Friday, October 21, 2011

Come on people, don't be dicks

Today was a very good day.  I went happily about my tasks, helped a lot of customers, including a lot of regulars who were delightful and pleasant.  Yep, it was a pretty good day.  Until the end.

I honestly believe that working years and years of retail has sharpened my senses, making me like some weather predicting dog.  There are some customers that I will just walk past or see in my peripheral vision in a far corner of the store and know that they will be trouble.  I'm not claiming psychic powers, but I am right more often than I would like to be.

Today there was a couple from Canada* in the store for quite awhile.  I walked past at one point when my co-worker was answering some furniture questions for them.  I got that twitchy feeling immediately, the one that says "this is not over."

Then, after the store was closed but before they left, they suddenly decided to purchase the $300 item for which they made the trip.  Of course it was complicated because it was on sale and they had coupons and we were not supposed to use the coupon on sale prices.  I figured a way they could use the coupons off a discounted price, but it was obviously not as desirable as a coupon off the sale price.

Finally, I asked them if they still wanted to purchase the item and they just stood there.  The store was silent and the entire staff was poised, ready to pack up the customer's order if they gave the ok.  In that moment, I realized that was what they had been planning to do all along:  keep us late, back us into a corner, and prod a discount out of us.  Fuck that shit.

Maybe I should have risked a reprimand and used the coupon anyway.  But sometimes it feels really good to not give into adult brats.


*I do not wish to imply that all customers from Canada are troublemakers.  It may or may not validate any presumptions I have made in my mind about these particular customers.  I only mention this because it was an interesting fact about the customers.

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