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Retail

Ava Collopy

    Ah retail... in the charity shop today helping out and wound up at the counter dealing with an annoying customer returning a jacket for store credit. She said it was $8-10, she couldn’t recall, and had no receipt. She tried jackets on at the counter instead of the fitting room, asked me sizes when she couldn’t find them as if I have special clothing size powers. Kept changing her mind and putting them in different piles, confusing me as to what she was and wasn’t getting. Pointed out minor wear on a few things (it’s a secondhand shop! And the prices are really low already!) Finally, got things totaled up, took $10 off to give her the benefit of the doubt, and reduced it slightly just because I was tired, sick, and wanted rid of her. Naturally she stood there and argued with me about $13 for 3-4 things.
    She gave me $12 in change then kept saying she had no more, made a show of checking all her pockets, counting out her dimes and nickels, etc. Then said, would you give me this for $10? I said no, it’s $13. Then gave me $12. I said it’s $13. She argued, argued, then said ‘well take something back then’. So I did. I removed the cheapest item, the pants for $3. She said ‘really? You’re going to argue with me over $1?!’ etc. etc. Went on for several minutes, acted like I needed to be told how to do my job, acted like I was being rude. I suggested she was kind of harassing me and that I was tired and sick... she interrupted and said maybe I was having a bad day and if I was sick I shouldn’t come in, and ‘it’s a charity shop!’ she said. I said ‘yeah—it’s all for charity. We need the money as it’s for charity, and I’m a volunteer’.
    Many people HAVE TO work when they’re sick besides.
    She said ‘you’d do that after I asked about volunteering and I’m going to bring stuff down and I have no more change’... I don’t know if she has more change, what paper money she has, if she’ll come back to donate, and what she’d donate—over 50% of what I’ve gotten in donations in the shop in the past 6 mos. has been rubbish that had to be binned immediately. People literally bring us their garbage that they don’t seem to know how to get rid of. We have a regular bin—no skip/ dumpster—emptied every other week. We aren’t a garbage site. People are supposed to wait for employee approval but many rush to leave us their rubbish (or sneak it onto our bin when we’re not looking). Besides, she’d been completely irritating up until that point and none of us recognized her—she wasn’t a regular customer and had no receipt so we were doing a favor by letting her return an admittedly nice-looking jacket.
    She argued and talked about all the things she bought on Monday, if we’d just check our records... so we did. No such sales on Monday. She said it must have been Tuesday... checked the book, no such sales Tuesday.
    ...She continued but I said no. I put the pants under the counter and said we could hold them for her—I’d put a note on them. Took the $10 in change and gave her back the other $2. I kept saying, I gave you the benefit of the doubt on $10 for the jacket, was nice on the price of the rest since you’re buying a few things on one go (and didn’t say all the pieces have been changed and upped since I was last in so it caught me off guard), this is charity. It’s $13. She kept saying I must be having a bad day. My day was fine actually. I told her I’m just fed up with customers asking for lower prices on already good prices. I’m just simply fed up with it and you’re already getting a great deal. She complained that we gave no receipts—I said we do, just ask for one. One of the other girls in the shop backed me up on it. The customer was still mad but took the items I’d bagged for her and left.
    The two other women customers in the shop at the time all shared looks with us and chatted a bit that that woman was a real problem—not us. Jaysus! That is probably the worst customer I personally have had so far. Oh well, experience makes us stronger. She was plainly full of shit, and on top of that rude. We still don’t know if the jacket she brought in was bought at our store or not. Now we’re wondering if we should keep the return for exchange within 7 days policy or have to say all sales final.
    So, for anyone who was wondering, THAT is the other 5-10% of customers that ruin things and make stricter policies for everyone else.
    On a different day I went to volunteer and the front door of the shop was locked but besides that it looked open. There was a customer waiting outside. She followed me to my bicycle, asking what I was going to do, and if the shop was going to be opened. I told her I had no key and didn’t have the new manager’s number so there was nothing I could do. I left and came back and the shop was still closed. I called the shop number and couldn’t get through. The customer stayed right near, talking about how she needed to get ready for some party... I wasn’t listening. I didn’t have a key so I decided to just go home. She pointed out a dress to me through the window and insisted I hold it for her as soon as I got in. I said okay and was polite then left. I couldn’t believe she actually thought I cared. Of course I don’t care.
    One customer got my phone number and rang me on a Sunday afternoon. The shop is always closed on Sundays. I told her it was my personal number but she insisted on talking to me anyway. I cut her off saying, you can’t call me on this number, and hung up.

    ... #assholecustomers

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