Specimens from the retail jungle.

[crgildart]

I'm not even supposed to be here today...

I heard a rumor that there was an alternative ending to the film tested where Dante gets robbed and shot dead at the end.. and he wasn't even supposed to be there that day..

 

[James]

Late 70's, waiting on your German guests, don't mention The War...

 

[Philpug]

I'm not even supposed to be here today...

I heard a rumor that there was an alternative ending to the film tested where Dante gets robbed and shot dead at the end.. and he wasn't even supposed to be there that day..

Yeah, it was in the special edition. Saw it, not as good. Years back, my son and I did take a trip up to Red Bank to go to Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash Comic Book Store.

37...in a row?

 

[crgildart]

A friend of mine told me this story back in high school. He was working at a grocery store and another employee went in to the bathroom and was taking a very long time. The manager went in there to sweep and mess with the employee. He was in there talking trash, calling the guy lazy, said he was stinking up the joint, rattling the broom under the stall trying to hit the kid's feet only to learn it was a CUSTOMER in the stall. The employee was outside having a smoke.

 

[skibob]

A friend of mine told me this story back in high school. He was working at a grocery store and another employee went in to the bathroom and was taking a very long time. The manager went in there to sweep and mess with the employee. He was in there talking trash, calling the guy lazy, said he was stinking up the joint, rattling the broom under the stall trying to hit the kid's feet only to learn it was a CUSTOMER in the stall. The employee was outside having a smoke.

LOL. My brother and my cousin worked together at a grocery store in high school. My cousin was a notorious smart ass and prankster. One night they were closing together. My cousin popped into the office to tell my brother everybody was out and he had locked the front door. He told him the asst manager, who had a sense of humor, was in the store room and didn't know the store was empty and locked yet. Wouldn't it be funny, my cousin said, if my brother got on the PA and said something obnoxious. So my brother cracks the mic and says "Alright all you assholes, get out of the store now, I want to go home".

You probably guessed by now that, no, the store was not empty. In fact, the lone shopper was the proverbial "little old lady". She sincerely apologized, despite my brother' meeting her at the register with his own sincere apology. My cousin swears he didn't know she was there. But did I mention that he is a notorious smart ass and prankster? And, fortunately, the asst manager had a sense of humor, luckily for my brother, who kept his job.

 

[Don in Morrison]

I worked on a night crew at a Safeway store during and for a while after college. Our foreman bought a bottle of lighter fluid and a rubber-band balsa airplane one night. He assembled the plane, wound it up and soaked it with lighter fluid. Then he torched it with a lighter just as he let it go, and sent a flaming airplane sailing across the main lobby of the store. It went the full length of the lobby before crashing in the produce department.

 

[skibob]

I worked on a night crew at a Safeway store during and for a while after college. Our foreman bought a bottle of lighter fluid and a rubber-band balsa airplane one night. He assembled the plane, wound it up and soaked it with lighter fluid. Then he torched it with a lighter just as he let it go, and sent a flaming airplane sailing across the main lobby of the store. It went the full length of the lobby before crashing in the produce department.

Attention shoppers, there is a special on grilled veggies in the produce dept . . .

 

[slowrider]

Had a guy that thought he was a supertrucker on a project. There's always one. A white p/u drove up to his truck and tells him to go over there and blah blah. Supertrucker says who the f are you. White p/u says, I am the guy that signs your paycheck. Supertrucker got run off the next week.

 

[crgildart]

Had a guy that thought he was a supertrucker on a project. There's always one. A white p/u drove up to his truck and tells him to go over there and blah blah. Supertrucker says who the f are you. White p/u says, I am the guy that signs your paycheck. Supertrucker got run off the next week.

Reminds me of this one.. warning, language.

http://imgur.com/gallery/xTlXz

 

[slowrider]

Seen that a couple of times @ jobs.

 

[eok]

I worked in ski shops for years - both in the shop & on the sales floor. Yep, I had my fair share of toxic customers. But one in particular is really burned into my memory. I'd seen him in our store a few times, just browsing. He was (as I found out later) a Doctor of some kind & seemed very well-to-do.

One day, the guy came into the store with two of his teenage kids. He wanted to outfit himself & his kids with new ski gear & clothes. A ski salesman's dream. Things went well initially. But after over an hour of ski selection, boot fitting and clothing selection he started to get impatient. I then put up with a number of insults. The worst was him turning to one of his kids and saying loudly "See, this is why you need to go to college, otherwise you'll end up working in a place like this!". Sheesh. We had a great shop run by great people, so that particular comment stung. But he was springing for a big ticket sale, so I kept my cool & closed the sale.

Now here's the sweet part...

After ringing him out I watched the father & one of his kids head for the door. They had multiple bags of stuff they just bought. The second kid came from a side isle & met up with them on the way out. That kid had some bags (our store bags) of stuff too. When they got to the exit the theft alarms went off. To keep this short: nope, we didn't forget to remove a security tag. The father & kids had stuffed their pockets with stuff (e.g.: sun glasses, wax, even socks). Plus, one of the kids had used a big bag (presumably from a previous sale) to fill-up with 'merch while we were ringing-up Dad. They were totally busted. We detained them at the store (we had retired cops working at the store) & I watched the police take 'em away. While waiting for the police I asked the father why he would do such a thing. His reply amounted to "I spent so much money I though I deserved something extra". I do remember him saying over and over how he didn't think this was a big deal & that he'd gladly pay for everything. The owner thought otherwise. To this day I can't believe what an awful role model that father was to his kids that day. Just tragic.

Anyway, this happened in the late 70s (or early 80s). Back then, our store was an early adopter of this particular kind of anti-theft tech. We'd installed the tag & detector system just a few weeks before the guy tried to shoplift.

It was a bittersweet outcome: a jackass customer got what he deserved but I lost a huge sale. :^/

 

[crgildart]

I guess he should have gone to a better college...

 

[eok]

I guess he should have gone to a better college...

Oh, I loved your comment!

Yeah, at the time I thought it was ironic he was making that assumption of me & the store. In fact, I was working my way through school via jobs in ski shops. I may not have achieved a PhD degree but I think I may have fared better than him in life. I surely got in way more ski days.

 

[slowrider]

If more people were exposed to the service their manners might improve. There's a miltary adage. Every man puts his pants on 1 leg at a time.

 

[skibob]

If more people were exposed to the service their manners might improve. There's a miltary adage. Every man puts his pants on 1 leg at a time.

 

[crgildart]

Oh, I loved your comment!

Yeah, at the time I thought it was ironic he was making that assumption of me & the store. In fact, I was working my way through school via jobs in ski shops. I may not have achieved a PhD degree but I think I may have fared better than him in life. I surely got in way more ski days.

I was working in retail management through grad school. I was a store manager for several years prior to going back to school. I then stepped back to a 30 hr/week shift manager, just enough to keep benefits and get paid for every minute of overtime

 

[KevinF]

I asked the father why he would do such a thing. His reply amounted to "I spent so much money I though I deserved something extra".

 

[Don in Morrison]

My oldest son worked at a Wal Mart for a while. He was assembling bikes at the time, and was called up front to retrieve a kid's bike that had been returned. When went up and collected up the shiny new returned bike, and as he was walking it back to the back room, he observed that both tires were near flat and completely worn out. Someone had bought the bike, took it home to swap out the tires and brought it back.

 

[crgildart]

Working in retail refunds and exchanges I've seen all kinds of parts swapping or snatching happening with returned items. I used to check the product out pretty thoroughly to ensure no part was used or broken or missing when taking something back.

Also, selling luggage when we'd check inside each bag, sometimes finding other smaller bags, sometimes finding wallets or pens or other pretty expensive side items that weren't in there when we the customer got it off the shelf to buy..

 

[Tricia]

Someone came into the ski shop last week(end of July) and asked if we had a Nordica Enforcer 177 in our summer sale blowout.