My Record of Work: The Annoying, the Interesting, and the Just Plain Weird--The Year 2002.

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JANUARY!


1/20/02

An asshole-lady wouldn't stop wiggling her card at me while I was ringing her books up. See, it is my job to ASK if you have a discount card and try to sell you one if you don't, so it kind of pisses me off when people WAG the cards at me as if I'm doing my best to cheat them out of a discount by not scanning the card.

Also, a kid came to return the wrong volume of a series; he'd somehow ended up with number seven when he wanted number one, and wanted an exchange. He left the book and receipt up with me, and I asked him if he knew where to find volume one. He said yes. Then he went away. For twenty minutes. Finally he came back and asked for his book and receipt back. I asked him if we just didn't have it or something, and he said that we were out, and that the customer service woman had told him they'd have to order it. I told him I thought that was weird, because I didn't remember being out of that book. I asked him if he'd checked the display as well as the actual section. He said yes. But since he seemed SO sure, I just gave it back to him and didn't check. Then I left to go on my break some time later, walked past the display, and promptly noticed three copies of volume one sitting right there. I asked the customer service woman later if she'd somehow missed them too, but she said that the kid seemed "so sure" that it wasn't there, so she trusted him. Big mistake. Funny how people who want something do their best to avoid getting it.

The BEST one today, though, was the older teenage kid who had me ring up all his stuff and then presented me with a gift card from another store. I told him we were a different store, and he started going, "AWWW, MAN! That SUCKS!" And then kept standing there. I asked if he was still going to get the books and he was like, "No, I can't . . . man, this SUCKS!" And kept standing. So I just printed out the rest of the receipt so I could set up a voided transaction, and he just kept watching, and then he said, "Is there any way you could, like, transfer the money?" This was such a ridiculous question that I just cocked my head and said, "Huh?" He must have realized this was silly 'cause he just said, "Never mind. Man, this sucks." And kept standing. Finally when I took the books off the counter and threw them in the put-away pile, he realized I was not going to do anything to just let him do it this once, and walked away. I found myself wondering what the hell he expected. "Well, we'll accept money paid to THEM and let you walk away with OUR books, sure . . . since all bookstores are really the same company, we'll have no problem getting them to pay us back."


1/19/02

Some really weird lady wanted a kids' book I hadn't happened to have heard of. She was asking for help from the customer service guy, who was already annoyed with her attitude when he asked me if I knew what book she was talking about, since she had no title and no author but just "couldn't believe" we couldn't find it for her based on her description of what it was about. (She had her hand over her heart for a lot of the interaction, as if it was some kind of shocking experience, that she just could not IMAGINE that we didn't know this book.) She asked if we could do a subject search on all books about kids and dragons, and when we replied it didn't work that way, she insisted that SHE could find it on HER home computer and so we ought to be able to. Then she started quizzing me: "It's a hardback, so where are your hardback books for children?" When I informed her that the hardbacks weren't separate, but were mixed in with the kids' books arranged by age group and author, she rephrased her question and asked where I kept all the hardback books for children, to which I responded with the exact same answer I'd already given her. She then demanded to know where the section was for "new" kids' books. We don't have a section like that, and I told her so. She looked at me pointedly and informed me that I was "making" her go to our competition. When I didn't apologize or do anything, she added, "And I really didn't want to do that." So bring a freakin' title next time, silly. So then she went back to Customer Service, and one of our managers could just see that the C/S guy was about to snap, so he took over. He turned the monitor of the C/S computer around. Then asked the lady, "Okay, what would you like me to type in?" She suggested something. He typed. She watched the screen fill up with a whole lot of nothing. This process was repeated several times until she realized that we really couldn't help her without more information. At that point, she said, "I guess I should go home and get the title." Bingo.


1/16/02

A woman was signing up for the discount card. I told her how much it cost and she wrote her check, gave it to me, and I was printing her receipt and putting her name on a discount card . . . when suddenly she started to RECONSIDER. "Hmm, I dunno, I don't buy books here that much . . . hmm. . . ." And I was left wondering why some of these thoughts didn't enter her head when I explained it to her, when she gave me all the information I needed, and when she wrote me the check. What the hell? She ended up taking it anyway, but still. . . .


1/13/02

I rang up someone's stuff, and then I scanned her discount card. After I scanned it, and gave her the total, she said, "Oh, it didn't do anything, huh?" I was like, "What do you mean?" and she replied, "It didn't give us any discounts." What the hell? It gave her ten percent off just like it was supposed to; I wondered where she got the idea that it didn't have any effect at all.


1/12/02

A girl filling out an application told me I was so cute and she wanted to give me a hug. Hmm.


1/8/02

I told a customer on the phone that we didn't have the book he wanted, and his response was, "Oh . . . GODDAMN IT TO HELL!" Hehe.


1/7/02

Today is Day of the Assholes.

Some weirdo argued with me over the total of his purchase. Him: "Okay, so the total's $12.95?" Me (shocked): "Uh, no, it's $49.98!" Him: "Well, a minute ago the display said $12.95," with a smug look like I'm trying to pull one over on him but he has caught me. I then have to explain to him that that makes no sense because $12.95 is the price of ONE of the books he was buying, before tax, and that the last thing he saw on the display was $12.95 because it displays the prices as they are rung. He didn't seem to realize he was a jackass and just paid me.

Our regular register person usually runs Register 3, but our district manager prefers that we use Register 1 (which is close to the door, which causes our regular cashier to sometimes get migraines from the glare). So, I was on Register 1 on her day off, and some guy who's a regular seemed surprised that I was not at Register 3. He said, "Hey, you belong over THERE!" and pointed. I thought he was kidding around so I answered with a smile, something silly, I don't remember, but he just repeated that I should be "over THERE" and looked confused. Who cares? Just give me your money and leave.

Then a lady had our discount card, which proved she knew where she was, but when it came time to pay she pulled out a gift certificate from another bookstore and seemed confused when I wouldn't let her use it.

We have this sample player for some of the nature CDs we carry, and some lady started pressing the buttons for the CD "Celtic Dance." Her friend joined her and said, "Ohh, is that from Riverdance? It sounds like it." Of course. All Celtic dance music is Riverdance.

Three people in a row at the register line asked me to help them find a book. I kind of think that after the first one asked me to help find a book and I sent them to the Customer Service desk with an explanation that my computer was a register and could not help find books, maybe the people behind the first one would have realized that that also applied to them. But no, they just barged right up after hearing this and asked me where they could find such and such title. Guess they just didn't pay attention. I think it is the day of the animal people.


On to February!


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