Ikonboard » Printable Version of Topic » People who complain to the wrong people

Forum: Rants
Topic: People who complain to the wrong people
started by: Firefox

Posted by Firefox on Jul. 12 2000,17:00

Something that has always pissed me off is people who complain to the wrong people. This is even more obvious now that I work as a cashier at a big grocery store.

It always bugged me how someone would go up to anyone in a uniform they could find to gripe about something completely unrelated to that person's job. For example, I worked as a gate attendant at the Calgary Stampede two years ago. I remember standing at the exit gate one day, very busy with other people, and having this old guy walk right up into my face while chewing on a hot dog, and then blurt "The guy said this is beef! I know beef, and this isn't beef!! This is NOT beef!" Luckily, his handler... ERRR.... daughter grabbed him and got him to move on before I could scream "Wow, really? That's amazing! You know what would be even MORE amazing?? If you actually went to the guy that fuckin' SELLS the hotdogs and bitch to him!!" I'm a flippin' gate attendant. I make minimum wage to take tickets, stamp hands, etc... Did you stop to THINK for five seconds, you senile old coot, that maybe I don't have ANYTHING to do with hotdogs that are sold on the other side of the whole exhibition grounds??

Or today at work at the store... this guy (he was old too... old people who complain should be a whole separate rant) walks up to me to pay for a few things, and grunts and murmurs at everything I say. Gee, I don't expect everyone to be chipper and eager, but a simple "Hi" would be great when I greet them. Then after paying, he says "I'll have you know that there is something extremely slippery in the produce section! I almost slipped and killed myself! I told the cashier over there and she didn't do a damn thing about it!" Wow, that is terrible! We all know that the primary duty of a cashier is to worry about spills on the other side of the store. I mean, it just wouldn't make any sense to go up to one of the 10 produce employees standing around the produce section, whose sole job it is to clean up spills and put out fruit. I mean, why would you ask one of them when you could ask a cashier, who is obviously much more involved in the spill-cleaning process.

All I wish is that people would stop and think for a second "Now, who should I complain to?" before they do it. If they are too stupid to find someone who works in the specific department, they should at least complain to Customer Service, because then their complaints are actually heard. It's not like you hear me calling up head office to say "And there was a man very dissapointed with our produce section, so you guys better fix things up right away!"

Sheesh. People.

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX

Posted by iso9k on Jul. 12 2000,20:35

What can I do about it? I just sit at my terminal. You are complaining to the wrong guy.

Posted by Firefox on Jul. 13 2000,19:22

Lol. But this is a RANT. Not a complaint... it's different.

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX

Posted by aventari on Jul. 14 2000,01:39

hey firefox, dont hold it all in man, it's unhealthy. tell us how you _really_ feel!

hehe j/k

------------------
aventari
"new and improved :)"

Posted by Sithiee on Jul. 15 2000,03:20

yknow what i hate?...when someone makes an observation, and assumes that everyone agrees with them, and so they say it in a holier than thou attitude....

for example, a while ago i was in the car with my dad goin to school and dynamite hack's boys in the hood came on the radio, and yknow how its all like "reached back like a pimp and i slapped the ho" and such, and then he says "well geez, thats really sexist!" as though i agreed heartily. i caught him completely offguard with the facts that i actually happen to like the song, and that ITS A FUCKING SATIRE!!!!!!...how could it be any more obvious????? i mean you could paint a black stripe down the middle of a white canvas, and that would still be less obvious than this....ok, ill stop ranting and go sleepies now. bye.

Posted by Firefox on Jul. 15 2000,04:53

Yeah, I've had that happen too.

-FFox

Posted by Istari on Aug. 04 2000,01:35

quote:
Originally posted by Firefox:
All I wish is that people would stop and think for a second "Now, who should I complain to?" before they do it. If they are too stupid to find someone who works in the specific department, they should at least complain to Customer Service, because then their complaints are actually heard.

No! Don't send the idiots to me! It's my job as a Customer Service Representative at CompUSA to deal with these "people." Let them figure it out on their own--most of the time they can with no problems. If they have a serious concern, then by all means come to me, but they better lose the attitude first. I just smile and laugh at them when they leave.

And don't try to bring back open software dammit! I know you're just copying it and returning it for your money back. Smart bastards.

--------
Istari

Posted by Firefox on Aug. 04 2000,22:39

quote:
Originally posted by Istari:
No! Don't send the idiots to me! It's my job as a Customer Service Representative at CompUSA to deal with these "people." Let them figure it out on their own--most of the time they can with no problems. If they have a serious concern, then by all means come to me, but they better lose the attitude first. I just smile and laugh at them when they leave.
And don't try to bring back open software dammit! I know you're just copying it and returning it for your money back. Smart bastards.

--------
Istari

Yeah, well figuring things out themselves seems to be way too much effort for these people... they need someone, ANYONE to bitch at...

What I hate the most is when people bitch at me about stuff I KNOW they are wrong about. So often, people say "Wait, that price is wrong! It's not ฟ, it's two for ŭ!! I saw it right on the sticker!! I did!" And then they argue and argue and finally they go check the price, then come back all sheepish and say "Uhm... I guess that was for something else... honestly, the prices should be marked clearer..."

Yess... that's it. It's not your fault at all, it's the people marking prices. It doesn't have anything to do with you being a stupid flipping moron, it's everyone elses' fault.I just wish people would start to take more responsibility for themselves in everything they do. I'm sick and tired of the "pass the buck" game in our society.

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX

Posted by nautilus on Aug. 05 2000,15:42

I don't mind taking responsibility for things that are my fault, but I can't be expected to take the blame for every damn thing that goes wrong. A couple of days ago, there was a water main break here in Pittsburgh like a block and a half from the hotel where I work. It was a 21" pipe 8ft underground, the city workers said it was the worst they had ever seen, so of course we were out of water from like 8am to 7pm. So without water we have no AC, no one can shower, our housemen were bringing up buckets of water from the pool so people could pee, and we bought almost all the drinking water the local grocery store had. Most importantly though, when I came on at 3pm to start the check-in shift we had no rooms ready b/c housekeeping can't clean and ready a room without water. Now, I fully understand being tired after travelling for a long time (I used to drive from Baton Rouge to Pittsburgh every summer, 2 days each way) and not having a room ready is certainly an inconvenience, but people were coming in, bitching at me like I made the pipe break, and getting all in my face wanting to know what I'm gonna do about it. What the fuck do you want me to do? I'm just a lowly little front desk associate, it's not like I have any power with the city and repair crews, and only our GMs or front office manager have the power to offer any sort of compensation. I'm doing the only thing I can: sweating my ass off in this hot as fuck uniform, calmly trying to explain the situation to all of you pompous jerks, and getting bitched at for my efforts.

Damn that night sucked. Thank goodness I had yesterday and today off. I feel much better now.

Posted by Firefox on Aug. 06 2000,04:29

quote:
Originally posted by nautilus:
..but people were coming in, bitching at me like I made the pipe break, and getting all in my face wanting to know what I'm gonna do about it. What the fuck do you want me to do? I'm just a lowly little front desk associate, it's not like I have any power with the city and repair crews, and only our GMs or front office manager have the power to offer any sort of compensation.

I feel for you man. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about- I mean, I feel like saying "Yeah, I'm sorry, I wish things weren't the way they are, but seriously, what can I POSSIBLY do about it??"

What good is yelling at a desk clerk over a broken water main? I mean, sheesh, some people should TRY to have a little perspective. I would be pissed too, but sometimes shit happens, and jumping up and down and whining like a friggin 5 year old doesn't help, so we need to sack it up and live with it as best we can.

I feel for ya.

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX

Posted by Firefox on Aug. 07 2000,02:34

I had the perfect example today- a lady at the store bought a 逤 barbecue plus a bunch of groceries, for a total of roughly 񘋰... so she just slaps down this cheque for 񘋰, expecting that we can just take it instantly... of course, my supervisors had to call the banks to double check, and everything, and she got furious. I mean, I sympathize with her, because she did have to stand there for like 10 minutes or so while they ran verifications, and I would be annoyed too, but what the hell does she expect?? With the number of "rubber" cheques floating around, does she think the store would be stupid enough to take a cheque from a complete stranger for well over a thousand bucks without doing a few checks on it? Sheesh...

And of course, she took her frustration out on ME and my supervisor... I felt like telling her to call up the head office if she really had a complaint, because there ain't a god damned thing I can do about it (even if I wanted to).

Phshaw.

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX

Posted by kai on Aug. 07 2000,04:59

I know exactly what you mean. I work at a grociery store too. i check/bag/stock and all sorts of other shit. One thing i hate is the fact that ppl assume that we have the price of every produce item memmorized. we have codes for that sort of thing. such as grapes you enter 4023 PLU. i can understand how a person would just not think about something like that. but when you are searching for the number to enter and they tell you every five seconds that those are 25 cents a pound it gets on your nervers REAL fast. and our checkers are dumbasses so when they send the groceries down the belt they squish everything. and guess who gets yelled at. me. it's bullshit. also people break our f'n carts all the time. they must think that if it doesn't go the first time then pushing harder must be the answer. aggghh i really can't stand people. plus they all tell you stupid shit like "oh and put all my cold stuff together". well no shit. I don't go to their place of work and tell them how to do their job.

Posted by Sithiee on Aug. 07 2000,11:44

about the code memorizing stuff, you can tell youve been at a job too long when you have memorized them. the people at the safeway i go to, the people who have been there a long time (i.e. the ones who tell me to say hi to my mom for them) all have the codes for pastries and produce memorized. personally i dont see how anyone could stay in the job that long...i dunno though..

Posted by Istari on Aug. 08 2000,00:00

You know what scared the hell out of me a week ago? Realizing that I had the number to Equifax (our check company), as well as the number to Visa/MC memorized. Felt very weird...and I've only been there a month.

On another topic, isn't it great that people on the phone will ask you "Why is my system so slow?" and expect you to diagnose their problems (for free) and fix them? I will try, but only if I'm not with customer--if I am they just get put on hold. :-)

------
Istari

Beware the man with the hold button....

Posted by kai on Aug. 08 2000,03:38

actually i started memorizing the codes after like 5 days to a week. they're only 4 digits and you use them a lot every day.

Posted by nautilus on Aug. 08 2000,15:50

What's scary is when you haven't worked somewhere for like a year and a half and you still remember all the codes. I haven't worked at Hallmark for that long, and I could still tell you practically all of our register codes. Granted, I worked there for like 3 years, but still....

Posted by Istari on Aug. 09 2000,01:39

Anyone else find it fun to list the ways you can steal from the store you work at? As a customer and as an employee. It's just so easy...but I haven't succumbed to the temptation, yet. :-)

------
Istari

Wanna know how to get a 3 thousand dollar system from CompUSA for free?

Posted by j0eSmith on Aug. 09 2000,04:08

I've got a good example of this..

I work at Chevron part time, mostly just doing gopher work. There are times, however when I work in the office. Wait on customers, answer phone, etc. One of these times a lady called up and I answered

"Good Afternoon, Chevron Canada"

And she said

"Oh hello _chevron_" and I just knew she was going to whine. Which she did, aparently somebody had gotten a tidytank full of the wrong, more expensive diesel sometime last month, but she decided to blame it on us because one of our diesel pumps went down the previous weekend (the billing for which wouldn't have gone through yet etc etc). She also complained about paying too much for it. After she finished all this I spoke for the second time.

"Uh-huh. I can't really help you on that but if you call back in 5-10 minutes, Tammi (my boss/Head Honcho) will be back and she can easily answer all your questions."

her:"Oh.. okay. bye." And she never did call back.

If she would've taken as second to think she may have realized.. wait, maybe the person who answered the phone can't answer all my questions and unfounded complaints..maybe I should ask.. no I'll just proceed to waste thier time instead. This isn't as bad as the people who come into the office and see me, obiously just a parttime employee (I'm 16.. its pretty obvious) and start asking me questions about billing and when Head Office will be lowering prices and how much of a discount Joes Dingo Farm is getting on AssLube. And then after I either tell them I don't know or try to look it up, they glare, or just get really impainent and say, well I'll just buy these 2 bottles of Oil. And I wanna pay cash too. Cash. At a bulkstaion. You have no idea what type of a hassel that is. But thats another rant all together.

People who expect too much out of a buisness.
or..
If you want you fucking gas pumped for you goto a gas station asshole.

------------------
When my flying days are over, and my death has come to pass
I hope they bury me upside down, so the whole damn world can kiss my ass

Posted by Firefox on Aug. 12 2000,04:35

I so feel for all you guys. I try to treat store staff so nice, because I know what it's like to be on the other end of the stick. If only people could just chill out a little bit more and be a little bit happier...

About codes, I had to memorize the majority of our produce codes (well over 100) before I even started. Green grapes 4022, red grapes 4023, pineapple 4029, Daikon (Japanese Radish) 4598, Baby Bok Choy 4544...

How's that for sad.

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX

Posted by Sithiee on Aug. 13 2000,00:34

well i finally have something to add to this.

my bathroom door handle is broken. it was broken by the people who painted the house because they couldnt reinstall it right. anyway, my grandma decided to use my bathroom the other day(why, i have no fucking clue) and then she got stuck in it. after waking me up with her yelling and banging at 10 in the morning, she continued to yell at me like there was some way to open it from the outside (of which i dont know) and then when she finally got it open, she lectured at me for having a broken handle as though i thought it was fucking cool that i get stuck in my bathroom. she refused to believe that my dad (her son) was too lazy to go buy a replacement or hire someone to fix it for him. i told her like 10 times to complain to my dad too, and she hasnt said a word to him about it....anyway, i thought id share

Posted by Firefox on Aug. 13 2000,16:33

Is this your dad's house? Then why on earth is she blaming you? Holy crap, I would be miffed myself.

Yesterday at work, I had a lady who disputed a price, so the price checker goes and checks it, the price that the lady thought was right was for a smaller size, so she bitches and whines "oh well SUE me I didn't have a damn ruler what do you expect...". Then like 3 items later she disputes another price, so I get the checker to go check it, and for whatever reason he takes forever (the price checkers are another rant altogether), finally he finds it and... wow, wouldn't you believe, it's for a DIFFERENT SIZE TOO... she goes on whining and complaining, and I felt like telling her "Gee, if the difference between 60 cents for a notebook and 80 cents is so absolutely critical, maybe next time you will actually take the time to read the prices PROPERLY!!"

Then she starts bitching about "Well, I SWEAR it was this price, I swear, I am certain..." Let's see... who is more reliable? A complicated computer system that tracks prices and is right 99.9\% of the time, plus staff who know the store like the back of their hand verifying prices, OR some old lady who already wrongly interpreted a price, and is probably just venting at the store so the other people in line won't think she is a fucking idiot? (Too late! Muahaha! )

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX

Posted by Sithiee on Aug. 14 2000,00:33

yeah, my parents own it. anyway, were staing a week in this house at the beach. i being the geek that i am brought my comp, and my mom said the only way i was allowed to go online was if i let other people go on too. anyway, my grandma asked me if she could use it, and i figured she just wanted to check her email and such, so i told her id let her use it later. then (later) my mom comes in and tells me that my grandma is all pissed off that i havent let her use it yet (and she only asked me once) and then when i get off and let her use it, she starts telling me how when i used to visit her she would always let me on and whatever right away. this is considering she never even used it in the first place. it turns out that she was worried about communicating with her mother or something, and was bitching at me as though i knew and was conspiring against her....now i spose this isnt a case of complaining to the wrong person, more of a why the hell am i getting lectured kinda thing....but it was sort of a continuation...

Posted by j0eSmith on Aug. 15 2000,07:26

christ Sith, thats a helluva family you have going there. That reminds me of a < www.plif.com > comic which I am too damn lazy to bother looking up.

Somebody needs to invent FuckOff in a can. Just point and spray..

------------------
When my flying days are over, and my death has come to pass
I hope they bury me upside down, so the whole damn world can kiss my ass

[This message has been edited by j0eSmith (edited August 15, 2000).]

Posted by Firefox on Aug. 16 2000,17:12

That would be so awesome. I want go get fuckoff in a can. In fact, I just may print myself up a "FUCKOFF-in-a-can" sticker and stick it on an old aerosol can... we can dream, can't we?

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX

Posted by Sithiee on Aug. 16 2000,22:24

ill take 3 cases!

Posted by Ozymandias on Aug. 17 2000,21:54

That would be great.

(Idiot:) "HEY!"
(Me:) ....
(Idiot procceeds to blather on about something completely inane and ridiculous, wasting valuable minutes of my concentration time)
(I spray.)
(Idiot:) AAAAHHH! FUCK! IT BURNS, IT BURNS!!
(Idiot runs off.)
(I smile.)

------------------
But where is Gamera?

Posted by Sithiee on Aug. 18 2000,01:19

i dunno, i think the can should pull like in the matrix, with not being able to speak, that would completely solve the problem.

Posted by Firefox on Aug. 18 2000,17:19

I always thought it would be great to have a remote control for real life. Is someone is pissing you off, just mute them. Or even better, fast forward them out of your life ASAP.

-FFox

------------------
ICQ: 436346

"A christian, an anarchist-slash-prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom. Not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart."
-NOFX