Today's rant is over an exchange that was simply annoying due to the customer's timing. I really don't think it needs much more of an intro than that, so I'll go ahead and get right down to the meat of the matter.
~~~
~ I've got to start out by saying that today really didn't suck that bad. I get along with both of the supervisors that I was scheduled with for the duration of my shift, there weren't an overwhelming amount people who needed to return or exchange items, and all but one exchange really gave me any trouble. And, of course, that one exchange is worth mentioning.
In the evenings, its not uncommon for me to not get my last break at the scheduled time. More often than not, the reason for this is because there's no one else around at that point to replace me while I'm gone. This really doesn't bother me, though. By the time my shift is almost over, business will have slowed down to the point where it doesn't matter if I close the counter early to take my last break before clocking out. Today was no different... almost.
Roughly 45 minutes before it was time for the service desk to shut down, a mother and her two daughters approached me with some curtain rods they needed to exchange for different sizes. Because of this, I set their items on the back counter and instructed them to grab the rods they needed and to return back to the service desk to make the swap. In about 80% of cases like this, the customer will immediately obtain the new item/s they wish to trade for and come back to my counter promptly. Half of those in the remaining 20% will let me know they're going to do some shopping before returning to me. The remaining half say nothing and return some time later. Lucky for me, these three were in that last 10%, and I hadn't had my last break yet, either.
After twenty minutes of waiting (and ten minutes before I planned on closing the counter,) I paged over the store's speaker system for the customers with the curtain rods to return to my counter. Fifteen more minutes later, I had them paged again. At that point, it was ten minutes until closing time, five minutes into what should have been my break time, and those three were still nowhere to be seen. I could have already left by that time, but I felt bad just leaving their items behind. With no one left to do the transaction, the mother would have to collect the improperly sized rods and come back another day to return or exchange them. Following the second page, I told myself I would only wait another five minutes before giving up and shutting down. I still have other stuff to take care of at the end of the night, you know.
Those last five minutes passed, and I was done waiting. I collected my things, organized and signed out of my register, and was just about to take off when I looked up to see one of the daughters walking up to the counter with the correct sized curtain rods in-hand. I somehow managed to keep my brain from exploding into millions of tiny pieces and quickly processed the easy exchange for her. By the time I'd done that, pushed the day's garbage to the back of the store, and clocked out, it was five minutes past my shift, and I still never got my last break.
Sometimes I'm just too nice for my own good.
In the evenings, its not uncommon for me to not get my last break at the scheduled time. More often than not, the reason for this is because there's no one else around at that point to replace me while I'm gone. This really doesn't bother me, though. By the time my shift is almost over, business will have slowed down to the point where it doesn't matter if I close the counter early to take my last break before clocking out. Today was no different... almost.
Roughly 45 minutes before it was time for the service desk to shut down, a mother and her two daughters approached me with some curtain rods they needed to exchange for different sizes. Because of this, I set their items on the back counter and instructed them to grab the rods they needed and to return back to the service desk to make the swap. In about 80% of cases like this, the customer will immediately obtain the new item/s they wish to trade for and come back to my counter promptly. Half of those in the remaining 20% will let me know they're going to do some shopping before returning to me. The remaining half say nothing and return some time later. Lucky for me, these three were in that last 10%, and I hadn't had my last break yet, either.
After twenty minutes of waiting (and ten minutes before I planned on closing the counter,) I paged over the store's speaker system for the customers with the curtain rods to return to my counter. Fifteen more minutes later, I had them paged again. At that point, it was ten minutes until closing time, five minutes into what should have been my break time, and those three were still nowhere to be seen. I could have already left by that time, but I felt bad just leaving their items behind. With no one left to do the transaction, the mother would have to collect the improperly sized rods and come back another day to return or exchange them. Following the second page, I told myself I would only wait another five minutes before giving up and shutting down. I still have other stuff to take care of at the end of the night, you know.
Those last five minutes passed, and I was done waiting. I collected my things, organized and signed out of my register, and was just about to take off when I looked up to see one of the daughters walking up to the counter with the correct sized curtain rods in-hand. I somehow managed to keep my brain from exploding into millions of tiny pieces and quickly processed the easy exchange for her. By the time I'd done that, pushed the day's garbage to the back of the store, and clocked out, it was five minutes past my shift, and I still never got my last break.
Sometimes I'm just too nice for my own good.
3 comments:
I wouldn't have had the patience you did. I would have just left or told them "sorry, you took to long. Come back tomorrow."
I kinda felt compelled to stay since I didn't specifically ask them to return promptly. Then again, there was a full 30min window for them to get back to me and still leave room for my break. Oh well. C'est la vie.
Sally is just too nice a person. We lub joo
Post a Comment