So I decide to pay a visit to the old Staples Store that I worked at for nine months before I quit to work at a new job. I was hoping to see my good friend Terry who had recently been promoted to full time. You see, Terry and I were hired around the same time as part-time Computer Sales Associates, so we've been good friends since. Earlier this week, I've noticed Terry has stopped returning my calls.
Now I know why.
In a hallway where the washrooms are, there are four large dents to the plaster wall. Pretty big ones too. My manager says that I should have taken a look at the Men's bathroom too a few days ago. It would seem that Terry had Snapped and went on a Crackling rampage which resulted him in Popping those holes in the wall, as well as ripping off a toilet roll dispenser in the bathroom.
I know Terry to have a relatively short fuse. This usually happens when customers insult his intelligence, and I've seen it happen several times, usually from customers who think they know better than the people who work at the store. I've had my fill of bad customers, even got into a relatively loud argument with a rude customer in which I had decided to devote my useful time elsewhere. (The asshole didn't give up yelling at me, even went to the manager to have me fired, which didn't happen.) Ever since I got my new job, he has somehow become a little more hostile towards me, which I attributed to petty jealousy. He was also given a full time shift after one of our regulars quit in a huff. I had recently congratulated him, saying, hey, it's more money in your pocket, and better benefits too. He would shoot back, always complaining about the customers.....
Now this happens. I later learned that immediately after the incident, the managers had told him to submit his letter of resignation, effectively firing him. What caused this? From what I hear, it was One. Small. Ink. Cartridge. Worth. Only. $45. Worthless. Canadian. Dollars. This must have been on helluva dispute for him to react like that. Another manager had told him to seek anger management counselling, he had feared that it would only be a matter of time before Terry would punch someone.
So he is gone. There are a lot of shocked faces in the store, and now they have a shortage of Computer Sales Associates (including myself and Terry, 5 people in the department have left the store).
There have been times in which I wanted to vent my anger into some solid but hollow object, but sanity prevented me from doing so. After all, this is retail, and it is all part of the game.
Oh, and Terry is also a Brit. A Chinese Brit. Dunno if that has anything to do with it. j/k
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Speaking as someone that works at kinko's, I know his pain and the horror of EXTREMELY dumb customers. Still, if he can't handle that level of presure, he's SOL for any corperate level cubicle-hell work. He's got a short fuse and people problems? He should become a cop. Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
Well, he's held it back before, which still makes his recent act quite surprising.
He really is a nice guy outside of the store, and his temper is almost non-existant in that environment. I guess I'll never figure out what was going through his head.
Posted by Matrix (Member # 376) on :
Back when I was a civilian, for some reason customers seemed to think they were above you and knew everything. I liked it when the store I used to work at rearranged the store, and I got yelled at for 'flipping the store' and then told to put it back to normal.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
It happens. There's only so much crap you can tolerate and so much anger you can hold in check before you lose control of yourself (especially if you don't have a release or way of venting your anger).
When I was working tech support, I watched one of my coworkers start berating one of our customers after the customer had been yelling and bitching at my coworker for a solid twenty minutes. I sat on three stations away from and I could make out most of what the customer was saying. My coworker got into severe trouble for that; she nearly lost her job.
Back when I worked in the dorms, I almost ripped the front desk phone cord out of the socket threw the phone through a window. I caught myself before doing that but not before damaging the phone when I slammed the receiver down. That was a very bad and stressful day for me, and the bitch from the teachers' camp pushed me too far. I got into a bit of trouble for that.
I've never known anyone who's done as much damage as your friend Terry apparently did.
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
This is why I have been avoiding getting a job for years (I am 20 and as of yet still have never had a real job). First, I would not be able to handle the public, and Second, I can only think of one job in which I could actually handle stuff and halfway enjoy myself, and that's a book store, but they aren't hiring...
Of course my parents nag me about it, but that is only fuel to the fire of me not wanting to get a job, merely to smite them.
Being a soccer referee for many years, I know about taking crap from people (the crowd). I've retaliated a couple times, even though we're supposed to say nothing. They really can get me pissed off, but with being a referee, you have the backup of knowing that no matter what YOU are always right, not the crowd/customer.
Unfortunatly that wont work in a real job...
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
"Of course my parents nag me about it, but that is only fuel to the fire of me not wanting to get a job, merely to smite them." Okay.
Something like: 1) I never knew you were so omnipotent.
Or, maybe something like: 2) I thought you already had a job as a carpenter?
Or even something like: 3) At least you can argue with your Dad. If I do, it's blaspheming.
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
I meant spite...
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
Obviously.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
For a lot of people though (especially those who are 20. I mean, 20!), getting a job isn't really a choice, so much as a necessity. So you're quite lucky in that respect.
Also, referees are never right at any point in time ever.
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
Twenty year olds are useless.
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Also, referees are never right at any point in time ever.
It's written into the rule book Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
A few months back I had a customer come into my work, walk up to me and say "I want to print something off my computer". It took several minutes (and the customer getting really frusterated with my questions) before he said "Look, I'm no computer expert! I just wanr to print from my computer because my printer broke!" He somehow thought that he could use one of our rental computers, click on "My Computer" and access his PC's files. Somebody sold this drooler a computer. I honestly had to sit down with this einstein and explain what a disk was and how to save his work on it.
These are the people I get to help at three in the morning.
Cool huh? I can't even get mad: it's like working in a sitcom world for $15 an hour. Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
I work in a restaurant. If it wasn't for the customers it'd be quite fun. We ran out of salt sachets last week and had to put a big thing of salt out; about 1/2 the people who came in took the salt with them back to their tables. So I spent most of the day running around trying to find whichever idiot had taken the salt this time. Oh, the fun. And I only get �3.45 an hour.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I had to leave the hotel industry, stoopid people abounded. So I became a bank courier, working at night avoiding as many people as possible.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
The359,
It's really not THAT bad.
I remember working at Blockbuster many many moons ago ... I have a particular vivid memory of working Christmas Eve, '97 (this was when BBV didn't allow their employees holidays off), and some dude in his late-forties (with his young kids in tow) started cussing out one of my co-workers over a late fee. This is like 10pm, there's one BIG line all the way back to the New Release wall, and winding through the core section, and we've got four registers opening, and there are LOTS O LOTS of kids in line (not to mention his own) and this guy was using words that I'd never heard before! He was being so loud, one of the guys from Subway (next door) came over to ask him to kindly shut the fuck up because he was disturbing their customers.
Anyway, the MOD, this big guy named Sean, finally walked over, informed the customer that he had two choices: pay the late fee (like, $3 or something) and rent the videos; or get the hell out of the store and never come back. The guy was like "Why don't you just credit it?" Sean's reply: "You don't call my employees what you just called her and benefit from it."
Sadly, it's rare that you work with managers of Sean's caliber ...
And, I mean, on Christmas Eve? What a jackass.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Ture, usually they seem to be pissing themselves trying to make the customer happy and firing the poor employee whose only mistake was to follow policy....
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
I currently work at the front desk at a museum. The job is pretty good and it pays well. Sometimes we get some really weird people in. Its always fun playing bouncer, because some people just can't seem to get it into their heads that you have to pay an admission fee to get into the museum...
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Not in Washington, DC you don't!
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Not much worth seeing there then....
I like the small town ones that ask for a donation, which I usually make, since it isn't demanded....
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"I can't even get mad: it's like working in a sitcom world for $15 an hour."
But most customers are from the Full House continent, or something.
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