Our Field Trip

On my day off I went on a "field trip" with another manager from my store. We drove to a nearby city to visit one of our company's stores. We had multiple reasons for doing so. The main reason was to pick up some items for a long-term customer who is just the sweetest lady and ever so nice. (We weren't getting paid for our time or the gas, so it was completely our choice to go.) Another customer wanted several of an expensive item that we usually only keep 1~2 in stock of. He was rather NOT so nice, but while we were over there, might as well pick up that item as well.

But ultimately (and the reason I got the help of the other manager) was because we hadn't seen our friend, the manager of the other store, for a while. We had a great visit with her and got some ideas for things to do in our store by looking at how she had her store set up and her stock displayed. The drive to and from was fun, and we didn't even get lost!

While there we saw a few other items that she had a sufficient quantity of but we were out of. In order for us to take those items, she MADE us take some other items that she had a zillion of but we didn't need. One of the items she had tons of we were low on, but the other............I didn't ask the store manager for permission on that one, as we already had too much of it ourselves.

When we arrived back at our store closing time was approaching. We grabbed a couple of employees and quickly unloaded everything, sneaking in the items that the store manager probably didn't want any more of. I went into the computer system and did everything there and filed all the paperwork away. Only then did I go and say hello to the store manager and let her know that the items were waiting for the customers to pick up. I didn't tell her about the other items. After all, we will sell them, eventually. In the meantime they're taking up room, sure, but she doesn't need to know where they came from!

Time-wasters

Yes, I do have other things to do than wait on you hand and foot: cleaning, stocking shelves, preparing for an important visitor.

"How much is this? How much is that?"

I answer, as I point to the shelf label.

"Where are the _______?"

Right behind you.

"Can you carry this to my car? I don't know what I'll do when I get home—I have to carry it up stairs!"

Big deal. It weighs like 10 pounds.

"What should I buy?" (asked after I've explained the merits of EVERY ITEM of that type).

It all depends on you........they do slightly different things, and you haven't told me what you want exactly. If you ever decide what you want the item to do for you, then I'll tell you what item you should buy.

Fat people need to lose some weight so they can carry things for themselves and pick things up and stoop to see prices. Old people need to get better glasses so I don't have to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS to them. People in general need to stop with the "I deserve everything for a discount just because I'm me" mentality. What happened to courtesy and respect and self-sufficiency?!

Moods

I let other people's moods affect me way too much. One of the other managers is up and down and all around all day long. One minute she can be bright and cherry and the next down in the dumps and saying life sucks. Refusing to be dragged along on her rollercoaster of emotions, I'm learning to be more independent of my surroundings. Today she was EXTREMELY moody so I just stayed away from her for most of the day. When I left I was just as cheery as when I'd arrived at work.

The manager messed up on our mystery shopper evaluation. It wasn't a bad one, but it wasn't good, either. Between her and the other employees on the report, they left out a few key parts of our service. She felt really bad and kept apologizing. It's cool, just do better next time. Yes it'll affect my pay slightly next month, but we all mess up. Thousands of customers a month—you can't do everything right with all of them. I tried to cheer her up, but she was still disappointed in herself.

Do You Work Here?

The day was fine, but there were lots of weird customers everywhere. I got asked "Do you work here?" a half-dozen times. I came SO close to saying, "No. I like dressing like this and I wear the nametag because I like everyone to remember my name." Or simply, "No," and walking off. Instead, I paused for a LONG time before answering with raised eyebrows and a "Are you stupid?" expression on my face, "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Can I help you?"

I mean, how difficult is it? I'll be sweeping the floor or merchandising new products or STANDING BEHIND THE CASH COUNTER and people will still come up to me and ask if I work there. HELLO! Do YOU usually clean the store when you go shopping?? Do stores YOU shop at let non-employees stand anywhere near the cash??

Is "Do you work here?" the way they ask for help? If so, they should say, "Excuse me, can you help me, please?" Oh, but that contains two polite phrases that they're too good to use with me, their lowly slave. Or is "Do you work here?" their way of saying that I'm not working hard enough? Well, first of all it's really none of their business how hard I'm working, but secondly, most of the time I'm working myself to death doing a dozen things at once. Or if they're confused because occasionally vendors or other people are around that are connected TO the store but not employees OF the store, then they can ask, "Can you help me?" Then if they're asking a vendor that, the vendor can say, "No, but I can get you someone who can."

How do you respond when asked that question? Got any responses that make the point that the person asking the question is stupid but without being offensive enough to get in trouble for?

Yuck!

I had a pretty good day, nothing out of the ordinary. Then I went grocery shopping and got an interesting phone call from work.

The manager on duty was on the phone and wanted my advice on how to take care of a problem. The cell reception was poor and I missed part of the problem. I thought she said there was a mess on the floor and how should she clean it up. You had to call me for this?! No big deal, we deal with messes all the time.

Me: "Just pick up the mess and put it in the trash!"

Her: "But I don't want to touch it!"

Me: "Use a paper towel if you don't want to touch it!"

Her: "Yuck! That's disgusting! It's the size of the phone! I can't believe this could have come out of a person. I don't know how they walked out of here after doing that."

Confused, I asked, "Uh……what was your problem again?"

I walked a couple of aisles over to a place with better reception and asked her to change to a better phone and speak up. She explained for a second time, "There's a HUGE turd in the toilet. It's the size of the phone receiver! The toilet won't flush because the handle's broken. How do I get rid of it?"

I started laughing. No wonder she didn't want to touch it!

I continued laughing, not necessarily about the situation, but at her response to it. She pretended to be put out by my inconsideration for her dilemma. She complained, "It happened on your shift! I just happened to walk in and find it!"

I continued to laugh. When I finally stopped I explained how to flush the toilet by pulling the thing inside the back.

"What if it overflows?"

"Then you turn off the water and do something else to fix it. Am I going to have to start checking the bathrooms as part of our 'changing of the guard' rituals?!"

I made fun of her for several days afterwards, asking her if she'd checked the bathrooms recently. Others joined in on the fun. We had our own little code words so customers who overheard wouldn't know what we were talking about. They looked at us with curiosity, wondering what we were laughing about. We shared the joke with our regulars, the ones we knew wouldn't be offended but would laugh along with us.