A Small Request For The Season

[Calamity Kris]

Tis the season for shopping and family and shopping and gifts and shopping..............

 

I would like to make one small request.  Maybe it will become contagious and more people will follow suit.

Please exercise patience and kindness while out purchasing items for friends and family this season .  Those of us lowly clerks who are stuck in retail h*ll are doing the best we can with what we are given.

 

• We don't make the schedules so I'm sorry there aren't enough people to serve you in a timely manner.  We are doing the best we can.
• We don't purchase or manufacture the merchandise so I'm sorry we don't have that particular item you want.  If it is something we carry, we will do the best we can to find it for you.
• We are not a playground so I'm sorry your child was hurt playing chase in the store.  {They are your responsibility after all......}
• We would prefer you pay for items your children are playing with before they open the package.  Opening packages then leaving items strewn on the floor can cause injuries as well as missing items that will need to be written off, causing prices to go up...........
• If you need only one or two pieces out of a multi pack set, please let us know and we'll try to find the pieces for you.  Removing those pieces from the set causes inventory issues and will make us write off the set, causing prices to go up................
• If you decide you don't want the item in your hands, please give it to an employee or put it back where it came from instead of throwing it on the floor or stuffing it on a shelf.  The hours we have to spend cleaning up behind the people who do that add to the cost of doing business and cause prices to go up........
• If you need to throw something in the garbage and a garbage can isn't readily available, please let one of us know and we can help you find a place to dispose of the item. Stuffing leftover fast food cups and wrappers etc. on the nearest shelf frequently causes damage to the merchandise nearby causing prices to go up..........
• We have restrooms for little ones {or big ones} with sticky hands.  The first fabric item you find is not a good place to wipe them.  Having to write off an item because is was used to wipe hands and face also causes prices to go up...........
• If you see we are assisting other customers, we will be with you as soon as we are able.  Tapping fingers on the counter, throwing items or shouting at us won't make assisting the customer we are currently helping go any faster.  They have just as much right to our assistance as you do.

 

Thank you all for listening. 

 

{Can you tell I've had a rough black weekend?}

 

Thanks,

CK

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Well said and pretty well spell out why I'm no longer in any retail business and hate shopping.

 

Thanks.

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

Already did. Went to the dollar store on Thanksgiving for a couple things, thanked the clerk for being there and wanted to buy her a treat. Bought her a couple of Twix bars. She seemed quite surprised.....and grateful! Good thought Kris. Pass it on!

JHC

[Wild Will Bartell]

Kris,

What you described in your post is just plain common courtesy/ common sense. Too bad that these attributes seem to be  lacking in today’s world. I thank you and folks like you for dealing with the public during this stressful ( for some) time of the year. As Col. Dan would say, ‘Soldier on’.

WWB

[Texas Lizard]

Put your feet and have a glass of something adult...Two if you feel a real need...

 

TL

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Ima Is a frontend supervisor at a very busy Sams Club in Palmdale.

What Kris sayz is spot on-BUT, rarely seen today as folks are plain RUDE. 

 

OLG

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

55 minutes ago, Calamity Kris said:

If you decide you don't want the item in your hands, please give it to an employee or put it back where it came from instead of throwing it on the floor or stuffing it on a shelf.

 

 

That is one of my pet peeves about other shoppers. A half gallon of ice cream left on the magazine rack, a steak left on the shelf next to the chips, etc.   It doesn't take anything to put it back or, if you are too lazy, when you get to the checker say, "I'm sorry, but this is a go-back."     I don't do it often, but I get a big smile and "Thank you!" when I do.

 

I try to greet the checker, ask how their shift is going, commiserate if they are just going on.  

 

A great post, CK.  Thank you.

[DocWard]

I literally had dreams about Black Friday a couple of nights back. Posted on Facebook, tagging all of my friends from Gander Mountain. We got quite a laugh out of it.

 

I do the best I can to let those working retail that I appreciate their efforts.

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

Last night the woman ahead of me in line was just plainly rude, and the clerk was patient.
I've seen the clerk before, she's one of those sweet girls you just can't help but like.
I was next after that rude customer and I thanked her (the clerk, not the rude customer) for bringing her smile to work with her today.
I do things like that rather often.
I've been in the public service all my life, and too often the public ends up looking like the north end of a south bound horse.

[Rye Miles #13621]

God bless all the retail clerks, it's such a thankless job!

 

Merry Christmas to all of them!!

[Sedalia Dave]

If you really want to brighten their day. Thank them for helping you and use their name when doing so.  All of them are wearing a name badge so take the time to look at it and simply say Thank You Rita, Mary, John, Steve etc while watching their facial expression. Trust me it is worth it.

[Chili Ron]

Howdy,

I was in and out of retail from time to time.

Im pretty sure most all forms of employment have crunch times.

Waitresses complain about the holidays but when customers come in

by the BUSLOAD its GOT to be a very profitable day.

 

the thing that bugs me is when a clerk asks if I found everything

and I say No and tell her what I didn't find.

It never gets written down or recorded in any way.

Why bother asking?

Best

CR

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

3 hours ago, Chili Ron said:

clerk asks if I found everything

and I say No and tell her what I didn't find.

 

When asked what I couldn't find my standard reply is "Sanity "   Usually brings a chuckle.    On guy stocking shelves ask if he could help me find something.   "Sanity?  Nope.  The load with that jackknifed and burned. "

 

 

Another told me to check aisle 30.  Only 14 aisles in the storr.

[Calamity Kris]

Thank you all for the sweet comments.  I really appreciate it.

 

The sad part is all of those items were borne out of things that really happened.  If I didn't need the job, trust me i wouldn't be here.

[Pat Riot]

Kris, I agree 100%.

Too bad more people can’t see your post...like some people I saw at Target and Kohl’s yesterday. Sheesh!

 

I have always tried to be respectful to those that do a service for me and that includes store and shop personnel. 

 

 

[Calamity Kris]

22 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

 

That is one of my pet peeves about other shoppers. A half gallon of ice cream left on the magazine rack, a steak left on the shelf next to the chips, etc.   It doesn't take anything to put it back or, if you are too lazy, when you get to the checker say, "I'm sorry, but this is a go-back."     I don't do it often, but I get a big smile and "Thank you!" when I do.

 

I try to greet the checker, ask how their shift is going, commiserate if they are just going on.  

 

A great post, CK.  Thank you.

 

I work in a fabric/crafts store.  This comment came from a younger couple (late 20's to early 30's) and one of their set of parents (mid 50's max) who came in just before closing looking for a red fabric to match some chair cushions.  They would pull a bolt of fabric off the shelf to compare to their cushions.  If the fabric didn't match, they dropped the bolt on the floor and pulled out another one.  When we finally closed I went through the aisles they had been in and there were about a dozen bolts of red fabric in each aisle on the floor.  Some had been stepped on, some had been kicked under the racks.................  I was fit to be tied.................