The Customer
She came to the window clutching an half filled trolley with one hand and a can of deodorant in the other. The trolley she'd parked in the narrow lane-way inconvenienced person after person. Her opening gambit was "I bought this before Christmas; I can't remember if I bought it here or at X (rival store). Anyway it's defective, since you stock it can I take a replacement." First instinct is, without proof of purchase, answer must be no.
She pulled out great handfuls of receipts from her purse; most of which it must be said are ours. She hasn't brought her reading glasses so I start pouring over the receipts. Not a sign of a can of deodorant. I'm praying I'll find one so that I can get rid of a woman who has 'difficult' stamped all over her. No such luck. Consult more experienced colleague who concurs: no receipt, no replacement.
Mrs Difficult goes off insisting that she'll never shop here again.
Some time later....
I'm attending a call at one of the check-outs and am cornered by Mrs Difficult who wants to know where the Manager is so she can discuss the matter with her. Happily Manager1 is in my line of sight, so I point her out and get on with my job. After the conversation ends Manager1 takes me to one side to explain that she has overruled me and given the woman her replacement can of deodorant.
And later again ....
I get called out to one of the checkouts. Seems one of our customers would like a replacement of a tin of cheap curry sauce that has a rather large dent in it. I find the shelf space and lo there is one last can of the stuff. It too has a dent but nowhere near as large. Back at the till I point out that the item is on BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free for the uninitiated), and since she already has her satisfactory tin, and this (the one with the lesser dent) is the last one we have it is the best I can do. Since she's already getting it free I am, I'm afraid, unable to offer a discount.
I leave her with her slightly dented tin of cheap curry sauce and hear, later, that she continues to mutter "she could have taken something off" all the way out of the store. In essence she expected me to pay her to take the second can of sauce!
No prizes for guessing who this last customer was!
She pulled out great handfuls of receipts from her purse; most of which it must be said are ours. She hasn't brought her reading glasses so I start pouring over the receipts. Not a sign of a can of deodorant. I'm praying I'll find one so that I can get rid of a woman who has 'difficult' stamped all over her. No such luck. Consult more experienced colleague who concurs: no receipt, no replacement.
Mrs Difficult goes off insisting that she'll never shop here again.
Some time later....
I'm attending a call at one of the check-outs and am cornered by Mrs Difficult who wants to know where the Manager is so she can discuss the matter with her. Happily Manager1 is in my line of sight, so I point her out and get on with my job. After the conversation ends Manager1 takes me to one side to explain that she has overruled me and given the woman her replacement can of deodorant.
And later again ....
I get called out to one of the checkouts. Seems one of our customers would like a replacement of a tin of cheap curry sauce that has a rather large dent in it. I find the shelf space and lo there is one last can of the stuff. It too has a dent but nowhere near as large. Back at the till I point out that the item is on BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free for the uninitiated), and since she already has her satisfactory tin, and this (the one with the lesser dent) is the last one we have it is the best I can do. Since she's already getting it free I am, I'm afraid, unable to offer a discount.
I leave her with her slightly dented tin of cheap curry sauce and hear, later, that she continues to mutter "she could have taken something off" all the way out of the store. In essence she expected me to pay her to take the second can of sauce!
No prizes for guessing who this last customer was!
posted by Enyo @ 11:19 pm
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