My Annual Holiday Rant!

So, in case you didn't all know, I work for Borders Books, Music and Cafe in Hollywood, CA. This time of year is what makes or breaks a company, or at least an individual store within said company. This year's holiday season is one that's making our store look awesome, with a HUGE volume in sales everyday. I enjoy working during the holiday season, because things get so crazy that before you know it, those hellish eight hours of customer service are over and done with.

Now here's my rant. I can't stand people who come in and think that they are the most important person in the world. I can't stand people who think asking to speak to a manager is going to help them in any situation. I can't stand people who don't realize that we - the people employed in these less than glamourous retail jobs - are people as well.

I recount for you a few tales from the trenches today.

After ringing people up at the register for nearly four hours straight today, I had a nice-looking elderly woman come to my register with a DVD. I asked her how she was and if she had found everything, and the transaction seemed pretty routine. When I finished the transaction, I said, as I had said to the fifty billion customers before her, "Alright, you're all set, have a great day!" She looked at me and said,

"Where's my thank you? Aren't you going to thank me for shopping here?"

I looked at her totally stunned. "Sure..... Thanks."

She threw me off for a good ten minutes. Was I really not providing the quality service that customers were expecting from me by not thanking them for shopping at Borders? We have greeters at the doors who's JOB it is to thank people for choosing Borders, is it necessary that I say the exact same thing?

Then there's the woman who purchased something from me, and asked for FREE giftwrap. I said, "Yes, we have a local charity organization on the other side of the store doing gift wrapping for us today." She scowled at me and said, "You expect me to walk to the other side of the store?"

"Well, that's where the free giftwrapping is."

She grabbed her bag and headed toward the door. "I can't believe this. I really don't have time for this," she said in quite an angry tone. I smiled and nodded as she walked out.

Finally, the winner for the WORST customer today...

I was ringing people up when a woman came up with some ribbon. I greeted her and started ringing up her few items when she told me that she had a large bag of merchandise that someone was holding behind the register because she couldn't possibly have carried it around the store with her. I looked around and found nothing, so I called the cashier at the other register bank, and he said it was up there. I informed her of this, and she said, "Who's gonna go get it for me?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Can someone go and get it for me, because I parked on this side of the store, and the guy that helped me should have brought it here."

Again, I was stunned, but told her I would take care of it. I went to the other side and picked up her stuff, and made my way back.

"Here you go." I said pleasantly.

"Some other guy had some stuff that he was going to bring over here for me, can you find it for me?" Of course I agreed, now internally fuming at this woman's expectation that now three different employees had devoted some substantial amount of time so that she had to put no effort in at all. I finally tracked down the employee that had helped her, and brought the merchandise to the register.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" I asked in the nicest possible tone that I could muster.

"Actually I was hoping you could find another book for me." She said, as she is being rung up by another cashier. The line was starting to extend its way across the store as I waited on this single customer, but again I agreed to help her. So I looked the book up, but we did not have it in stock. She asked for another, which was also out of stock. She asked for a third - one she already had one copy of, but now wanted a second - but she had gotten the last copy. Overall she spent a fair amount of money, but the constant attention she demanded did not make it worth it. When she was finished paying, she asked if we did giftwrapping....

I swear....

So the moral of this tale is that I firmly believe that ever single person should be required by law to work at least one year of food service and one year of retail, so instead of treating us like we are customer service robots, they understand the hard work and humanity of the situation.

And John Forrest is my hero (Check out the first paragraph of the entry on 9/23/04 and you'll see why.

I can't wait till 9pm on Christmas Eve, then all of it will be over.