GPS Gone Wild

I'm going to be very straight-forward with my feelings about today's post before I even begin to describe what happened. I confided to very few people about what happened on this day, roughly a week ago, simply because it hit me so hard. I am being very serious when I say that what happened almost made me walk out of the store and never go back. I still don't even know what kept me from leaving. I also apologize for this post being so long, but I just couldn't trim it down while still preserving the full story. For privacy reasons, I won't ever reveal any of my customers' or co-workers' real names, but to make today's read smoother, I'll be referring to my main front-end supervisor as "Monica" and a fellow service representative as "Alissa."

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~ I knew that it was going to be a bad day not even five minutes after I clocked in. Once I had made my way up to the customer service counter, having passed backed-up lines at the cash registers on the way, I made my usual preparations to open a register and get to work. I knew from the previous day that my arrival was scheduled specifically so that I would be replacing Alissa so she could take her last break for the day. Just as she was was walking off towards the back of the store, Monica noticed my arrival and instantly approached the counter. She asked where Alissa was going and immediately frowned at my response. She replied with, "The next time you see it busy like this, you find me and you get on a register."

I know that the store managers ride Monica pretty hard when register lines are long, and I can understand that her frustration was mainly toward masses of customers complaining about long waits to check out, but I did not expect that sort of anger seemingly directed at me. Alissa had already left, so Monica had no choice but to leave me at the counter until she came back. I personally didn't feel bad about relieving her when I did. If I'd have jumped on a register instead, Alissa may not have gotten that break for another hour or so. Might I remind you, not any more than five minutes had passed since I'd arrived. What a great way to start the day.

~ Later this same day, a woman approached the counter with a rather expensive GPS device. There was nothing wrong with the unit, she just didn't find it user-friendly enough. To my dismay, she did not still have the receipt. In these situations, with high-cost electronic equipment, it is against store policy to process the return without the proof of purchase showing that the item is still within it's designated return period. The customer readily displayed her disgust at my inability to do what she wanted, but before I got a supervisor involved, I made sure there was no other way I could pull up a purchase date on the device. Unfortunately there wasn't, and with alll of my resources exhausted and nothing else within my power to do, I ventured off to find a supervisor per the customer's agitated request.

Monica was walking the front end with one of our top store managers when I found her. I ran the situation by them quickly, but before I was even able to mention the cost of the item, the manager approved the refund. Monica followed me back to the service counter and stood by while I began processing the return. During that time the customer, who was irate by this point, began a verbal assault directed solely at me. She raved about how I had treated her so poorly and refused to provide her with good customer service. She went on about how our store should stand behind their products better and that the least I could do was put the amount on a gift card without so much trouble. She even lied and said that I had refused to allow her to speak with a supervisor, at all, over the ordeal.

During this time, Monica said nothing and simply watched and listened to the raving woman while I punched in the return. The whole time, she didn't back me up in the least. There was no, "Sally was following policy, as she was trained, and we're going to go ahead and take care of you this one time. Next time you will need to have a receipt." She didn't say, "We're sorry, but Sally doesn't have the authority to make the decision on this return. That's why I'm here to let you know we're going to take care of you this one time." I didn't even get an, "I apologize for the inconvenience, but Sally does have a store policy to follow. We'll get this taken care of this once, but be sure to keep your receipts from now on." Instead, I got silence.

I was mortified as the customer continued her onslaught of words. There I was, standing behind the counter as the evil customer service representative while Monica hovered nearby to override the return as a guiding saint in the woman's eyes. Humiliated and furious, I kept my mouth shut knowing that if I had spoken up, I wouldn't have been able to keep my emotions in check. Then I would have had an even angrier customer as well as a disgruntled supervisor. I said nothing as I finished the transaction and Monica entered her code to complete the override. Not a word left my mouth as both my supervisor and the horrible customer departed. With the following customers, I used as few words as possible, which didn't seem to bother them. They had seem and heard what happened. Whether they felt bad for me or were annoyed that the woman caused them to wait longer, I don't really know. At the time, I didn't really care.

Once the store had calmed down and the customers dwindled to a manageable rate, I caught Monica's attention. I'm not usually one to speak up about what happened, but having had enough time to mull things over in my head, it just felt too wrong not to. She admitted that she could have handled things better, but I can't really say it made me feel any better. As I mentioned earlier, I was already well aware that management had been pressing down on her to keep the cashiers' lines under control long before I had clocked in that day. I also knew that she knew she could have handled things better while the customer was still around. Why she chose not to speak up for me at the time, I'll never have an answer for, but what I can tell you is that Monica has completely and permanently tarnished my opinion of her.