"The line is too long." Another fun tale of customer stupidity

The BBQ Pit
1

I was talking to a friend the other day and he reminded me of an incident that happened way, way, back in December 1998, which he still laughs about.

I was working at Barnes & Noble as a head cashier back in the music department, but since it was the “Holiday shopping season” I was splitting my time between the music department and helping out at the front registers. It was around 9:30 on the Saturday before Christmas and we were swamped. By that I mean that all 9 reigsters up front were in use and we had a constant line of people waiting to check.
But the line was moving so no one was spending more then 10 minutes waiitng before they got to a register.

So, I finish ringing out a customer and wave to the man next in line, saying, “Next in line.”

Suddenly a woman semi-rushes up and tosses books at me.

I gave her a semi-incredulous/pissed off look, but didn’t say anything.

She said, "The line was too long."

What the FUCK is wrong with you.

I leaned over the counter and slowly looked her up and down, not making any motions to start ringing her up.

“Didn’t you hear me,” she said, "the line was too long.

Now, the store that I worked at was located in Rockville, MD, which borders on Potomac, so I’m fairly accustomed to rude behavior, but this was astonishingly rude.

I said, “Well, your water can’t just have broken, and you can’t have just been shot, so why don’t you stop being so rude and take these books and go to the end of the line and try and behave in a semi-civilized manner.”

She said, “Why should I?”

I said, “Because if you don’t, I will get on the in-store intercom and embarass the hell out of you.”

She refused to move, so I got on the intercom and did exactly what I said i would, which was embarass the hell out of her.

The best part was when she demanded to speak to the manager and I told her I was the manager on duty.

I really loved how her face went through 9 facial and emotional expressions in about 3 seconds.

2

Rude or not, she was a customer, and you shouldn’t have spoken to her as you did; nobody appreciates smarmy sarcasm from a retail clerk. Being able to deal with such situations while being civil is part of the job.

3

So what did you say on the intercom to embarrass her?

4

You did exactly the right thing. She had no business acting like she did. I would have thrown her out of the store. Customers don’t get carte blanche to do whatever they want. They have to stand in lines, they have to follow rules about eating/drinking/smoking, they have to keep up their end.

5

Of course, I used to work retail, which instills an utter hatred and apathy towards customers who are pushy, bitchy and rude, so that might color my view. :slight_smile:

6

'Scuze the hijack, but ummm… weren’t you banned? :confused:

7

I think he did the right thing… The customer is not always right.

You wave that privilage when you get rude and butt in on other customers who are quietly waiting their turn…

8

Oh, God, I can see this heading toward another customer vs clerk slugfest. Please don’t let it get too ugly.
Another retail drone checking in.

9

WSLer, you are my new hero. Will you marry me, or should I just build a shrine to you in my living room?

Worked retail for millions of years…subjective time

10

guess that got erased as well.

11

Speaking as someone who stands in line and waits her turn, doesn’t use the 10 items only checkout unless she has 10 or fewer items, and has her cash/credit card/check ready to go by the time she reaches the checkout counter, I’d like to thank you for doing that.

I hate it when someone gets rewarded for breaking the rules and inconveniencing other people who are following them.

12

“we reserve the right to refuse service…”

quote:
She said, “Why should I?”

Ida said :" I’ll ask you to leave and not return"
And if she refused call security or cops.

13

He has promised to mend his ways, and has been unbanned.

Lynn
For the Straight Dope

14

Way to go! As a consumer who hates line jumpers I think you were right on in your actions. Screw anyone who says otherwise, it’s your job to be polite to people who either are doing what they are supposed to do or just don’t know any better.

This woman was informed correctly that she was in the wrong and refused to move. Fuck her! And Baldwin you are clueless. Just because someone is doing a job does not mean they are required to take shit from someone. It was just as much his job to correct her on behalf of the other people waiting in line politely as it was for him to ring up a normal customer who had waited patiently while this bithc jumped the line.

15

Sounds like she needed a thorough strip search…:smiley:

16

This reminds me of a (probably apocryphal) story I heard once about a guy who didn’t want to wait in the check-in line at the airport and butted his way to the front.

“Sir, I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait in line with everyone else.”

“Don’t you know who I am?!”

<via the intercom> “Ladies and gentleman, this person has forgotten who he is. If anyone here knows who he is, please come forward and assist him or he will have to leave.”

:smiley:

17

I say it’s good for rude customers to get the wake-up call that they’re not free to act however obnoxiously because “the customer is always right.” Screw that.

When I was just out of HS, I was working at an espresso shop with a friend of mine. She handed a lady her coffee out the drive through window, and apparently didn’t smile wide enough or something, because the customer informed her that she was a bitch or some other choice word. She was totally taken aback, and said “What, what did I do?” The lady said, “I don’t have to take this, I’m calling your manager.” Unfortunately for her, when she called, the manager informed her that he was totally without need for customer who treated his employees so poorly. :smiley:

The customer is fully capable of being wrong.

18

Bullshit.

The place of business is responsible for establishing acceptable rules of behavior. If a customer does not want to abide by those rules they can patronize another, less civilized establishment, where people fight to the death with pointy sticks to claim their place in line.

The OP was absolutely justified in responding to the customer’s atrocious behavior by creatively using the resources he had at hand.

'Twere me, I woulda prolly smacked the bitch, but then, that’s why I don’t work retail.

19

That’s right up there with one of my favourites. South Africa, just after the fall of apartheid.

There’s this snotty woman sitting next to this guy. She’s white, he’s black. She rings the stewardess. “I can’t sit next to a kaffir! There must be some mistake! I demand you change my seat immediately!”

“Well,” says the stewardess, “economy class is full. It may be possible to move up to first class, but I’ll have to clear it with the captain.”

She heads up to the flight deck, then comes back after a little while.

"Well, I have gotten the authorization for an upgrade to first class. It’s unusual, but the captain agreed that nobody should be forced to sit next to such an awful person.

“Therefore, SIR, if you’d like to come with me I’ll seat you in first class!”

20

Isn’t it funny how, whenever a topic like this comes up, there’s always someone who says “The customer is always right”? Perhaps these people should try working in retail for a year or two themselves. Something tells me they’d be singing an altogether different tune afterwards.

Unless you’ve worked retail, you have no idea how rude people can be. What gets me is that there are so many store assitants who just lie back and take this crap. For fuck’s sake, wake up and stop being so spineless! If someone speaks to you like shit, they need to be asked to tone it down or leave the store.

Managers who don’t back their staff up over these matters are beneath contempt, IMHO. There are far too many bosses out there who cave in the moment a customer threatens to shop elsewhere. All this does is give the customer the green light for a repeat performance in the future. It also undermines the salesperson’s efforts to stand up for themselves when faced with this type of situation.

Perhaps this bothers me because I would never dream of going into a store and being rude to the staff. That doesn’t mean to say I’ll accept poor service; quite the contrary in fact. But I know that you attract more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. If I have some kind of problem, it’s more likely to be resolved to my satisfaction if I stay calm and rational and work WITH the staff to sort it out. Conversely, if I decided to be a complete asshole, then I really wouldn’t be surprised if they only did the bare minimum necessary to help me.