line at Staples. As soon as a few people started walking up to the door (a lot of people had the same idea to sit in the car and wait..It was kind of cold..) I got out and stood in line at 6:30 and was close to the door. Next door there was no one standing in line at Circuit City at the time, although as soon as I got in line at Staples, the Circuit City line managed to wrap itself all over the parking lot in about 5 minutes, whereas the staples line was still quite short..Got in the door and got the memory that was on sale, and that was about it there although I looked around and noticed that they did at one time have Diablo 2 for 4.50, Diablo 2 EP for 4.50 and a host of other Computer games for 4.50 although all that they had by the time I got around to finding the display was Monopoly, a Barbie game and some that I didnt recognize or knew that they sucked... Staples was easy to get in and get out of, surprising for the number of people in the store.

 

Went next door to Circuit City. I should have gotten in line for Circuit City before Staples, so that was my HUGE MISTAKE OF THE DAY! The place was so packed, you couldn't move 2 inches in any direction without bumping someone. The only thing they had by the time that I got there was their 9.99 CD sale, which while a good price on CDs, isn't worth standing in line a half an hour to move 5 feet closer to the register and the register is still about 200 people away..so after wasting well over an hour there, I put the CDs back and it literally took 10 minutes just to get out of the store.

 

Went next to Wal Mart, but me being the genius that I am, instead of going to the one thats right next to Circuit City, I head over to the one clear on the other side of town. My reason is because there is nothing else on the other side of town, and people aren't going to go to that Wal Mart when they can go to the one where all the other stores/mall/places to eat/banks, etc are. The move paid off big time as I was able to get a great parking spot (super close to the door!), just about everything I wanted to get in Wal Mart and I didn't even have to stand in a line at the checkout. None of this would have happened at the other one. BEST MOVE OF THE DAY!..

 

Next stop was back on the other side of town to the mall, which, was another big mistake because all of the early specials were just about over and they might as well have been because there was pretty much nothing left, although I did manage to find a few items. Its going on noon now, and I was wondering where the last 6 hours went..

 

The next stop was to a discount store called Big Lots, Im sure most have heard about it, but thats where I've done the majority of my Christmas shopping the last 2 years and again this year, as I can get the majority of the people that Im not related to stuff relatively cheap (uh..not supposed to be a pun..or whatever). Spent almost an hour in there, as they were moderately busy but not nothing like Circuit City, although there were some annoying little kids in front of me in the line who were crying and having fits, throwing stuff in the floor and breaking a few things. Someones gonna get it (or already gotten it by now) when they get home..

 

Anyway, now it was going on 2 and I had promised my mother I would go shopping with her after she got off work, so it ended up I went back with my mother to Wal Mart and the mall, although not the same stores in the mall. Spent the next 3 hours doing this and bought my mother dinner and came back home at around 6 or so ..All in all I spent close to 250 bucks although I'll get close to 50 of it back in rebates, and most of it (except the memory) was for christmas gifts, so Im mostly done with my shopping and theres still 4 weeks to go..which is a good thing because I am shopped out..and..Then I remember Im supposed to go back in town this morning, (but not so early..maybe 10 am or so)because Im supposed to help my Aunt do her shopping.. but I for some reason can't get any sleep..

 

CRUD. I wonder if I can get to sleep..

[Guest EricMM]

I was working at Subway, summer of 2001.

 

Late into the night ~11:00 PM (we close at 12 LONG day so anyways)

 

Lady comes in and orders a tuna sub. Fine and dandy, that's pretty easy. So I give her the STANDARD 4 scoops of tuna fish on her bread.

Her "That's not enough"

Me "That's what you get"

Her "What do you mean, that's not enough!"

Me "Would you like to buy double meat for two dollars?"

Her "Hell no, that doesn't even cover the whole bread!"

Me "Its still in balls, look I can smash it down and it will cover the bread"

Her "NO DON'T SMASH IT DOWN YOU ARE TRYING TO CHEAT ME (etc etc etc blah blah)

Me "Ma'am I am giving you the standard amount I can't give you extra its policy take it up with subway...

Her (storms out)

 

Whatever. I never knew someone to get so worked up over a sammitch. I've never stormed out of a McD's because my burger was too small on my bun, that's life. Are you going to starve? It's not as if I gave her less than I gave everyone else that day.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Strange. I have made comments to McDonald's before when I got ripped off on my fries -- I've had some orders where you can't even see the fries sticking out of the cartoon! -- but I will never bitch about the lack of "meat" on a sandwich.

 

After reading Marvin's post, I thank God I don't have to do any Xmas shopping this year...

[Guest hardyz1]

Christmas shopping before December 20? Strange.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

Christmas shopping before December 20?  Strange.

Hmm. By the time the 20th comes around, places never have anything and what they do have is always more expensive than stuff thats on sale now. If you have a few people to buy for or an unlimited budget, late starting might work, but I have about 25 people to buy for (which seems like a lot to buy for IMO, but it might not be..) on no more than $350 bucks. Not to mention the people who wait until the last minute and then are absolutely desperate to buy stuff..

[Guest crandamaniac]

I love stupid customers! Let me tell you about this one guy. He came in last week with a phone, wanting to return it because it didn't work. The phone was bought about a year ago, and anytime their's a return, I'm really a hardass, because alot of people take advantage of it. So I tell this guy that Its not covered by our warranty, and we can't take it back.

 

Fast forward a week, and the man comes back. He comes up to me, and tells me that he was still unhappy, and he wanted to know where it said that our warranty was for 90 days. I pointed right over his head, where their was a sign that clearly stated it, and he saw it, got this dumb look on his face, and said "Ohhhh.....Well I'm still not satisfied"

 

 

Showed him

[Guest hardyz1]

Hmm. By the time the 20th comes around, places never have anything and what they do have is always more expensive than stuff thats on sale now. If you have a few people to buy for or an unlimited budget, late starting might work, but I have about 25 people to buy for (which seems like a lot to buy for IMO, but it might not be..) on no more than $350 bucks. Not to mention the people who wait until the last minute and then are absolutely desperate to buy stuff..

Yeah, I would do that if I had a lot of people to buy for. But I buy gifts for very few people. I buy for my mom (her birthday is two days after Christmas so I buy for that too). Also, at our big family gatherings, we have a tradition where everybody brings a gift for a man/woman and each person picks one at random.

[Guest DrTom]

Several years ago, I was working retail (I was the department manager for Electronics). It was the holiday shopping season, probably with about two weeks until Xmas. I'd just finished dealing with a few people, and of course, a few more were waiting. One of them, a middle-aged woman, storms down the aisle toward me and shouts,

 

"ARE YOU GOING TO WAIT ON ME!?!"

 

My response: "I was..." Then I ignored her and helped someone else. She stormed out, and I didn't care.

[Guest ant_7000]

I still work in retail and thing that really annoy me customers who have bad hygiene.

[Guest CanadianChris]

I still work in retail and thing that really annoy me customers who have bad hygiene.

Oh GOD, that reminds me...

 

I worked at the Coffee & Donut shop at my university the last few terms I was there, and I worked nights a few times. Not bad overall, as I got whatever was left over in terms of food after I closed (very nice deal for broke, starving university student, even if it was a bit stale at times).

 

Except...

 

The C&D was located in the Math building, right across the hall from the Computer Science Club. Now, keep in mind, these weren't necessarily CS students (quite a few of which were friends of mine), but they were ALL stereotypical geek outcasts -- D&D loving, taped-up glasses-wearing, greasy-haired geeks. Oh, and they were VERY likely not to shower or use deodorant.

 

So, whenever they would come in at night (and they were most likely of anyone, since it seemed some of them LIVED in that office), I would literally have to hold my breath until they were gone, the stench of BO was THAT BAD. It was disgusting. I was tempted at times to say to them, "Hey, take whatever you want, just don't come near me."

[Guest crandamaniac]

Several years ago, I was working retail (I was the department manager for Electronics). It was the holiday shopping season, probably with about two weeks until Xmas. I'd just finished dealing with a few people, and of course, a few more were waiting. One of them, a middle-aged woman, storms down the aisle toward me and shouts,

 

"ARE YOU GOING TO WAIT ON ME!?!"

 

My response: "I was..." Then I ignored her and helped someone else. She stormed out, and I didn't care.

Reminds of this guy who always comes into my department. He always seems to come in right when we're the busiest. Me and my co-worker are busy helping customers and stuff, while he just stands there for a couple of minutes. Then he yells "I'm not waiting an hour for some help!" and walks off, and all he did was just stand there and not say a word to anybody. He's done this at least 3 or 4 times.

[Guest Luke Cage]

I'm not here to share a story, but I'm curious- What are the prerequisites I would have to meet to be able to rent something from a place like Rent-A-Center? I've been considering it for a couple weeks.

I escaped from RAC over five years ago so I don't know what their current policies are. At the time I worked there all you neded was a steady job and at least two people who will verify that you exist.

WARNING! If their policies are the same, if you are late with a payment they WILL call you. At home. On your job. They'll call your friends. They'll show up at your house at 9 AM on Saturday morning. If your payments are very late, they may even show up at your job or file charges against you.

 

My advice? Save for whatever you want to rent and just buy it clean. Or, if you must deal with RAC, ask to speak to a manager and ask if he has any used merchandise for sale. You'll probably still get ripped off, but not as bad as renting.

 

Last Warning...do not, under any circumstance rent any bedding or upholstered funrinture from them. From my experience, they do NOT sterilize used bedding, etc. I had recovered bedding that was caked with semen, menstrual blood, feces and/or urine that was given a basic wipe down with a warm cloth and placed right back on the floor.

 

Yuck.

[Guest Luke Cage]

I can't forget about my comic shop experience. I worked at a shop that sold baseball cards as well as comics so I had to deal with anal card collectors as well as obsessed comic fans. Once I spent an hour looking for an '85 Joe Shmoe only to be told that it was "imperfect". I looked at the card and could see no flaws, but the customer swore that it was off center. So I spent an hour loking for a 15 cent card that the guy didn't even want.

I was unfortunate enough to be on duty while two grown men were debating the sexual orientation of Wonder Woman or some such nonsense. They asked my opinion and after an attempt at a polite deferral, I told them that the sex lives of imaginary characters was pretty low on my list of priorities. (My personal belief is that once you start wondering about how/if superheroes have sex you should probably stop reading superhero comics, but that's just me)

I remember speculators hoarding Jim Lee X-Men, thinking it would be a "good investment". How a comic with a 6 million+ print run could possibly be worth anything as a collectible was beyond their scope, I guess. A year or so later some of these same speculators came back to try to sell the books back. I directed them to a "3 for a dollar" box that was jammed with Jim Lee X Men.