Where Am I?

So I haven't updated recently. There's nothing too interesting going on in the world of Target and I'm in the middle of a whole week off from the hellhole! I didn't even ask for this weekend off, but they gave it to me. What I did ask off was next weekend, but of course I work.

I'm nearing the end of this semester and after next Thursday, I'll be done! I'm so excited for this summer because it will be boatloads of fun. A bunch of us Target folk are all about the outside activities because it is only decent weather for about 3 months. We've already gotten in kickball, rollerblading, tennis, and a few parties. It's so much fun because the co-workers at my store are great.

Wonder why I'm such a good mood? Could it have something to do with me not working for a week? No, never. ;)

One Person Can Change Everything

So now that I see the light at the end of the tunnel, it makes me want to run as fast as possible to get to it. I’m done with my store at the very latest July 31. Every single bitchy person that I encounter makes me think of that day. And I’m glad.

Well, my computer is done being a shitface for the time being so here I am again. Perfect timing too because Doris came in tonight. The ‘buy shitloads of clearance stuff only to return it weeks later’ and has some of her receipts but because she waits until she has bags and bags of shit to return, it would take longer to use the receipts. So we use handy-dandy receipt look-up. I don’t know where I would be without it. Anywho, she comes in at 9:45 with 4 bags of clothing packed full. Fifteen minutes before close and four bags of shit. Her comment, “I thought this would be a good time.” Wrong! The best time would be right away in the morning. So I start doing my receipt look-ups and she doesn’t know which is on what transaction so I end up doing a majority of items by themselves. (Thank fucking god we’re getting our POS update NEXT week! Of course it couldn’t have been this week when I actually needed it) And Doris is just chatting away the reasons why she’s returning them. We’ve all heard it before; they don’t fit your granddaughter. You would think after buying so much clothing for her that she would know the size by now, but no! I see one item doesn’t have the tags or any numbers so I save that until later. I’m doing pretty good, I finish all but that one item in ten minutes. There had to be at least 35 items on 15 different receipt look-ups. So I tell her to go find the same thing and bring it up so I could use the numbers from that to attempt to find it. She comes back and it’s a no go. So like always she flips out about how she paid for it with her credit card and why she even bothers using her credit card because “we told her she could use it to do look-ups.” I tell her, like we always do, that receipt look-up isn’t 100% (but it’s damn close) and it’s always better to have a receipt. We then go through her stack of receipts she has. Not in there. She bitches more about how it should be on the card, and because it’s now after close I tell her she has 2 options: no-receipt return, or find the receipt. So I try to do the no-receipt return. I must’ve forgotten who I was dealing with; she had already used her 2 that Target allows per year. I’m pretty sure she burned those 2 up with me on the same day back when I knew little about her habits. So she bitches more and then I tell her she now has one option: find the receipt! She bitches about how it’s probably with her daughter because she kept some stuff. I give my classic ‘And?’ shrug and just stare at her. She goes on about I ruined her night because she was out $9. I ruined YOUR night!? How about you were ruining mine? How about whenever you come in you are so difficult to help because it’s your own damn fault you don’t have all the receipts?

It’s no wonder the head cashiers have Doris on their ‘Want to Ban’ list. After she said I ruined her night, I was expecting to hear her say she would stop shopping there. Did I hear it? Nope, which only means this will play out again and again. At least I have my light at the end of the tunnel.

I also cashier-trained. One person. They waste my time training on one person. At least group them together so I have a bunch, but one person is pointless. Yet there I am every Wednesday night training and more often then not, it’s one person.

I better get a good fucking raise. I deserve it.

Stupid Computer

Well, my laptop is on the fritz for whatever reason, and so I haven't been able to do my posts as frequently as I'd like. For now, I'll just use my old PC to update this whenever I can.

But anyways, GOOD NEWS! I got into my pharmacy program! So I'll be moving there in August, which means the end of my reign at my current Target. :( I'm leaning towards transferring to a Target with a pharmacy down there, so I could get some pharmacy experience. And also keep my wonderous pay (I should be around $9/hour after my May raise!) and also to have something to fall back upon if need be. It'll definitely be sad leaving all the great (and some not so great) people at my store and I can already see myself tearing up on my last day. It'll be bittersweet for sure.

So my supervisors are already freaking out because two of the best Guest Service people are leaving, myself and Amanda. Amanda will be doing some internship this summer. Well anyways, no one really goes above and beyond at GS except for us, so they want me to be a mentor to someone, which is nice to hear. Everyone up there knows the policies and everything, but some just need to go further with it. I consider myself responsible for the department and I'm kinda a perfectionist so it's very clean and organized. I also know more than anyone in our store about Guest Service and have encountered nearly everything that could happen up there. I just think they need people with initiative to learn in order to be the best in Guest Service, or anywhere for that matter.

So my Canadian rants will definitely slow down as I'm sure I won't be seeing nearly as many as them. THANK GOD! But if I work in the pharmacy, I'm sure to encounter a whole brand new set of guests.

I can't think of any rude/dumb people lately simply because I'm so happy I can see the end of the tunnel that some don't even matter anymore. But I'll definitely still share stories!

I just remembered one! And you thought you would see a post without bitching...
So this guy walks in with a mud-encrusted bike. "I'm from Canada (oh great) and this bike broke the first time my son used it, I just want to do an exchange." Now I don't know if any of you are familiar with Target and their bikes, but it's not fun although it does make sense. So I tell him that we have to let the bike guy come in and try to fix it and if he can't then we can refund his money. He freaks out saying that he's from Canada and won't be back down here and all that good stuff. He asks for a manager. I call the head cashier up. She says the same thing I did, then the LOD came up and told him the same thing we had said. Turns out the bike guy was coming in the next day and that was ok with our lovely Canadian. So I have him fill out his information and he leaves. I notice his last name was O'Toole. Knowing me, I blurt out, "How fitting." My supervisor just laughs. I didn't have the pleasure of dealing with him the next day so I don't know how the situation was handled.

And like every Easter Saturday (yes, the day before Easter Sunday) we always run out of something. This year we ran out of hams and Easter grass. And of course people were bitchy. Why are you waiting until the day before Easter to get Easter shit!? It just doesn't make sense. And now it's all on clearance... oh boy.

Until next time...

Rough

It was a rough day yesterday. Well today should be even better, all the Canadians return the stuff they just bought for who knows what reason.

There were a lot of rude people, most of which I didn't have to encounter. But the best part is when I first got up to GS and I was talking to the other GSTMs and I said I'd be the one to get all the bitchy people, the phone rang, and I said "Exhibit A" before I even answered it. I pick it up and this woman tells me about how her daughter put her wedding gifts in a storage place in September and now wants to return them. Since that is way past the 90 days, I told her that the receipts would be expired and that she would have to do the whole no-receipt exchange. She freaks out saying the policy is stupid that we should be able to do it because it is stuff from Target. I tell her we have a 90 return policy and she continues to berate me. She tells me how she's old and didn't read the receipt and didn't know it expired. Nevermind that the return policy is on the back of every receipt. So I get sick of her yelling at me because all she is doing is arguing with me so I pull out the "I can get a supervisor for you to talk to" but no, she still keeps bitching and telling me she's going to come in and talk to a manager. Fine, go right ahead.

What don't people 'get' about 90 days? Who cares if it's from Target, that's not a factor in the return policy! It doesn't say 90 days with a valid receipt but we'll still take it back after that if we still sell it. If 90 isn't reasonable, then what is? 6 months? A year? 5 years? Why does that make sense? When you make a purchase from anywhere, you agree to all their terms, including the return policy. It is your responsibility as a consumer to know about these before you buy something.

My co-workers got much more rude people than I did. One guy asked for a manager and when he came up the guy TOLD him that we have 2 options, refund his money or he would leave his computer with us and we could install his computer game. The manager told him sternly that we wouldn't be doing either. (He had a open computer game, and could only be exchanged for the exact same thing)

I don't understand why anyone would be such an asshole to a complete stranger all over a return policy. What ever happened to acting like an adult?

More Fun

Of course it was busy, why the hell wouldn't it be?

I pull into the parking lot at noon on a FRIDAY and it looks like it's a busy Saturday, but this was NOON on a FRIDAY. Well yet again we were on a skeleton crew where even one person calling in sick affects the whole store. One of the cart attendants called in sick, so the LODs actually did some work and brought carts in. 3 salesfloor people called in so the LODs did returns to help. The closers were there until 11:40, a full hour and forty minutes AFTER close. And of course tonight will be worse and of course I close. I have to do the ad and everything, so I'm usually doing my Guest Service business until 11. But I just fucking hate the way they run the store. You know it's Canadian spring break, you know it's going to be REALLY busy, and yet we have no hours to show it. All so the LODs and STL get their bonuses because god forbid they actually care about the employees who got them their bonuses. I feel like the store shouldn't be judged on sales because there is really nothing we can do to control them (besides having MORE people on to help guests) and more on both guest and employee satisfaction.

So onto something else. I was already talking about how the no receipt limit was dropping to $40, then $20, but I didn't know it dropped to $40 TOMORROW! I get to work too so that should be fun. I believe August 1 is when it drops down to $20 but since there is NO communication in our store, I don't know for sure. Yes, change a very important fact about our job, but don't tell us about it. Great business plan.

I suppose I can end the bitter bitchfest here...for now.

"The Customer Is Always Right" Is Wrong

I found this excellent article "Top 5 reasons why 'The customer is always right' is wrong" and I'll post it here so you can read it. It's available at http://positivesharing.com/2006/07/why-the-customer-is-always-right-results-in-bad-customer-service/. This goes beyond my hatred for some people and focuses more on the business side of things.

When the customer isn’t right - for your business
One woman who frequently flew on Southwest, was constantly disappointed with every aspect of the company’s operation. In fact, she became known as the “Pen Pal” because after every flight she wrote in with a complaint.
She didn’t like the fact that the company didn’t assign seats; she didn’t like the absence of a first-class section; she didn’t like not having a meal in flight; she didn’t like Southwest’s boarding procedure; she didn’t like the flight attendants’ sporty uniforms and the casual atmosphere.
Her last letter, reciting a litany of complaints, momentarily stumped Southwest’s customer relations people. They bumped it up to Herb’s [Kelleher, CEO of Southwest] desk, with a note: ‘This one’s yours.’
In sixty seconds, Kelleher wrote back and said, ‘Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb.’”
The phrase “The customer is always right” was originally coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridge’s department store in London in 1909, and is typically used by businesses to:
Convince customers that they will get good service at this company
Convince employees to give customers good service
Fortunately more and more businesses are abandoning this maxim - ironically because it leads to bad customer service.
Here are the top five reasons why “The customer is always right” is wrong.

1: It makes employees unhappy
Gordon Bethune is a brash Texan (as is Herb Kelleher, coincidentally) who is best known for turning Continental Airlines around “From Worst to First,” a story told in his book of the same title from 1998. He wanted to make sure that both customers and employees liked the way Continental treated them, so he made it very clear that the maxim “the customer is always right” didn’t hold sway at Continental.
In conflicts between employees and unruly customers he would consistently side with his people. Here’s how he puts it:
When we run into customers that we can’t reel back in, our loyalty is with our employees. They have to put up with this stuff every day. Just because you buy a ticket does not give you the right to abuse our employees . . .
We run more than 3 million people through our books every month. One or two of those people are going to be unreasonable, demanding jerks. When it’s a choice between supporting your employees, who work with you every day and make your product what it is, or some irate jerk who demands a free ticket to Paris because you ran out of peanuts, whose side are you going to be on?
You can’t treat your employees like serfs. You have to value them . . . If they think that you won’t support them when a customer is out of line, even the smallest problem can cause resentment.
So Bethune trusts his people over unreasonable customers. What I like about this attitude is that it balances employees and customers, where the “always right” maxim squarely favors the customer - which is not a good idea, because, as Bethune says, it causes resentment among employees.
Of course there are plenty of examples of bad employees giving lousy customer service. But trying to solve this by declaring the customer “always right” is counter-productive.
2: It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage
Using the slogan “The customer is always right” abusive customers can demand just about anything - they’re right by definition, aren’t they? This makes the employees’ job that much harder, when trying to rein them in.
Also, it means that abusive people get better treatment and conditions than nice people. That always seemed wrong to me, and it makes much more sense to be nice to the nice customers to keep them coming back.
3: Some customers are bad for business
Most businesses think that “the more customers the better”. But some customers are quite simply bad for business.
Danish IT service provider ServiceGruppen proudly tell this story:
One of our service technicians arrived at a customer’s site for a maintenance task, and to his great shock was treated very rudely by the customer.
When he’d finished the task and returned to the office, he told management about his experience. They promptly cancelled the customer’s contract.
Just like Kelleher dismissed the irate lady who kept complaining (but somehow also kept flying on Southwest), ServiceGruppen fired a bad customer. Note that it was not even a matter of a financial calculation - not a question of whether either company would make or lose money on that customer in the long run. It was a simple matter of respect and dignity and of treating their employees right.
4: It results in worse customer service
Rosenbluth International, a corporate travel agency, took it even further. CEO Hal Rosenbluth wrote an excellent book about their approach called Put The Customer Second - Put your people first and watch’em kick butt.
Rosenbluth argues that when you put the employees first, they put the customers first. Put employees first, and they will be happy at work. Employees who are happy at work give better customer service because:
They care more about other people, including customers
They have more energy
They are happy, meaning they are more fun to talk to and interact with
They are more motivated
On the other hand, when the company and management consistently side with customers instead of with employees, it sends a clear message that:
Employees are not valued
That treating employees fairly is not important
That employees have no right to respect from customers
That employees have to put up with everything from customers
When this attitude prevails, employees stop caring about service. At that point, real good service is almost impossible - the best customers can hope for is fake good service. You know the kind I mean: corteous on the surface only.
5: Some customers are just plain wrong
Herb Kelleher agrees, as this passage From Nuts! the excellent book about Southwest Airlines shows:
Herb Kelleher […] makes it clear that his employees come first — even if it means dismissing customers. But aren’t customers always right? “No, they are not,” Kelleher snaps. “And I think that’s one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don’t carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, ‘Fly somebody else. Don’t abuse our people.’”
If you still think that the customer is always right, read this story from Bethune’s book “From Worst to First”:
A Continental flight attendant once was offended by a passenger’s child wearing a hat with Nazi and KKK emblems on it. It was pretty offensive stuff, so the attendant went to the kid’s father and asked him to put away the hat. “No,” the guy said. “My kid can wear what he wants, and I don’t care who likes it.”
The flight attendant went into the cockpit and got the first officer, who explained to the passenger the FAA regulation that makes it a crime to interfere with the duties of a crew member. The hat was causing other passengers and the crew discomfort, and that interfered with the flight attendant’s duties. The guy better put away the hat.
He did, but he didn’t like it. He wrote many nasty letters. We made every effort to explain our policy and the federal air regulations, but he wasn’t hearing it. He even showed up in our executive suite to discuss the matter with me. I let him sit out there. I didn’t want to see him and I didn’t want to listen to him. He bought a ticket on our airplane, and that means we’ll take him where he wants to go. But if he’s going to be rude and offensive, he’s welcome to fly another airline.
The fact is that some customers are just plain wrong, that businesses are better of without them, and that managers siding with unreasonable customers over employees is a very bad idea, that results in worse customer service.
So put your people first. And watch them put the customers first.

Things Are A Changing

Well, we're right in the middle of Canadian spring break and from what I hear, it's a complete disaster at my store. They've been there for ~2 hours past closing. THAT'S MIDNIGHT! That's completely unacceptable in my book. They KNOW when Canadian spring break is but yet every year, we don't have enough scheduling. I can only describe it as busy like Christmas shopping. It's nuts. But, we only have scheduling for a normal weekday in March. It fucking pisses me off. I'm not looking forward to closing Saturday because it will be BAD. I'm guessing even past midnight. I will not be a happy camper that day.

What I don't get is why Canadians are willing to spend a week in our city. There's barely enough to do here to last a weekend, but it seems like they come into Target EVERYDAY. Why? I have no idea. And another thing, why does the WHOLE country have spring break? I have yet to see college-aged students, it's all middle-aged women who think they're hot and old people. Gross. And it would be a cold day in hell before they'd leave their CANADA shirts/sweatshirts at home. We can tell you're from Canada without the flag plastered over every item on you.

But now to my blog title, Target is changing an aspect of the no receipt policy. For the good you think? Hell no! It's becoming even more limited. When we get our new Point-Of-Sale software, it will only allow us to do items under $40 without a receipt. The whole exchanging thing will stay the same. It used to be items under $100. But that's not all! We'll eventually phase out the $40 limit and replace it with a $20 one! Oh joy! I have no dates when this is happening, but it will be sometime this year. I'm not excited because if we thought people were assholes before, it's only going to get worse. But a way to combat this is to keep ALL of your receipts because within 90 days, you can still return pretty much the world.

I'll be closing tonight, so be sure to watch the ugly pink box in the sideline to hear what it's like at my store in real time. I'm so not looking forward to tonight.

How Do You Take A Magnet Off?

Yep that rude people magnet that I have attached to me is really working.

Wednesday, the very first person I help is a bitch. She bought something back in November and so the receipt expired in February. Well because the receipt was expired, we couldn't use it. It was still in our system though, so we could do a no-receipt (because hers was no longer valid) exchange and the item was about $30. So one item from the same department for equal or greater value and blah blah blah. She is one of the many people that ask for a giftcard (again, if it were an option I would have said so) and then demands a manager. The manager comes up and tells her the exact same thing I did. And then of course it always ends with the person screaming that they will never step foot in a Target again. Ok, bye, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. It's always fun when you get a Noreceiptus majorbitchus as your very first person. Things can only get better. Riiiiiiiight, which leads me to...

The scammers. Or Scammeri drunkus. You could smell the beer rolling off these two. So I see them walking from the electronics department with a DVD-VCR combo. Normal nonscammers bring in their stuff in from outside. But because there were no security people there, I couldn't do a thing, and that's what sucked. So they bring their "return" up to me and it comes up as $76.99 as the lowest price. Same no-receipt policy as before, no need to repeat myself. So they grab Guitar Hero II and that's $79.99. So I start to process it and because the DVD/VCR combo has a serial number, and so I type it in, and wow, it can't find it! Meaning it hasn't been purchased! So I tell them that I am unable to return it without a valid receipt. They both go into a fit. From saying "Can we get someone else up here who knows what they're doing?" , "Just let us pay for the difference now, and you can get it to work later." to "We can sell this at a pawn shop." How many more red flags do I need!? So because we weren't able to do the exchange, they walked out with the DVD/VCR combo, and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.

Bringing me to today... This I'm really pissed about. So this lady comes up to Guest Service with at least a two foot long receipt. It was dated March 3. She claims she forgot to use her Target Rewards card where she gets 10% off. Had it been the same day, it would have taken 2 minutes tops. But because it was from a previous day, in order for me to get it to work, I would have to type in EVERY SINGLE THING ON THE RECEIPT and refund it, and then once again type in EVERY SINGLE THING ON THE RECEIPT to repurchase it. On a (at least) two foot long receipt totaling ~$350, and of course it was mostly consisting of items under $1. So as I'm typing everything in to return it, the way our system is set up is that if it's a perishable food item, it will make you defect it out. Because nothing was actually being returned, it's going to mess up our inventory, all to please a (soon to be found out later, bitchy) guest. So I finally finish returning it, and give her the cash back. Then I start typing it all back in for the repurchase, but this time I have to make sure she isn't being overcharged for items (because it WAS 20 days ago!) and of course some items are lower than what she purchased them for, and I can't change them up because the computer wouldn't let me, so she's getting even more of a discount. Well, I finally finish and we use her Rewards card and she saves $35 and I take her Rewards card and she pays. Well, then she asks for her discount card back (because it can be used all day) and I was furious enough so I turned to Chelsey, who was up there SOLELY because I had spent 45 MINUTES(!!!!!) helping her when I didn't need to. Chelsey tells her no because it would've been used March 5 and so she couldn't get the benefit of using it two days. She also complained that she didn't want to buy it that day and was going to return everything that day and rebuy everything today, if she could use her discount. Well yes! But since that was not the case, she got pissed and said 'Thanks!' in a bitchy way and walked off.
Are you kidding me!? I spent 45 minutes so you could get a $35 discount and you have the nerve to complain that you can't use it further!? But what really pissed me off is that this bitch's mom walks up and asks her what's taking so long. Thank god I didn't hear her or else I would have went OFF on her. I'm doing you a favor, and since you want it done so badly, you do not deserve to complain. I was about to send her shopping when I started, but then I figured that if I'm going to stand her and do this (TO BE NICE!) then she could stand there with me also. So now after that ordeal, the head cashiers decided that people only have 3 days to come in and fix stuff like this.

Which brings me to this: I'm sick of being nice to people. I would say 90% of the time where I do something nice (that I don't HAVE to do), people still bitch and moan. I can be an asshole. I can be insensitive. But the truth is, I don't have a mean bone in my body unless you constantly press my buttons. All I ask is that I'm treated with respect, but sadly I rarely ever am. You think retail is easy? Try it. By all means, I'll even train you in! And then we'll see how you like being constantly and consistently treated like shit day in and day out. So for all you non-retailers out there: Be respectful! I can honestly say that I have not fully helped someone (compared to how much I could have helped them) simply based on their attitude towards me. You may think that's mean of me, but why do they deserve it? If you can't be nice to me, you don't deserve a thing.

End of rant.

Well, I Asked For It

Yesterday I made a post saying that I wanted today to be just as "fun" as yesterday, and I got the icing on the cake.

So I get a phone call at Guest Service and this lady wants an adjustment. She bought it on 3/3 making it 15 days. Our adjustment policy is 14 days. I tell her this over the phone, and say that I've encountered a few times where it let me adjust it after the fact and that we didn't know until we tried it in the store. I did not guarantee her anything, I just told her we could try it.
So she and her 20-something kid came into the store to try it. It didn't work, just my luck. The lady freaks out in all senses of the word basically bitching at me. She yells that why did I tell her she could do it if she couldn't. I told her I only said she could come in and try it, and that I didn't guarantee her anything. She starts bitching that if it was only 14 days, then why did I say we could try it. Because it sometimes lets us. So I get sick of her bitching at me and call up the head cashier to take care of it. They totally back me up and get the bitch to leave. But not before the son (of the bitch--haha) starts yelling, "FUCK THIS PLACE! FUCK THIS PLACE!" The mom is still arguing with the head cashier and me saying (to me), "If you work up here, you should know the policy." No, bitch, wrong thing to say. I say, "I DO know the policy." I could bet you $1 billion I know more about Guest Service than anyone in our store including the managers. She's also bitching that she had to make a 10-minute trip here. Oh boohoo. And then as they walk off, the woman turns around, "Wal-mart would've done it." Well, you're not in Wal-mart dear! I say as soon as she disappears, "I have a feeling we'll be seeing them again." Not even 30 seconds later she comes back up. Great. She's then asking if she will get cash back if she comes in to exchange it. We get that whole thing figured out and she leaves to get the item. But she said, "We'll be right back, he lives right over there" and points. But I thought it was a 10 minute drive? Hmm...

There were other rude people but she took the cake. And I must've had a rude people magnet on me.

Back Into The Swing Of Things

Yeah, the nice people had to take this weekend off because we had a lot of rude people.

I experienced a few "fun" people:

This woman lost her keys and was freaking out because of it. I understand, but this lady was a bitch. She comes up and asks me if any keys were turned in. Nope. Then she asks me to page overhead for everyone in the store to check their carts for her keys. Hell no. I tell her that I'm unable to do that because the only thing I'm allowed to do overhead is page someone. She freaks out. "So I'm just SOL then!? I can't check every cart!" I give her this shrug and just tell her I can't make the page for her. I tell her I can call up a supervisor for her to talk to but that's about it. She storms off and just then is when a cashier finds her keys on the lane she was just at. I hope she drops them down into the sewer and can't get them out. Page that bitch.

Then this whole no receipt exchange thing is getting out of control. Some people are just bitchy. One guy had something from infants that was $19.99 and it was a gift so he didn't have a receipt. Here goes the conversation:
Me-"Without a receipt, you'll have to exchange this for one item from infants that is $19.99 or greater."
Asshole-"Can't you give me a giftcard!?" (Did I fucking mention one!?)
M-"Not without a receipt. You'll have to exchange it for another item from infants that's 19.99 or greater."
A-"Then just give me a giftcard to do that."
M-"No, you'll have to do the exchange up here."
So he walks away and bitches to his wife (loudly so I guess I could hear) and they walk off. Oh, too bad it's the end of my shift and I can leave.

There was also this woman who challenged it right as it came out of my mouth, and I'm sick of people treating me like crap so I explained everything so the little sweetheart could understand. She was also bitching that you're only allowed two no receipt returns/exchanges per year to which I corrected her saying, "Target requires a receipt for all returns and exchanges, and they do allow two exceptions per 12 month period." Bitch, if you want to go by the real policy, I'd have no problem. I'm helping YOU out.

Then there was this woman who already used her two but bitched because she was just exchanging and that "it wasn't a return." Exchanging is RETURNING an item and buying another one. Returning is a part of an exchange, but you are technically still returning something to the store.

Here's to hoping that tomorrow is just as fun!

"Keep using them"

So no big issues at work today, it was kinda slow with some spurts of activity.

But something happened to my friend back in domestics. So you know about those dumbass shoes with the wheel in them (Heelies or whatever), well you can't use them in the store because it's just like rollerblades and stuff like that. It's not safe! Well, my friend saw them earlier and then heard one of them yell 'wipeout.' So, because she doesn't want to get in trouble for one of the kids using them, she went and told them they couldn't use them in the store. The mother of the kids told them, "Keep using them" and walked off. So she went and told our security person, but they had already left.

But honestly, I get the whole 'Don't tell my kids what to do' shtick, but when you are in a PUBLIC place especially one full of people, you can have some consideration for others. Because who would the mom blame if her kid hurt themself...the store! Because no one has any personal responsibility anymore. If I were my friend, I would have told her to leave right then and there.

Coincidence?

So today I was genuinely being nice to people and I didn't have near as many cranky fucks as usual. Maybe there's a correlation? No, it can't be. ;)

Just when you think you've seen and heard everything, something else comes up leaving you dumbfounded. So I'm giving Guest Service a break and this old guy comes up with a gift receipt and hands ONLY the gift receipt to me. He didn't have anything else. So I look at him like 'What the hell am I supposed to do with this?' look and say, "Did you need to return something?" Now I just love when people treat you like YOU are the one that's retarded when it's really them and this is a perfect example. He's a complete asshole and basically gives me the 'You figure it out' look. Apparently he thinks that the gift receipt that was given to him meant that we had his gift at our store. He even points out that both the gift receipt AND our sign says to present the gift receipt to which I say, "That's for returns and exchanges. We don't do anything like that here." He still insinuates that he has a gift sitting at our store that his daughter paid for and his gift receipt is what he needed to pick it up. So I use my handy computer and tell him everything that's on the gift receipt, basically spoiling his gift. He finally 'got it' and realized that maybe his gift, to which I just told him what it was, is in the mail on it's way to him. Some people.

One of these days I may just have to say what I'm thinking to these people.

For example, the people that wait in line and sigh and complain that it's taking forever, and when it's their turn, THAT'S when they start looking for the god damn receipt. How about you look for it while you're bitching about waiting! That's why it takes us so long because we have to wait for people to dig through a year's worth of receipts.

Or to the people on cell phones, come on! The next time someone doesn't get off their phone for my transaction (after all I am a human and deserve some respect) I should just take out my cell phone and call people until they are done. I have ignored people that were on their cell phone at Guest Service and I don't feel the least bit sad about it. You can hang up your fucking phone for 2 minutes. My best example of this is when this one woman comes up and in between her conversation with whomever (could've been the president!) she was telling me her situation. So I begin to tell her the no-receipt exchange policy, she puts up her finger and shushes me. HELL NO, you just didn't do that! I walked to another register and helped the next person in line. How disrespectful. Your ass walked up to me, I'm the priority. I don't mean that in a snotty way, but if you need MY help, you interact with ME, not your cell phone.

Ah, spring break... 5 days off from work. Maybe it will calm me down a bit?

EXPI(RED)

Oh wow! That's all I can say about the past few days...

Friday I got to leave after only 2 hours because it was still dead in the store. I helped 9 people in my 2 hours that I was at Guest Service. The next person came in, and I got to go home.

Well, the weather changed and it was nice Saturday and Sunday. All the people that weren't in the store for the past week came in. It was nuts. And there were tons of expired receipts, but there wasn't really a backlash against that. Well, less than normal anyways.

But we did have our fair share of Canadians. It's their stupid holiday. We get asked CONSTANTLY if we exchange money. No. Do it before you fucking come here. Well, there was this one who had a $100 Canadian bill and wanted to exchange it for US money. So here goes the conversation:
Canadian: "Can I exchange this?"
Me: "I'm sorry, we don't exchange money up here but you can use it at the tills for payment."
C: "So can I use it at the Starbucks in here?"
Me: "Yes, but they may have to call to for money to have enough to give back to you." (We did just open, and there's not enough in the registers for a fuckin' $100 bill)
C: "So why can't you just exchange it here then!?"
Me: "We don't exchange money."
C: "Well where can I exchange it!?"
Me: "A bank."
C: "They are all closed!"
I just shrug and give her the 'not my problem' look.
C: "This is just silly!"
What's silly is that you Canadians come down here expecting that we are going to take your money. We don't have to. Exchange it BEFORE you come here.

I dread the weekend for this reason...

Middle Of A Snow Storm

Yeah, so that's pretty much how this week has been going by, but now we're in the worst part of it.

So last week, the snow that we did have was minimal and it barely covered the ground. Fast forward to this week, where we now have a lovely two feet of snow. And today the winds picked up so it's pretty much a blizzard but not quite.

Sunday was dead. I was scheduled until 7, but they let me go at 5 because there was basically no one in the store. By 5pm, our store hadn't even made $75,000. Yeah, on a Sunday. But much worse was yesterday, when most of the snow was coming down. I think around 4 or so, the store was only at $29,000. Yikes! They were letting people go home and calling people to NOT come in.

Which brings me to today. I work 4:30-9 in Guest Service. The next person doesn't come in until 6:30. I highly doubt I'll be there for my whole shift. There will be no one there HOPEFULLY. I would call someone crazy for driving in from a neighboring town, and I certainly hope this storm keeps the Canadians from coming down, even though it is their "civil holiday." They get the first Monday of every month off for some stupid reason, and they all come down here. Well, if they do decide to come down, would it be wrong to wish for them to end up in a ditch? Yes? Oh well, so be it.

Just Go Home

When will people learn? When a store, like my lovely Target, has policies, EVERYONE has to follow them. If we grant an exception for you, we have to grant an exception to everyone and therefore defeats the purpose of the policy in the first place.

So this Canadian woman comes up to Guest Service and says, "I'm from Winnipeg and I need an adjustment." You agree that her being from Winnipeg has nothing to do with anything, right? Ok. So I look at her receipt and it's dated 1/10/07. That's FAR past our 14 day adjustment window. "I'm sorry but we only do adjustments within 14 days," I tell her. Apparently I flipped the bitch switch. She says, "I'm from Canada, I don't get down here often." They all say that. Too bad the policy behind me and I don't care. I apologize again and tell her that we have the same policy for everyone. "So a manager wouldn't do this for me? I'm from Canada, and it's $40 cheaper, and don't get down here often." No, the manager won't do anything for you. They can't. Plus, the item was $80 originally and that would be a clearance price, and we don't do adjustments on clearance prices ever. After I tell her no for the umpteenth time, she finally leaves.

But the exception train doesn't leave the station just yet. A little old lady comes up to Guest Service with an inflatable mattress. No receipt, she tells me it was a gift. I check it out and we still carry it and it's $24.99. Well, as all of you may know by now, without a receipt everything over $10 must be exchanged for one item from the same department for equal or greater value. She doesn't want any of it. She starts bitching about how she doesn't need anything from back there and just wants a giftcard. And then I reiterate the policy, and she just stares at me. I love when people do this because they think by staring at me and not saying anything, that I will "crumble under the pressure." I end up just finding it funny, so I just stare back. I can stand here all day. She eventually starts up again and I tell her there's not much I can do, and so she gives me a death stare and leaves.

Every day is an adventure.

Elaboration

If that's even a real word...

Anyways, I was asked about the ranking system at Target. So here goes...

Bascially all the piddly jobs (aka me) are level 1s. And pretty much everyone higher is designated as level 3s, but there is still some orginization. Directly above the level 1s are the Team Leads, and those supervise various departments and this is where the head cashiers would fit in. They are technically called GSTLs (Guest Service Team Leads) but that's too fancy for my store apparently. And then above them are the LODs (Leader on Duty) or they are also called execs. They oversee clusters of departments. For example, a jewelry level 1 reports to the jewelry team lead who reports to the Softlines exec/LOD. And then all the LODs report to the Store Team Lead.

So in my store we call the Team Leads "supervisors" and the LODs "managers" even though the names are interchangeable.

I hope this makes some sort of sense, otherwise you may just have to get a job at Target to understand. ;) If not, ask me specifically what you need to know, and hopefully I can answer it without being confusing. Hopefully.

Because We Do It In The Backroom

I'm so sick of people claiming it's "our" fault something is defective.

Case in point: Some guy comes in with a TV series on DVD and he's bitching that he didn't get the 'information' booklet in it. So I tell him he can go grab another one and we'll exchange it. Well he brings up another one and we open it up and that one doesn't have it either. So he grabs another one...same thing. He goes into this tirade about "this is how you screw people out of money, you don't give them the full product" and apparently this is why Target's prices are so low. I kept telling him that is was probably a manufacturer flaw BECAUSE WE DON'T MAKE SHIT IN THE BACKROOM! We don't package shit, we don't manufacture shit, and we don't monkey around with the products. Well this guy was so angry that he just wanted a return and went "somewhere that can be trusted."

When will people learn? We sell it, we don't make it.

Satan's Fury Made a Pitstop

And I experienced the wrath...

So here I am at Guest Service being helpful and "Fast, Fun, and Friendly" and up comes this woman. If I only knew what I was in for. So she starts going OFF about "all of the cashiers are stuck-up, rude, snotty" and other stuff and how they never say hi, thanks, the total, or how are you. She goes off on ME saying that there needs to be a follow-up with misbehaved cashiers and blah blah blah. The whole time, I'm just looking at her and keep saying, "Do you want me to call up a supervisor?" She keeps telling me no, that nothing ever gets resolved that way and that I should pass it along. I keep offering to call a supervisor but the bitch doesn't want one. So she finally places the blame on me (of course) and leaves. Ok, I hate agressive confrontation so my adrenaline was PUMPING and I could have hit her. So after she leaves we go and talk to the cashier, and we find out it's one of the nicest casheirs we have, and she said that she did say hi and all that jazz. And we believe her because I don't think that cashier has a mean bone in her body. But, if you are going to complain, but don't want to do anything about it, then WHY bother? I'm not going to "pass it on" when you yourself don't want to speak to a manager about it. No, fuck that. I'm the same level as the cashiers and shit, I'm even a cashier some days, so I'm not going to pass it on. I have NEVER seen a cashier at my store be rude to a guest for no reason.

So after talking about her with everyone, I realize this wasn't the first time she graced our presence. Apparently, she has been in before but told that she would not be helped unless she stopped with the name-calling. It's like having Dennis in a female form.

Earlier in the afternoon, there was this kid who wanted me to page someone for him. It was like Petey and Bougues or something. So I lean down to do it and he asks if he can do it himself. Not even being nice, I look at him and tell him no. I also ask for their ACTUAL names, but he doesn't give. So I page them and the kid still stands there STARING at the loadspeaker as if he's going to grab it and say something. So I stand right next to it and help other people. Thank god his friends came up or else he would have grabbed it. But honestly, why are people so shocked when I tell them they can't use it? We have no way of controlling what someone else says over a STORE FULL OF PEOPLE. If you want to use the damn thing so badly, get a fucking job here. And I'd train you in and beat you upside the head.

I wish we had a punching bag back behind Guest Service. I cannot wait until I quit...providing I get into my program. My fingers are quadruple crossed.

Blah Kind Of Day

Well, I trained and did head cashiering. It was relatively quiet and so I did about 4 or 5 actual head cashier things and the rest was just me putting carts away and bagging. How fun.

But, the fun came when our registry kiosks went down. It was a nationwide thing. But still people bitched and bitched because it was 'our' fault. We put out of order signs on the 3 kiosks we have, but people still asked, "They're all out of order?" No you dumb shit we just love hanging signs up and pissing people off. Some people even asked if we could look them up on our computers...ah no. But the way people were acting was scary. People were bitching, "Well it was a total waste of time coming in here!" Ok, fine, but THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO. We didn't do it. We can't fix it. It's out of our hands. Thank god I wasn't actually working at Guest Service for my whole shift because I don't think I could take it. People get worked up over the smallest shit.

Well, 2:30-close Guest Service tonight and I hope the kiosks are fixed, and I'm sure they will be, but you never know. We are probably going to be there late tonight which I am not looking forward to.

This Should Be Interesting

So Wednesday was a SLOW night and I didn't train so there was 2 of us at Guest Service... We barely needed one person, but I'm fun and made it fun so it wasn't too bad, just boring.

But upon arrival to work, I was bombarded with my 'itinerary' for Friday when I work. So from 12-1 I'm at Guest Service, then 1-3 I'm training, then 3-7 I'm the mid-head cashier. So yeah. It's especially interesting because I'll be the head cashier (or GSTL for the Targeteers) when I wasn't properly hired nor trained nor paid to do the position, AND it's pretty much illegal in the Target sense. I'll be doing the work of my supervisor for the pay of a peon like me. As I said, it should be interesting. Oh believe me, I know what to do, but still... And if Target sees this and wants to go on the warpath, Be. My. Guest. I don't mind because I'm still going to be with another GSTL and I doubt they'll give me keys to get change, so I'll pretty much be doing nothing. And I know I should care because I'm being 'taken advantage of' but at this point I don't care. Que sera, sera.

Training, oh training. What would I do without it? Oh yeah, help guests. Maybe I do like training more than I let on. ;) Although we do get interrupted quite often. What people don't understand about a group of red and khaki standing around ONE register while the light is OFF and clearly hear me talking about the fucking system is beyond me, but yes I can call someone to find out about your cabinet that you're going to buy.

Well I pretty much work my ass off this whole weekend, closing Saturday (we should be there FOREVER) and then cashiering on Saunday. Love my life right now...

Oh, and a big thank you for "Behind the Counter" for linking me on their page. They are also linked on my page, and I HIGHLY reccommend a viewing. Very funny and relatable stuff. Just don't forget about me. ;)