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19th
November 2008:
So, it's official, The Tall Pole has been suspended. Not a good situation for him to be in. You see, at our place, the number of people who have been suspended stands at 6. The number of people who have survived suspension is 1. So, as I appear to have the knack of making people get fired or leave whenever I go on holiday, I think The Tall Pole will be the one to be vanished by my disappearance. Watch this space for updates. Then we had the old man come in. The guy who is a regular at ours. Always complaining. Always having something wrong. We all pretty much hate serving him. And for good reason. He is pretty much an arse over everything. He questions the prices on everything. Even when he is wrong. Which is often. But tonght he was just on fire. He came in and was hacking up phlegm about once a minute. Which leads me to my theory. I think he's a dragon. Not one of the rich guys from BBC 2's Dragon's Den (loving the behind the scenes show) but a big red fire breathing mythical creature. He sure sounded like one tonight. And then he beat the record for the stupidest request in the shop in our five year history. He asked for the cigarettes with tobacco in them. Well, that narrows it down to, well, all of them. I seriously worry about people sometimes. I mean, come on. Cigarettes with tobacco in them? And yes, I know there are the Inhalators and electronic cigarettes (getting some in January) but we don't sell either. And as a regular he should know that. I also had to deal with a situation I always hate dealing with. I think everyone in retail must have had this happen to them once or twice, and it's always uncomfortable. Telling a regular they can't have something. We have this little bisexual guy who comes in 3 or 4 times a week. I personally like the guy, but a few people have commented that he's annoying. I think the worst thing he does is keep trying to buy my watch off me. It's mine, and staying that way. Anyway, so tonight he came in and said in hushed tones "Would you get in much trouble for selling me a bottle of vodka?" I had to tell him I'd get fired, which made things uncomfortable between the two of us, and instead of our normal small talk after the transaction, he just walked off. Ouch. Now, time for a little question for all of you who use bricks and mortar shops. We had a customer tonight who held out his hand and looked at the coins he had and was trying to figure out if he could give me the exact change. Now, this leaves me with a problem because I figured out faster than he could that he could give me the correct change. And herein lies the problem. Do you tell the customer, thereby speeding up the process but potentially making them look stupid. Or do you do as I did, and let him get there on his own? Regulars can sometimes be a bad thing. They get to know you, become friendly with you, and then ask for things which are sometimes annoying. Like tonight. Tonight is a bitterly cold night. Even the manhole covers are frozen over. And this guy comes in who we serve a lot, and he has just lost his mother, unfortunately. Anyway, he comes in and asks how to use the air machine. I tell him, and about a minute later he comes in and says rather than filling his tyres, the machine has half deflated one of his tyres. Not good. So it's down to me to help him out, as Slaphead is on his break. And it's freezing outside. Now, the air machine gets it's air from, well, the surrounding air. And guess what the problem was? A hole in the air line which was right where your hand goes. So whilst I waited for my badly patched machine to fill the guy's tyres, I was having freezing cold air pumped all over my hand. Lovely. Lastly for tonight, I had the problem of the "cost" of having my final break. You see, Slaphead is great, he makes sure I get all my breaks, unlike other supervisors. But there is a cost. A fair one, but still a price to pay. You see, if I have my final break, Slaphead has his. Which leaves us a tiny bit understaffed when there are just two of you. And when he went for his break, half of Lymington arrived. The queue was back to the door twice, and both times I just kept calm, dealt with it, and actually did better than the kid who had been playing shops earlier. As I had to deal with his customer who was none too happy that he'd been short changed by £5. I knew this by the opening statement of "Oi! Where is he?" I calmed the customer down by asking what the matter was, and then giving him the fiver change he was owed. Luckily for me, it was still on the till! Permalink | |
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