Tale From The Shop Counter - Page 2

tukayaway · 22 Jul 2003, 23:08

I work in a bank and you get some scarily stupid people there:

Like the bloke who didn't understand that he had to pay back an overdraft. He thought that the bank simply gave him money.

Or the customer who asked me if she could send money abroad. To Wales.

Or the customer who asked for a statement. Who banks at another bank.

The only good thing is that I'm allowed to be rude to non-customers!

Cathie · 23 Jul 2003, 01:23

Remind me never to annoy any of you...

Chris · 31 Jul 2003, 14:09

I have just had a woman in the shop with her children.

One of the children picked up a packet of sweets. Opened them adn ate 1. The mother said "You're not allowed those" and put the OPEN packet back ont he shelf. I said excuse me but you'll ahev to apy for them because she's opened them.

For my troubles I was rewarded with a mouthful of abuse adn lots of bad language!!!

The final comment was "Who the ~~~~ are you to ~~~~ing tell me what I can and cannot ~~~~ing buy. Youc an take them sweets and shove them up your arse!!!"

And I was having a good day until then!!

dottie · 31 Jul 2003, 15:00

Hi Chris - Well first all let me say take a chill pill, easier said than done I know. Did you check to make sure the baby still wasn't in the pushchair.

As for the item of clothing mine I think

well it fits

Seriously though Chris I do feel sorry for you, I am aware of how obnoxious customers can be, I deal with them every day on behalf of my husbands business as well. We had a call last Boxing Day and they expected Roy to come out to them to fix a leak! Sometimes they even ring
gone 11pm and expect Roy to ring back with quote for windows, etc., I say pppff!

Crystal Eyes · 31 Jul 2003, 16:25

I reccomend a site. I think it's www.rinkworks.com. Try looking at the computer stupidities.

plukie · 31 Jul 2003, 17:58

I used to work a railway station doing enquiries and selling tickets. One day the actor who plays Poison in Londons Burning came through. He was stood looking up at the monitor to check his train times. My friend was across the hall and I pointed to him and said "look who it is" She thought I meant he had stolen the newspaper that he was carrying, she didn't recognise him at all. She went over and accused him of stealing the paper because I had seen him do it.!!!. Anyway the outcome was he ranted and raved at me for about five minutes while I stood and listened politely, when he had finished I smiled said "thank you, but I don't want your autograph" He just stormed off.

ROSIE · 31 Jul 2003, 18:28

Hi
I worked in a private hospital and I was checking a little old lady to take her to have her operation I asked all the the questions on the checklist. Everything was fine until I asked her if she had her breakfast expecting her to say no as she was supposed to be starved she said of course she 'd had breakfast. I explained that she was Nil by mouth and her reply, but my dear I'm private only NHS patients are staved.
Beam me up Scotty

Rosie

Chris · 31 Jul 2003, 19:51

Cheers for the advice Dottie, I think I will skip the chill pill and start on the alcohol. (the child in question was 9, surely old enough to know better!!)

having chilled over lunch, I returned to work this afternoon and was sworn at by a lady when I asked her not to bring her dog in the shop (with the exception of guide dogs, regulations say we cannot allow dogs in the shop because we sell unwrapped food). I was sworn at and told that "My dad's gonna come down and give youa good slap" by a 12 year old who I refused to sell cigarettes to.

And finally, I live int he flat above the shop, a customer has just come round to my flat as the shop is closed to tell me she didn't get her copy of the sun delivered this morning and that she wants me to open the shop up again to get her a copy!!!!

Me thinks, there should be a change in the law to allow shopworkers to slap the bejeezus out of daft customers.

At what point did it become acceptable for people to shout swear and generally abuse shop staff!!

I am now going to go get a nice cold Bud and try to chill!!!!

Bren · 31 Jul 2003, 22:36

My sympathy Chris you've certainly had a day of it.
it's amazing how rude some people can be

Bren

heat · 31 Jul 2003, 22:54

Poor Chris - had a day of it alright, ain't ya hun???

On a lighter note though - i work for Child Line, and one day answered a call from a child who said he was stuck on level three. After about ten minuites of trying to work out what the hell he was on about, he finally said that it it was his birthday, and he'd gotten a gamecube as a present.
Apparently inside the box there was a little note that said if he ever needed any advice or had any problems he could ring Child Line. Which is exactly what he did.....and we were able to help him move on from where he was stuck at in the game

plukie · 01 Aug 2003, 10:50

Had to laugh at that one Heat. It reminded me of my daughter, when she was about 7 years old she told me that she was going to ring Child Line, so I did the caring mother bit and said lets sit and talk about your problems, what can I do for you etc. etc. and apparently she was going to ring Child Line because I wouldn't play a board game with her!!

Chris · 10 Sep 2003, 19:58

I have had another one!!!!

One of the problems with my job is that you have to put up with a lot of pensioners. Being a small village store we get the same people in every day so you start to build up relationships with them.

One of the little old ladies (76 next month) comes in and flirts outrageously with me!!! Normally this is to do with things like "So Chris, where are you running away with me to when you win the lottery" and the like.

On Tuesday she came in and was buying her usual stuff. She always buys 20 or 40 cigarettes so i was putting her order together for her and pointed at the cigarettes and said "One pack or Two pack?" the reply came back "Can't I have six-pack? Your six pack please darling!!"

I was that shocked by this comment from a sweet little old lady that I almost gave her too much change!!!!!

CarolM · 17 Sep 2003, 01:46

soooooo funny bless her,

that one was cheeky though the boy opening the bag of sweets taking one out, and his mum says you cant have them, so they put them back, b....y cheek is what i say

.You do have a bad time of it dont you Chris.

Chris · 16 Mar 2004, 22:45

resurrecting the topic for two things:

Firstly: AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH - I have had every nutter in Huddersfield in the shop today!!!!!!! Do they follow me?? Is there a sign somewhere telling them to come and tease me!!

Althougha big smile to the woman who normally comes int he shop I run. She came in our huddersfield shop, spotted me and walked straight abck out again. Went into the shop i run and screamed blue murder at the boss for sacking me so i had to go work in the next town!! It took the boss ten minutes to calm her down and tell her he owns both shops and i was only covering for someone at the other one!!

Secondly: Tomorrow I am off to Birmingham to the Convinience Retail Show. Where the high point will be seeing The Worlds Largest pot Noodle!! Last year it was the worlds largest club sandwich adn it was massive!!!!

black dog · 16 Mar 2004, 23:38

At least she cared enough to worry that you'd been sacked Chris.

ChrissybabezNI · 17 Mar 2004, 02:01

I know just how you feel. I used to work in a shop and I hated it. some people treated us as if we were lesser beings or completely stupid just because we worked in a shop. (Did they ever stop to think I was only there because I was still in education?)
I worked in a small shop and one day I was filling up a drinks cooler when a man came up to me with a shopping basket and a shopping list and handed them to me. I looked at him for a moment and asked him what he was giving them to me for. He only wanted me to get the shopping for him! He wasnt too pleased when I told him he had to get it himself. Like your story, I had an underage boy coming in for cigarettes who wasnt able to present any ID. Seemingly he had his dad in the car which I noticed when I looked out the window, they were sitting in the car giving us dirty looks. Then the father handed his son a cigarette and he lit one too and they both walked into the shop where they proceeded to call me and the other girl working behind the till 'sl*ts' and went crazy when we told them to take the cigarettes outside and they should have had he sense not to light fags on a petrol forecourt anyway

In fact we had a lot of people walking into the shop smoking and when they were asked to put them out they asked where the no smoking sign was. (I don't know any shops you actually ARE allowed to smoke in!) We also had a man in threatening us because he had a flat tyre and the air pump had been vandalised (not our fault) I have been shouted at by an old women because I packed her apple tart too roughly and 'acted as if I didnt care about it' (I took it out and checked it and there was nothing wrong with it and even offered her to get aother one for her to which she refused) Another customer also complained about me because I didnt tell her that we didnt have a machine to print out cheques even though there is a sign at each till telling the customers so and I wouldnt write her cheque out for her (against our company policy) If you own a cheque book you should at least be capable of writing out a cheque! We also had people complaining that the ATM outside was out of order even though it has nothing to do with us, it's to do with the bank, funnily enough!
When I worked in retail I always conducted good customer care, but some customers really do expect to have their a**es kissed :)

here endeth my rant

Caz · 17 Mar 2004, 02:48

Oh the joys lol. I work on the Deli Counter in our local Asda/Walmart. Those of you who frequent Asda in the U.K and buy pizza's will probably know about our 'four toppings on a pizza' rule. Well, there we are one day, serving away quite happily, making up pizza's for the customers when ...... up comes one guy, with his children. He asks for a 14" Thin and Crispy pizza. Off goes one of the girls to get the base, sauces it, puts the cheese on and asks him what he wants. Oh well, says the guy, I'll have spicey chicken, pepperoni, mushrooms and red onion on one half, (four toppings) and on the other half I'll have ordinary chicken, ham, pineapple and peppers. No sorry, we can't do that says my colleague, it is against cooking regulations the pizza won't cook properly, plus the base won't hold eight toppings (bearing in mind he wanted four on each side). He rants and raves about how he had been given a pizza like this before, by which time the poor girl serving him is getting angry and flustered and looking for help. I stop serving the customer I was dealing with to try and explain it was against our guidelines and company policy to serve a pizza with any more than four toppings on it. He rants and raves a bit more,and says he is off to complain at customer services. Off he goes, and the next thing, the trainee Manager walks up to me and tells me to make a pizza with, yes, you got it, eight toppings on it. To which I reply, no sorry, I refuse to do that. She asks the other girls ... they reply no sorry we are not doing it either. The next thing our Manager goes to customer services, speaks to the guy and comes back and says okay who is going to make this guys pizza with FOUR toppings on it. He got his pizza, two toppings either side and has never been seen since.

Some people think it is their god given right to treat Shop Assistants like dirt, they have no respect for them whatsoever, but I always think that nothing gives them the right to treat us that way. After all, they wouldn't be happy if it was us giving them abuse would they.

That's my rant over (and my postcount up by one more)

**The Flying Mouse** · 17 Mar 2004, 05:26

I used to work in a joke shop.One day the owner got some industrial strength (I don't know what the hell it was but it set like steel

) glue.
He had the idea to glue some coins (I think it was a 50p a 20p and a 5p coins) to the pavement outside the shop, just where we could see people trying to pick them up

.
Every day at least one person would try and pick the coins up.Then one day, an old man came hobbling by when he spotted the coins on the floor.He bent down to pick them up but of corse couldn't.He stood up and started looking through this old string shopping bag he was carrying until he found his keys.He started trying to prise the 50p coin up with his front door key

.The owner and I were laughing our heads off, and the old dude must have heard us."They're stuck down pretty well arn't they?" he called to us.We agreed.He shuffled off.
Ten minutes later he was back, with a HAMMER & CHISLE

Best thing is, he still couldn't get those coins up

Keep Rocking · 27 Mar 2004, 22:59

a good friend of mine once asked in a sweet shop (is it called that?):

"Do you have something without sugar?"

The face of the guy behind the counter was priceless

31 Jul 2003, 15:00	#29
dottie queen post- whore extraordinaire Join Date: 29.01.2003 Location: Still Rockin' at "72" Posts: 13,181	shop counter Hi Chris - Well first all let me say take a chill pill, easier said than done I know. Did you check to make sure the baby still wasn't in the pushchair. As for the item of clothing mine I think well it fits Seriously though Chris I do feel sorry for you, I am aware of how obnoxious customers can be, I deal with them every day on behalf of my husbands business as well. We had a call last Boxing Day and they expected Roy to come out to them to fix a leak! Sometimes they even ring gone 11pm and expect Roy to ring back with quote for windows, etc., I say pppff!

22 Jul 2003, 23:08	#26
tukayaway Super Loafer Join Date: 12.05.2002 Location: Luton, England Posts: 485	I work in a bank and you get some scarily stupid people there: Like the bloke who didn't understand that he had to pay back an overdraft. He thought that the bank simply gave him money. Or the customer who asked me if she could send money abroad. To Wales. Or the customer who asked for a statement. Who banks at another bank. The only good thing is that I'm allowed to be rude to non-customers!

23 Jul 2003, 01:23	#27
Cathie Sweet But Sadistic Join Date: 18.06.2003 Location: Lincolnshire/Essex depending on the time of year! Posts: 4,098	Remind me never to annoy any of you...

31 Jul 2003, 14:09	#28
Chris Mega Loafer Join Date: 14.04.2002 Location: Somewhere in the real world. Posts: 7,527	I have just had a woman in the shop with her children. One of the children picked up a packet of sweets. Opened them adn ate 1. The mother said "You're not allowed those" and put the OPEN packet back ont he shelf. I said excuse me but you'll ahev to apy for them because she's opened them. For my troubles I was rewarded with a mouthful of abuse adn lots of bad language!!! The final comment was "Who the ~~~~ are you to ~~~~ing tell me what I can and cannot ~~~~ing buy. Youc an take them sweets and shove them up your arse!!!" And I was having a good day until then!!

31 Jul 2003, 16:25	#30
Crystal Eyes Super Loafer Join Date: 09.07.2003 Location: In the clouds Posts: 649	I reccomend a site. I think it's www.rinkworks.com. Try looking at the computer stupidities.

31 Jul 2003, 17:58	#31
plukie Senior Loafer Join Date: 18.07.2003 Location: Plymouth, Devon Posts: 199	I used to work a railway station doing enquiries and selling tickets. One day the actor who plays Poison in Londons Burning came through. He was stood looking up at the monitor to check his train times. My friend was across the hall and I pointed to him and said "look who it is" She thought I meant he had stolen the newspaper that he was carrying, she didn't recognise him at all. She went over and accused him of stealing the paper because I had seen him do it.!!!. Anyway the outcome was he ranted and raved at me for about five minutes while I stood and listened politely, when he had finished I smiled said "thank you, but I don't want your autograph" He just stormed off.

31 Jul 2003, 18:28	#32
ROSIE Invisible again! Join Date: 30.06.2003 Location: Suffolk Posts: 1,240	Hi I worked in a private hospital and I was checking a little old lady to take her to have her operation I asked all the the questions on the checklist. Everything was fine until I asked her if she had her breakfast expecting her to say no as she was supposed to be starved she said of course she 'd had breakfast. I explained that she was Nil by mouth and her reply, but my dear I'm private only NHS patients are staved. Beam me up Scotty Rosie

31 Jul 2003, 19:51	#33
Chris Mega Loafer Join Date: 14.04.2002 Location: Somewhere in the real world. Posts: 7,527	Cheers for the advice Dottie, I think I will skip the chill pill and start on the alcohol. (the child in question was 9, surely old enough to know better!!) having chilled over lunch, I returned to work this afternoon and was sworn at by a lady when I asked her not to bring her dog in the shop (with the exception of guide dogs, regulations say we cannot allow dogs in the shop because we sell unwrapped food). I was sworn at and told that "My dad's gonna come down and give youa good slap" by a 12 year old who I refused to sell cigarettes to. And finally, I live int he flat above the shop, a customer has just come round to my flat as the shop is closed to tell me she didn't get her copy of the sun delivered this morning and that she wants me to open the shop up again to get her a copy!!!! Me thinks, there should be a change in the law to allow shopworkers to slap the bejeezus out of daft customers. At what point did it become acceptable for people to shout swear and generally abuse shop staff!! I am now going to go get a nice cold Bud and try to chill!!!!

31 Jul 2003, 22:36	#34
Bren The Bat Join Date: 23.03.2003 Location: Roosting on a Silver-Black Phantom Bike. Posts: 10,017	My sympathy Chris you've certainly had a day of it. it's amazing how rude some people can be Bren

31 Jul 2003, 22:54	#35
heat Rampant Loafer... Join Date: 29.07.2002 Location: welshy wales Posts: 5,706	Poor Chris - had a day of it alright, ain't ya hun??? On a lighter note though - i work for Child Line, and one day answered a call from a child who said he was stuck on level three. After about ten minuites of trying to work out what the hell he was on about, he finally said that it it was his birthday, and he'd gotten a gamecube as a present. Apparently inside the box there was a little note that said if he ever needed any advice or had any problems he could ring Child Line. Which is exactly what he did.....and we were able to help him move on from where he was stuck at in the game

01 Aug 2003, 10:50	#36
plukie Senior Loafer Join Date: 18.07.2003 Location: Plymouth, Devon Posts: 199	Had to laugh at that one Heat. It reminded me of my daughter, when she was about 7 years old she told me that she was going to ring Child Line, so I did the caring mother bit and said lets sit and talk about your problems, what can I do for you etc. etc. and apparently she was going to ring Child Line because I wouldn't play a board game with her!!

10 Sep 2003, 19:58	#37
Chris Mega Loafer Join Date: 14.04.2002 Location: Somewhere in the real world. Posts: 7,527	I have had another one!!!! One of the problems with my job is that you have to put up with a lot of pensioners. Being a small village store we get the same people in every day so you start to build up relationships with them. One of the little old ladies (76 next month) comes in and flirts outrageously with me!!! Normally this is to do with things like "So Chris, where are you running away with me to when you win the lottery" and the like. On Tuesday she came in and was buying her usual stuff. She always buys 20 or 40 cigarettes so i was putting her order together for her and pointed at the cigarettes and said "One pack or Two pack?" the reply came back "Can't I have six-pack? Your six pack please darling!!" I was that shocked by this comment from a sweet little old lady that I almost gave her too much change!!!!!

17 Sep 2003, 01:46	#38
CarolM Mega Loafer Join Date: 15.06.2003 Location: Near The End Of The Line Posts: 1,498	soooooo funny bless her, that one was cheeky though the boy opening the bag of sweets taking one out, and his mum says you cant have them, so they put them back, b....y cheek is what i say .You do have a bad time of it dont you Chris.

16 Mar 2004, 22:45	#39
Chris Mega Loafer Join Date: 14.04.2002 Location: Somewhere in the real world. Posts: 7,527	resurrecting the topic for two things: Firstly: AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH - I have had every nutter in Huddersfield in the shop today!!!!!!! Do they follow me?? Is there a sign somewhere telling them to come and tease me!! Althougha big smile to the woman who normally comes int he shop I run. She came in our huddersfield shop, spotted me and walked straight abck out again. Went into the shop i run and screamed blue murder at the boss for sacking me so i had to go work in the next town!! It took the boss ten minutes to calm her down and tell her he owns both shops and i was only covering for someone at the other one!! Secondly: Tomorrow I am off to Birmingham to the Convinience Retail Show. Where the high point will be seeing The Worlds Largest pot Noodle!! Last year it was the worlds largest club sandwich adn it was massive!!!!

16 Mar 2004, 23:38	#40
black dog Mega Loafer Join Date: 21.11.2003 Location: Cornwall Posts: 1,667	At least she cared enough to worry that you'd been sacked Chris.

17 Mar 2004, 02:01	#41
ChrissybabezNI Super Loafer Join Date: 18.11.2003 Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland Posts: 352	I know just how you feel. I used to work in a shop and I hated it. some people treated us as if we were lesser beings or completely stupid just because we worked in a shop. (Did they ever stop to think I was only there because I was still in education?) I worked in a small shop and one day I was filling up a drinks cooler when a man came up to me with a shopping basket and a shopping list and handed them to me. I looked at him for a moment and asked him what he was giving them to me for. He only wanted me to get the shopping for him! He wasnt too pleased when I told him he had to get it himself. Like your story, I had an underage boy coming in for cigarettes who wasnt able to present any ID. Seemingly he had his dad in the car which I noticed when I looked out the window, they were sitting in the car giving us dirty looks. Then the father handed his son a cigarette and he lit one too and they both walked into the shop where they proceeded to call me and the other girl working behind the till 'slts' and went crazy when we told them to take the cigarettes outside and they should have had he sense not to light fags on a petrol forecourt anyway In fact we had a lot of people walking into the shop smoking and when they were asked to put them out they asked where the no smoking sign was. (I don't know any shops you actually ARE allowed to smoke in!) We also had a man in threatening us because he had a flat tyre and the air pump had been vandalised (not our fault) I have been shouted at by an old women because I packed her apple tart too roughly and 'acted as if I didnt care about it' (I took it out and checked it and there was nothing wrong with it and even offered her to get aother one for her to which she refused) Another customer also complained about me because I didnt tell her that we didnt have a machine to print out cheques even though there is a sign at each till telling the customers so and I wouldnt write her cheque out for her (against our company policy) If you own a cheque book you should at least be capable of writing out a cheque! We also had people complaining that the ATM outside was out of order even though it has nothing to do with us, it's to do with the bank, funnily enough! When I worked in retail I always conducted good customer care, but some customers really do expect to have their a*es kissed :) here endeth my rant

17 Mar 2004, 02:48	#42
Caz Super Loafer Join Date: 27.01.2004 Location: Dechmont, West Lothian, Scotland Posts: 900	Oh the joys lol. I work on the Deli Counter in our local Asda/Walmart. Those of you who frequent Asda in the U.K and buy pizza's will probably know about our 'four toppings on a pizza' rule. Well, there we are one day, serving away quite happily, making up pizza's for the customers when ...... up comes one guy, with his children. He asks for a 14" Thin and Crispy pizza. Off goes one of the girls to get the base, sauces it, puts the cheese on and asks him what he wants. Oh well, says the guy, I'll have spicey chicken, pepperoni, mushrooms and red onion on one half, (four toppings) and on the other half I'll have ordinary chicken, ham, pineapple and peppers. No sorry, we can't do that says my colleague, it is against cooking regulations the pizza won't cook properly, plus the base won't hold eight toppings (bearing in mind he wanted four on each side). He rants and raves about how he had been given a pizza like this before, by which time the poor girl serving him is getting angry and flustered and looking for help. I stop serving the customer I was dealing with to try and explain it was against our guidelines and company policy to serve a pizza with any more than four toppings on it. He rants and raves a bit more,and says he is off to complain at customer services. Off he goes, and the next thing, the trainee Manager walks up to me and tells me to make a pizza with, yes, you got it, eight toppings on it. To which I reply, no sorry, I refuse to do that. She asks the other girls ... they reply no sorry we are not doing it either. The next thing our Manager goes to customer services, speaks to the guy and comes back and says okay who is going to make this guys pizza with FOUR toppings on it. He got his pizza, two toppings either side and has never been seen since. Some people think it is their god given right to treat Shop Assistants like dirt, they have no respect for them whatsoever, but I always think that nothing gives them the right to treat us that way. After all, they wouldn't be happy if it was us giving them abuse would they. That's my rant over (and my postcount up by one more)

17 Mar 2004, 05:26	#43
The Flying Mouse Armed ba$tard and Jo's other half. Join Date: 06.08.2002 Location: In the middle of nowhere near the end of the line. Posts: 16,104	I used to work in a joke shop.One day the owner got some industrial strength (I don't know what the hell it was but it set like steel ) glue. He had the idea to glue some coins (I think it was a 50p a 20p and a 5p coins) to the pavement outside the shop, just where we could see people trying to pick them up . Every day at least one person would try and pick the coins up.Then one day, an old man came hobbling by when he spotted the coins on the floor.He bent down to pick them up but of corse couldn't.He stood up and started looking through this old string shopping bag he was carrying until he found his keys.He started trying to prise the 50p coin up with his front door key .The owner and I were laughing our heads off, and the old dude must have heard us."They're stuck down pretty well arn't they?" he called to us.We agreed.He shuffled off. Ten minutes later he was back, with a HAMMER & CHISLE Best thing is, he still couldn't get those coins up

27 Mar 2004, 22:59	#44
Keep Rocking Super Loafer Join Date: 06.11.2003 Location: Sitting on the steps outside, looking so restless and reckless and lost! Posts: 820	a good friend of mine once asked in a sweet shop (is it called that?): "Do you have something without sugar?" The face of the guy behind the counter was priceless