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Hey! What’s the craziest story about working in retail you’ve got? If you don’t work in retail, maybe something you saw in a store. Cuz retail sucks, but there are moments of extreme ridiculousness.
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#1
LOOOOOOOOONG story. I got my clothes thrown away at JCPenney. Basically, I went into the dressing room to try on a pair of overalls, and I left my tshirt, shorts, and sandals behind me. I came out of the room to show my friend the overalls, her being in her own room with a dress or some sort. I was in her room for all of a minute. I came back into my dressing room, and all I could say was "Christine, my clothes are gone." so we ran around the store-I was barefoot, my shoes had gone as well-until we found an associate. Christine-my friend-went up to her and asked about the clothes. You know what the lady said? Completely nonchalantly, she just went "oh, yeah, I threw them away." you threw them away? And she was so obnoxious about it, just continuing to fold the underwear on the table. Christine and I were pissed, so we asked her where the clothes were. Her answer? "In the trash." I was so close to losing my nerve, so I said "Can you go get them for us?" and she just calmly stood up and started strolling away, acting like we had done something wrong. When she passed me, she looked at me and said "You're going to have to leave the store, sweetie. You're not allowed to be barefoot inside the store. Also, you're wearing our clothes, That's shoplifting." How rich. In the end, I got my clothes, and Christine asked for the manager. The lady? "oh, I am the manager." This obnoxious brat of a woman was the manager. Needless to say, I have not gone back to JCPenney since.
Final score:
3points
#2
Got another one!
Some guy came in, and I asked if I could help him.
He told me the Chinese caused the Coronavirus. And that the CEO of CBC was dumping cars into the Marianas Trench and that’s why he was so rich. And that he was the apostle Paul and he was there to tell me the truth.
And it went on and on! I’m not a forceful person, so I had no idea how to shut him down. My boss, a Vietnamese man, came up and asked if he needed help. The guy said that my boss didn’t understand and that he loved the Chinese. And then my boss told him to leave if he didn’t need anything.
I had to ask my coworker if it happened, cuz I wasn’t sure if it was a hallucination
Final score:
2points
#3
I have a few! Retail worker 6 years experience.
1) Had a guy come into the store with his mom. The guy was covered in blood like he got into a fight or something else not good. He had blood droplets crusted down his face and blood stained clothing. His Mom was all proud of him for some reason and said something like, "that's my boy!". Due was like 20-30 something. He also stole a lamp during that shopping trip. A customer came up to report witnessing it after he left.
2) Got accused of being racist more then once because I was following company policy. I am a white woman and the policies were literally enforced with everyone who ever walked into the store. I never understood why since I was white I was "racist" for following our company rules. It really hurt me actually that people could even think that.
3) Had someone threaten to report me to corporate because I followed the policy while my coworker was allowing this customer to keep stuff behind the register. I just let them know that I couldn't speak for my coworker but I was going to follow policy and that I wasn't going to hold items for them special as it was against policy. The lady got very irate and pointed at me and very dramaticly said, "I'm going to call corporate on this ONE! I'm going to get you fired!". I wonder how that worked for her. My coworker was very lashy at me after that so I assume she got in trouble for it.
4) FYI people use the bathroom in the dressing rooms! All the time! How we find out about it is touching wet clothing when cleaning the dressing rooms. Yes, we actually have touched your urine! I have no nice words for the people that think this action is acceptable...
Final score:
2points
#4
I’ll go first! People are always telling me about their dead relatives. ALWAYS. I work in tech sales, not a therapist. And it’ll just come up, randomly.
I had one lady come in, things took a bit longer with my computer. I was making small talk, asked what she was doing that weekend. And she just casually mentioned that she was going to her daughter’s funeral. I NEVER KNOW HOW TO RESPOND TO THAT.
Final score:
1point
#5
Me again! This one’s more a good story. I work at a smaller shop, not a chain. We have some regular customers, and even if a person is not a regular (as long as they’re polite) we tend to go out of our way to help, at no extra charge. Things like moving SIM cards, installing screen protectors and whatnot. We have one regular who comes in all the time for help and every time she hands out fancy pens and slips whoever helped her a $20. We aren’t supposed to take tips, but the boss looks the other way because we can’t get her to stop. It’s really sweet
Final score:
0points
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