Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Adventures in Retail 2.0

So last night at the store I had an encounter with the MEANEST CUSTOMER EVER. She became upset when the clerk wouldn't accept her check without a phone number on it (not exactly a policy that we can budge on), so I got called to the front to explain to her the situation, that we'd be happy to accept some other method of payment without her phone number, etc. Well, before I even had a chance to speak, she just LAID into me about how that's a bunch of baloney and whatnot. I tried to remain cool & explain the situation, suggesting that if she had a complaint she could contact our corporate office and they would love to hear her complaint, etc, but she would have none of it. At one point I called her "ma'am", and she said "DON't call me ma'am, that's condescending". ?!?! (I was just trying to be polite! :O) . She then said we'd be losing her business and I said "Well, I'm very sorry to hear that", and then she said bitterly "No you're not" ?!?!! It was just a very bizarre situation...we were treating her as nicely and patiently as we could but she just needed to argue, I guess. Finally I tried just ending the scene by saying "I'm sorry to lose your business, this is not a policy I have any leeway with, so I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree here". She started to slowly walk away without saying anything, just looking at me with condescension. So I just turned around and walked away; there was nothing else I could do. Then I went to the back room and cried (I'll admit it)!. I wonder how people can live like that...feeding off of the feeling of power, even in little situations like that (requiring a phone number on a check isn't exactly abnormal among stores...she obviously just wanted to fight). 3 thoughts hit me as I reflected on it. First of all, 1 John says if you don't love your brother, the love of the Father is not in you. Someone can't claim to be a Christian and treat others like that. Secondly, God will hold her accountable for every action, including last night (which was a relief to me until I realized he will hold ME accountable for all my actions...sobering! :)). Thirdly, if you are ever in a store and hear an employee getting ripped apart by a customer (or an employee ripping into a customer, for that matter) step in & say something! There were a few customers last night walking around within earshot of this lady cutting me to pieces, and NOBODY said anything. ANyway, those are my thoughts for today. Goodbye. :)

1 Comments:

At 8:28 PM, Blogger The Colonel said...

Nikki, you should invite Chris & I to come deal with your snobby "christian" customers... we could implement all kinds of policies and they'd be the ones walking away crying, actually ask Chris about it, that could possibly be some holiday fun for us ;o)

it's sad that the worst of retail customers show their face in Christian bookstores

 

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