A couple years back I ordered two pizzas over the phone from the local Dominos. I went in as they were finishing up. A driver came in and after checking on me - looked at the orders and said "Looks like they got it wrong. I'm very sorry for the mixup. I would like to offer you a 2 liter soda as compensation, plus the wrong order, and if you give us 10 minutes, we'll also give you the correct order."

Now that is how it's done!

I spent 10 years in the supply business...1 as assistant manager and the other 9 as the store manager. Business to business with a small amount of retail. Our company invested heavily in training, so I notice and observe a lot of interactions involving sales with an educated toward customer service eye.

Our saying was "Customers for life."

I did have a customer come in once who wanted to have his shovel replaced - one that did not come from us. The manufacturer had a 'lifetime' warranty provision. But this customer didn't buy it from us and we weren't a dealer, technically. I told him no - but he called corporate. They called me and told me to give him one and just write it off as damaged inventory - which I gladly did. The customer should have returned it to where he bought it from - not me. But in the end corportae did it's job and everything worked out.

My stores (I managed two of them) always came in with record sales and GP, so I know I was good.

I would have liked to be there when that alternator went through the window, though. :p

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604678701.JPG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604678701.JPG

The hardware store I miss the most was an old family owned lumber yard, and hardware store. The biggest bonus of the place was the free coffee and donuts that drew in the the old greys. A group of men, all retired tradesman that liked to hang out on Saturday morning and tell stories to each other. That was THE time to go in there with a problem.

My old house was built in the 1940s and not one thing was standard to the stuff on the market at the time. I had a bathtub faucet that was one piece and the knobs were 18 inches apart. Nothing would fit in there to replace it. I pulled the entire unit out, and went in to the store.

One of the old greys immediately came to me and said something on the order of "Wow, an old model XYB-1293, I haven' seen one of those is decades. I told him it leaked and I had no clue on how to replace it. He looked personally insulted at the though of replacing it. He said come with me, and we went to his closed faucet repair shop and took me in the back and opened drawers and found the parts needed to repair in to like new. He took me back to the store, and we walked over to the faucet parts and he found the parts needed to fix it. I bought them, and one extra for me. I gave him the new parts to replace what he had used. I kept that spare with the part number.

wow. i envy Jason.

but i was brought up..no, not true. i was recently taught, how to use my words effectively instead of turning to physical outlets.

it sucks sometimes. sometimes **** just need to be thrown thru stuff.

I did lose my cool back in May.

My 5 year old wanted Taco Bell for his birthday. I went to the local Taco Bell and the line started out on the street and was blocking traffic. I waited in line 20 minutes to get to the order board. I made my order and it took another 5 minutes before I was at the window to pick up. Knowing that this Taco Bell routinely screws up orders, I pulled forward and checked my order. Sure enough, I was missing two items. I parked and walked up to the door, which was locked because of COVID. I thought that I could just tell them what they missed and they would bring it to me. That's not how the interaction went.

I knocked and the manager approached the door. Before I even said anything she started screaming at me from the other side of the glass: "Sir, you need to go to the back of the line and order there!"

Thinking this was just a misunderstanding, I calmly said: "Listen, I was just in line and you screwed up my order..."

Her face contorted into one of anger and disgust, she cut me off before I finished and screamed: "Sir, you need to go to the back of the line! We will only talk to you through the drive through!"

"It took me 25 minutes to get through the line. Could you please just get me the food that I'm missing from my order?"

She rolled her eyes at me. Then she doubled the volume of her voice and blasted: "Sir, you need to go to the back of the line! We will only talk to you through the drive through!"

So I walked around to the pickup window where she rushed to meet me and screamed: "Sir, we will not help you if you are not in your vehicle. Now go to the back of the line!"

Now I raised my voice. Not screaming, I firmly said: "I paid for food that you did not give me. Please give me the food that I paid for. I am not going to wait another 25 minutes because of your screw up."

"Sir, if you don't leave, I'm calling the police." And with that, she locked the window.

I screamed back: "Give me the ****ing food that I paid for!"

So I stood there and waited for the police to arrive. I talked to the police who understood how stupid the whole situation was and suggested I call their corporate offices tomorrow.

We had cold tacos for dinner on my son's birthday.

So I called the corporate offices asking for them to refund my money. They told me that they'd send my coupons for free food instead. They also told me that the manager had filed a report about the incident and from what I gathered, she made it sound like I was trying to break down the door (I knocked, once) and was screaming at her the whole time. They didn't apologize to me and in fact implied that I should apologize to them.

A few weeks later, I had gotten nothing in the mail. I honestly think the guy I talked to was just trying to blow me off. I called again and more firmly demanded a refund. I told them that I would no longer frequent Taco Bell's that they own (and I've made good on that promise, researching who the franchiser is and avoiding theirs). A few weeks after that, I finally got my $3 and change in the mail.

I honestly think this may be the worst customer service experience of my life, where what started out as a small mistake was quickly escalated by an employee who outright refused to help.

On Oct 11 we went through the local Taco John's. For fast food it is decent enough. Or it was. What I ordered was a super burrito. What I got was this. Called the local place several times and never got through. The corporate guy said they would talk to the local owner and get it straightened out. We have not eaten there since as no one ever got back to us.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604692765.jpg

if you buy the cheapest car, what do you get?

if you buy the cheapest food, what do you get?

There was no meat in it. I expect meat, or if I go to Taco Bell, meat like substance! Full disclosure, I have not been to a Taco Bell in close to 20 years.

We are fast food limited to Taco Bell, Taco John's, KFC, Dairy Queen, Culver's, Burger King, A&W. There is a McD's as well, but they don't have hot mustard sauce and the burgers require me to sit on the commode for too many hours so that isn't an option.

If you still have that shirt, we need to talk.

This year was the 10th anniversary of our annual pumpkin patch/ carnival. It has become somewhat of a local tradition, so I was happy to put it on. It was seriously the first time some people have been out since March. A very small fraction of people were still showing signs of being totally stressed out by being everything from rude/mouthy to downright hostile.

A few times, and by "a few" I mean on six separate occasions, a person driving a car tried to run either me or my employees over WITH THEIR CAR. The preferred way of dealing with this is to "use your words, Timmy"....like your kindergarden teacher would have you do.

On the OTHER HAND, you gotta do what you gotta do to protect yourself from a totally lethal threat. You can't get nerfed by any part of a vehicle doing 50mph and not be killed, crippled, or seriously hurt. That is where the "stuff gets thrown through stuff" doctrine comes in. It quickly brings some perspective to bear on the situation, and they are shown immediately that this is not a video game, nor a Reddit debate, nor a schoolyard bluff. The consequences are real and potentially tragic.

Someone find that hero of retail a new job.

The customer is not always right. Forcing employees, who might be good, intelligent, motivated, reasonable people to pretend that they are, at all times and under all circumstances, will sometimes push those employees past their breaking point.

Disclaimer: "I'm not like that anymore" (Clint Eastwood in The Unforgiven), but when I was much younger... I found myself on more than one occasion witnessing just this kind of customer/employee interaction, with the customer heaping undeserved abuse upon the poor employee. More than once, I "invited" the abusive customer to leave the premises. There is just no call for treating people this way, and far too many are only emboldened to do so because they know the employee cannot do anything about it. I have little use for that sort.

Long live Johnny Paycheck! " ... I ain't workin' here no more."

Wait another 20 and maybe try again

Or better yet, eat the styrofoam container and the brown paper bag and toss the tacos
More nourishment and healthier , with some fiber

Maggie’s Farm is hiring

In a previous life 😁 I worked in retail . Started in Mcdonald's then progressed to Bradley's department store then various hardware/home centers . Retail basically sucks ☹️ . The hours suck the pay generally sucks and you have to deal with all the a$$hats in society .

The customer is always right mantra is BS ! The day GE hired me was one of the happiest days of my life that lead to a 26 year career in the defense industry . When I interface with retail employees regardless of the setting I go the extra mile to be pleasent because I know how crappy their jobs can be .

No not every customer is a dip$hit but the majority are , it's a reflection of society and not a good one . I am so happy to be retired and just enjoy life 😊 .

I don't get it. It takes 30 seconds to create a new separate table.

Since we're going in this direction....

Easter weekend about fifteen years ago I went to Home Depot to buy some paint. There's a huge crowd at the counter, but there's also a number system with paper tags, just like a deli.

One guy behind the counter finishes with his customer and says 'Next!'. Some person steps up and tries to get served. I spoke up and said 'it's not random, you have a counter over your head and you're handing out tags, is at 56, I have 57, I'm next'.

The HD guy says 'You don't run the paint department I do, I'm not serving you'. So I said 'Okay, I will go speak the manager, because when the numbers are turned on you should use them'.

Then he made a mistake... 'If you know so much about running a paint department, why don't you come back here and mix your own paint?'

I said 'I have no problem with that, I worked in hardware store for ten years, I can easily mix and shake my own paint, get out of the way'. Now people are interested, and there's a big gasp from the group. I actually didn't need to mix paint, but I could have done it. I just needed the shaker.

A younger me might have had a dust up...

As I started to go behind the counter he says 'One more step and I'm calling the police'. I didn't need the confrontation, so I put my paint on the floor and walked away, but as I did, from about ten feet away, I threw my rolled up tag at him and hit him right in the forehead. That caused a bit of laughter and he was really pissed.

I went and found the manager, told her what happened, and she could do something or lose a good customer. She told me there was nothing she could do.

For ten years after that I avoided that I never set foot in that store, I spent at least $10,000 at other chains and other Home Depot stores. Their loss.

Just over ten years ago, I gained a new customer. He had been buying exclusively from one of my competitors for many years, but told me that since he had not seen their rep. visit them in over 4-5 years, he would give me a shot. He starts to buy from me.

Later on during the summer of 2010, he calls me up, says he is having problems with one of my a/c compressors, and asks if I could come see him. I said sure thing, but I'd like to know what type of vehicle before I leave the office. He tells me "Honda CRV, push the a/c button, and it kills the engine". Ok, I grab a new compressor off the shelf, and head out.

When I get there, he said it's not just this one CRV, it's more, and he's probably going to switch vendors, but needs to get this one done, and out of the shop. I said I'll be glad to help! So we go talk to tech xyz, he tells me what is going on, I ask where the compressor was, and he said it was on the bench. Lets take a look at it, I said.

Clutch still turns, must be slugging the compressor. He says, "what does that mean" I say, too much oil in the compressor is causing what appears to be a locked up compressor, and therefore is killing the engine.

We then drain the one, 8 ounces of oil. We then drain the new compressor I brought over with me. 9.5 ounces of oil. I fill the new one with 2.5 oz of oil, hand turn the clutch, hand it to him and say try this one.

As I'm walking out, I say to the shop owner, the tech needs to drain them first.

He buys to this day.

Sorry, but launching the alternator through the showroom window is not acceptable behavior in any scenario.

Dangerous public displays of anger should not be tolerated.

What happens the next time someone pushes his buttons? Does he bring out the AR 15?

My Italian/Scottish blooded wife in her younger years would've eventually said, fine, gotten back in line, then when they opened the sliding window, thrown the whole thing - unwrapped - back through the window. How do I know this? Because she did it once in her late teens/early 20's.

Paybacks are a biatch.