FOR ONCE, I WASN'T IN THE MIDDLE!!!!

Entry from 1-3-09 (Saturday)

I have to admit, I truly dreaded going to work today. I just knew something bad was going to happen and I would be right in the middle of it. Well, guess what. Something bad did happen, and I WASN’T IN THE MIDDLE OF IT!!!!

The co-worker brought her yapper again today and let her run all over the store. One customer told me that the little yapper even peed on the floor but she didn’t want to snitch on her to the owner. I thought it was funny. Only problem is, lots of folks let their kids play on the floor there, and one of them might play where the dog peed. Since I have no idea where it is, I cannot have someone clean it up. But “I” am not cleaning it up. She shouldn’t be allowed to bring her dog to work. I know it is more rare that people are allergic to dogs than cats, but there are still people who ARE allergic to dogs and she just shouldn’t be allowed in the store, or even in the back. She let the yapper run all around in the back where they were loading and unloading large, heavy items. The poor thing could have been squished or kicked, or even run over by a car coming in to donate something.

All of the employees in the back finally told the co-worker to put the dog in the assistant director’s office and shut the doors. She did, and then the dog began yapping louder and scratching on the door like a madman (make that madwoman, lol). I really felt sorry for the little thing.

We were extremely busy today. On a usual day we make about $700-$1100. I heard that yesterday they made over $2000. Today we made over $1900. Of course we had a huge blowout sale, which brings all the good customers in as well as the nutcases.

The day went fairly well until closing time. Not only were there five million customers still in the store at closing time (of course, I do exaggerate a little, lol), but they all had a truckload of stuff they were purchasing. I called for someone to come help me bag, and was surprised that the yapper’s mama, and the yapper, came up to help. We got almost everyone out of the store and one of our really hard to deal with customers kept coming back to purchase more stuff. She had been in the store for over 2 hours. Another cashier waited on her twice, and then when I came back from break, I waited on her and her husband 6 more times. But of course, it isn’t just normal purchases. She has to complain about how crappy everything is, and how it isn’t worth that amount of money, and then blatantly asks if we will come down on it when she gets to the register.

There was a woman with her today whom I have never seen before. The community service workers kept bringing out tv’s and plugging them in and checking them out to see if they worked. Usually our policy is to let the tv’s stay plugged in, and hooked to cable for a full day before selling them. That makes sure that the tv doesn’t quit working an hour or two after they get it home. There was a group of people gathered around the tv’s while Joshie was hooking them up (Joshie is a cs worker, but a cutie pie) and one man, who had been in the store for about 2 hours with his wife, said he wanted to buy one of the tv’s. So they went ahead and priced them “as is”, meaning we weren’t responsible if they went out later on. The woman who was with the hard to deal with customer stepped in front of him and yelled out to me “I WANT THIS TV, SAVE THIS TV FOR ME!!”. I told her if she wanted it she had to get in line and pay for it, and hurry, as the store was actually closed. She got in line and paid for the tv.

I finished waiting on the rest of the line and got everyone out but the man who had wanted the tv, and the woman who bought it, as well as the hard to deal with customer. The tv buyer stepped back up to the counter in front of the man, and yelled at me that the tv had stopped working, and she wanted her money back. She had just purchased it 5 minutes before and was happy with it. I explained that all sales were final, and I couldn’t give her her money back. I showed her the sign that says that, and she began yelling louder at me. I told her I could give her a store credit and she yelled that she didn’t want no stinking store credit, she wanted her money back. The yapper’s mother told her that we were not allowed to give cash refunds, but the woman kept yelling she wasn’t budging until she got her money back. The man behind her told her that the same thing had happened to him awhile back, and he wasn’t allowed a cash refund either. She yelled at him……sigh. Then the man told all of us employees that if she was given her money back, he would never come into our store to shop again. The yapper’s mother, who always wants to be in the middle of everything and in charge of everything, suddenly grabbed her yapper and said she was going home. And she did……….

The resident Christian took over, as she is the one who deals with refunds in the rare instance that we do them. I let her take over. The woman adamantly stood in front of the counter and said she wasn’t moving until she got her money back. Then the male volunteer that is friends with the resident Christian and me stood up and started talking in a loud voice that we were not going to refund her money and she would have to leave as we were officially closed. She stood strong. Then the hard to deal with customer got into the mix. She was going to buy a sweater, even though we had closed out the register, and when they told her to come back Monday and get the sweater, she said she didn’t want it anyway, it was a piece of crap. Yeah, just like the rest of the $130 worth of stuff you just bought. The male volunteer then told the 2 women that he was going to call 911 if they didn’t leave immediately. They still stood strong. Then the resident Christian and another co-worker put their heads together and decided to let her have her money back.

Well, as much as the rest of us were against it, she was going to take responsibility for it, so we let her have at it. Then, since we had closed out the register already, it wouldn’t let us void out and refund the money. She finally got it to void it out, and she refunded her the money she paid for the tv. Then, out of nowhere, she faced the customer and told her this: “Ma’am, since we have done this for you and it is against our policy, we have to tell you that you are no longer welcome back in the store. You cannot come back as a customer, ever. And we ask that you abide by that.” Well, that started the war again. The two customers started yelling horrible things at them and finally the male volunteer told them both they had to leave immediately. They refused to leave and stood there more or less taunting him. The tv purchaser finally walked out the door, but the hard to deal with customer kept mouthing off at the volunteer and he literally took her arm and tried to push her out the door. She yelled at him to take his hands off her. Here we go again……….sheesh. After a few words between the 2 of them and the volunteer, they finally went out the door. Poor Joshie was out there with them and they wanted him to open the door. He told them he couldn’t, it was locked. So he knocked and the volunteer went to the door and opened it and told them to please leave the property immediately or they would be locked inside the gate. Then the tv buyer poked her head in the door and waved at all of us and said happy new year and may we all be blessed by God. Then they both hugged the volunteer and said they loved him. Omg!!! I am usually out of the store by 5:10 pm, but today I clocked out at 5:40 pm. What a day! But thank goodness I wasn’t in the middle of any of it.

The other girl that cashiers came up to me twice today angry about someone in the back and how they treat her. I told her “welcome to my world”. That is how they do me all the time. Oh well, life goes on………………

Once again I have typed a novelette of atrocities at work. Those of you who have jobs dealing with the public, especially in a retail store type job, know just what I am talking about. The others of you can only imagine……..but be glad if you don’t have to deal with these types of people.

Guess I better get the heck out of here and try to post this.

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