Or .... So they say.
I really love this time of year....holiday gift giving...holiday gift returning! Mostly I just love working retail (part time).
This time of the year makes for the best stories when you work in any service industry. Now, I won't name names...but some people just get funnier the more angry they become. So, as established a long long time ago...I work part time at a regional Best Buy store. For some stange reason I decided to answer a question from customer service in person the other day...there in lies my first mistake.
The question, which was legit, was about the recall by Nintendo on the straps of the Wii controllers. Hard to believe that this "lady" didn't want her 8 year old to throw his new toy through their tv. But, that wasn't the fun part. The fun part was when we noticed that her friend, who was with her, had gotten a call to pick up her Wii controller she ordered. She told her friend that the controllers were in...the other lady...who from this point on we will call Mandy (for simplicity) looked at her phone's caller id earlier and saw a call from Best Buy....she didn't answer the phone...when her friend told her that Best Buy called to tell her that the controller she had ordere was in.....Mandy just assumed that was the call in the morning had been about.
So....Mandy hops in the car with her friend...drives the "hours" to the store and waits in line to pick up her Wii accessory! Now's when it gets fun. Turns out that since she didn't answer the phone in the morning...we just moved on to the next person on the list (limited supply and all) so she didn't have anything in store! Now comes the Bitching!
She starts of by saying she is "very upset" (but she is still being civil) then when we tell her that if she had answered the phone in the morning she WOULD have what she wanted. At this point...all hell breaks loose. All of a sudden....she now wants us to give her one of the other sets that is in the back...you know those that were held for people who answered the phone...she also wants the store to pay for her gas to and from the store that day and the day she has to drive back to get the controllers...now Mandy's friend pipes in with "well, since we are all ALREADY mad may I add that I am really mad that who ever called my house told my son, who answered the phone, that the Wii controllers were in." funny how she goes from standing by to Pissed in no time flat. It would seem that since her friend is trying to get free shit...she wants in...now it seems we have "ruined Christmas for her baby boy!"
At this point they are both getting angry and I have officially lost intrest in the whole situation. Sadly I usually like dealing with tough customers....it seems my sarcasim goes right over most people's heads and is confused with genuine intrest! By the end of the 45 min of dealing with these two....I am ready to go back to the dumb questions of the department. That and I am ready to kiss the hands of all the women who work the customer service desk.
I came to realize that it is a hell of a lot easier to deal with pain-in-the-ass customers when you can just walk away from them and pretend to care about someone else. When you are stuck across the counter from someone....it's considereably harder to ditch them!
Then to really cap the day off....I thought someone stole my ipod right off of my belt. After dealing with Mandy and crew I finally took my lunch (thirty minutes late...which as a fat man...is a big deal!) While sitting on the couch I decided to check my pod for a song I was thinking of...I reached down to my belt...and...NOTHING!!
I checked the couch....NOTHING....ran to my truck...NOTHING...so I was pissed as you can guess. But, really what could I do...it was lost! So I just went back to work... I was in a pissy mood and started to kick shit around and just happened to kick a case for a cell phone accessory (that someone stole) under a table in the front of the department.
I violently pulled back the drop cloth on the table..and there was my pod...on the floor under the table. Now the funny part is that I know for a fact that I was only by the table for maybe 2 minutes at the start of my shift....so it sat there on the ground under the table for like 5 hours...any little shit could have snagged it. So, my Sunday night was eventful to say the least.
God I need a drink....thankfully that is all I plan to do this weekend!
