Ways store associates respond (that make you want to set them on fire)

CornyKegs 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Oh and if they had followed me around to make sure I got everything I needed... it would have just been weird.

A few years ago, when I still had the kind of money to shop at Whole Foods, the young man at the register seemed to have had brain surgery. I'm not saying that to be mean, I mean he had a big zipper scar on the side of his head, and his speech was affected. As I got my cart up to the moving counter he said "please be patient with me." You got it, buddy. He did fine, by the way... maybe I should have asked if they sold glass bottles...
 
tx-brewer said:
butcher is a term reserved for someone who actually breaks the whole animal down into its primal cuts (chuck, shoulder, short loin, sirloin, etc) then cuts the steaks, roasts, etc off those. Most grocery stores get the meat in their primal form and cut steaks, roasts, etc. They are technically called meat cutters.
Click to expand...

creamygoodness said:
i've learned something today.
Click to expand...

+1
 
dkwolf said:
I treat people the way they treat me. And I view constant harassment as rude. Seriously, if I can't walk through the front door, go 75 ft back to the plumbing aisle, spend two minutes comparing models of the item I'm looking for, and walk to the check out without SIX DIFFERENT employees asking if they can help me... I consider that rude. I'm not going to treat THEM with rainbows and unicorns.

And there are so many logical fallacies in your argument... 1) You expect us to know every employee of every store we frequent? HA. 2) Even if we did know them all, in stores that promote the "helpful" atmosphere, it's impossible to avoid them. 3) When I walk into a store, I expect the people to have an understanding of the products they sell. It is not *MY* job to educate them. That's management's job. If they're willing to knock 5% off the price for me taking my time to educate THEIR employees, then sure... but I haven't found a store like that yet.
Click to expand...

There is actually a reason why this is a common occurrence.

Some time ago, someone figured out that one of the best ways to curb retail theft is to provide excellent customer service.

Employees can not help their self. It is ingrained in the DNA of the system.

Management encourages such behavior because while it pisses off some, it lets others (potential thieves) know that their presence is noticed.

Generally speaking, the majority of people prefer this type of customer service because it prevents them from having to use the thought process. It is much easier to be told what to do than to expend the effort to figure it out on your own.

You my friend - a freethinker are an abnormality.

The best way to not be bothered is to shop at Walmart on a Sunday after the 1st of the month. If you spent the entire day at Wally-World and are voluntarily assisted by an employee, Id'e like to shake your hand and buy you a case of craft beer.
 
I guess I have experienced such good service at a few of the places I frequent that bad service really sticks out.

And its just a pet psychopathic hatred of mine for an associate, cashier or clerk to make a face as if I have said something inane when I ask for something. "Hi there, do you have peppermint altoids?" "HUH?! *screwed up face*"... I instantly now hate you.
 
OrdinaryAvgGuy said:
In a prior life I served a 3 year sentence in retail management.

While there is no excuse for being rude, there are a few things that one should consider.

First, while you are at home with your family on Christmas day, Thanksgiving, or any other holiday, some poor sap is serving up fries or checking out last minute shoppers.

When you are home on a Saturday enjoying a BBQ with your family, some guy is mixing paint at Lowe's.

When folks come in and cheerfully and unknowingly say "TGIF" or "enjoy your weekend" a small piece of pride is stripped away.

Retail workers often work odd hours and will have a "turn around" once or twice a week. How would you feel about getting off at 11pm on a Friday and coming back to work at 7am on Saturday?

In general, retail work is looked down upon by society and many customers gladly display this attitude. As a manager I would be talked to as if i were a child being scorn.

Yes, retail has its fair share of unmotivated folks with bad attitudes but give em a break. Life is already hard on them.

Being away from it for several years now, I still feel for these guys. If I go to Mcdonald's and am served extra salty fries by a miserable employee, I will politely brush off the extra salt, eat my meal and leave without saying a word.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree with what you said more! Being a current retail manager I now have a better understanding of how the system works from a management perspective. Many of the people applying for these jobs are kids, basically still learning the process of the store and how to be polite overall.

I've been working retail now for 14 years and everyone has a bad day, so you gotta give some people some slack, guys like me who are just starting out can't find a job in the field they studied (education in my case) are just trying to survive and having to put a smile on my face while working every weekend can be a pain sometimes, especially working 40+ hours a week and quick turnarounds (leaving at midnight back at 6 am) two or three days a week.

And remember each of these big box stores has ways that they want their associates trained which means everyone gets greeted and walked to where their product is. It's retail 101
 
OrdinaryAvgGuy said:
While there is no excuse for being rude, there are a few things that one should consider.

Yes, retail has its fair share of unmotivated folks with bad attitudes but give em a break. Life is already hard on them.

Being away from it for several years now, I still feel for these guys. If I go to Mcdonald's and am served extra salty fries by a miserable employee, I will politely brush off the extra salt, eat my meal and leave without saying a word.
Click to expand...

+1 Common courtesy goes a long way. Certainly further than being a jerk. Treat people with grace and respect. Boom.
 
Sammy86 said:
I couldn't agree with what you said more! Being a current retail manager I now have a better understanding of how the system works from a management perspective. Many of the people applying for these jobs are kids, basically still learning the process of the store and how to be polite overall.

I've been working retail now for 14 years and everyone has a bad day, so you gotta give some people some slack, guys like me who are just starting out can't find a job in the field they studied (education in my case) are just trying to survive and having to put a smile on my face while working every weekend can be a pain sometimes, especially working 40+ hours a week and quick turnarounds (leaving at midnight back at 6 am) two or three days a week.

And remember each of these big box stores has ways that they want their associates trained which means everyone gets greeted and walked to where their product is. It's retail 101
Click to expand...

When I was fresh out of school with a business degree, I interviewed, had a few offers and actually accepted a retail MGMT job because it was close to home and the pay was surprisingly better than the other offers that I had. Friends and family could not believe that you could survive off of "retail wages". I was actually earning more than just about everyone that I graduated with.

During my sentence, I witnessed a stabbing, multiple thefts, fights, employee theft, several incidents of people shatting on the sales floor, deranged folks who claimed to be jesus when off their meds, and several other things not worth mentioning.

Remember, when you give that retail worker a hard time, there is a good chance that they just finished mopping up shat from the floor before he or she serves you.
 
I had a fun one yesterday when I went into Home Depot to pickup tubing for my CIP system and some other stuff.

I'm in the plumbing (toilet/sink) isle and I can't find the 1 1/2" ID reinforced vinyl but I do see spa tubing, but I can't find a temp or PSI rating on it. So I look around and ask one of the employees walking the main isle about it. He tells me he doesn't work in plumbing, but points to another associate 20' away with a customer standing nearby and says "Jose works in plumbing, he'll be able to answer that question".

I wander over and the exchange literally goes like this.

Me: "Excuse me, your fellow associate said you work in plumbing supplies and could answer a question about spa tubing?"

Jose: "Huh? Who said that?"

Which immediately pisses me off

Me: "The other guy, wearing the home depot apron just like yours, who told me you worked in that department and then fled as fast as he could. I need to know the temp rating and psi of spa tubing, are you able to assist me or can you find me someone who can?"

Jose: "Uhm, well, tubing? I..."

At that point the customer laughs and says "I can help you". Turns out he worked there and didn't have his typical associate garb on, as he was deploying new product displays and kept getting interrupted. The second guy was great, he found me a datasheet on all their tubing, as well as found boxes of reinforced vinyl tubing, cut me the length I wanted, wrote me up a tag and told me if I had any problems with it to just bring it back.

To be fair, the gal who oversaw self check out was great also. She saw I was having a problem getting a barcode to scan so she came over and scanned it for me, then saw I had a bunch of the same items and went "here let me scan all those same items for you it'll be much faster"
 
OrdinaryAvgGuy said:
When I was fresh out of school with a business degree, I interviewed, had a few offers and actually accepted a retail MGMT job because it was close to home and the pay was surprisingly better than the other offers that I had. Friends and family could not believe that you could survive off of "retail wages". I was actually earning more than just about everyone that I graduated with.

During my sentence, I witnessed a stabbing, multiple thefts, fights, employee theft, several incidents of people shatting on the sales floor, deranged folks who claimed to be jesus when off their meds, and several other things not worth mentioning.

Remember, when you give that retail worker a hard time, there is a good chance that they just finished mopping up shat from the floor before he or she serves you.
Click to expand...

I graduated undergrad five years ago this May and received my MS a year and a half ago and with the market the way it is its tough finding a teaching job, especially with all the Baby Boomers not retiring. So since I put myself through college and graduate school working retail it was time for Management position until hopefully this fall.

I've seen it all, employee thefts, consumer thefts, Managers and employees getting into fist fights, recently fired employees slashing GM's tires, death threats the whole nine.

What's happening especially now is the starting rate of pay is minimum wage and you're not exactly going to get the best people to work for ya. What happens is the good employees (usually college kids) graduate and move on in there careers and the turnover rate would blow your mind.

We retail people work LONG hours for sometimes little pay and the amount of pressure to hit sales goals in a declined economy is ridiculous. Remember retail isn't for everyone and sometimes you're going to run into those people that would be better served sitting alone Ina cubicle for 8 hours staring at a computer screen, have a little patience and if you really don't need help be polite about it, say hey I appreciate your help but I know I want.

Not that difficult
 
Sammy86 said:
I graduated undergrad five years ago this May and received my MS a year and a half ago and with the market the way it is its tough finding a teaching job, especially with all the Baby Boomers not retiring. So since I put myself through college and graduate school working retail it was time for Management position until hopefully this fall.

I've seen it all, employee thefts, consumer thefts, Managers and employees getting into fist fights, recently fired employees slashing GM's tires, death threats the whole nine.

What's happening especially now is the starting rate of pay is minimum wage and you're not exactly going to get the best people to work for ya. What happens is the good employees (usually college kids) graduate and move on in there careers and the turnover rate would blow your mind.

We retail people work LONG hours for sometimes little pay and the amount of pressure to hit sales goals in a declined economy is ridiculous. Remember retail isn't for everyone and sometimes you're going to run into those people that would be better served sitting alone Ina cubicle for 8 hours staring at a computer screen, have a little patience and if you really don't need help be polite about it, say hey I appreciate your help but I know I want.

Not that difficult
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I hear teaching jobs are hard to come by here in NC also.

4 out of 5 employees that I had offered substandard performance were jaded because they are stuck in a rut. Iv'e had some employees (usually the 50+ range) that actually enjoyed their job and worked by choice, not necessity. Lots of folks that are in transition and need to pay the bills.
 
I worked at a big box hardware store years ago, sitting in the break room listening to one of the under 20 year olds complaining about stocking and customers. I said "gee, with out customers and stock, this would be a great place to work..." he responded "YES"...Duh...
No customers, no stock, no job.
 
BrewandWineSupply said:
I worked at a big box hardware store years ago, sitting in the break room listening to one of the under 20 year olds complaining about stocking and customers. I said "gee, with out customers and stock, this would be a great place to work..." he responded "YES"...Duh...
No customers, no stock, no job.
Click to expand...

HA! Sounds familiar.
 
I agree with TX-Brewer , I have worked all sorts of customer service jobs , bag and carry out grocerys , pizza cook , retail hospital cook , server , aisle service at target , target trains really good . But from most of my experience the problem is the customer not reading simple English and finding the item , Example , I get asked if we have stuffed baked potatos ?

Me- yes mam or sir .

Customer - what all comes on it ?

Me - blah blah blah

The menu is right above the hot bar a foot in front of there faces !!!!

It's called AMERICA HAS GOTTEN LAZY AND EXPECTS EVERYTHING HANDED TO THEM !!

I've heard somewhere someone opened a food store and they let you order online and they will gather everything for a small fee . Great idea I think

Both sides can be stupid , if you have a problem find someone else .

Also I've looked for flip top bottles at stores since there is no lhbs here , and no . I wouldn't even try to look besides online now .
 
BrewandWineSupply said:
I worked at a big box hardware store years ago, sitting in the break room listening to one of the under 20 year olds complaining about stocking and customers. I said "gee, with out customers and stock, this would be a great place to work..." he responded "YES"...Duh...
No customers, no stock, no job.
Click to expand...

"This job would be great if it was'nt for the ****ing customers"
-Randal Graves (Clerks 1994)
 
Varmintman said:
OK something I have learned in my life when dealing with idiots. I don't deal with them...period. I have been going to the stores I frequent enough that I am greeted by name and I know the folks who are knowledgeable in the store and they are the people I talk to. I do not go to Home Depot unless I absolutely have to and then I set my exceptions low enough a medium trained chimp can surpass them. I shop at local hardware stores when I walk in they say Hi Bill what are you building today with your beer stuff. And I take a beer in and share it with them.

Life is to short for me to have to deal with idiots. I will pay more and go where respect and knowledge rule and chimps are fired for lack of social skills.
Click to expand...

Your the chimp!
 
coinhall09 said:
I agree with TX-Brewer , I have worked all sorts of customer service jobs , bag and carry out grocerys , pizza cook , retail hospital cook , server , aisle service at target , target trains really good . But from most of my experience the problem is the customer not reading simple English and finding the item , Example , I get asked if we have stuffed baked potatos ?

Me- yes mam or sir .

Customer - what all comes on it ?

Me - blah blah blah

The menu is right above the hot bar a foot in front of there faces !!!!

It's called AMERICA HAS GOTTEN LAZY AND EXPECTS EVERYTHING HANDED TO THEM !!

I've heard somewhere someone opened a food store and they let you order online and they will gather everything for a small fee . Great idea I think

Both sides can be stupid , if you have a problem find someone else .

Also I've looked for flip top bottles at stores since there is no lhbs here , and no . I wouldn't even try to look besides online now .
Click to expand...

Ah I remember this. You don't know how many times someone asked me where the rice fuffs were as they stood looking at them eye level. So many times I wanted to say you dumb &*$#! open your f-ing eyes. :mad:

Then they come in the next day looking for their rice fluffs again and complain because there are none on the shelf. "Well, if i wasn't interrupted by 185 dimwits like yourself yesterday, I would have had a chance to stock them. Please wait while I go retrieve them..."
 
I dread buying bulk/cut to length stock as well.

EVERY time I want wire or cable, I have the same experience (this goes for multiple stores in multiple cities): "I don't think we have that." I try to be as specific as possible, even pointing at the display sign or "per foot" cost label for the exact item I want. Then we go through the arduous chore of finding the correct spool. Again, I try to help by pointing or saying "stop" as the correct spool comes around on the carousel. Finally, we arrive at the moment of truth...the correct wire is available, measured, and just needs to be cut, but the store has provided no means by which to properly cut it. The poor, usually mechanically challenged clerk has to chew through it with something that looks like a pair of tin snips that have been used a few too many times as a pry bar. Argh!

The last time I bought Lexan, I wanted two 30" x 30" sheets. The dimensions weren't critical, but I needed two pieces at least that size. They only had full 4' x 8' sheets, but offered a cut to size service. I asked the nearest clerk for help. She had to run and get Bob - "the glass cutting guy." I have to cut Bob a little slack - he seemed like he had a rough life and perhaps wasn't all there. Still, Bob placed a brand new sheet of Lexan on the dirty store floor, scuffed his feet across it to grab a brand new cutting tool, kneeled on it, even as crunching sounds ensued, and proceeded to make the world's most crooked score mark. The score mark wasn't deep enough, and the piece broke several inches from the mark as he bent it into a U-shape with all of his awkward strength. Clearly frustrated by the stunning display of ineptitude, I told them I didn't want the glass anymore. To the first clerk's credit, she gave me the big piece at the scrap price of $1/linear foot, but I definitely did not get what I came to buy. In this case, it's more the store and its management that are to blame than the staff, but frustrating nonetheless.
 
Jukas said:
I had a fun one yesterday when I went into Home Depot to pickup tubing for my CIP system and some other stuff.

I'm in the plumbing (toilet/sink) isle and I can't find the 1 1/2" ID reinforced vinyl but I do see spa tubing, but I can't find a temp or PSI rating on it. So I look around and ask one of the employees walking the main isle about it. He tells me he doesn't work in plumbing, but points to another associate 20' away with a customer standing nearby and says "Jose works in plumbing, he'll be able to answer that question".

I wander over and the exchange literally goes like this.

Me: "Excuse me, your fellow associate said you work in plumbing supplies and could answer a question about spa tubing?"

Jose: "Huh? Who said that?"

Which immediately pisses me off

Me: "The other guy, wearing the home depot apron just like yours, who told me you worked in that department and then fled as fast as he could. I need to know the temp rating and psi of spa tubing, are you able to assist me or can you find me someone who can?"

Jose: "Uhm, well, tubing? I..."

At that point the customer laughs and says "I can help you". Turns out he worked there and didn't have his typical associate garb on, as he was deploying new product displays and kept getting interrupted. The second guy was great, he found me a datasheet on all their tubing, as well as found boxes of reinforced vinyl tubing, cut me the length I wanted, wrote me up a tag and told me if I had any problems with it to just bring it back.

To be fair, the gal who oversaw self check out was great also. She saw I was having a problem getting a barcode to scan so she came over and scanned it for me, then saw I had a bunch of the same items and went "here let me scan all those same items for you it'll be much faster"
Click to expand...

Hahaha... but were you sure that Jose was not the third guy you talked to?
 
Jukas said:
Unless they both happened to be named Jose, I'm giving it to the stammering guy in the HD Apron who's nametag said.... you guessed it.. Jose.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, although in CA it could happen :D
That reminds me of a time a KFC my mates were laughing that the store had misspelt their "trainee" badge one of the guys was wearing. Turns out his name was actually Traneé or something! Don't really know why it reminded me of that :eek:
 
Well, it happened again at Lowes. I was looking for Vinyl tubing, and silly me asked a question and I got I don't know, let me get someone, and the new guy said I don't know. Then they went back to counting sink strainers..
 
"You mean like a pitcher?"

Being one of those store employees, and better yet manager. You have to look at things from our perspective, just cause your nice and polite doesn't mean we don't think all customers are idiots (trust me there are a lot) recently I had a guy come ask me to help him find a "skin lubricant" and that is all he knew. I had a customer ask me 3 times how big an 8x10 picture was. And I had a customer look at the locked up pitch black pharmacy, turn around and ask "is the pharmacy closed?" 50% of my job is trying to figure out what customers want and to pull there heads out of there a... There other half is doing the same to my employees.

Just cause you and i know what flip top bottles are, doesn't know that everyone does

I'll get off my high horse now, and I'm not trying to start anything, just defending the other side
 
I will be honest and say I could not work retail. Bad enough dealing with people who came to me because I was a skilled tradesman and respected me as such.
 
Today is was the teller at my credit union. I highly desired to shake some common sense into her. I seem to only have these problems with the newer tellers, and the ones who know me are always great.

I hand her $250 cash and a single check and tell her I want to deposit it into my second savings account. After watching me write my account number on the back of the check, she asks me for it.... I say "Sure, it's blah blah blah blah, I also noted it for you under the endorsement on the check".

Her:"ok so $257 into checking?"

sigh

No, put both into the second savings account please.

Her: What's the last four of your social please?

Uh, excuse me?

Her: I need the last four of your social.

For a deposit?

Her: To show your balance on your receipt

facepalm.

I don't need my balance thanks, also for future reference if you look there's a challenge password on my account if you need security validation.

30 seconds later she hands me my receipt and says "it printed with the balance anyways".....

The time before this, I was in there also dealing with a unfamiliar teller.. I was depositing a large cashiers check again into my savings account. She kept asking me "how much of this money do you need"... I couldn't figure out what the hell she was talking about and finally lost my patience and said "Well since the check was made out to me, I'd say all of it. What exactly are you asking me". Turns out she wanted to put a hold on the check to be sure it would clear. Great, no problem but for the love of the flying spaghetti monster learn how to communicate in a clear manner.
 
Our Bed Bath and Beyond is pretty good. They sell beer glasses. When some friends of ours registered there for their wedding, we walked in, saw a sales chic, told her what the deal was and it was like having a personal shopper. And she was hot. That cute kinda hot.

Our Lowes has these old guys who know everything. Their garden center is iffy though. They'll sell whatever with no regard for if it'll actually grow here.

The Home Despot sucks. I've had bad luck with them over the years in several locations anyway and rarely go anymore.

Ace is top drawer. Yes, they bend over backwards to help you. Darn them to heck. But if I say I'm just gonna mill about, like I sometimes do, that's it. La de da da in my own little world. They saved me a bundle on paint too.

I also worked with the general public. The drunk at Taco Bell in the middle of the night public. Some were funny. Most were complete ********. Complete with dingle berries, matted hair, pimples and whatever other disturbing imagery of that region disturbs you. F erry one of them.

And Pizza Slut. Okay, that's just what we called that one chic who worked there. She deserved the name. And the idiots who called asking if we had a bigger so and so inch pizza and meant bigger as in more slices and couldn't grasp the idea that it was going to be the same size regardless, yeah, that's why customers get asked seemingly dumb questions sometimes. They ask them first.
 
Mumbly said:
"You mean like a pitcher?"

Being one of those store employees, and better yet manager. You have to look at things from our perspective, just cause your nice and polite doesn't mean we don't think all customers are idiots (trust me there are a lot) recently I had a guy come ask me to help him find a "skin lubricant" and that is all he knew. I had a customer ask me 3 times how big an 8x10 picture was. And I had a customer look at the locked up pitch black pharmacy, turn around and ask "is the pharmacy closed?" 50% of my job is trying to figure out what customers want and to pull there heads out of there a... There other half is doing the same to my employees.
Click to expand...

I need a roast.
What kind?
A roast.
Pork or beef?
Pork.
Bone in or boneless?
Huh
You want bone or no bone?
No bone
Ok here is what we have
Oh, I want the one with the bone
Go f***ing jump off a cliff
 
I will admit that I have run into times at the butcher (less often now) that I was presented with a question I didnt have an answer for. I would usually hide behind "what would you suggest, I am hoping to make X"

tx are like my butcher/meat cutter? Super quiet until a customer asks his opinion on what they should get, and suddenly you have an instant friend...
 
After delivering pizza full time for years I lost all faith in humanity. Customers asking idiotic questions is just normal. Now that I work at a LHBS it's a little better. I try to be extremely patient with customers and helpful. The only customers I don't like now are the ones who come in and ask a million questions but when I tell them the right answer they say they'll stick to doing it the wrong way cause they read it on the internet. That drives me crazy.

I was at a local small business this week. I went out of my way to support this business because I actually know the owner loosely. They sell a product I use everyday and I normally order from an online small business for the past year or so but I wanted to support local. While I was there I was ignored for a long time while obviously waiting for help. One of the two employees was clearly on a personal phone call and the other one was talking to a friend in the shop. Kinda pissed me off. I bought the minimum amount of stuff when I had gone in there planning to spend more than I needed to. I won't go back until the owner is there. That kinda thing makes me nuts...
 
Grocery stores here in md hire a lot of, seriously, mentally challenged people which is great. However they like to give them the task of bagging. We do a lot of cooking and usually get 2 carts full of stuff. I don't know how many times the poor bagger, obviously trying hard to his credit, takes a minute to fill a bag and/or puts cans on top of bread or chips. Great for hiring them but there's other things they can do and it's really annoying to have to wait unnecessarily for your smashed products.
 
CreamyGoodness said:
I will admit that I have run into times at the butcher (less often now) that I was presented with a question I didnt have an answer for. I would usually hide behind "what would you suggest, I am hoping to make X"

tx are like my butcher/meat cutter? Super quiet until a customer asks his opinion on what they should get, and suddenly you have an instant friend...
Click to expand...

Ya. A lot of times people don't know what they want, but.they have some idea what they want to make. I generally like to find out as much as they know what they want and what they are cooking then offer some suggestions and educate them on the differences.

I find that people feel better making their own choice when they feel they are educated, opposed to someone telling them what to get. In turn they like shopping ay my store better (better for the company) and it might prevent a future question or two (better for me).

Many people I work with do not think this way though and I see how customers can get irritated.

I have worked grocery (meat and seafood) for 4 years now while going to school. I love my job and have learned so much about business, people, marketing, etc.

It's going to be hard to leave when I graduate, but the $$$ of engineering will be calling my name
 
Gitmoe said:
Now that I work at a LHBS it's a little better. I try to be extremely patient with customers and helpful. The only customers I don't like now are the ones who come in and ask a million questions but when I tell them the right answer they say they'll stick to doing it the wrong way cause they read it on the internet. That drives me crazy.
Click to expand...

The owner of my LHBS looked at me like I was an alien when I mentioned SMASH and said "you can't do that"

Who do I listen to, the LHBS or the internet?
 
russrob81 said:
Grocery stores here in md hire a lot of, seriously, mentally challenged people which is great. However they like to give them the task of bagging. We do a lot of cooking and usually get 2 carts full of stuff. I don't know how many times the poor bagger, obviously trying hard to his credit, takes a minute to fill a bag and/or puts cans on top of bread or chips. Great for hiring them but there's other things they can do and it's really annoying to have to wait unnecessarily for your smashed products.
Click to expand...

The stores usually get a tax break for hiring mentally challenged people.

My girlfriends brother is partially mentally challenged and is not good socially. He worked at Walmart sweeping and such and it really helped him progress.

I think it really helps a lot of them out a great deal and can live with waiting and smashed products knowing this.

...but if its just an idiot punk kid, that's a whole different story
 
One of the better meat experiences I had was that one more person was coming to dinner than I originally planned. So, I was going to need another filet. "Uh oh, I just sold you the last 4 I had... hmm... how about a shell steak?" "oof... not exactly the same..." "yeah, you're right, tell you what, I'll take apart this other cut and give you two smaller pieces of filet instead of one nice filet. Knock a buck off the weight"

Sold American.
 
Mumbly said:
"You mean like a pitcher?"

Being one of those store employees, and better yet manager. You have to look at things from our perspective, just cause your nice and polite doesn't mean we don't think all customers are idiots (trust me there are a lot) recently I had a guy come ask me to help him find a "skin lubricant" and that is all he knew. I had a customer ask me 3 times how big an 8x10 picture was. And I had a customer look at the locked up pitch black pharmacy, turn around and ask "is the pharmacy closed?" 50% of my job is trying to figure out what customers want and to pull there heads out of there a... There other half is doing the same to my employees.

Just cause you and i know what flip top bottles are, doesn't know that everyone does

I'll get off my high horse now, and I'm not trying to start anything, just defending the other side
Click to expand...

Hey Mumbly it sounds like you do the same gig that I did.
 
I had this happen to me twice today with a cashier and a waitress, the waitress saved herself later though.
At Movie theather box office
ME: 2 adults, one child for Escape from Planet Earth. One military. (I had just noticed that they advertise a military discount)
CASHIER: Military discounts are only after 6 pm sir.
ME: That's ok, I only protect the country aft 6 pm anyway (I'm a bit of a smart a)
CASHIER: Oh, like you're in the reserves? (obviously trying to flirt, she tilted her head and did a stupid whorish smile)That is so cool, I had a boyfriend that......(I cut her off)
ME: I do not care about your boyfriend. I want movie tickets for my wife and kid.


I walked across the street to the Brixx pizza place where my wife and kid were waiting and sat down for our lunch before our movie. I like this place, it has good pizza and usually has some good brews. Until today I have always had GREAT service, pretty much the best pizza place service ever. I ordered a Hopslam. My wife thinks that she likes beer too and ordered one too.

Waitress: Here are your drinks! I really like the Hopslam! I hope you enjoy it too!
Me: Yes, I know I will, but can you bring me a regular glass. I do not want a frosted glass. My wife would also like a regular glass.
Waitress: Oh, I guess it is a bit cold outside today huh...giggle giggle
ME: Yeah that's it (avoiding confrontation)
Waitress returning with plain glasses: Here, these are off the shelf, they aren't hot out of the washer, but they are clean.
ME (I've had enough): Now why in the F*** would I want a hot beer glass? Are you stupid?
W: Well, it's cold outside, of course!
ME: I did not want the frosted glass because I enjoy beer. I like to taste beer. It tastes good. When beer is cold, you cannot thouroughly enjoy all that it has to offer. I will now let my Hopslam sit here on the table for the next 20 minutes because it has F*****g ice on the outside of the bottle. You know what? Let me have something off the tap while I am waiting for this to warm up a bit.
W: Sir, you can only have one beer on your table at a time.
ME: You have got to be kidding me....(my voice has now gotten a bit louder) I want to enjoy my beer the way that I enjoy it and that involves actually tasting it.
W: I think it tastes pretty good cold.
Me: (after literally laughing in her face and still chuckling as I make this suggestion) Can I place this bottle of Hopslam on the empty table next to ours and wait for it to warm up a bit? I would really like to drink this beer today.
W: (after talking to manager) that is fine, sir. Does your wife want to put hers over there too?
SWMBO: I will just drink it.



2 Minutes later....SWMBO doesn't like her Hopslam, so I tell her to order an Angry Orchard since I know she will like it. We move her Hopslam to the empty table...
Waitress: Don't Like the Hopslam? I don't care for it much either, that is why I drink beer so cold. (being just as big a smart a as I am)
ME: At least you have a sense of humor. I appreciate that.

The manager is a beer snob and comes over and talks beer with me for a few minutes and he was a bit of a yapper. I like to converse with people who enjoy the same things that I do.
I got our check and the waitress didn't charge me for either hopslam, left her number and a smiley face on the check. SWMBO was pissed! I thought it was funny.
 
Ok, for the sake of karma, I have to post this.

I have a Lifeform leather ergonomic office chair my wife bought for me 11 years ago (same model as this)
lf-lifesaver1_600.jpg


It has all kinds of adjustment levers, buttons, knobs and pumps and was sized for my 6' 5" frame, and is simply a wonderful office chair for someone who spends a good 10 hours a day working at a desk and is prone to back issues (two surgeries and hoping to avoid a third). It was also unnervingly expensive, to me, even as a gift, so I still try to take really good care of it, and as a result it looks pretty darn good.

Recently the swivel mechanism for an arm rest decided it was done and snapped in half, which detached the armrest from its riser. After perusing the retail outlets this manufacturer's chairs are sold through and noting this line has had some evolutionary changes in the armrests I was pretty sure finding a direct replacement part for an 11 year old chair wasn't going to happen, and was a bit upset that my wonderful chair's future looked cloudy.

But after taking things apart in my shop and doing some measuring I had worked out a solution I could machine up, so at least I had a Plan B when I pulled into the local RelaxTheBack store today, fully expecting a less than successful result.

Immediately upon entry a middle-aged salesman greeted me, and I started to relate my story while showing him the broken part and the original sales receipt with the specific chair model and option set listed.

I barely got all that out before he said "Hold on second, I'll be right back" and disappeared out through the back of the retail section.

A minute later he comes out with not only the exact part I needed, but already assembled up with the mating piece that ties the assembly to the arm rest riser.

I was nearly dumbstruck by how quickly this all happened - I literally wasn't in the store more than two minutes to that point.

But I managed to squeak out a "Fantastic! That's it!" followed by "How much do I owe you?", upon which he smiled and said "Just take it, it's yours."

For that he got my profuse thanks and a handshake, the best I could do. I was so taken I had to call anyone who might care even a little bit to tell them about it on the drive home ;)

So...The tide may be running the other way these days but there are still a few Good Guys out there...

Cheers!
 
What kills me is the folks who can't accept that sometimes "I don't know" is a perfectly acceptable answer. It's far preferable to making crap up.

I called up two LHBS's today, looking for golden oats. One, a little less local, but far preferable in terms of service and knowledge, simply told me he had none, and no acceptable substitutes, and apologized. No worries. The next one, much closer, but significantly lower on the knowledge scale, did not have any in stock, but wanted to try to find a substitute for me. I told her I wasn't familiar enough with the grain to name one myself, so she went to her computer and pulled up Google (I've seen her do this in the store a few times before). Within seconds of reaching her phone, she told me "well, 2-row is very similar..." I very nearly argued the fact with her, then thought better of it, and just hung up the phone.
 
stratslinger said:
What kills me is the folks who can't accept that sometimes "I don't know" is a perfectly acceptable answer. It's far preferable to making crap up.

I called up two LHBS's today, looking for golden oats. One, a little less local, but far preferable in terms of service and knowledge, simply told me he had none, and no acceptable substitutes, and apologized. No worries. The next one, much closer, but significantly lower on the knowledge scale, did not have any in stock, but wanted to try to find a substitute for me. I told her I wasn't familiar enough with the grain to name one myself, so she went to her computer and pulled up Google (I've seen her do this in the store a few times before). Within seconds of reaching her phone, she told me "well, 2-row is very similar..." I very nearly argued the fact with her, then thought better of it, and just hung up the phone.
Click to expand...

Only iota of a grain of a bit of defense I can offer for her is at least she was TRYING... albeit horribly ineffectually... to help.
 
bighornmountaindew said:
I had this happen to me twice today with a cashier and a waitress, the waitress saved herself later though.
At Movie theather box office
ME: 2 adults, one child for Escape from Planet Earth. One military. (I had just noticed that they advertise a military discount)
CASHIER: Military discounts are only after 6 pm sir.
ME: That's ok, I only protect the country aft 6 pm anyway (I'm a bit of a smart a)
CASHIER: Oh, like you're in the reserves? (obviously trying to flirt, she tilted her head and did a stupid whorish smile)That is so cool, I had a boyfriend that......(I cut her off)
ME: I do not care about your boyfriend. I want movie tickets for my wife and kid.


I walked across the street to the Brixx pizza place where my wife and kid were waiting and sat down for our lunch before our movie. I like this place, it has good pizza and usually has some good brews. Until today I have always had GREAT service, pretty much the best pizza place service ever. I ordered a Hopslam. My wife thinks that she likes beer too and ordered one too.

Waitress: Here are your drinks! I really like the Hopslam! I hope you enjoy it too!
Me: Yes, I know I will, but can you bring me a regular glass. I do not want a frosted glass. My wife would also like a regular glass.
Waitress: Oh, I guess it is a bit cold outside today huh...giggle giggle
ME: Yeah that's it (avoiding confrontation)
Waitress returning with plain glasses: Here, these are off the shelf, they aren't hot out of the washer, but they are clean.
ME (I've had enough): Now why in the F*** would I want a hot beer glass? Are you stupid?
W: Well, it's cold outside, of course!
ME: I did not want the frosted glass because I enjoy beer. I like to taste beer. It tastes good. When beer is cold, you cannot thouroughly enjoy all that it has to offer. I will now let my Hopslam sit here on the table for the next 20 minutes because it has F*****g ice on the outside of the bottle. You know what? Let me have something off the tap while I am waiting for this to warm up a bit.
W: Sir, you can only have one beer on your table at a time.
ME: You have got to be kidding me....(my voice has now gotten a bit louder) I want to enjoy my beer the way that I enjoy it and that involves actually tasting it.
W: I think it tastes pretty good cold.
Me: (after literally laughing in her face and still chuckling as I make this suggestion) Can I place this bottle of Hopslam on the empty table next to ours and wait for it to warm up a bit? I would really like to drink this beer today.
W: (after talking to manager) that is fine, sir. Does your wife want to put hers over there too?
SWMBO: I will just drink it.



2 Minutes later....SWMBO doesn't like her Hopslam, so I tell her to order an Angry Orchard since I know she will like it. We move her Hopslam to the empty table...
Waitress: Don't Like the Hopslam? I don't care for it much either, that is why I drink beer so cold. (being just as big a smart a as I am)
ME: At least you have a sense of humor. I appreciate that.

The manager is a beer snob and comes over and talks beer with me for a few minutes and he was a bit of a yapper. I like to converse with people who enjoy the same things that I do.
I got our check and the waitress didn't charge me for either hopslam, left her number and a smiley face on the check. SWMBO was pissed! I thought it was funny.
Click to expand...

Wow. Nobody should have to put up with that kind of crap from a customer.

Are you an officer by any chance?
 

Similar threads

Gytaryst
High Gravity Question(s)
Replies
13
Views
643
tracer bullet
tracer bullet
Clint Yeastwood
Spunding Valves on Storage Kegs?
Replies
15
Views
544
odie
odie
D
For Sale All My Brew Equipment - Make Me An Offer - Houston Texas Pickup Only
Replies
2
Views
662
Dennis1979
D
bmac8
I'm so lost. HELLLP! Just upgraded from white buckets to 10+ gallon stainless system...
2 3 4
Replies
142
Views
5K
sibelman
sibelman
Broken Crow
To Clean sealed unopened keg with the same thing, Or Not To Clean..blah blah blah
Replies
3
Views
307
Broken Crow
Broken Crow
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top