It's been a long time since I worked in retail.

One day, this guy buys a clock radio, back in the day whe the digital numbers were on cards that flipped over. He returns the next day. The box is basically shredded. He says the radio is defective, there's no clock face. I take the radio, turn it around so the clock is facing him, and say, "yes, there is." Absolutely true story.

In a toy/hobby store a woman comes in and goes to the scale models, lookng confused, I ask if I can help her. She says she's looking for a scale model of the universe. I could only shake my head and asy there wasn't one out yet. I wanted to hand her a basketball and say, "Here's a 1:1 scale a nano second after the Big Bang." But I didn't.

Then there was the guy who rips open a doll box, literaly tears the top off, pulls the doll out, stuffs it back in and was about to purchase a fresh one. I said he'd have to buy the one he wrecked.

Then from the other side of the counter, I went to a department store, one that was known for its photography department, to buy a mailer for slide film. The clerk proceeds to hand me a box of six mailers and charge me for the one.

 

LMAO! You were a little retail slut.

 

Alright...since we're sharing stories here...my best is:

I was visiting my cell phone kiosk and helping another associate when a lady came up and said, "My phone stopped working...I mash the buttons, but it won't do anything." I said, "Okay, let me take a look." In my mind, I was already thinking it was probably liquid damage as that's the #1 issue we see when folks say their phone "suddenly stop working."

So I look at the phone, notice the screen is lit up but no numbers or letters are showing. I slide the back of the phone off and some water comes out...right in front of the customer and right onto the glass top of the kiosk. No magic tricks...it was water and it happened RIGHT in front of her (the customer). She had NO reaction. I looked at her and said, "it seems you have liquid damage...have you dropped the phone in water or anything?"

She quickly replies, "No. That phone has been sitting on my nightstand all day." Bear in mind I've dealt with this sorta thing about a hundred times before...so I ask, "did you loan your phone to anyone?" She again replies, "No. Like I told you, it's been on my nightstand all day."

So I reply, "okay m'am, as you can see here, we have liquid damage in this phone...see all this water?" I remove the battery now exposing even more water onto the glass top. "Somehow, water has gotten into your phone."

She responds, "Well, like I told you...it's been on my nightstand all day and it has a warranty --- so I just want a new one." I reply, "Yes m'am, but I can't warranty this as it's not a manufacturer's defect...somehow, this liquid has gotten into the phone and now it's damaged."

She responds, "I just got the phone last week...what's the point of a warranty if it doesn't cover anything?" I respond, "M'am, are you thinking of insurance coverage for your phone?" She replies, "No, I didn't get insurance 'cause I don't need insurance. I was told I had a 1 year warranty and I want a new phone."

I say, "M'am, your phone has liquid damage and I can't replace it under warranty." She then says, "Are you saying my roof is leaking onto my nightstand and now my phone has water in it?"



Recognizing it's not sinking in with her...I decide to break it down (not too wise)...

So I say: "M'am, warranty doesn't cover damage...let's say you went out and bought a brand new Cadillac...if you drove the Cadillac into a tree, it wouldn't be covered by the warranty, it would be an insurance claim."

She responds, "You are a #@$&#%@ ass%#$*! Get my your supervisor NOW!!!"



I did just that and she got a new phone on the spot.

Lesson learned: NEVER ARGUE WITH AN IDIOT! THEY'LL BEAT YOU EVERY TIME WITH EXPERIENCE!!!

 

retail just sucks. period. no other way to describe it.

 

I actually had a pretty good experience when I worked retail. I use to work at Ace Hardware and really enjoyed it in a sense as I look back. Of course, I had the idiot customers that would question my knowledge because I was some kid and how could I know all this info. But given some time, I would be the person they request to talk to and ask questions. I became the "man" due to the knowledge I had and it felt real good. Of course, there were always new customers so I had to go through the same process daily. But I felt the reward when my regulars would come back and ask for advice from this 17 year old kid. They gave me the respect. Truthfully, as I can understand it better now, it wasn't my knowledge that did it, it was the tone I would tell them in. I was always confident in my tone(even though some times it was a little BS), but they felt more assured that way. I mean 95% of the time whatever I said was true and just a little BS like "I haven't used it, but only hear good things from past customers" sorta thing. Something that can't really come back to me.LOL.

I learned so much working there that I am actually thankful for that experience. I can probably do any type of housework, plumbing, electrical, etc... because of my time there. I can remember customers asking for things that I had no idea what it was and that was beacuse they had older terms that I wasn't aware of (mollies for example). If you don't know it, your probably to young to know that term unless you were introduce to it. If I didn't work at a hardware store, I would be clueless about alot of items and what there used for. I will admit, I didn't know what "down alternative" meant at first, but now it makes total sense from someones explanation. It is not that I didn't know what it was, just that my thought process was a little different. For someone that works there part/full time would definitely know it off the back compared to someone who shops for it every 1-2 years.

IMHO, if you can understand the "stupidity" in some of the questions, it might make your job a little more fun and easy going. Remember, I worked in a hardware store, so my questions ranged from about anything you can do to your house, out to your lawn kinda thing.

 

LOL @ working at select comfort

 

I worked at Oshman's back in the day in the Tennis/Golf department. It was Thanksgiving and a black gentleman walked in and asked if we had any shag bags. I was extremely busy at the time so I told him no (basically because I don't like african's). He came back later to show me a shag bag he found and pointed to where they were. I rolled my eyes at him. He knew I knew where they were. He also figured out I didn't like blacks.

 

LOL - GNN for Moderator!

 

OMFG!! Guess you want this thread to get locked down.

Were these comments typed to be "funny" or is this how you really feel? Bear in mind folks may not find it funny.

 

I had no intention for this thead to get locked.

I can think of maybe two people on this board that find me funny, and I wasn't trying to be. I ain't voting for no colored.