Retail Employee Stories Part 6: The Life & Tragedies Of GrilledWitOnions

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Recently where I work put out some coupons which have coupons for instore, and our website, our website coupons are a different color, are always to the right of the coupon book, and have "Online only at ****.com" in big red letters right in the middle of the coupon.

So of course a guy comes in looking for a TV.
Him:"Where's this one"
Me: *recognizes brand as an online only one* "Oh, it's online only at ****.com"
Him: "Alright, so where is it in the store?"
Me: "No, you can't buy it in the store, it's online only"
Him: "But isn't there one here that we can take a look at?"
Me: "No, it's only on our website. We don't have it here"

No lie, every single day I get asked where an "Online only at ****.com" item is in our store.
 
I have no more stories to contribute, since I was fired last night.

But it was KMart, and they fired me because I "do nothing" even though I was the only one that worked, and everybody else rode
ripstick1.jpg
in the back of the store, and usually just stood around in one place.


oh well, it's better for me
 
[quote name='anomynous']I have no more stories to contribute, since I was fired last night.

But it was KMart, and they fired me because I "do nothing" even though I was the only one that worked, and everybody else rode
ripstick1.jpg
in the back of the store, and usually just stood around in one place.


oh well, it's better for me[/quote]
Something better will come along. It's an opportunity. Good luck!
 
[quote name='anomynous']I have no more stories to contribute, since I was fired last night.

But it was KMart, and they fired me because I "do nothing" even though I was the only one that worked, and everybody else rode
ripstick1.jpg
in the back of the store, and usually just stood around in one place.


oh well, it's better for me[/quote]

Those are pretty fun to ride :)
 
I had someone try to use coupons for used games on a new game (coupons are rarely given out to give discounts off a new game).. to make matters worse/funnier, the coupons were from Christmas. I guess the green and red coloring, along with christmas-related shapes all over it, didn't clue them in.. and for a third strike, they got mad and left when I wouldn't accept the coupons.
 
I guess customers everywhere started being smart and nice....

-I Had a woman come in and show me the resident evil DVD (obviously the movie) and ask "is this the movie?".

-A guy came in and claimed he had the first Nintendo product ever; a mini Snoopy arcade game.

-Same guy claimed he was getting his copy of Guitar Hero Aerosmith on 6/7 because he ordered it online. Never mind the fact that it doesn't ship for three weeks after he's "getting" it.

-Another guy came in (6/3) and said he already had Madden 2009.
 
[quote name='JDN169']I guess customers everywhere started being smart and nice....

-A guy came in and claimed he had the first Nintendo product ever; a mini Snoopy arcade game.
[/QUOTE]


I hope you pointed out to him that Nintendo was founded in 1889 to make Japanese playing cards (hanafuda cards, to be excact.) :bouncy:
 
This isn't reallly stupid, but damn funny. My familly went into this buffet for dinner, and it was going to be my grandpa's birthday, so he has to prove it. He gets out his drivers license, but the lady laughs and says "Uh, this is not your license". She then shows that the license was my grandma's, and everybody starts laughing.

Another story is at this place called "Incredible Pizza" which is a pizza buffet. As most of you know, at a buffet, you just walk up to a thing to get your food and do that until your plate is full. Well, at this buffet, people were literally waiting in line instead of just going up to grab what they want. It was weird as hell, and people kept giving me dirty looks when I would go in front of them to grab some food.
 
[quote name='DuelLadyS']I hope you pointed out to him that Nintendo was founded in 1889 to make Japanese playing cards (hanafuda cards, to be excact.) :bouncy:[/quote]

I find it best to just smile and nod with people like that.

Had this conversation with a customer yesterday:

Kid holding PS3 Ratchet and Clank: "Do you have this for the PS2?"
Me: "They didn't make that particular one for the PS2."
Kid: "But i saw it for the PS2 at Wal-Mart."
Me: :roll:
 
[quote name='videogamemaster']This isn't reallly stupid, but damn funny. My familly went into this buffet for dinner, and it was going to be my grandpa's birthday, so he has to prove it. He gets out his drivers license, but the lady laughs and says "Uh, this is not your license". She then shows that the license was my grandma's, and everybody starts laughing.

Another story is at this place called "Incredible Pizza" which is a pizza buffet. As most of you know, at a buffet, you just walk up to a thing to get your food and do that until your plate is full. Well, at this buffet, people were literally waiting in line instead of just going up to grab what they want. It was weird as hell, and people kept giving me dirty looks when I would go in front of them to grab some food.[/quote]Was it John's Incredible Pizza Co? I love that place!
 
Was it John's Incredible Pizza Co? I love that place!
Click to expand...

No, I think it was Springfield Incredible Pizza or something like that. I have been to John's though, and that place is awesome! Both places have the same concept, but I liked John's better.
 
A guy came in asking for an application yesterday, the conversation went like this:

Him: "Can i get an application?"
me: "We actually only take resumes here."
Him: "So i turn in a resume, then i get an application?"
 
This phone call happened yesterday.

Me: "Thank you for calling GameStop blah blah blah"
Him: "Yes, I'm going to be sending my wife in there to buy a DS for my son, and I've got a couple questions. First, my friend told me about something where you can just download games off the internet and play them on your DS on this little card thing."
Me: "Well sir, that's actually illegal."
Him: "Ohh. I just wanted to save money."
 
A customer yesterday:

"I'm just looking for someplace i can trade my PS2 for a PS3."

(he really wanted to trade straight up)
 
[quote name='JDN169']A customer yesterday:

"I'm just looking for someplace i can trade my PS2 for a PS3."

(he really wanted to trade straight up)[/quote]

If he finds that place, let me know.
 
I had a guy I was helping the other day. I get done with him and go back to what I was doing. A few minutes later I was crouched down picking something up. Just as I stood up the same guy was RIGHT BEHIND ME, practically on my back. He patted me on my right hip while leaning in and saying "Thanks for your help" then he walked away.:puke: If that pat had been in a different spot there would have been a physical altercation.
 
[quote name='JDN169']We don't have applications (no real need as we'd only use a couple a year) and only accept resumes. This kid came in and asked if he could get an application. I informed him we only accept resumes. "can i have one?" :roll:


Had a phone call yesterday asking if we bought old sports illustrated magazines (makes perfect sense for a store called The Game Haven).


Lots of people complain about our used prices despite the fact that we mark everything a couple dollars cheaper than Gamestop.


Had a guy call asking about Wii's:
C: "Do you have any Wii's in stock.
M: "sorry we're all sold out."
C: "Man what's the deal with that, there's no way you're selling them all. Employees must be getting to them."

I then had to explain to him that the Wii is an in demand item and sells pretty quick.


We only sell disc based games in our store if they have the original case and instructions (we sell incompletes on our ebay store). Being incomplete, we only usually give $1 store credit on them unless they're really new or valuable. While some people (myself included) really appreciate this, most can't understand what the big deal is and why anyone would want instructions they'll never use.


A guy was trading in some games and his total came to $8 cash. He was trying to get $10 and offered "some rolling tobacco, a new bic lighter, and a real nice roach clip." to bring his total up.[/quote]

Sounds like my brother lives in your town.
 
"We'll have NCAA tomorrow when we open at 10"
"Alright, cool, and what time do you open tomorrow?"
"....10"
"Oh okay, thanks"
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']Here's a new site I found after The Consumerist linked to it. Sorry if old.

www.notalwaysright.com

Seems to get about 5 new posts daily.[/quote]


That site has also posted a few stories from the various "employee stories" posts on CAG also... (but to their credit, they did link to CAG :) )
 
Woman comes up to me and asks me what kind of card her camera uses. I describe that it's either the RED or the YELLOW ones right next to each other and I point them out. A few minutes later I'm walking around and she brings up a PURPLE card and asks me if it's the right one?

I also had a child the other day while I was showing a ring off to a lady, suggest that the lady should steal the ring so that she can go to jail.

Then I've had people with rudimentary knowledge of programming create .bat files on our computers that repeatedly say that "Tobey is gay" over and over.

And I've had people ask where the Online Only items are in our coupon book right now, and then they act surprised when I point out the red lettering that detail the fact that it's "online only" directly on the coupon.

And there was this sweet old man that came in. He said that he was having trouble trying to get to the Bank of America site to do his banking and could I help him. I'm at a retail store but I was kinda bored and wanted to help him out so I said sure. He explained that he was typing bank of america into the top part of the internet and it was only coming up with a register page. So I brought up Internet Explorer on one of our demo computers and had him show me where he was typing it into. Turns out he was typing bankofamerica.com into the Yahoo toolbar without realizing it.
 
[quote name='sonderiaom']I also had a child the other day while I was showing a ring off to a lady, suggest that the lady should steal the ring so that she can go to jail.[/quote]:rofl:LOL crazy kid!
[quote name='MSUHitman']Here's a new site I found after The Consumerist linked to it. Sorry if old.

www.notalwaysright.com

Seems to get about 5 new posts daily.[/quote]
Awesome website!
 
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[quote name='doraemonkerpal']:rofl:LOL crazy kid![/quote]

I'm thinking it was a kid from a first marriage and the child didn't quite like the new mom.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']Here's a new site I found after The Consumerist linked to it. Sorry if old.

www.notalwaysright.com

Seems to get about 5 new posts daily.[/quote]
(I’m working in an electronics retail store, and see a man in his late 40’s with a kid no older then 10.)
Me: “Welcome sir, did you get…”
(I look in his cart and see that it’s mostly filled with identical Spongebob DVDs.)
Me: “… everything?”
Man: “I guess so.”
Boy: “MORE SPONGEBOB! SPONGEBOB! SPONGEBOB!”
Man: “Alright, let’s go get some more.”
(About 5 minutes later he comes back, with more Spongebob DVDs… the same ones, to be exact.)
Man: “Alright, I think this is enough.”
(I ring him up, and the total comes to about $550.00 USD.)
Me: *whispering* “Uhh, sir… these are mostly the same thing.”
Man: “Oh, don’t worry about it. I hate my life anyway.”


Lol.
 
[quote name='darkslime'](I’m working in an electronics retail store, and see a man in his late 40’s with a kid no older then 10.)
Me: “Welcome sir, did you get…”
(I look in his cart and see that it’s mostly filled with identical Spongebob DVDs.)
Me: “… everything?”
Man: “I guess so.”
Boy: “MORE SPONGEBOB! SPONGEBOB! SPONGEBOB!”
Man: “Alright, let’s go get some more.”
(About 5 minutes later he comes back, with more Spongebob DVDs… the same ones, to be exact.)
Man: “Alright, I think this is enough.”
(I ring him up, and the total comes to about $550.00 USD.)
Me: *whispering* “Uhh, sir… these are mostly the same thing.”
Man: “Oh, don’t worry about it. I hate my life anyway.”


Lol.[/quote]Geez, that ones more sad than funny to me.
 
[quote name='darkslime'](I’m working in an electronics retail store, and see a man in his late 40’s with a kid no older then 10.)
Me: “Welcome sir, did you get…”
(I look in his cart and see that it’s mostly filled with identical Spongebob DVDs.)
Me: “… everything?”
Man: “I guess so.”
Boy: “MORE SPONGEBOB! SPONGEBOB! SPONGEBOB!”
Man: “Alright, let’s go get some more.”
(About 5 minutes later he comes back, with more Spongebob DVDs… the same ones, to be exact.)
Man: “Alright, I think this is enough.”
(I ring him up, and the total comes to about $550.00 USD.)
Me: *whispering* “Uhh, sir… these are mostly the same thing.”
Man: “Oh, don’t worry about it. I hate my life anyway.”


Lol.[/quote]


What.
the.
fuck?
 
A lady surprised the hell out of me with a question the other day. She didn't surprise me herself, it was the question that was out of left field.

"Do you have an AOL CD? I looked all over, target, fred meyer, walmart, office depot, office max, and I can't find it anywhere."
 
I work at a mini-golf place. Today this guy decided it would be cool to pay $12 with nothing but quarters and other miscellaneous change. We have three courses, and this lady asked "Where is the golf course upstairs?" It's upstairs. Obviously.
 
[quote name='sonderiaom'] And there was this sweet old man that came in. He said that he was having trouble trying to get to the Bank of America site to do his banking and could I help him. I'm at a retail store but I was kinda bored and wanted to help him out so I said sure. He explained that he was typing bank of america into the top part of the internet and it was only coming up with a register page. So I brought up Internet Explorer on one of our demo computers and had him show me where he was typing it into. Turns out he was typing bankofamerica.com into the Yahoo toolbar without realizing it.[/quote]

When I did tech support for Charter Communications, this was EXTREMELY COMMON.
 
I didn't even work at the store, but this little kid comes up to me and asked if PS3 games work on the PS2? I originally thought he said vice versa cause it came out of left field.

something tells me i'm not going to enjoy working at Gamestop if I am hired
 
^ working with the employees is a good time and the first dibs thing is great, but the customers suck. No, they really fucking suck.
 
Meh, I can always take my aggression out when I deal with bad customers on a stress ball

Oh, I remember my Math Teacher told me a story about that when he worked at a grocery store, he was at a register and he heard the woman who was at his register say to her kid "don't touch that, that's not ours!". Turns out the kid was licking it, not touching. It also turns out the kid was licking the conveyer belt.

God I love stupid people
 
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[quote name='DaftPunkFan37']Meh, I can always take my aggression out with bad customers on a stress ball

Oh, I remember my Math Teacher told me a story about that when he worked at a grocery store, he was at a register and he heared the woman who was at his register say to her kid "don't touch that, that's not ours!". Turns out the kid was licking it, not touching. It also turns out the kid was licking the conveyer belt.

God I love stupid people[/quote]

I love your post even more, but in a very subtle way. I will recommend you read Lynne Truss' "Eats, Shoots & Leaves."

Are you a lonely man, seeing that you've shunned your own kind?
 
[quote name='olde_english']I love your post even more, but in a very subtle way. I will recommend you read Lynne Truss' "Eats, Shoots & Leaves."

Are you a lonely man, seeing that you've shunned your own kind?[/quote]
probably. Ya, I just realized I mis-typed what I meant to say

anyway, my friend has a good one, here he is:

i was at a best buy and this guy came up to the clerk i was talking to and asked if they sell any cherrios here. i told him that there is a ton of other stores around this mall that might sell cherrios, but he ignored me. the clerk i was talking to got a kick out of it. she said that this was an electronic store, but go ask the manager just incase... so the guy did. a few minutes later the guy came out of the room with this shock on his face. the clerk and i hung around to see his reaction cause she said the manager hates stupid questions. basically the guy walked right out the store and sat on the side of the curb in the fetal position. it was funny
 
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[quote name='olde_english']I love your post even more, but in a very subtle way. I will recommend you read Lynne Truss' "Eats, Shoots & Leaves."

Are you a lonely man, seeing that you've shunned your own kind?[/QUOTE]

having read that book, I had to read his post again to see what you were referring to. Then I lol'ed.

Not really a "retail" story but this past quarter we had a contest of sorts for a team MVP. We get to the end of the quarter and I was utterly shocked to find out that the person who won was the laziest damn person in the whole department. Let me know that politics must play one hell of a large part in the business* and it makes me really not want to stay there beyond what I need to get a better job.

*basically there are four of us and all of our jobs are identical but we are responsible for different parts of the area. If he finds anything from our areas in his stuff, he will do that first before he does anything else making him look "busy" because he's running all over with papers in his hand. What really pissed me off is that I spent 2.5 of the 3 months in this quarter helping one of the other guys who had hurt himself so I was doing 100% of my job and 75% of his job. You cannot imagine how pissed I was when they announce who won. I knew I wasn't going to win (there are other people in the area who work pretty hard too) but him? Holy ʞɔnɟ . :bomb::bomb::bomb:
 
At work I sell a bunch of different types of inks in bundle packs. One of the more troublesome inks that we carry concerning the amount of questions we get is an 02XL bundle. Many people ask me if the xl's will work in the regular 02 slots and most go on their merry way after I say that yes they will. This one lady was particularly annoying however.

Lady: I just want to make sure that these cartridges will work in my printer *holding up an 02xl set and an instruction manual for her printer*
Me: Well, let's check the printer number *I do and find that it will work*, Yup, our book says that they should be compatible.
L:Ok, I'm just making sure because I bought the printer elsewhere, not that it matters where, and I need to be sure that it'll work.
M: Our book is usually right, 99 percent of the time anyway, if you have an issue, just return it.
L:Alright, but are you sure, because the ones in the manual *points to page with 02's* look smaller than these cartridges *points to 02xl's*
M: Yeah, that's just because the xl's have more ink in them, they'll still work in there. If you look, the front parts are the same, and the back parts are covered by this little flap in the printer so it'll still fit.
L: But I'm not even sure how it works...
M: That's why I'm showing you *lifts up booklet and points to page that I was just pointing to*
L: Don't be smart with me!
M: *I don't say anything and instead point back to the page*
L:Fine, well, if these don't work, I'll just return them.
M: *Rolls eyes and walks away*
 
Two stories, both from Gamestop:

(kid's about 12/13 years old, brings up a cheats book very clearly labeled "ONLY $7.99!" in bright purple on the cover)

Me: Okay, your total comes out to $8.69.

Him: Oh, sixty-nine? (Reaches into a wallet, pulls out a hundred dollar bill, and happily hands it to me)

Me: ....no...EIGHT sixty-nine.

Him (still happily): Oh thanks, that's MUCH better! (reaches into his wallet, hands me a $20; puts his wallet on the counter and starts trying to force the first $100 back into what I can now see is an overbudened wallet)

Me (mentally): The scary thing is, this kid's going to be buying a car in a few years...


Story #2

(kid trades in a wireless PS3 Rock Band guitar, wireless PS3 Guitar Hero guitar, and Sonic for PS3)

Kid: Okay, I'd like to pick THAT up! (points to the wireless Frontman guitar, for $59.99)

Me: Um...are you sure you want to do that? You're still going to have to pay nearly $20 more, the quality's not that great, and you're trading two good quality guitars towards one poor-quality one.

Kid: No, I want THAT one!

Me: Okay then...so you owe $19.XX after trading this stuff in.

(Kid buys the guitar, comes back not quite an hour later wanting his stuff back because, true to form, the wireless dongle broke when he tried to plug it into his PS3)
 
[quote name='IOnceWasLegend']Two stories, both from Gamestop:

(kid's about 12/13 years old, brings up a cheats book very clearly labeled "ONLY $7.99!" in bright purple on the cover)

Me: Okay, your total comes out to $8.69.

Him: Oh, sixty-nine? (Reaches into a wallet, pulls out a hundred dollar bill, and happily hands it to me)

Me: ....no...EIGHT sixty-nine.

Him (still happily): Oh thanks, that's MUCH better! (reaches into his wallet, hands me a $20; puts his wallet on the counter and starts trying to force the first $100 back into what I can now see is an overbudened wallet)

Me (mentally): The scary thing is, this kid's going to be buying a car in a few years...


Story #2

(kid trades in a wireless PS3 Rock Band guitar, wireless PS3 Guitar Hero guitar, and Sonic for PS3)

Kid: Okay, I'd like to pick THAT up! (points to the wireless Frontman guitar, for $59.99)

Me: Um...are you sure you want to do that? You're still going to have to pay nearly $20 more, the quality's not that great, and you're trading two good quality guitars towards one poor-quality one.

Kid: No, I want THAT one!

Me: Okay then...so you owe $19.XX after trading this stuff in.

(Kid buys the guitar, comes back not quite an hour later wanting his stuff back because, true to form, the wireless dongle broke when he tried to plug it into his PS3)[/quote]

I swear every time I go into a GS I see 12-15 year old kids with multiple hundred dollar bills. WTF? #1 what 13 year old has that kind of money (or what 13 yo's parents just hand out $100 bills), and #2 who the hell carries around $100 bills?
 
I just had someone try to bargain on packing tape. It's a huge roll for $0.99. He asks me twice if it is $0.49. I said no, he said look at it, are you sure it isn't $0.49. I told him again it's $0.99 and it has always been $0.99, he said again are you sure it isn't $0.49. I told him yes and walked away. I hate people who try to bargain or complain about prices. If you don't like the price, don't buy it and go to another store and pay more money.

Yesterday was bad too. Some buy buys 5 snack cakes for $1.00 each, total is $5.00, he thinks he was charged $6.00. He only paid $5 and the receipt was $5.00, we showed him, 5 items at $1.00 each = $5.00. He then starts cursing saying how we were robbing him. He was in last week and gave another employee a difficult time about something else. I hope he never comes back.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1']I just had someone try to bargain on packing tape. It's a huge roll for $0.99. He asks me twice if it is $0.49. I said no, he said look at it, are you sure it isn't $0.49. I told him again it's $0.99 and it has always been $0.99, he said again are you sure it isn't $0.49. I told him yes and walked away. I hate people who try to bargain or complain about prices. If you don't like the price, don't buy it and go to another store and pay more money.[/quote]
Sounds to me that you ran into a jedi.
*waves hand* "Are you SURE this isn't .49?"
"Actually, now that you mention it... yes, I'm sure, it's .99."
 
Maybe, I later found out that when he went to the register, he asked the guy who rung him up if it was $0.49. That happens a lot. I tell someone an answer such as if we don't have an item or don't carry it. They don't like it and then they go ask another employee. It happened yesterday and the other employee told them to ask me since they didn't know.

And later today, someone brings up 4 aluminum pans up to the register, they are 50 cents each. We have samples of all the pans behind the registers with the prices. I ring them up the total is $2.00 plus tax. She says no, they are a quarter each. I show her the pan behind the register, go to the back of the store where the pans are bring up the sign that says they are $0.50. She then says I just put that sign up now, and other pans are $0.50, the ones she got are $0.25. I told her they have always been $0.50 and if someone rung them up at $0.25, it was a mistake. She got annoyed and left. She was probably trying to lie to get me to give her a whole $0.25 off each pan.

Then someone comes in looking for cans of Coke. We only have the 20 oz bottles right now. She says to herself multiple times "I hate bottles!", she asks me if we had any cans of Coke, or even Pepsi. I told her no and she was saying how horrible bottles are. Most people prefer bottles to cans. I mean is it really that big of a deal?

What a horrible weekend for stupid customers, I didn't even mention any of the minor stuff that happened.
 
Lol, yah customers can be so obnoxious. Do places normally sell cans of soda not in packs? Usually you get them from vending machines, I thought. I actually prefer cans because of that; in vending machines you can get them for maybe 50 cents instead of $2 for a bottle somewhere. Wish there were more glass bottles though, I love buying those.

And customers ALWAYS ask a second person. Oftentimes at blockbuster, customers would split up to ask seperate employees the same question: one on the floor, another at the counter, etc. Stupid.
 
We have a cooler, we sell the cans for $0.59, the bottles for $0.99 (and you wouldn't believe how many people complain about those prices, people think the bottles should be less yet everyone else in the shopping center is $1.39 - $1.59). We sell the cans because that way people who don't want to spend $0.99 on a drink have a cheaper option (which is popular with the kids we have come who hang out in the shopping center to skateboard and ride bikes). Of course that isn't good enough for some people, I probably mentioned this in one of the older threads, but someone asked me last year how much the cans were. I said $0.59, she put it back because she said a store in the city (which I guess means downtown, 45minutes away) has them for $0.50. $0.09 is enough to make you not want a drink if you are thirsty?
 
Wow I actually would really like to shop where you work, sounds consistently cheap. Problem is that people have no concept of cheap, in my experience. They will consistently pay too much for everything in life, and it probably leads them to think that everything is overpriced everywhere, without actually knowing how to compare and shop around.

I would buy a soda every day for $0.60 if I could, that's a great price IMO, especially if they are name brand.
 
I've had people come into my store asking about prices on stuff, when i tell them they say "That's just as much as it is in the store!". Just because we're not a huge chain doesn't detract from the fact that we are a real store.
 
[quote name='JDN169']I've had people come into my store asking about prices on stuff, when i tell them they say "That's just as much as it is in the store!". Just because we're not a huge chain doesn't detract from the fact that we are a real store.[/quote]
I was always under the impression that huge chain=larger orders=smaller cost=greater savings for customer. So the one to be mad at is still the large chain, because they are probably buying the items you sell for less, and then matching your higher price.
 
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