# Retail Stupidity **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 9, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807 "2019-07-09T23:58:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/221 "2019-07-27T19:07:07Z")
And twice I’ve had customers who claim they didn’t have their credit card, so I put the bags behind me, only to find their children trying to take the bags. I was absolutely livid that anyone would use their children to pull such a stunt, and became quite vocal about it, saying very loudly “You will NOT take those bags. They have NOT been paid for.” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/222 "2019-07-27T19:15:39Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I don’t know why people don’t have their credit or debit card out before they come to the register, or at least check to make sure they have easy access. I’m no fan of ringing up a bunch of merchandise, then having someone say “Oh, I left my wallet in the car.” I have to stand there doing nothing while you go get it. My biggest peeve in shopping, which becomes exponentially worse at Christmas, is when people stand there like idiots while all of their merchandise gets rung up and only when they’re given a total does it break their little mind coma and they start looking for their money. Then I get to stand there while women search their suddenly extra dimensional purse for where they put their money, or men have to check every goddamned pocket they have before finding their wallet. FUCK. Stop wasting everyone’s time with this shit. You knew you were going to have to pay for it before you even drove to the store. Don’t be completely unprepared for it and act surprised and caught off guard when you’re asked for money! And writing a check? You’re writing a fucking check, not _War and Peace_. It shouldn’t take you five minutes to do it. Earlier this week I walked up to a closed register, opened it up and announced that I could take some of the people standing in a line for the other register. Someone walked in the door and walked straight up to me before the woman walking around from the other register got to me and she got all bent out of shape and had to make a lot of noise about it. Tough shit. As that guy said, first come, first served. Then when it is her turn, we complete the transaction, she pays for it, then dawdles at the counter playing with her purse and still complaining about the guy who got there ahead of her, to the point where the guy behind her in line just walked away and went back to the other register. :mad: Fuck you, bitch. If you want to complain about something like that, don’t be the fucking hypocrite who then wastes the time of the guy behind you. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/223 "2019-07-27T19:30:52Z")
> [@Egnu\_Cledge](#): > > Thankfully, the computers automatically shut down five minutes before the library closes. Of course, despite the fact that we close at the same time every day, and make closing announcements 30, 15, and 5 minutes before we close, we still occasionally get the patron who rolls up to the checkout desk at one minute til closing I have heard security guys say they still have to practically pry people away from the computers at closing “I just need a few more minutes!” and “I wasn’t warmed”:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/224 "2019-07-27T19:38:48Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I have heard security guys say they still have to practically pry people away from the computers at closing “I just need a few more minutes!” and “I wasn’t warmed”:smack: I never got that call when I worked University Security. I got the calls about people watching porn in front of others and had to trespass them from the campus. Whereupon about half of them would try to tell the police that since they had no other access to a computer, they had every right to use the (private) University’s “public” computers. No, no you don’t. And the quick and easy solution to “I’m not done yet” was a simple ‘shut off the power to the entire bank of computers’. 😃 “Now you are”. The library staff did that themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Egnu\_Cledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@Egnu\_Cledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Egnu_Cledge)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/225 "2019-07-27T19:41:03Z")
Plus, the people who wait until we are closed to head to the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/226 "2019-07-27T19:48:40Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > … > > Dear customer: Whether or not those clothing items just rung up are on sale or not, they are ringing up full price. Unfortunately, I do not have the authority or the ability to alter the total by nearly $200 and calling someone in the department will not change that. Calling a manager will not change that. The only way to get a price adjustment that large is to go to customer service. No, calling the Store Director will not change it, either - yes, she can authorize it, but the register will not process it. The transaction has to be transferred to customer service to do this. > > If I can not identify the vegetable/fruit you are purchasing I can not ring it up. Yelling “IT’S A DOLLAR SIXTY-NINE A POUND!” does not help because it is not the name of a fruit or a vegetable. Our Corporate Overlords have decreed that we can NOT ring up food items with a per-pound price anymore because it gives the computerized inventory fits. Yelling “IT’S A DOLLAR SIXTY-NINE A POUND!” repeatedly does not change this. Yelling “IT’S A DOLLAR SIXTY-NINE A POUND!” louder does not change this. If I do not have the Magic UPC Number I can not ring your stuff up… My spouse works retail for a large chain, and: 1. Yes, the manager and event the clerks there can adjust the price on a advertised sale item. They do it all the time. So, your company, by making them go to customer service is making it needlessly complicated. The problem there isnt with the customer, it’s with your _stores bad policy._ 2. At the register there is a little book, with names & pics of the fruits & veggies and the scan code next to it. If your store doesnt have one of these useful items, then again- \*store policy is bad \*not consumer. Consumer by saying “IT’S A DOLLAR SIXTY-NINE A POUND” is actually helpful with that little book in cases there are several veggies (like organic vs non) that look similar. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/227 "2019-07-27T19:53:02Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I am not answering survey questions if I don’t feel like answering survey questions. That’s not a remotely reasonable thing to require of customers. The rolleyes in this case should be aimed at the company. Yes, I concur, Stupid company rules, not bad customers. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/228 "2019-07-27T20:08:53Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > In college, I would spend winter break working at whatever retail place was hiring. One year, I was working at JCPenney’s. On New years weekend a woman came up to return some Levi jeans. (Side note, everyone assumes the worst time working is the weeks leading up to Christmas. Nope, it’s the weeks just after christmas that are the worst. Nothing but returns all day long). She didn’t have a receipt, but they still had the tags, so I could give her store credit. > > Went to scan them. Nothing. > Typed in the UPC. Nothing. > Looked them up in our store catalog. Nothing. > > I told her I couldn’t return them without a receipt, so she proceeded to dig around her purse for five minutes until she found it. It was from Kohls. Now this happens pretty often, and usually results in the customer sheepishly realizing their mistake and walking away. Not this one. > “You bought these at Kohls.” > “Yep.” > “This is a JCPenney’s” > “And?” > “You can’t return items to a completely different company than the one you bought them from.” > “Why not?” > > … Well, maybe. I was given a lovely gift set of mens cologne by a wealthy relative. The scent make me sneeze. All I knew was that she LOVED to shop at Nordstroms, and I knew Nordy’s carried it. So, I took it back there. I explained my dilemma. They took a few minutes, made a phone call or two, then had me sign a return form and gave me like $50. The clerk then explained “We dont actually carry this set at Nordstroms, so we had to call a different chain to find out what it was being sold for there.” !!!:eek: In other words, they cheerfully gave me a refund on a product they didnt sell and didnt carry. (They _were_ a distributor for that line, which was pretty exclusive to high end stores) Needless to say, I then made it a point to shop there when I could. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/229 "2019-07-27T20:23:20Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > In my immediate experience and in 2019, among the places that haven’t gotten that memo are Tops groceries and Verizon phone stores; both of which recently went and found me something in the back. And Target, and Sprouts, and Ralphs, and … well, it’s pretty common. Mind you, there does have to be a spot for that product- which appears to be recently emptied by customers. Because if the spot holds a dozen widgets, and they store gets in a box of a dozen- because that’s the only way they are shipped, but there’s still four on the shelves as they didnt sell as fat as predicted- then you have four widgets “in the back”. Yes, stores still have some stuff “in the back”. No longer as common as before, but it happens. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/230 "2019-07-27T20:28:10Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > … > > If you don’t answer the question the cashier will do it for you after you walk off. Which is the only way we can get this stupidity to “work”… I was working PT at Borders, just to get the discount. Well, it turns out my manager was doing just this. HR and security perp walked her out of the store, leaving me to close and lock up. And I didnt have keys, which created a problem… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/231 "2019-07-27T20:33:58Z")
> [@digs](#): > > … > > But finding dried/crystllized ginger will get me so frustrated. I need it for motion sickness (I get that walking, turning a corner, even typing the term), but no store knows where to put it. > …" Note, it works better than the OTC drug that makes me drowsy! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/232 "2019-07-27T20:39:18Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > When I was at Safeway SOP in this scenario was full refund-\>re-ring entire order at another register-\>during that, first till is counted up. 99 times out of 100, the checker was exactly right. That 100th time, they undercharged the customer. In 12 years, not _once_ did I ever see it go the customer’s way. That has to be wrong. So many times the register does not show the right price- aka rather the advertised or displayed price. Yes, the clerk didnt make a mistake, but the computer/register did. That happens constantly in retail. So, for you to say “not once in 12 years”, either i misunderstand you are you are very mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/233 "2019-07-27T20:41:21Z")
> [@Egnu\_Cledge](#): > > Plus, the people who wait until we are closed to head to the bathroom. Walking out of the store after close, headed to our cars and people come up screaming about how they came to use the restroom and need it **right now!** We’d always point them at the OTHER convenience store/gas station that you could see from ours. Then they’d whine about how they hated that place. Too fucking bad. We’ve locked the doors, we’re going home. We’re not unlocking the store, turning off the alarms, clocking back in and standing there so you can pee. Similarly, people walking up after we’ve locked the doors, finding them locked and us counting down the drawers, then swearing at us and flipping us off for daring to close the store at the time it’s supposed to close. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/234 "2019-07-27T20:42:00Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > … > > Yes, I’m well aware of what happens to less than perfect fruit in supermarket. This is also the reason why I’ve heard to never order a fruit or vegetable platter at a hotel. Though of course most of the “ugly fruit” is still perfectly fine and the less then perfect veggies go into stocks, soups or stews. > > . Our local grocery stores offers bags of uglies for $1, and I often buy a couple. Then, if it goes bad before i get around to it, I have a clear conscience. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/235 "2019-07-27T20:46:23Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > … > And I really, really, REALLY FUCKING HATE scratch-off players who walk up to the counter, sigh heavily and start looking over the possible games. Especially when there’s a line of people behind them. NO, I’m not going to allow you to stand at my register for 10+ minutes slowly picking out scratch-off cards during the height of the after-work rush. No, I don’t give a fuck if you get mad and stomp out saying you’ll complain about me or never come back. Fuck off and go away with that shit. I’ve probably had a half-dozen people say they’ll complain to corporate about me in the last year and you know what? Corporate has never come to me with any customer complaints. > … Carlin had a great routine for that: "_Two very important responsibilities, the first one is: keeping people from standing with the door to the refrigerator open for more than 45 minutes at a time. God, that gets me mad - “YOU WANT TO CLOSE THAT GODDAMN DOOR PLEASE? YOU WANT TO CLOSE THE DOOR?! YOU’RE LETTING OUT ALL OF THE COLDNESS I SAVED OVERNIGHT! COME ON, CLOSE THE DOOR!” - you know, some guy smoked eight joints and he’s gonna inventory my refrigerator. “Ummmm…Ummm…Uhhh… “Here, here’s fifty dollars- go down to the Burger King. Willya, God! We’ll save more than that on electricity alone. Close the goddamn door, willya?” Look, if you wanna know what’s in there, why don’t you take a Polaroid picture and go away and look at the picture and then come back and figure out what you want. Years ago, we didn’t have Polaroid cameras. We had to make an OIL PAINTING of what was in there!”_ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/236 "2019-07-27T20:55:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Some of those things can be [valuable collectors’ items](http://www.thepropgallery.com/banknotes-the-runaway-bride). I’d be happy to be paid in them for face value. Oh yeah, I was standing at a high priced jewelry counter and a argument arouse- rather loud between a customer and the clerk, since the clerk was telling the customer the bill was counterfeit. My friend then says, loudly “_well he_ (indicating me)\* is a Treasury Agent and can solve this!\*” (thanks, “friend”, I am not on duty and that’s not my department, sigh). Anyway after both customer and clerk ask me to, I reluctantly take a look at the bill. It’s a very old $100 gold note. In nigh perfect shape. And real\*. Now if my blabbermouth friend hadn’t outed me, I could have just offered them my new and checkable $100 bill in exchange, but noooo. sigh. Anyway, the customer got her jewelry, my friend got to make her purchase, and everyone was happy. almost everyone. - worth about $500, or so, depending on a lot of things. Certainly more than $100. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/237 "2019-07-27T20:56:09Z")
It was probably six months ago, but I had a long line of people, was the only person at the register because the only other person was out emptying the outside garbages, when this woman walks up, plops down on one of her elbows, let’s out a deep sigh, says she wants some scratch offs and tells the people behind her “this will be a while”. I said “OH HELL NO, get out!”. She looked at me in shock and refused to move. I told her I wasn’t giving her any scratch offs, get out. She ranted about calling corporate, coming in and talking to my manager, getting me fired, etc. I said “I have a long line of people who need to pay for their gas and go home. If you want to spend 10 minutes looking at scratch off tickets, you can come in when we’re not so busy or you can go to that closed register, look at the signs there and make up your mind. But you don’t get to stand here and make everyone else wait for you to pick them out.” Then I moved on to everyone else while she walked out the door screaming about how she was going to get me fired. Never heard a word about it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/238 "2019-07-27T21:11:08Z")
> [@Egnu\_Cledge](#): > > When you look it up (providing they have ID), it will invariably have expired five years ago, and they have $350 in fines from lost items. This person is invariably “close friends with the mayor”, and will be indignant if we don’t stay there half an hour past closing straightening out their mess and cancelling all their fines. Back when I was in shoe repair the mayor of one of the nearby cities was a regular patron for awhile. Someone tried to pull the “I’m not satisfied and I’m close friends of the mayor” line, at which point the woman behind him in line said “No, actually I don’t know you, but even if I did I’d still tell you there’s nothing wrong with their work and you need to pay them what you owe them.” Yep, she was the mayor. Only time I’ve ever seen someone using the “close friends” line get caught with their pants down. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/239 "2019-07-27T21:13:02Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I don’t know why people don’t have their credit or debit card out before they come to the register, or at least check to make sure they have easy access. I’m no fan of ringing up a bunch of merchandise, then having someone say “Oh, I left my wallet in the car.” I have to stand there doing nothing while you go get it. > [@Seanette](#): > > While the half dozen or more others in line are glaring at the cashier as if it’s his/her fault. Some registers do not allow suspending the transaction so the next person in line can be helped, people! “Suspend transaction, send stuff to service desk, send person to car” is our standard method of handling that. Then on to the next person in line. Most of the time they really do seem to have left it in the car. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/240 "2019-07-27T21:13:43Z")
Haven’t heard it, but my response would be “What makes you think the mayor of this city gets to tell us jack shit about how we run our business?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807.md?page=13)