Printable View
Personally, I know that this holiday was killer and I know that a lot of you feel the same way. Anybody had any weird ass stories of crazy customers, or, in the case of customers, crazy sales reps?
I have a few. I'll post them when I'm not so tired and I don't have as many exams to study for.
I'm a crazy sales rep. I had to bitch slap an old lady because she got an attitude all up in my face. I was like "Bitch, you best step back!", but she didn't(or she couldn't hear me, one of the two), so I had to resort to the brutal smiting.
while every holiday season is bad for retail employees (3 straight tours of duty right here) - to be honest I found that the 2002 holiday season wasn't nearly as bad as the nightmare that was 2001. Of the past three years I'd say that 2002 was by far the least busiest holiday season. The place I work at was busy but we were kind of let down and shocked that our anticipations were dashed. The good news despite this being the worst financial holiday season in 30 years is that this year our store has shown its first ever profit since opening... which is nice for the employees there.\
My mother very nearly bought my brother an Xbox instead of a PS2 despite the fact that each console's box features its respective name very prominently. Only after she remembered that she was supposed to buy the console with the dancing game did she manage to carry the correct box to the counter.
Maybe it's because I spent more time working this holiday than previous holidays, but I found this holiday to be the worst. We saw a dip in our sales, too, but I attribute that to the Best Buy opening nearby.
This season I was ready to knock out some soccer-moms.
People just acted horrendously during this period. Nobody understood "no", just "sold out."
People were especially rude: I've never seen so many telling offs in my whole time at retail. I've also never heard so many "I'm never shopping here again," uttered in my lifetime.
Sad thing was, we (my staff) tried to actextremely kind, but every single customer seemed like they were ready for a fight.
You can only take so much bitterness.
This is why I am glad I'm out of the game...Quote:
Originally posted by Briscobold
You can only take so much bitterness.
Now I make smoothies and fruit shakes for the people.
With a :)?Quote:
Originally posted by 88mph
This is why I am glad I'm out of the game...
Now I make smoothies and fruit shakes for the people.
Seriously, when did you leave the retail field?
Sometime in the summer. I don't remember the exact date.
you used to work at Gamestop (stopping the fun) right? Whats the name of the place you work at now?
I work at a Borders Books and Music here in Houston, Texas.. tehcnically stafford but same difference. It's not that bad tho because I work in the music dept... the only thing that sucks is when idiots come to me to ask about books! :mad:
A am the chief executive in charge of citrus distribution for Deep South Snowshakes.
I used to ba a manager at a Babbages.
I worked retail through 3 holiday seasons, though this year wasn't one of them I heard and saw nothing that made it seem ballbreaking in any way. Nearly every store seemed to kinda coast along nicely without much stress or panic. '01 Holiday season was a headache for me in Video Game retial. Not only did we get LOTS of trade-ins but we also did amazing sales with 2 systems launching at the same approximate time. Add a harsh string of gun-point robberys in there and you have my record hardest season even though in '99 we did more business (both '99 and '00 we're just striaght-up clean madness.. no violent crimes). '02 seemed tame.
ºTracer
Pretty tame holiday season all around. Christmas Eve is usually the absolute worst, but it was almost sad how many customers we got in. I guess everybody got their shopping in ahead of time. Next thursday I will join the ranks of the ex-retail workers.
See, this is disheaterning; was my staff the only staff that was at each other's throats? Bitter and or jaded? Drowning in a deluge of phone calls inquiring about pre-owns and BeyBlades for the PS1?
Damn.
Maybe it's the different economies...
Last year a woman returns a crockpot to Wal-Mart, it had been a gift from her husband, and it had a minor issue, you see it was already returned once for whatever reason, and the woman could tell this because upon opening it up to use it she found it already filled to the brim with food, note this was not a free gift that came with the crock pot, the fact that the food was rotting made her realize this. :wtf:
The mall I work for bought a microwave from Wal-Mart, It was very important that everything go right because the people using this microwave were all Simon and IPC big shots, and when they opened up the microwave they found that the handle was broken, managing to pry it open they found that this also was a return (can you guess how?) If you said because it included the nasy pile of rotting food feature then your absolutly right. It was promptly returned. :wtf: :wtf:
Not a hideous holiday season, no real standout stories that I can think of. The only even somewhat interesting bit is a guy telling me that GTA3/VC is unamerican, and after a comment or two from me I realize he's actually serious. I did something very rare and exercised restraint, just letting it go. Too bad, it could have been a fun conversation. (GTA is made in Scotland, antiauthoritarianism is a very American value, etc.)
Our assistant manager got fired the weekend before Christmas, and the holiday shopping refused to come to an end until a nasty snowstorm this weekend. It wasn't so much one big thing adding in the stress but the day after day grind of no letup. The store is still a bit of a disaster area, but it's being tamed at last. This isn't being helped by a new planogram with every section in the place getting moved to a new area. Feels like busywork to me, but they didn't ask my opinion.
Oddly, the big sold-out game was Kirby GBA. Not that we didn't get a good number of Socom, X-Box Live, and Sony Network Adaptor requests, but the Kirby ones were the most frequent and never filled.
It's over now, at last. :)
James
At this point, I guess I should be thankful I got out of the retail mess back in 1996. :) Before that, I worked for Toys R Us for two and a half years (two of them in the security booth where the video games were kept), and just over a year at a poster/framing shop. (It kind of tells you how bad TRU is when you leave a video game job to go work for your ex-girlfriend...)
Stories are available should anyone want, but they're kinda long... :)
Post away!Quote:
Originally posted by DArque Bishop
Stories are available should anyone want, but they're kinda long... :)
Long = good. Lets hear 'em. :)
James
Not necessarily, but here goes one...Quote:
Originally posted by James
Long = good. Lets hear 'em. :)
Back then, Toys R Us kept their video games in a locked booth called the security booth, and customers would pick up tickets for the games off the store shelf, pay for them, and then bring their validated ticket and receipt to the security booth to pick up their game. When we ran out of a game, we'd just go out onto the salesfloor and pull all the remaining tickets. Hence, the whole "Security ticketwriter" position and all. (Personal note: I happen to think that switching from that system was pretty stupid on TRU's part; I'd hate to see what their loss levels are at now.)
Anyway, during Christmas shopping season, we would end up being stuck at the security booth our entire shift, just handing out games. One day, I'm at the booth, when the little sale printer by the door printed out a slip letting me know a security item had been purchased. I looked at it, and it said, "SNES Super Punch-Out". I went, got the game, and stood by the window waiting for the customer. She eventually arrived, handed me the ticket and receipt, and I proceeded to stamp them. After she signed the slip for the game, I handed it to her. She looked at it, then at me, and said, "No, I got Donkey Kong Country."
Excuse me? :wtf:
"I'm sorry, ma'am, you bought Super Punch Out."
"No I didn't. I bought Donkey Kong Country."
This went on for a little bit, with me even at one point taking the ticket and showing her it said "Super Punch-Out". As near as I could tell, she picked up a ticket from an envelope ABOVE the DKC display, and not BELOW it. In any event, she said, "Well, I want DOnkey Kong Country." Problem was, DKC had JUST come out, and we were sold out of the game. I told her as much, and she said, "Could you check in the back, please?"
*sigh* So, I walked back and did, knowing full well I didn't have any copies I could sell her, but looking anyway. (Note #2: we actually had three copies, but they were pre-orders that hadn't been picked up yet. I wouldn't consider giving those out under normal circumstances because someone already put money down on them, but this was a week or two after one of my associates got screamed at because she gave a customer a copy of a game that was sold out but we had copies of for pre-order people... and one of the pre-order people came in to find his copy had been sold. Needless to say, I wasn't going down that route myself.) So, not finding a copy I could sell her, I went back to the front, and told her that we were sold out. She asked what she should do now, and I answered that she should take her ticket to the front for a refund. As she goes, I get back to work straightening the booth area.
A few minutes later, I hear my name called over the intercom, asking me to call the customer service desk. I do so, and the customer service department head asks me, "Hey, do you have any copies of Donkey Kong Country in stock?"
Excuse me? :wtf:
I look over at the desk, and sure enough, there was the customer I was just talking to standing by the department head. I sighed, and said, "I already told her: we don't have any in stock." There was a pause while the department head talked to the customer, and then:
"She doesn't believe you."
EXCUSE ME?! :bs:
*sigh* Somehow the department head convinced her I wasn't lying, but still... wouldn't it make sense to a rational person that it would have been more in my self-interest to GIVE her a copy of the game so that I wouldn't have to DEAL with her anymore?
I dunno... I'm just glad I'm out of all that madness. :)
Well, we run a pretty tight ship here at the store I work at(a second-hand game store in the mall, not a chain) and the worst we had we the people that think they can "outhink" our return policies.
1. Now, most the time it's no big deal, because we just exchange their stuff...however, this holiday, alot of people bought the Fellowship of the Rings game (which I've never seen, but I assume must suck unlike Two Towers, because almost every single copy did someone try and return, gift *or* self-purchase). So, this customer brings in a copy, and he's like, "Uh,I need to return this."
Me: "Was there some problem [besides buying a shitty game even though I *told* you to try it on the system in the store first]?"
Dumbass: "Uh, it doesn't play in my Xbox."
Me: "Oh really. How strange, because, you bought a brand new copy."
Dumbass: "Uh, I don't know. It just doesn't work."
Me: "Well, let me try it in our Xbox here, and see if we can't see what the problem is, eh?"
Dumbass: "Well, uh, there's some other games my Xbox doesn't play either; so, it might just be my system."
Me: "Riiight." *game runs perfectly*
2. Some people also buy games or systems that they own a damaged/malfunctioning version of, and then try to return their broken crap, saying that what they bought from us "doesn't work." Too bad we right down the serial numbers on the systems. I love the look on their faces when they're caught...of course, I get to play it straight, "Excuse me sir, but...this isn't the system you bought from us. You must have made a mistake." Sometimes they can get away with it with games though, except when they're retarded; which is most the time. Once...
3. ...this guy buys a new, sealed copy of Ghost Recon. Next day, brings it back, claiming it doesn't play. I take a look at the disk, and it's scratched to hell. "Sir, this game no longer appears to be in 'new' condition; I can't accept a return."
4. Sometimes the problems are employee-caused. Someone bought a copy of Pokemon Silver for the store. I don't find out about until some customer returns it and says that it's not the right game inside...so, I take a look at it, and it looks like it's been drilled in the back or something (certainly not very pristine condition no matter what)...popping it in, it becomes apparent that someone switched the rom inside with Qix (a really shitty GB game). Good one, guys...
I once sent out my leigeons of Psycho Ninjas to ravage a local Walmart, because a sales associate made fun of my ninja garb while I tried to purchase Shinobi (although the lack of Musashi makes me cry the new guy is just as skilled a ninja.) They got his head for my trophy case and over a dozen others lay slein. Feel my wrath.
Apokryphos, that reminds me of another TRU story which I promise is shorter this time. :)
In Christmas of 1994, someone had brought in SNES Madden NFL 1994 to be exchanged. We gave him "Geoffrey Money" for it (store credit), rewrapped the game, and put it back into stock to sell. It went out again that night... and we got a call from the customer who bought it, saying that instead of a cartridge and instruction book in the box, there was soap and a children's book. :wtf: That's right... the box wasn't checked before we accepted it back. The customer brought it back and we exchanged it. From that point on we had a policy that all opened games must be checked before accepting them back.
(Actually, I managed to piss off a department head by putting a ticket on one of the bars of soap that we had left in the security booth, and writing "Imitation SNES Madden NFL 94" on it. :) )
Even then, it took a while for us to beat it into customer service's brains that they had to check the cartridges. I think it finally got through to them how severe it was when I went into a swearing fit while rewrapping games several months later because over half the games I was rewrapping had the wrong cartridge in them. (It didn't help when I had the fit while the store director was behind me. Fortunately, he understood once I told him WHY...)
1.) Guy tried to argue with me that burned games are legitamate and not illegal because "they play."
I shut up and let him win because a $500 sale was at stake.
2.) I had numerouse customer complaint that have gone to head office:
a) one guy complained because EB doesn't carry those god forsaken toys anymore and he had an AVP doll (yes, they're fucking dolls; I hate all you doll collectors) on reserve
b)Some bitch complained that nobody helped him after he said "No, I'm just looking around."
3.)During X-mas, we close the doors 5 minutes early and lock the doors (read: I stand by them and let people out but not in) until the crowd has dispersed. At about 9:15 (we close at 9) some dude yanks the door I'm holding onto and pulls me out with him. He starts laughing while I give him the "I'm gonna kill you with an Xbox" look.
"Are you closed?"
"Yes."
"Cool. I have a few questions."
"We're closed."
"Can I buy a GC?"
"No."
"Please."
"No."
*laughing* "Please. Oh yeah you're closed right."
"Yes."
"Okay."
Yes this actually happened. No the guy wasn't a retard (or, he didn't like he had a retardation, anyway).
4.) You can't leave the till without fifty people asking you questions. Never mind the fact that you're helping other people. Never mind the fact that you're in the middle of a sentence. No, no; they need to know if the millions of GTA:VC on the shelf are for sale.
5.) People do not like to ask the people on the floor for help. They rather ask the cashier. They get really annoyed if the cashier ignores them and- god forbid- helps the person that they should be helping.
6.) Phone calls. For the love of god: DO NOT CALL ANY STORE DURING X-MAS. Don't ask for pre-own trade-in values, do not ask if GTA:VC is in stock, do not ask to put anything on hold; don't call.
7.) If someone asks me to price-match Walmart to save $1.73 one more time, I swear to god...
8.) I'm not over charging you, I didn't charge you twice, and that's how much it is after tax.
9.) I do not price match American prices.
10.) I do not take the Pound Sterling.
11.) I do not know how to get past the CIA mission in Splinter Cell.
12.) BeyBlades did not come in for the PSone yet.
13.) The interactives will be off as long as you're on X-mas vacation, so deal.
14.) No, I can't do any better than that, I can't just "throw another game in," and I don't particularly mind that you're never shopping here again.
15.)Tax is the price multiplied by 1.15
16.) Yes, I know it was opened before I gave it to you, but before I gave it to you, I closed it by putting a sticker on it.
I feel your pain. Believe me.
At least someone does.
Oh, gods, that was the WORST part about working in the security booth at TRU: that was where we kept the collector's Barbie dolls... the ones that ran for $70-200. If there was even the SLIGHTEST thing perceived wrong with the box, they sent you back to get a different one. It got to the point where we would start getting a mean-spirited satisfied feeling out of telling them all the boxes had problems... :evil:Quote:
Originally posted by Briscobold
2.) I had numerouse customer complaint that have gone to head office:
a) one guy complained because EB doesn't carry those god forsaken toys anymore and he had an AVP doll (yes, they're fucking dolls; I hate all you doll collectors) on reserve
Again, I know your pain. Fortunately it was very rare I even had time to run out to the salesfloor; most of the time I was too busy passing out games. One time I had to run out onto the floor to empty the ticket pouch of a game we sold out of. As I hurried back, I passed the Barbie aisle and a woman grabbed my arm.Quote:
4.) You can't leave the till without fifty people asking you questions. Never mind the fact that you're helping other people. Never mind the fact that you're in the middle of a sentence. No, no; they need to know if the millions of GTA:VC on the shelf are for sale.
"Do you have any My-Size Barbies in stock? PLEASE!!! I'll bribe you to take one out of layaway!"
*sigh* Even if we had a layaway (as the store director once said, we'd need a building 2-1/2 times as big as the one we had if we had layaway), it would have been the same circumstances as giving someone's preordered cartridge: someone's already paid money for it. Either way, I simply apologized and said we didn't have any, and went on my way.
You wouldn't believe how many times I got people calling in asking how to do moves in Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II. I finally ended up telling them we weren't allowed to give out that information. (Besides which, I'm not an gaming ubergod; how am I supposed to keep track of every move and strategy for every game?)Quote:
11.) I do not know how to get past the CIA mission in Splinter Cell.
*sigh* Like I said, I'm glad to be out of that particular rat race... :)
Oh yes, and customers don't undertstand that when I say "I'm not at liberty to talk about mod-chips," in EB, when it's Vendor of the Month for Sony, that I'm serious.