Retail customers tell us your stupid store clerk stories....

[FPNY]

We went to out local home depot on Sunday, I knew it was a mistake in the parking lot. You would have thought they were giving stuff away for free. We selected our purchases and went to check out, we waited for the people in front of us to finish, they left, the cashier shut the light on her aisle off and walked away, leaving us and the people behind us without a word. She just walked away. We had to go and wait on another line. When we reached the cashier he found that one of our items was not marked, we asked him to look it up, he told us to pay for our items then go get another item with a price tag on it and then wait on line again. I told him to go get one with a tag on it..he simply responded, no, you do it. We needed that stupid little $1.98 item so we went to get one, paid on the self pay line and went to see the manager. He was paged three times, but never showed up, so we just left.

I wrote an email to Home Depot and received a response that we would hear from a customer service rep in 24-48 hours. Imagine? 24-48 hours. Tells you how important customer service is to the Home Depot. I'll never shop there again, not that they care.

What kind of shitty customer service have you received from inept customer service people?

 

[PKMO]

I've had experience with rude, unfriendly and unhelpful store workers...most unnoteworthy.

When I was young a female store worker was horrible to my mother when we tried to get a refund from a pair of shoes I had. They had ended up rubbing my feet to the point where they were bleeding, but the woman called my mother a liar and said she was changing her story when we told her about it. We never went back to the store.

 

[G-Lexington]

Can't think of anything totally out there. I have two McDonald's stories, but is anyone really surprised by poor customer service at McDonald's? Well, OK.

Once I was eating my meal when I needed...something. Ketchup, or a fork, or something I couldn't get at the self-service area. So I went up to the counter, where the employee was chatting idly with a friend on the other side of the counter. Upon sensing a small break in their conversation, I said "Excuse me, could I get..." And he turned to me and said "Uh, ex-CUSE me. I'm TALKING to my FRIEND!" and then continued talking with his friend. So I went to another employee and asked to speak to a manager.

Many years ago, McDonald's had their "McLean Deluxe", which was a lower-calorie burger made of both beef and...seaweed? Something like that. Anyway, I kinda liked it, so I'd order it from time to time. Once I went to order one, and the woman behind the counter said "Oh my God, you do NOT want that. Do you KNOW what they MAKE those out of?!" I said, yes, I did, and I'd like one, please. They had to bring it out to me, and of course, the same woman performed this duty. She literally threw the burger onto my tray and said "There. You'd better eat it before it starts growing roots."

Lex

 

[qwe549]

I was in F.Y.E. a few months ago... mid-afternoon on a weekday after I'd just gotten off work.

I was the only customer in the store, and there were three younger employees working in there. They were all singing along to the songs playing, shouting and laughing to each other from across the store, and while they were re-stocking/re-organizing the shelves, they were knocking the CDs and DVDs off to "taunt" each other, and were chasing each other around!

I was shocked they were behaving like that, and handling their merchandise that way. Naturally, the "Manager" on duty looked like she was about 22, and was taking part in the "festivities." I asked for a corporate number and when she asked "Why?" I said "Because you're all being very rude and distracting when you've got a customer in the store, and you're throwing around merchandise!"

All three of them looked at me like deer caught in headlights. "Huh??? We're just having fun!" Makes you wonder sometimes...

 

[QuakrBoi]

I work at Target and every week the updated comments for our store get posted (from the surveys filled out online).......some of them are so ridiculous and so funny and then others are ones that I would completely agree with and know exactly who they're complaining about.......so glad I work overnights and don't have to deal with that stuff anymore!

 

[refujiunderground]

i've had many bad experiences but at the same time, i have to cut some of them slack because customer service is a really stressful job. unless you've done it, you really wouldn't understand. it's not easy trying to keep your composure getting paid peanuts let alone when someone has a bad day and takes it out on you or someone has an attitude problem. the thing is they can get away with that shit too where if you give them their shitty attitude towards them, you get the short end of the stick.

but honestly though, sometimes it's the customer reps fault, sometimes it's the customer's fault and sometimes its both. either way, someone has to watch their attitude. the customers should too though a lot of people don't realize how they come across. you can't expect someone to treat you nicely if you're looking at them like you're mad or talking like you're going to kick their ass.

 

[mikey3000]

I once went into a Tim Hortons and asked for a dozen of donughts. The girl looked at me right in the eye and said, "We don't have a dozen, sir. They only come in boxes of 6 or 12."

For real!!!

 

[QuakrBoi]

I once went into a Tim Hortons and asked for a dozen of donughts. The girl looked at me right in the eye and said, "We don't have a dozen, sir. They only come in boxes of 6 or 12."

For real!!!

Haha.....yeah......the Timmy's by my me has a few people like that too.....idiots

 

[TickTockMan]

I once went into a Tim Hortons and asked for a dozen of donughts. The girl looked at me right in the eye and said, "We don't have a dozen, sir. They only come in boxes of 6 or 12."

For real!!!

I would have just said okay, then asked for 12. Then I would have walked out smiling hoping she would figure it out later.

 

[star-warrior]

I'd ask for a baker's dozen and confuse her even more.

 

[oakpope]

for those that can understand French, this hilarious classic

Vidéo Ina - Fernand Raynaud "Les croissants", vidéo Fernand Raynaud "Les croissants", vidéo - Archives vidéos : Ina.fr

 

[rareboy]

I don't even know where to start.

I've had clerks so stupid, they don't know how to make change and one who insisted on ringing through 100 of the exact same items individually.

 

[justsimon]

I try to cut retail employees some slack because I worked retail for a long time and some days I'd space out on simple tasks. That being said, some things are inexcusable. When I was in high school, my brother and I went to the video store to rent a few movies. I asked if they had Dial M for Murder. The clerk thought I said Dial N for Murder.

 

[jdcnow]

I don't even know where to start.

I've had clerks so stupid, they don't know how to make change and one who insisted on ringing through 100 of the exact same items individually.

Rareboy, where did this happen that the cashier insisted on ringing up 100 copies of the same item individually?

The reason why I ask is that I can tell you from experience that some retailers out there quite literally don't make it just "quick 'n' easy" for the cashier to do a mass quantity function on the cash registers. When I worked at Dollar Tree, believe it or not, the mass quantity function **requires** a supervisor/management override, non-negotiably. The cashier has to have a member of management to give them user ID/passcode override to perform that function. Not kidding. And that was something I personally never agreed with. Mass quantity does not need to be an override-required function, and making it one slows down the checkout process, which lowers customer service. (Now, me personally, I was sneaky and learned my store manager's user ID and passcode on the sly. Since she was salaried, she was always on the clock, which meant her command codes were good anytime I needed them - whether she was there at the store or not. )

Now, what that cashier should have done (and what I would have done if I were in their shoes) is that when the cashier comes across a situation like that, they should be competent enough to know that they need to bring in a supervisor or management into the situation. Therefore, they should call for one (if one is not readily available) immediately or as much ahead of time as possible. I agree that this is where some cashiers fail miserably, through bad training (management's fault) or their own "don't give a damn" attitude (in which case, they need to be fired). You set the items in question aside, then continue with the customer's other purchases to buy time for the supervisor to get up there to the register.

 

[jdcnow]

I do have a Walmart story.

One Sunday night, back when I was assistant manager at Dollar Tree, my cashier needed to return something to Walmart. If you don't have a reciept, Walmart requries their service desk cashier to key in your driver's license number. You're only allowed so many refunds without a reciept within a certain time frame - I do know that. It's their way of trying to cut down on merchandise return fraud.

My cashier accidentally left her driver's license at home, so she asked if I could go with her to make the return. Sure, I said. So after we closed the store for the night (early, at 8pm, since it was a Sunday) we went over to Woodforest Bank, at the grocery entrance to Walmart, to make our nightly deposit. We then head over to the service desk to make the exchange. I explain to the woman at the service desk that I need to return the item. Now I had made two other returns using my own license before, and with this exact same woman who waited on us this time. She always came across as snobby, and this time was no different. After I explained to her what I needed, the service desk cashier gripes with a crabby attitude, "Well, you've already made several returns, so you may get to return this, and you may not..." My cashier and I both look at each other, like 'Really?' and then we both look back at the service desk cashier as she makes the return. I use my license, and sure enough the refund does indeed go through without incident.

After the service desk cashier gives me the money, my cashier turns around and walks off. I look the service desk cashier dead in her eye, got up in her face, and said, in a smartass tone, "Bye." I apologize to my cashier, and told her that the reason the service desk cashier was rude is that she knows me, and I've had run-ins with her, before. But, with that said, there was no excuse for how the service desk cashier treated us on this visit.

 

[FPNY]

So, Home Depot called me today, four days after I complained about their customer service. Not too bad I guess by todays standards what with all the technology and everything. They apologized, asked what they could do to make me happy. I told them that there was nothing they could do and that I would not shop their store anymore. The manager said he was going to "re-train" the front end employees, good for him. Fact is, they suck and now i told them so.....