A Tentative Update

Oh, how it has been ages since I have updated this blog.

Much has happened.
Things have changed.

Not-so-unfortunately, I no longer work for the same business anymore. I've since left retail and hopped back into another not-so-favorite profession; Fast Food.
There are numerous reasons for the change in venue, not of all which being favorable. Regardless, I've worked fast food in the past, I needed a job, and it wasn't difficult to get back into. I've been at this particular restaurant for a little over a year now and, even though it's not the most prestigious job out there, it helps pay the bills. Hell, I'd be lying if I said that I don't tell myself, "I need a new job," at least once a day.

For those who may not have worked in fast food before, here is an over-all run down:
Customers suck.
Store upkeep sucks.
Co-worker drama sucks.
The pay sucks.
Customers suck a lot.
My husband quite nicely describes the work as being an underpaid, over-glorified janitor who happens to make food, as well.

But I digress.

What things have boiled down to, is the fact that I (once again) am in need of an outlet for daily annoyances. Blogging seemed to do me pretty well in the past, so I figured that I may as well give it another go. There are quite a few changes and/or updates that I plan on making to the over-all blog page, of course, so I'll probably be focusing on that before I actually get any rant-type posts rolling again. And I assure you, there will be rants to come. Our crew doesn't have assigned positions that we are cemented to on any given day or shift but, roughly 97% of the time, I get placed in the drive-thru to take orders. I'll go into more detail on that later. Until then, believe me when I say that it stretches my copious amounts of patience to the limit on a daily basis.

For now though, my bed is beckoning me into its sweet, loving embrace.
Come hither:
My lovely mattress.
My lovely pillow.
My lovely blankets.
For I wish to dream upon you,
Until the glaring sun rips me from your soft comfort,
To toil away once more.

I know that I haven't been very on top of making updates, but things have been pretty hectic lately. I've got a move coming up, soon, and odds are very good that I won't have an internet connection for a while. So, My People Rants is going to have to be put on an indefinite hiatus. My job should be transferring with me, so I'll be sure to continue writing down any interesting customer interactions to catch up on later. Hope to be back here soon.

~Sally

Cake Catastrophe

The superstore that I work in happens to have a deli/bakery area where customers can order food platters and specially decorated cakes from. Instances where I have to handle a return or exchange from that area are few and far between, but it does happen. Today's story happens to be about one of those experiences.

~~~

~ An older couple (roughly in their 50's) approached me with a large cake and it didn't take a rocket scientist to decipher that the woman wasn't happy about something. She slid the cake onto my counter and filled me in on what was going on:
A few days ago, she had come and placed an order for the cake. The majority of the icing was supposed to be white, with the rest of the trimming and designs being solid lavender. The message on the cake, also in lavender, was to say, "Stepping Into Spring."
On the cake she picked up, the trimmings, designs and writing were a mixture of light blue and lavender. The message on the cake said, "Stepping In Spring."

She had the receipt with her, and I was more than happy to refund her for the cake. While I was going through the transaction, she continued on about how unhappy she was of how the cake turned out. She had ordered it for a get together her church was having to celebrate the arrival of spring and the blue in the coloring didn't match the color scheme for their party at all, apparently. I also agreed with her that the wording error was pretty terrible, too. As I finished the transaction, she continued on about how she didn't have time to wait for another cake. She was already late for the party as it was. I offered up my apologies on behalf of the store for the mishap and was ready to send them on their way when something annoying happened.

I was in the process of picking up the cake to move it off the counter, but the woman stopped me. She reiterated that she didn't have time to wait for another cake, and motioned for her husband to place it back in her basket. Having just given her the money back for it, I can't say that I wasn't caught off guard. Quickly regaining my wits, I informed the woman that I couldn't possibly let them walk out of the store with something they didn't pay for, regardless of the situation. Up until that point, she'd only been agitated with the bakery employees, but it became fairly obvious that my reaction trampled on one of her few remaining nerves. I ended up having to contact a member of management about the situation. With his permission, I was reluctantly able to allow them to take the cake as a courtesy.

I can understand her reasoning for not wanting to have to pay for the cake. If she'd mentioned her intentions prior to me going through the refund, I would have had no problem calling management about it. What it boils down to is that it really just gets under my skin that she just brazenly assumed that she was going to walk off with the flipping thing with out giving me the least bit of heads up. In retrospect, I should have accidentally dropped it on the floor...

Marker Menace

Well, here I am again. I apologize for my extended, unannounced leave of absence, but I do have good reason for it. The past month was and is in a rough patch relationship-wise and I just haven't been up for making these posts. Its all really complicated and not content meant for this blog, but I think I've already thought of a remedy for that. Anyhoo, I might as well get back on track. With this site having been on the back burner in my mind for so long, I don't have as many stories to share as one might think for me not having made a post for over a month, but I do have a few. Enjoy.

~~~

~ Having been scheduled to open the service deck on this one particular morning, I was cleaning up the previous night's mess when a woman approached the counter. She informed me that she was on an errand to purchase some money markers* for a place a business that she worked for. She had already checked in our stationary section, but was not able to find a single one. She queried an associate who had been working nearby, and he had apparently told her that, if she couldn't find any with the rest of the stationary, that there are usually boxes of them kept up front for the cashiers.

~

Now, I'm going to stop right here, specifically, to point out that I have no idea where this associate would have gotten that idea about "boxes" of money markers. Yes, we do have money markers up front at the registers for the cashiers' use, but about a third of the time I open up a register, I have to commandeer a marker for myself from a closed register nearby. Not to mention that about a quarter of all of the ones up front are dried up and useless. That being said, allow me continue with the story.

~

After the woman had stated her mission and current target (i.e. the store's markers,) I immediately spoke up and stated the fact that the markers provided to, and used by, the store are not for sale. Following that, I also made mention of an office supply store about ten minutes away where she would have better luck finding her quarry. To my surprise, this was unsatisfactory and she asked to speak with a supervisor. I made sure to point out that I was absolutely, 100% positive that my supervisor would give her the same information, but she stood fast in her request and waited patiently for me to find one.

So, I tracked down the opening supervisor and informed her of the situation. I imagine the look that she gave me was the same expression I displayed to the customer when presented with the predicament. We walked back to the waiting would-be customer and, as I'd warned her, my super provided her with the same, exact answer I did - No. Again, to my surprise, this woman would not be swayed. She stood firm and asked for a manager next. At this point, it was very obvious that she was prepared to climb the chain of command until she got what she wanted; i.e. A nonexistent box of money markers that are not, nor will ever be, for sale.

At any rate, upon her request for a manager, that is there my super and I drew the line. In any other case, we'd get right on finding one for her, but we knew this situation would get nowhere fast going that route. She tried to play the "Inconvenient Card" in saying that she didn't want to have to drive to a whole other store to get something we already had in our's, but we really didn't care. No matter how high she wanted to climb, there was no way she was going to get what she wanted, (be it a couple markers or a whole box) and we knew it. We stood our ground and continued to drive home the fact that there was no way she was going to be able to purchase something that isn't for sale.

After about five, long minutes, we were finally able to convince her to leave empty-handed. She might as well have walked in wanting to purchase one of our cash registers. It was a [sarcasm] wonderful [/sarcasm] way to start the day.


*A money marker is marker with a special ink designed to write clear only on non-counterfeit, paper currency.