I worked on the floor of JCP. And going over our head
DID always work. We would tell the customer no,
go speak with floor supervisor, and they told us to tell
the customer no, as well as the department manager,
and the assistant manager, and then the customer
would demand to see one of the managers (which they, the
managers tried to avoid at ALL costs lol)
so manager comes out and says, oh, yea, sure, NO PROBLEM
anything you want! argh! LOL

I was also the credit/catalog manager for many years.
I was called every nasty thing in the book.
All I really wanted to say was.... "Look here, lady, it's
not MY fault you haven't paid your bill in a year!"
lol but, alas I couldn't!

I also had STAPLERS (the big old hunkin' metal ones),
wallets, purses, packages, pen holders, pens, thrown
at my head. Anything they could get their grimy fat
paws on!!!! And, by FAR, WOMEN were THE WORST! UCK!!!

People are downright ugly when it comes to dealing with "their" money.( Ask any former teller.) A favorite was "You bounced my checks, I wrote them just a week before I deposited, you **** "
They always follow that one with " I'm taking all of my money out of this bank."
Ma'am, I don't think you have any money in this bank now, you seem to be overdrawn. Would you like to speak to our manager?
" No, I want YOU to give me all my *** money NOW"
Eight years was enough.

People bought things @ Walmart then returned them to the grocery store without a receipt. To get the difference in price.

I used to work at Foley's (now taken over by Macy's boo-hoo) when I was in high school and college. And as kat__wa said about JCP, the same was true at Foley's. If you just kept asking for the next manager, eventually one of them would give you whatever you wanted. Here is a classic story that I've never forgotten.

I used to work in the Men's Jeans department. We sold Levis like hotcakes especially during their annual Levi sale, plus a bunch of other brands. We did not sell Wranglers. One day a woman walked in with a pair of Wranglers to return.

Aside from the fact that we didn't even carry that brand, it was abundantly clear she had bought them at a different store. We attached the price tag to the clothing via a plastic attacher. You know the kind. Her jeans had the remnants of a sticky price tag on the back pocket cardboard label.

Of course we told her, sorry, we can't take these back, they're not ours. She asked to see our manager. Then her manager. ETC. She finally ended up in the office of the manager of the entire men's division of the store. Yeah, she sat in his office!

Well, guess what. We took the pants back. My manager was not happy! But you know, this customer got in his office and gave him a song and dance about how she'd been a loyal Foley's customer for however many years and was he going to lose her business over this, and who knows what else. Or he just thought to himself, my time is worth more than the price of these jeans!

And speaking of price, I was like, how much do we refund? I have no idea what price! My manager said, give her whatever price she names. I think we gave her $15 or something, this was back in about 1980 or so. IIRC we tossed the jeans into the trash!

worked for pacific tele (one of the old bell systems) and we dreaded a full moon... i swear repair calls doubled...by far one of the funniest, was some little old lady from pasadena, who asked if we'd "pull" her phone cord in, because it was too long...you have to remember this was in the days before jacks and multiple lenth cord were sold in stores...

hahahahaha Lowspark! OMG.. you reminded ME of a classic!

A woman came in to pick up her car. The repair department
called an told her it was ready. HELLO! We
didn't HAVE an auto department at our store. That was at
another store, down the freeway 20 or 30 minutes or so. LOL
She was unbelievable! she so thought we were stealing
her car. She wasn't old and senile
(sorry Wanda! ahahahahahaaha) , she was just crazy. lol
Demanded the store manager. I had to almost physically
drag the old man out, lol. He walked her around
the whole store and she STILL didn't believe that
her car wasn't there! GEEZ! I'm surprised that the
old guy didn't make ME drive some one to the other
store to get the crazy lady's car. LOL

As a bank employee for many years, one of my favorite is when a person would come in to cash a check, no account with us, check drawn on small bank somewhere USA, and demand we cash it. After all, it was signed Grandma, to a grandchild, and you know Grandma would never give me a bad check. Asked why they did not go there bank--ANSWER--don't know if grandma had money in the bank.

First of all I admire those dealing with the public. Times are a bit different now as some of the clerks seem to lack the respect towards who they work for and who they serve. Attitude makes the difference. There has been several times I have been extemely upset, and the clerk has said I am not sure if I can do----- but I will try and I will talk to ----. to me that is all I can ask. A smile, tone of voice does make that difference to me

I owned and operated a restaurant for 40+ years. I can't begin to count the number of times I was on the receiving end of someone's bad day. Thank you's were few and far between. From my experience the public has little respect for those in the food service industry. Again, my opinion is based on my personal experiences and those that worked for me. I was told early on that "The customer is always right". I lived by that motto for the majority of the time, but there were instances when I happily showed customers the door! My self respect, as well as my staff's was worth way more than a $5.00 hamburger. I know that wouldn't fly if I had worked for someone else and my heart goes out to those that have to put up with it.

Most of the time it's the stingiest people that give you the worst time too. Minimal/no tips to service people and look for something free. "That's a big company - they won't miss it" or whatever. People think they're getting back at the "big oil companies" when they steal 3¢, 10¢ or $50 worth of gas from a gas station. They don't like to hear that the cashier is responsible for every penny of gas that goes through the pumps or (often) every pack of cigarettes and lottery ticket in the store.

These are just priceless. I think everyone should have to work in a job dealing with the public (aka themselves!) for about a year. People would change. You can tell a person who has never dealt with the public.

I worked for the government for 31 years, the Social Security Aadministration. I was an interviewer most of those years. One day a woman came in with a complaint. Luckily I didn't have to speak to her, but the employeee at the next desk did. At the conclusuon of her speech, the woman yelled the classic "I pay your salary! You work for me!" The interviewer (Jospehine) reached in her desk, pulled out a penny and quietly said "Here's your money back." On the other side, I've had problems with Medicare since June. Instead of enrolling me in February, they enrolled me as of July so all my bills are being rejected. I went into my local office June 16 to straighten it out and I'm still getting the run-around. I call Social Security and Medicare and they blame each other, and they always tell me "It may take another 30 days to straighten this out. That's exactly what I used to tell claimants...30 days.

I have had my eyes opened working as a hospital volunteer. Oh, brother!! I could go on the rest of the day. If the doc's late, it's your fault, if they don't call fast enough from recovery, it's your fault. One lady even told me the hospital should furnish day care for patients' children. That one was pretty funny.

The last time I got chewed out was by a minister. He didn't have his parking permit and I couldn't stamp his parking ticket. Oh, boy. I wish I knew someone that goes to his church, b/c I asked him what church he worked for. He really preached a sermon that day!!! And it's RARE for anybody to say "thank you."

Of course, if you tell someone their patient is in room 5502, most of them will ask you what floor that is. It's incredible. These people vote and serve on juries. SCAREY

Health care workers have a difficult job dealing with the public.
Ask any nurse.
I used to work in an Urgent Care connected with a large clinic who was HMO provider to several HMO companies.
I lived in a beach town and every weekend, we would get a kid in who had fallen down and scraped his knees or got a laceration on glass at the beach.
In would come the parents with their child, screaming he didn't want a shot and bleeding. Of course we would take the child and one parent back while the other checked him in. (Seems like a lot of parents threaten their children with getting a shot if they don't behave.)
I would always ask if they had washed out the wound and wrapped it before coming in. Their answer was always a rude "NO! We have Health-Net."
I guess having an HMO takes away all personal responsibility.
One weekend we got young woman in who had fallen off her skate board going down a big hill....she was scraped up badly.....but she had been cleaned up and bandaged. She was visiting her grandparents who didn't care if the patient had Health Net....she knew it was important to clean and dress the wound immediately.
All she wanted was for us to check to make sure there wasn't something she missed. It was like a breath of fresh air.

susanjf -- Thanks for the laugh! I remember hearing another 'utility' story about people in the early days of electricity. They worried that if they unpluged something "the electricity would leak out."

We owned and ran a small (17 units) motel. Just a block away was a large major chain hotel. I don't know how many times an older couple would come in, driving a big Lincoln or Cadillac, wanting all kinds of discounts on the room rates. They would say that the hotel down the street gave discounts and we would point out that our rates were lower than theirs with their discounts.

OMG! Don't get me started. I managed a family shoe store for 26 years! I have heard it all.
Even after all that time I was still amazed at how people would try to return used merchandise. They would buy shoes, where them for a special occasion and then try to return them for the cash back. They would swear up and down that the shoes had never been worn. They would never do such a thing.
Then I would turn the shoes over and pick out the stones from the soles. One woman threatened to call the police. I told her she could call the Navy, but she wasn't getting her money back! She said she'd sit right there until she got it. I reminded her the mall closed at 9 p.m.!
We had no problem with returning faulty merchandise or shoes that just fell apart but some people thought of us a rental shop!
Now I deal with cleaning contractors, and of course it's always the products fault if something goes wrong. Never that they didn't read the directions on the label!

A few years ago (Yikes! - it was 20) when I sold corn-fired heater stoves, one morning early I needed to visit the bathroom and headed there, with just a faint bit of light by which to see.

The door to the bedroom, in rather a dark corner, was always fully open (I live alone - and the mice don't care) ...

... but this time, it was part-way closed, and I ran into it.

Missed my (rather large) nose, but put a cut into my upper lip and another on my forehead. I was on the floor for a bit, then got up and sat on the john, getting my wits about me (did someone suggest that I might be about half-way equipped?).

Only minimal bleeding, and I went back to bed.

I got up later in the morning and a scab was in place, then travelled quite a few miles for an appointment with a guy who sold my stoves, then back to town, visited a lady that I knew who was rather a prctical nurse, but she didn't want to pull the edges together and tape them, to avoid a scar.

I ended up going to Emerg. at the hosp., and had a session with a female resident, who questioned whether one should suture a wound at about 11 p.m. that had been incurred about 7 a.m. ...... but the supervisor said to go ahead, so she did.

A few weeks later, it had healed so well that one could scarcely see where there had been a disruption of my hide.

So - I took flowers to emerg. and left them for her.

o j

As a teenager, I worked in Sears Customer Service (complaint department) for a short time. The two people I will never forget:

Guy returned a television set. It worked fine and was 5 years old...but he just discovered it was made in Japan--and he hadn't forgotten Pearl Harbor. The manager gave him a full refund on the set!

Woman called the morning after one of the largest snowstorms in the history of Washington, D.C. She wanted snow tires put on her car, and was told she would have to wait in line. She screamed and cursed at me that it was discriminatory because she had a Sears charge account AND she had not had her breakfast. I suggested she leave her car in line and come to the coffee shop for breakfast while she was waiting. That made her even madder, so I suggested she try Montgomery Ward, because I was sure there wouldn't be anyone in line there! After some choice words, including some I had never before heard, she hung up.

On the contrary Mush, the point is to get you started! ;)

A friend worked at Lowe's and had no public experience before. He couldn't get over people coming in on a Tuesday following a long weekend returning roofing nail guns they bought the Thursday before and "never used".

I was at Home Depot a couple days ago and a guy asked if I knew where the returns desk was. He thought it was the customer service desk. In hand a shovel with the distinctive orange on the handle, covered with concrete, the daylights beat out of it. Yep, got a feeling I knew what was going to happen. I should have eavesdropped on that one!

Funny, this thread made me think back and 95% of my jobs involved dealing with the public. Deli, Hardware store, flower delivery, receptionist, I ushered for the 49ers for three seasons, EMT then Paramedic. No wonder I decided to be a stay at home mom. I must have been sick of people LOL!

My "over my head" story was from when I worked at Orchard Supply Hardware (GREAT JOB!). I loved working for that company. I was 17 and working at the register. You had to be 18 to work on the floor. I was so sick of whiney hunny's spending their weekends taking care of their to do list. Standing in line always sent them over the edge. Two weeks before I turned 18 I heard of an opening in the paint department. I begged my boss to move me to the floor. Two days after I turned 18 I began training. I don't know how it is now, but OSH trains their employees very well.

One night a man phoned my department with a question. I answered his question, but because I was a young girl, he asked to speak to my boss. He had already asked me if I was "sure" about my answer. I put him on hold, went and got my floor manager and told him the situation. My manager picked up the phone and let the man ask him his question. Then my manager said "what was the advice given to you?" He then said "she is absolutly correct, that is exactly what you need." I loved him! He hung up the phone and said "I hate when guys do that!"

That still makes me smile.

My favorite was when I had a telemarketing job answering the complaint line for the Lori Davis Hair Care Products. Some guy calls and goes on this rampage about how he used the product and all of his hair fell out. I was fairly taken aback... I knew what was in the product and knew none of it would cause hair loss, so I asked him if he had an allergy to something in the product and he yelled, "NO! It's your *&%^$ shampoo. It made my hair turn green and then fall out and now I have to go to a party like this." Trying to keep my composure, I said, "What can I do to help you with this, sir?" Of course he wanted a refund of the expensive shampoo. I asked him if he would be willing to send the remainder of the shampoo back, free of charge, and we would refund him. He told me it was empty... he had used it all. I told him I didn't understand why he would continue to use shampoo that made his hair green and then fall out and that I couldn't refund him without the shampoo back or proof of his condition. He said, "Fine, I just want an apology then." By this time I was pretty sure this was a case of someone trying to get something for nothing, but I said, "Sorry you were dissatisfied." He yells into the phone and tells me to apologize like I mean it, so I took a deep breath and said, "Sorry you have to go to your party looking like Kojak" and I hung up. Lol... My manager got a good laugh over that one.

I can't think of anything relating to me personally, but I remember being in Home Depot shortly after it opened here.

I loved their Houseplant section and was browsing. Someone came in with a distinctly dead and almost leafless Ficus Benjamina.

They expected and got a full refund as per their policy. I'm sure it's changed now!!!

When I bought my plant I mentioned to the cashier that a bit of water wouldn't have hurt the plant! She agreed but that is their policy and we just shook our heads.

I worked at 2 National Parks, and I swear the public just brings along one brain to be shared by all in their party. It never ceased to amaze me the questions they could ask. "Where do you keep the deer locked up during the day?" Uhhh, we have a special corral behind the lodge. "What time do you turn on the lights in the canyon?" Uhhhh, usually at dark, but the light bulbs burned out and the electrician is on vacation. "How often do you sweep the trails?" Uhhh, usually daily, but the push broom needs a new handle. "Is it safe to drive a convertible into the canyon?" Uhhh, yes, just watch out for falling rocks and mountain lions. And the best one of all: "Where does the scenery start?" There is just no good come back to that one!

"Where does the scenery start?"
I'd tell them it's on the revolving post card rack.

DH ran a service station in a very small town, and one evening a lady called, she was stranded out on the highway about 5-6 mi. from town and since it was after 5 all the other stations were closed or refused to go and help her.

This was prior to cell phones so she had to go to the closest house to find a phone to use and ask about service stations.

DH had to call a boy that worked for him sometimes to come in and run the station while he went out to see what was the matter. It was the alternator and he brought it back to the station and worked on it and took it back out and put it on and told her that he hoped she could make it home but she needed to have it replaced soon. She had about 50 mi. to go and away she went, he went back to the station and paid the boy. He only charged the lady $20 for all of that.

About a week later this man came in,very irate and yelling at my DH about ripping off his wife, charging her $20 and then the thing went out again in a few days. DH patiently explained that he told her it was a very temporary fix and he had went out of his way to try to help her get home. The man continued to rant and finally DH took a $20 bill out of the register and threw it at him and told him to get the h*^# out of his station. Then the jerk tried to give him back $5, and DH told him he didn't want and to get the heck down the road. Knowing DH he probably used much rougher language.

Instead of being appreciative of someone going out of their way to help his wife, he drives 50 mi. back to the station to complain.

I have so many stories but one of my favorites is the teen aged girl with a foot laceration. Her friends brought her to the ER. The girl kept calling me B*tch. I got her name, address and phone number and told her I needed her parent's permission to treat her. She said her parents were out of town. I excused myself and went to another room and called her house. Her dad answered and I told him the story including that she kept swearing at me. He said he would be right over. I went back to the girl and told her I had just spoken to her dad and that they were on their way over. In the meantime she could sit in the waiting room. When her parents arrived and brought her to the registration desk, instead of calling me a B, she answered "Yes, mam" and "No, mam" to my questions.

My firsr job out of college was working in a retail nursery/garden center. Christmas would bring out the best and worst in people.
I and another person were delivering live Christmas trees. We had a small tree to deliver to a senior apartment complex. The lady lived on the 12th floor. When we got to her door she insisted that we take our shoes off. okay. Once we were inside she asked us to put the tree out on her balcony and her son would be by later to set it up in her living room. The balcony had a foot of snow on it. But, we were good sports and went onto the balcony into the snow in our stocking feet! When we turned to come back in she said "No, you'll track in snow." What were we suppose to do, jump? The other person looked at me and just walked on past her and I followed.
Another time I was working in the Christmas tree area by myself. There was suppose to always be 2 of us but, the other person went home sick. All at once it got real busy. I helped a couple with a tree and noticed another couple (it looked like an elderly lady and her son) also looking at trees. I rang up my sale and while I was at the cash register rang up the tree for the elderly lady as her son loaded it in her car. I went on to help more people but here was the "son" holding up a tree for another couple. In a few minutes I rang up my sale and the other peoples. This time when I got back out to the trees only the "son" was there. He explained, "You looked swamped so I helped out a few people." I thanked him and then helped him pick out a tree and sold it to him for half price.

Ron

My Dh was a store manager for large retailer. He worked in a area of town where there were many homeless people. The store had many problems with the homeless, using the bathrooms for clean up and stealing.

One morning a guy came in and started walking up and down the aisles, so Dh kept his eye on him.

This guy stops in the middle of the aisle and starts shaking his leg, moves up a few steps and shakes the other leg. Out rolls a few turds.

Needless to say there was clean up in aisle 4

I worked at one of the tourist observation towers in Niagara Falls as a teenager. We got a lot of complaints on hazy days about the visibility even though there was a notice at the ticket counter. It was always on the tip of my tongue to respond......well could you see the top of this tower when you parked your car? Never did though.

Our MD's office has a poster notifying clients that if they are rude to their staff, they will be looking for a néw doctor. There is a doctor shortage in Ontario so people do not complain about the long waiting times!

Years ago we owned a 23 unit motel. My husband would run it on his own while I was nursing in another city. Well one night, this older couple came in and he rented them a room. When he went in to clean the room the next morning all of the furniture had disappeared. They had taken everything while he was asleep. Times were tough and we couldn't afford to replace the furniture immediately so that room stayed empty.

A couple of weeks later, doesn't this nice older couple come back again. Well my DH has a good memory when it comes to people. He gave them the same room...empty. They said nothing and neither did he. In the morning, when he went to clean the room, every bit of furniture had been returned.

Heather_on that is so funny! Reminded me of an incident that slipped my mind for a while. I've told it a few times but for those who haven't heard it...

When I had the computer store my house was broken into one day. I knew something was wrong since I was expecting a phone call so I was calling and checking messages a few times that day. Around 2pm I wasn't able to pick up the messages, can't remember whether it was nonstop busy or whether it didn't answer. Either way, I went home a little later and the front door had been kicked in, and my computer was gone along with the backup tapes and the TV from my bedroom of all things. After dealing with the insurance company and getting a settlement and replacing the unit I went into the repair room of the store and one of my partners was working on a computer. It caught my eye because the case was very unique. We had only bought two of those cases and I knew the one was in service a a customer's business and the other was mine. I looked a little closer and it didn't take more than a second for me to see it was *my* computer! My partner didn't realize it and it took a while before it sunk in. The guy who brought it in said it had been purchased from us, now how he'd know that, except I happen to be pretty confident I know who was involved in the theft. Anyway, I called the police and we worked out how to handle it when he would come in again. When he was ready to come in, we'd call 911 and they'd dispatch a squad and pick him up for questioning. His story was that he bought it from a guy outside of Kinko's. He let the police search his house to see if he had my monitor or any of the accessories or my TV and he didn't. At least that they found.

Although the data they were after wasn't kept on that computer or my backups, there was data I would have liked to have had back but the drives had been formatted and I wasn't allowed to do a forensic search on it. Oh well, they never could prove who did it. But it makes for a good story doesn't it?.

Oh, but it gets better. I talked to my neighbor and she said You know,(another neighbor) and I were talking - we saw a car going up and down the street, parked out front for the longest time and then was in your driveway. I said it's almost like they're casing the neighborhood! And I knew it wasn't your car when it was in your driveway. If you look up "dumb broad" I'll bet her picture in in there!

A friend told me that she was in a hurry one day, late for something or other, & had to stop at the store for something that she had promised to bring.

Just as she got to the check-out stand, the light over the register went out, but the young man told her to come ahead & he checked her out.

She handed him her change, something like $2 & thanked him for waiting for her.

He tried to hand it back, but she said, "no, that is for *you*. You've been working all day & it's time for you to go home & you could have, but you *helped* me & I appreciate it."

One year for fathers ay (in June) I bought my Dad a folding aluminum lounge chair from Sears. I set it up in the back yard. He climbed into it and it collapsed! Now my Dad was a small man, 5 feet 7, maybe 140 lb. The next day I took it back to Sears. They refused to take it back, because I didn't have a receipt, it could have come from anywhere . I went wild. I screamed "Look at the floor. They're still on display! My father could have been killed!" I went home with the chair, toseed it in the garbage. I really deserved a refund.

While working in a home center, I helped a family with their paint order. They had several kids that were running out of control, all over the store.They picked a hideous color, but it seemed to fit their personality, so I didn't argue.LOL I gave them all of the instructions and suggestions on how to paint their exterior. They even refused to buy primer because they felt that was just a sales ploy to get more money out of them! It took forever because they were chasing these darn kids. As they are leaving, Dad notices that we have some nice paint sprayers on sale. We explained even the tiniest details in how to use and care for it. Finally they left and everyone in the store let out a sigh of relief. About a month later Dad returns with the sprayer. It hadn't been cleaned so the nozzle was completely plugged up and he claimed it never worked from the beginning. Company policy was refund no questions asked. So he left a happy camper. Lo and behold
About 2 weeks later, in comes the Dad with the paint sprayer. Even that wasn't the kicker. Our sales rep from the paint company, came in and said he had been sent by their headquarters because of a customer complaint, and they would be meeting in the store, so he could follow them out to the country where they lived. You're ahead of me! Yes, it was the same family. Their complaint was that they had not been properly instructed on their project and the paint had been poorly mixed and the color was not correct. We were well covered, with not only their sample but lots numbers and all. What they wanted this time, was for us to come and prep thier house and at out cost repaint it. The rep brought back pictures and you could see nothing had been preped, even the windows were not cover and this clown had used the spray painter, we had ended up refunding, and every window and shrub within 20 feet of that place was painted! Thank goodness, he had gone after the paint company and they were not so generous and didn't approve any adjustment. I really wanted our manager to charge them with fraud for the sprayer, but of course they didn't. Idiots abound!
The other thing we dealt with at this store is we had an 80 year old klepto, that store small things like drill bits every trip to the store. He son was so embarrassed, but she seemed to always get the expensive ones and get several because they were small. LOL Working for the public is not for the faint of heart!

I just want to know, why, if you were a nurse for so many years yourself, you would call another nurse taking care of your family member and ask the same stupid questions over and over again? All the time, mentioning you are a nurse too and you know you are keeping them away from their work. Why do you call 5-6 times a day and and keep that nurse on the phone for 15 or 20 minutes each time? And why in the heck would you call the night shift nurse at 1:00 or 2:00 am? And no, once again I do not know who is working tonight. I didn't have time to look at the nightshift schedule...and frankly I don't give a dang who's coming in, as long as I get to go home. Not to mention, that if you are a nurse, you would know I couldn't give out that information anyway. And I hope to God I don't have your family member to take care of next time I work because I'd probably kill myself...oh, and it's not because of HIM.