Retail horror stories
 

okay all you blue collar retail workers((like me)) time to post the worst experience you have ever had at work, either a stupid customer, a string of stupid customers, dumb theif, ect.

Mine would have to be when a customer came up to me in the seafood dept. asking me if i carried any local Salmon((i live in florida btw))......i had to bite my lip and tell her that no one outside of 30 miles of alaska carried salmon((except i said "Im sorry mam we only carry frozen salmon")). She then proceeds to get all indicted on me((im not the manager either, although i can do anything the manager can, i can order, do inventory ect. ect.)) asking me why i didnt carry local salmon. I told her that local salmon doesnt exist, since it is too warm for them to live down here. She then proceeds to yell at me saying Im a liar and that i am calling her a liar. I eventually had to sick the store manager on her. It was horrible

I'm a stockboy, have been for several months now.
I get alot of stupid questions...people asking where the deli is, where the bakery is (you walked past in when you came in the store), some guy asked me how much of this one item we sold in the last 2 years...i had no fuggin clue, and he wouldnt let me get my manager. This one lady also asked me where the coffee was....WHILE I WAS STOCKING THE DAMN COFFEE!

It's stupid people that really get to me, and those people who come in the store, give you their list, and make you get everything for them.

One time one lady forcefully shoved me out of the way and started bagging her own groceries because, as far as I could tell, she was a psycho bitch.

I think she said I was "doing it wrong"... Bloody idiots...

one time two women fist fought in my line because the woman ahead of the aggressor used a lot of coupons.

Eh, I've had it all...

I've been threatened, spat at, pushed over...that's by customers. Bitched about by staff, fainted in the stockroom, had a ticket holder fall on my eye, suffered damage to my knee when caught under a flat pack, had ladders fold up on me...

...I hate retail. Though I'm not qualified to work anywhere else.

I don't work retail per se, I work as a 'desk attendent' at a fitness club.

Among other things, I'm supposed to check people in. All this really is for is logging which people are coming into the club at what time, not like a hotel check in.

Well, every now and then people will come in who haven't paid in a while. 99% of the time, I don't say anything, I just write down their name which the manager later looks at, and then calls said person and asks them to bring a check next time.

Well, that other 1% happened to me a few weeks ago.

I come to work, and I see a note saying "Don't let Jim Billy (Made up name) check in, he owes too much money." "Fair enough", I think, "I've never heard of Mr. Billy anyway, why should he come now?"

Lo and behold, he comes in at around 6:00 pm. So I tell him, "Sir, I'm sorry, but I've been told not to allow you in because you need to pay your dues." And he promptly gets very indignant, calling my manager a bitch, and me stupid. He then demands my manager's phone number (she's not there during most of the shift for me). I say I can't give out employee numbers (for obvious reasons), but I can leave her a message and she'll call you. He finally leaves, saying "She had better call me within 15 minutes."

20 minutes later, he calls and asks me where the manager was. I didn't know, so he hangs up so hard that he misses the base--I heard him slam it on the desk, then onto the base.

20 minutes later, he walks in, throws a check at me, and goes to the showers. I take a look at the check. Its for 300 or so bucks. Mr. Billy hadn't payed in 6 months. My manager said that he had been sent several bills and been called several times, to no avail. And he was pissed at me that I wasn't supposed to let him.

I bet that check is rubber.

I just deal with morons who don't know their asses from a hole in the ground..and they officially outrank me, so I am not even remotely allowed to talk back to them or even display a sign of having an attitude. They however can treat me like as much shit as they want.

Or so they think...I guess it pays to look into my rights and privileges, 'cause I am finding out a lot of protections, such as one stating that I am exempted or protected from undue harassment, humiliation or badgering and any such action will be treated seriously and dealt with immediately.

Whether or not that's true...remains yet to be seen. :\

My situation can be summed up in four lines:

We are the Unfortunates
Led by the Unqualified
To do the Unnecessary
For the Ungrateful!

i've never worked in retail, but i was a telemarketer (credit cards) for about 3 months then i realized what a sweat shop that place was and left. i have TONS of stories from that place but i'll only share one:
during my last week of training we were taking actual callers on the floor being supervised by our trainer. one of the women i get on the phone spoke very broken english and needed me to repeat every item on the application about 3 times. an HOUR later the damn thing is finished and i read her the disclaimer thing then ask if its alright if i submit the application (you have to do that, or else you get sued). she says "hang on, there's a call on the other line" so she clicks over and i sit on hold for almost a half hour. after that there's a click and the line starts ringing and a younger girl answers. i say "hi is Mrs. Wang there?" and she says "no, she left 20 min ago". i had to clench my mouth shut and muttered some kind of thanks before slamming my headseat on the desk, to which my trainer came over and told me to go ahead and take 15. it took 4 cigarettes for me to calm down enough to go back in.

I don't work, me being a hobo and all, but I have seen some funny things come christmas. I was doing my christmas shopping on christmas eve because I hate myslef, when I happened on the video game section of my local store. I was greeted by a crazy man yelling at the poor guy stuck working the toy department, offering him something like three hundred bucks for the display Game Boy Color. I quickly left.