Okay, right, I do believe that it is finally time (a month after I proposed it) for some customer stories!
On my most recent shift:
It’s Monday evening, and there are only two employees in the store: me and the assistant manager. She’s put me on cash because she does things more quickly than I do and is off doing something in the back. A family of three comes in–mother, father, and little girl of about 4 or 5. The mother marches up to the counter holding a pair of worn sandals and says, “Ah, I bought these shoes a while ago, and now I realize they’re breaking… do you have any more of this style in stock? … Here, I have the receipt.” I grimace inwardly. This is not going to be fun. I check for her and sure enough, we do not have any more in stock. “So what now?” she says. At this point, I’m thinking, “Great, I’m screwed. Our return policy has never been fully explained to me and now THIS?!” I run to the back to check with my manager, who says that even though she bought the shoes two months ago, since she has the receipt, she can exchange them.
Okay. Fine. I let the customer know this and point to our kids section. She asks me to measure her daughter’s feet. So I grab my measury thing and head down the aisle. I bend down and touch her daughter’s foot–I need her to take off the shoe to measure properly. The kid SCREAMS. Loudly. After a moment, the mother says, “Oh, do you need her to take off her shoes?” I mumble something.
So meanwhile, they’re busy browsing and I am busy running around checking that the other customers are finding what they need. Eventually the family comes up to the till with about five pairs of shoes. “Arrghhhhfizzbucket,” I think. I return the old pair, and start ringing up the rest. I come to a pair of shoes that say $5 on the box but which the computer says are $9. I don’t know which price is right, and besides which, I don’t know how to adjust the price anyway. I ask my manager. She sorts things out. So after all that… the lady gives me a blasted “15% discount card.” I don’t know where people get these things. Anyway, I now have to go back and correct all of the items, because our register is stupid and only lets you use a coupon on the most recent item. So I do that. It takes forever but it’s done. She asks if she can use another coupon she has; random customers get a phone number to call and a survey to complete about the service in our stores. The manager (who has by now figured out that I’m practically at my wits’ end at the register) says no, but she can use it on her next one. We ring it up, she signs a few forms, I’m happy it’s over, and they turn to go.
Then her husband spots our shelf of shoe cleaning products and grabs two; he plonks them on the counter and signals that I should ring them up. I do so quickly; at least, I try to. Unfortunately the lady has now decided that she wants to use her $4 coupon in addition to her 15% discount card; this confuses me beyond all belief and I have to get the manager to help me again. Her grand total for the second transaction was something like $2.87. And she put it on her American Express card. Why, people, WHY?! I mean… surely you have a five dollar bill? Or some change? Seriously! Anyway, it goes through and my jaw is slack with disbelief. I can’t believe I just spent fifteen minutes ringing something up.
Oh, and the worst part? With her second purchase, she got another “customer service survey” coupon. She’ll probably phone in a bad score for us, meaning that our managers will be breathing even further down our necks to get our ratings up. ARRGH.
That was a long story that didn’t really amount to much. :tongue:
(As an aside: Surely there is some limit when it comes to returning things? I mean… I had another customer walk in, ask me, “You work here? Yeah? Okay, well, I bought these shoes here, and now they have holes in them.” I look at the shoes (they’re on his feet!) They’re black runners of some kind and they are pretty beat up. I’ve worn the same runners for a year and mine aren’t that beat up. I show him to his size and try to help him find a similar style. “How long ago did you buy the shoes, sir?” “About three months.” “Um, well, then we may not have them… perhaps you should speak with my manager instead.” “The manager? Why not you?” “I uh… uh… can’t do returns. He can help you out, though.” Look at me weasel out of things!
But seriously. I wanted to say to him, “DUDE. Let’s think for a moment. You wore these shoes for three months. You cannot expect a cheap pair of shoes (he said they were around $35) to last for a long time if you’re beating them up that badly! And if we took back every shoe like yours we’d never make any money!” Arrrrrgh. Is my thinking wrong? Has it suddenly become acceptable to bring back USED items? Geez, really, what’s next, bringing food back to the grocery store that’s gone rotten?)