Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
From age 15 till about 30 I worked restaurants on and off to pay for school tuition etc...cause I could only handle each place for about a year.
Working with hungry people and their money can get touchy altho I loved working with the public.
Also more and more of the cooks and bus boys did not speak english and you get tired of having to be the "interpreter" for the customer/cook when their order isn't correct from the kitchen. Alot of customers take out mistakes on your tips.
I used to work in customer service (the 1-800) for a bank. This guy called one time to report his credit card stolen. He was kind of laughing and joking around...when he said "some black guy" had his card and was trying to use it to buy furniture in another state, I was like, whatever (I'm half black myself).
So I ask him all the usual questions, tell him he'll get his new card in 7-10 business days and ask if there's anything else I can help him with. "No, not unless you want to go burn a cross in his front yard for me...(heh, heh, heh)". Silence from me. "OK, well I guess I better stop now". Yeah, maybe you should...
A lady one time called and told me she had just been at the branch and they "jew'd" her out of her money. I said "excuse me" twice because I wasn't sure if I was hearing her right and she kept repeating it. That's the only time I've ever head that expression used and I was just thinking, ok, I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think you're supposed to be saying stuff like that (I was 21 or 22 at the time).
Then there was the lady who wanted to know why she couldn't get money from her account with us, out of one of our ATMs, using her card from an entirely different bank.
One girl wanted to put a stop payment on a check she wrote at a store a few days earlier. She had returned most of what she bought (minus about $3 worth) and received cash back from the return, but needed to place a stop payment on the check so the store wouldn't get their money since she had already returned the bigger item. I spent at least 5 minutes explaining why a stop payment in this case was not warranted.
I work at a Customer Service and it is not only the customers that can leave you scratching your head. I had a delivery person call and asked for directions from one city to another. When I asked where he was he replied "Does that really matter. I want to come to your store." When I said it would help he hesitated and then let me know.
Rosie50, some of my best trucking stories involve customer directions (or lack thereof...) I usually try to speak with the Shipping/Receiving folks when I call the customer, they usually know how big a truck is and about things like truck routes and HAZMAT requirements. But every now and then, I'll get a curve ball:
"How do I get to your firm?" I asked the young woman on the phone. "I dunno, I take the bus" was her reply.
Tried to find a company in what used to be the old Curtiss-Wright Aircraft factory in New Jersey. the directions in our company computer were VERY confusing (Some are entered by drivers...) Anyway, EVEN with a map from Luigi (after he gave me some very animated directions with his hands waving) it still took me another hour to get there...
Delivering cosmetics to a firm in Campbell, CA, the lady said "Take Hwy 101 to CA 85, go West..." The next morning, I approach the CA 85 exit only to see a HUGE sign that said "NO TRUCKS"...
I worked in a retail pharmacy for 5 years, many moons ago. I was working at a very busy store during Friday rush hour, and we were short-handed. That shift was the pharmacist's very first shift by herself, and she was fresh out of school.
A doctor's office had called in a prescription for a pain medication that was brand new on the market (Norco - hydrocodone and low dose acetaminophen)). I had not heard of it, and the pharmacist didn't know what it was either (this was back in the day before pharmacies had Internet access). I thought maybe we misunderstood the order, so I paged the doctor after office hours to get it clarified. He finally called back and I explained the situation. He was testy with me and said, 'You're a pharmacist, and you don't know what Norco is?' I told him that we didn't have the drug, and I asked if we could give something else for the time being, and I would call around to see if another pharmacy had it and transfer the order, so the patient wouldn't have to go running all over town. He said he really wanted to give that one in particular because the acetaminophen dose was smaller (and the patient did have liver problems that I knew of - the doctor wasn't being unreasonable). I told the doctor that we had Vicoprofen (hydrocodone and ibuprofen), which was also new on the market at the time - it had the same dose of hydrocodone as the Norco and no acetaminophen, so I thought it would be a reasonable substitute for the time being. And wouldn't you know it, but the pain management specialist had not heard of it.
He asked me what it was and I replied, 'You're a pain management specialist, and you don't know what Vicoprofen is?'
It was a rare damn-it-feels-good-to-be-a-gangsta moment.
Years ago I worked for a public official and a constituent called and was going on about how she had heard that people were getting AIDS from cats. Finally, about the third time she said that, I replied in the most serious tone of voice, "Yes, but that's only when they have intercourse with them." The call ended shortly after that!
I'll "turn the tables" and give an example of a hillarious comment I observed as a customer.
While traveling through Kentucky in early November, I stopped for gas at a busy station off I-75 in the morning. It was unusually cold for that time of year (27)
After pumping for a long time, I realized I had only pumped about i gallon. I shut it off at $4.00.
When I went in to pay,the young woman smiled and said , "$4.00 please"
I stated I pumped a long time and wondered what the problem was.
She had a blank look, then quickly smiled and said," It's cold out this morning. Pumps are running slow"
(I repeated what she said to other frustrated people filling their car, and they stated----"they are nearly out of gas here. It's happened before, but they won't admit it"
I have a B.S in B.A. (which I fondly call my Bachelor of Science in Bad Attitudes) with a hotel/restaurant major.... from age 16 onward, I have worked in fast food, pizza parlors, a golf course, 3 hotels as a maid, front desk clerk and reservation agent, car rental agency (only survived that for 3 months), secretary in an insurance office, and, as my primary career, as a travel agent. I feel like I have done and seen it all!
A few quick stories...
-a very young, very sheltered engaged couple walks into the agency shortly after the movie Titanic was released wanting to book a cruise for their honeymoon. As we are looking at brochures and discussing their options... the young bride looks at me and says "I am just terrified of the boat sinking... are there icebergs in the Caribbean???" Oh honey... go back to school before you get married!
Did you know that it is ALWAYS the travel agent's fault if your plane is delayed due to weather or mechanical issues?? Arggghhhh!
I am currently supplimenting my home-based travel agency income (since the MI economy is in the toilet and nobody can afford their homes let alone travel) with a part-time position at a local "quick service" company. Unfortunately, this restaurant is known for it's coffee, which is considered "premium", and therefore feels it does not need to give free refills to those who come in to eat. This restaurant just opened a month ago and is in a primarily senior-citizen oriented location... with a McD's and a Burger King just down the road. If I have to hear "well, if you don't give refills, I'll just take my business down the road" one more time.... I have to admit... if I get fired for anything, it will be for finding any reason to give people a free refill! They throw away so much coffee... it truly is a ridiculous rule.
One last note... I am in a supervisory position at the above-mentioned restaurant... a note to those who have teenagers taking a customer service job.... please make sure your kids understand proper grammer! I can't count the number of times I've corrected my teenage workers for saying "them doughnuts" or "no nothing" or not greeting or thanking people properly! It's my biggest pet-peeve in customer service because using a few polite words is the easiest way to present a professional and welcoming atmosphere.
I used to work with the general public ( at a convience store ) and the overnight shift noless. Even at those hours, never really had any problems with the public...that is until one night some woman comes in at 2am asked if we had any "movie tickets" to sell. Seems she heard from a local TV newscast that the chain I worked for was selling discounted movie tickets.
I told her I didn't know anything about this. She went off cussing and yelling. Kept saying "..so channel 7 is lying ...huh?" She even DEMANDED I call up that TV station .
I did and got in touch with their newsroom. I asked them if they knew anything about my chain selling those tickets, they said they did not but even that didn't stop this woman. Now SHE wanted to talk to channel 7.
Kept going on "..I heard so and so on Eyewitness News last night saying that this place is selling tickets..you are liars !!". She cussed the heck out of the people at channel 7 calling them liars and such. Then she throws the phone at me and left the store.
It doesnt stop there..a few minutes later channel 7 calls me back and they DEMAND to know who this woman was and if I could even get her license number because they ( channel 7 ) wanted to sue her for slander for calling them liars.
..all over movie tickets which are worth..maybe 5 dollars.
I forgot to mention that I handed out food samples at Costco for a while... you should see how picky and nasty people can be about free food samples! I could never believe it when they'd start little fights with each other in line about who was taking too many, who was there first, etc. Or complain to me about the taste of something. I always tried to be nice... but sometimes I felt like yelling...."Look people, it's a free food sample! Be greatful you can walk through the store and get a free lunch!"
I forgot to mention that I handed out food samples at Costco for a while... you should see how picky and nasty people can be about free food samples! I could never believe it when they'd start little fights with each other in line about who was taking too many, who was there first, etc. Or complain to me about the taste of something. I always tried to be nice... but sometimes I felt like yelling...."Look people, it's a free food sample! Be greatful you can walk through the store and get a free lunch!"
I believe it !!!!!!
Last year my wife and I attended a convention in Denver. Stopped by a King Soopers supermarket ( well Kroger actually..same company ). They were giving out free sample and we saw two grown men getting it to tiff with each other becasue one's sample was bigger than the other.
On top of that, we saw a yong woman with a child in her cart more/less blocking access to their customer service counter. An older man and his wife asked the woman to move the cart but the woman was too busy yacking on her cell phone. The man had enough, he moved the cart a few inches so he and his wife can get by. The woman screams "PERVERT" "Stay the f*ck away from my child you molestor !!". The other customers got into the act telling the woman that they moved the cart just to get through but the woman kept on saying how men of the age of the guy who moved her cart often rape young children and no man will ever touch her daughter. Whatever !!
The store security told the woman she had to leave.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) it still took me another hour to get there...
