November 2008 Weddings
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I'm beginning to hate Christmas already.
Retail sucks butt. Especially with rich people. They're so freaking nasty. I know that because I'm poor, I don't register as a human being to them, but really? It's paper people.
I always swear NEVER AGAIN after this job, but I always seem to get sucked back.
Anyone have any good ridiculous customers stories?
I had an Italian princess call me, seemingly drunk, and leave a message on my machine that said, "I AM PRINCESS BLAHBLAHBLAH. I DO NOT PAY TAX."
Um. Yes, you do, lady.
Re: I'm beginning to hate Christmas already.
When I worked at Casual Corner one summer I had a lady come in and demand that I try the clothes on for her, b/c we had "similar body types" and she didn't want to wrinkle her linen suit.
A: Hell no lady.
B: Me (at the time, not now) = 125 lbs.
Her = at least 175. Similar body types? I think not.
I used to work customer service for My Twinn. Holidays sucked. We inevitably got a pissed off New Yorker who said "I did not order this for your CHRISTMAS. I ordered it for Hannukah, and now it is ruined..." Or if the eyes weren't the exact color of the child's, or there were 6 freckles instead of 5 - people went nuts. I got really good at "unfortunately, our color palette is limited to 7 colors, while nature's palette is unlimited. We did pick the color closest..."
Best story ever - right before Christmas several years ago, the train carrying a shipment from Colorado east derailed. Many Twinns died. (They were damaged beyond repair). I got to be on the team to call these psychotic mothers who based the success of the holiday on this one present, and tell them the doll wasn't going to be there by Christmas. I called this woman in the South, and she went off on me. I made the mistake of saying "unfortunately, this event was out of our control, it was an act of God..." She then proceeded to berate me for 20 minutes about how HER GOD would not allow her daughter's Christmas to be ruined, and that this was the work of the DEVIL and I was the DEVILS ASSISTANT. Picture that in a strong Southern drawl. It was all I could do not to laugh at her.
Wendi, I think you might win. That is absurd.
Oh and I forget, when I used to work at Staples, people would get mad that I couldn't make black and white picture turn into color pictures with my color copier.
I wish people would shut up and stop getting offended by religion. You have yours, I have mine, WHO THE EFF CARES IF THEY ARE NOT THE SAME! Why does it have to be everyone's business, especially around the holidays when we all should be thankful for what we have and just to be alive. I celebrate christmas, I'm going to say merry christmas. do not "correct" me. Be thankful I wished you well, cause now I wish I wouldn't have, jacka$$.
And these ridiculous parents need to stop waiting until the last minute to get their "must have" toys if it's going to "ruin christmas" if it doesn't arrive! Idiots!
Cassie - LOL @ people! I'm a designer and I've never run into that one!
My worst a-hole holiday moment was when I was trying to talk a guy from a non-profit organization through how to send me his logo for the FREE holiday billboards my company was giving him. He was all but computer illiterate. I was getting annoyed, but in no way was I insulting him or even being short, there just weren't any unicorns & rainbows coming out of my a$$. He asks me in a belittling, fake nice tone, "are you having a bad day?" "...No?" under his breath "caaaause you're not being very friendly..." I was shocked and so was the salesman in charge of that account! What a jerk, you're getting stuff for FREE, idiot! See if we give your organization free boards anymore!
It was Christmas Eve around 4 pm at Macy's. I worked in the lingerie department at the time and was folding the last of the big chunky terrycloth robes we had left. A gentleman carrying a motorcycle helmet and wearing a leather jacket walked by and asked me where the bathroom was located. I directed him a little ways down and thought nothing of it. I moved on to arranging the thongs when about 5 minutes later he came up to me holding a stringy, lacey, black and red but covered in santa fur thing that was barley dangling from the hanger. I could smell the whiskey on his breathe from behind me. He stuck it around my body and demanded that I go "puthish on cush ma gurlfriendsh loosksh yer sizesh." I was 20 at the time and completely freaked out. I was pinned in a corner with drunk motorcycle man and had no idea what to do. I screamed. He passed out. Flat on the floor with said lingerie drapped over his body. Security saw it all happen and were on their way but they couldn't come soon enough as far as I was concerned. YIKES!
Same lingerie department. A few days before Christmas. I had signed the department for the new sale but didnt have a 50 % off PJ sign. PJ's were 40 bucks so I stuck a 19.99 dollar sign on there and moved along. I didnt have a choice, it was midnight and I was ready to go home. The next day a lady came in and bought about 6 pairs of these PJs when they all rang up 20 dollars you would have thought I ripped her kids arm off. She stood there and fought with me about 6 cents. They changed our system (without anyone knowing to avoid temp employees from giving discounts to friends) so I couldn't override the price like I had planned. I looked in our drawer at the desk and gave her six pennies. She threw them in my face and told me she would meet me outside after my shift and "whoop my skinny white a$$". She was pushing a baby stroller and had three other children with her. My mind was blown.
Several years later, Christmas Eve 4:50 pm. An announcement comes over from our store manager saying that the store will be closing in ten minutes and wishes everyone a happy holiday. I worked in the china and crystal department at the time so I hadnt had a customer in a while. Brides apparently dont register for gifts on Christmas Eve. This lady walks into my dept. yapping her trap on a cell phone. I acknowledged her and she shushed me with her finger over her mouth. Oh well excuse the hell out of me. So i kept dusting or cleaning or whatever I did. I saw a man across the way checking out one of the nicest leather coats we carried at the time and could here him talking about his wife was goign to love it and they were leaving to go home the next day. Cell phone lady stands at my desk and I ask her if she needs help again. Shushed once again. At that point she started to open her purse and the man started to walk away out the doors that I was responsible for manning. He gets to the sensors and they go off. I knew exactly what was about to happen. He was going to get home and give his wife a coat that she wouldnt be able to wear for several days because there was a sensor on it. I told cell phone lady that I would be right back but obviously she didnt hear me because she was on the phone. I ran towards the man to tell him I will happily take it the sensor off since I had that happen before and knew how heartbreaking it was. He thanked me over and over and just as he was doing so, cell phone lady grabbed my shoulder, whirled me around and proceeded to cuss and scream at me about how rude I was to walk away from her.
I managed to keep a straight face and the man thanked me and left. She stood at the counter and at 4:59 told me she needed to make a payment on her Macy's card. A ten dollar payment. Shaking like a leaf and fuming from every hole in my body, I took her ten dollar payment while she cussed me left and right. She walked away, turned around, spit at me and told me she hoped I got hit by a bus on the way home. She proceeded to cuss me the whole way out the door. My store manager saw the whole thing and never stepped in because he said I handled it beautifully.
I wished him a Merry Christmas, handed him my name tag and told him I would never be back. That was my last Christmas in retail.
Holy long stories batman.
Sorry.
Wendi-That is just great! (Ok, I'm sure it wasn't then..., but the story!)
I have no really good ones-although I'm sure I experienced some.
Yesterday, I was measuring a kitchen and the husband asked if he was still going to have his cabinet for his alcohol. (I had never met him before) He said he needed more room. I looked at him and told him it's actually (in the new design) smaller than it was before! I think I caused a fight... oops. Guess we'll see if THAT gets changed!
My associate asked me to eat more fiber cause he's got some mean customers who need us to sh!t some out now vs. waiting the 4 wks they knew they had to originally wait (Plus holiday).
I need to go make some popcorn for these stories! I am a firm believer that everyone should be made to work in retail atleast once in their life. I think it would make people more considerate customers.
I worked at Wal-Mart for 5 years at the customer service desk (returns) but I don't have any really good stories that stand out. I think I blocked them all from my memory!
Oh I have another one. Specifically Black Friday related. We had a "cracker jack sale" and opened our doors at 5 am. I remember getting to work at 4 am. and the lines were all the way around the outside of the mall. As each person entered the door they were handed a box of cracker jacks that had prizes from simple 10, 15, 20, 25 up to 75% off. Prizes of gift cards, dollar values and supposedly a "diamond ring". Well picture one of those ladies from "the South" as Wendi said....lol
Better yet, picture ten of them, in velour track suits of jewel colored tones. They walk in, get their whatever piece of spode china they were looking for and then proceed to pour their cracker jacks all over my counter. All over me, all over everyone around them. They kept pulling out the coupons saying that isnt what it was and throwing it away. They fought me over nothing being in the box buy a bunch of "sh!tty popcorn". I tried to tell them that there wouldnt anything other than the coupons and all they wanted was the diamond ring. They stood in line at the register while the other ladies would go back out and come back in to get another box and then bring it to my counter to again, pour it out out all over the place.
The couple behind them accidentally hit one of them in the head with a cheap bargain priced christmas tree box he had been holding for oh i dont know, twenty minutes while these ladies searched for their diamond ring. When that happened they all threatened to sue Macy's and get "A million diamond rings".
Of course it was all my fault that there was no ring in their Cracker Jack boxes. They told me to go to hell. I told them Merry Christmas. God, you gotta love retail.
Wow, Karrey, that's horrorific. I've been screamed at many times, but I haven't had anyone throw pennies at me or wish death on me . . . yet.
Oh, and the BTW, the quote above is my dream. I'm actually dangerously close to doing that right now.
Kristy - It happened more than once. It totally blew my mind.
OMG I am rolling on the floor here. And it hurts to laugh, damn it. I can totally picture this group of women in their velour tracksuits, mile high hair and all. I think I would have paid money to see them get smacked in the head with a tree box.
Holy cr*p. Karrey, you are a saint! As are the rest of you who work in customer service!
I manage customer service, and I will NOT stand by and let people treat my associates that way. Fortunately, we don't get crazy folks too often, because we're a mid-range business hotel, and not retail, but it does happen. And I remove their a$$es from my property.
::SHUDDERS::
Wow, you all have some crazy stories!!!
I only worked in retail over summer breaks in college a few times, but even that short time scarred me for life. I HATE the general public, and how they think they can just treat people however they want, and can go BSC at the drop of the hat. I never worked during the holidays, so I didn't have to deal with those psychos. But, I had my fair share of customers completely losing it on me because I asked for their zipcode, or needed their name/address for returns. I've never been screamed at like that before--I don't know how people think it's just ok to start doing that in someone's face when they're doing their job. It's a store, get over yourself. I had people talk down to me, people hit on me, people go insane and get in my face. You couldn't pay me enough to work in retail again.
I wish my manager was more like this. Last month. I had a customer scream at me and my brand new employee, insult us, and then slam the door in my face. Of course, my manager is out to an extended lunch, so I get to handle the whole thing (I'm basically an assistant manager without the pay or title). I said, she's nuts, we should cancel her order and tell her we're sorry we can't help her at this time. But no.
Oh and why did she flip out? Because her sales associate was on her scheduled day off, which she knew about, and I couldn't tell her which 5 fonts she had discussed with said sales rep . . . um, not psychic lady.
She came back and verbally abused the sales rep who wasn't there before for about 10 minutes. The lady said, "Well, what if you got hit by a bus?! WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO MY ORDER THEN?!" (well, I would hope you would be understanding) Finally, manager comes down, lady calms down enough to place order.
We places her order. She calls back complaining that her envelopes don't have a border - which we don't offer and she never brought up in the first place. Continues to abuse sales rep until she gives up and calls manager. Manager gets on the phone, informs customer that we don't have bordered envelopes so she couldn't have ordered them, and the customer says, "THAT'S NOT THE POINT." So my manager says, "Then what is the point?"
Customer stammers for a little bit and then cancels her order. Which I could have told you would have happened from the start. So all of this could have been avoided in the first place if my manager had some balls.
Some people you just can't make happy, so why bother trying?
(Oh, and I agree that everyone should be required to work one year in retail.)
hahah Wow!!! Love it!
I was an assistant Manager for aperfume company...we had some doozies come through there.
I actually had a person bring a broken (SHATTERED) bottle of perfume in a bag, all the little pieces and still dripping of perfume and try to return it... And got all pissed when I told them that I couldnt take their shattered bottle back... seriously....who does that.
I know I have some great stories I just cant think of any right now
LOL. Living in The South now makes me picture this so easily. So sad but hilarious at the same time.
I'm glad I'm not the only person that thinks saying Happy Holidays is BS. I am wishing you a Merry Christmas bc that's what I am celebrating. If you reply back with Happy Hanukkah I won't be pissed. That's your holiday you're wishing well on me.
The opposite pisses me off too though. Around this time of year, I've had customers ask when they would get their order and when I ask if they were hoping to get it before the holiday, they reply in the nastiest voice possible, "YOU MEAN BEFORE CHRISTMAS?!"
Actually no. I don't. I mean the holidays because we live in a neighborhood with a high Jewish population. Your response is supposed to be, "Yes I was hoping to get it before Christmas" or "Yes I was hoping to get it before Hanukkah" and then I will guide you appropriately.
I agree in a work situation where you should say holiday, it is RUDE to snap at the person and say Christmas/Hanukkah. Your correct with just responding with yes, I do want it before whatever holiday I celebrate.
My favorite retail day consisted of a guy, with his 5 year old daughter, coming into our store and asking if we sold bed canopies. The girl at the front directed him to me, when he said he was looking for a bed canopy I showed him what we had. It wasn't what he wanted. He wanted a pretty princess canopy for a canopy bed, we only sold the mosquito netting canopies.
I then told him that we didn't sell those kinds in our store, before I could tell him what store actually did, he immediately starting yelling at me,calling me a dumb b*tch and that woman at the front told him that we sold them so we must. In our stores the cashiers didn't work the floors ever, they had no clue what we had or didn't have most of the time. So again I told him that we don't sell the kind he wants and walk away. He follows me to the front of the store and starts yelling I can't believe you would hire someone so f*cking stupid, she's a f*cking idiot. All of this in front of his daughter, with me laughing at him. My manager came up to him and whispered loudly to him, "she's got 8 years in the Marine Corps if you don't leave my store now I will let her unleash on you." My manager rocked.
Once people started cussing me out I just walked away. When they started screaming and demanding that I come back to help them I just told them that I didn't get paid enough to be talked to like that and they could go elsewhere. It's really amazing that I was never fired.....