If you squeeze me, I may give "whine"...
A couple of very nice friends of mine kindly offered to take me to do my BIG grocery shopping today. Normally, this kind of shopping is one of my favorite things to do, because I have a fondness for giggling over the new items and buying lots of Cheez-Its. Today, however, was NOT a fun, ducky kind of shopping day.
Since I've got no leg now, they let me use the little electric grocery carts, which, as many of you may or may not know or care, I really like to do, because they are an opportunity for real adventure on wheels! Well, they gave me a little electric cart, and I noticed right away that it was missing the little spot on the top where I put my produce and other "delicate" groceries to keep them from getting smooshed in the big area of the basket below it. But, being a brave and adventurous ducky, I thought I would just go anyway, because I could always just put my produce on top of the stuff that doesn't smoosh so easily. As I merrily rolled away, I noticed that the little cart seemed to be lurching a bit, and either going tooo slow or too fast. I thought this was just because it was fully charged for a change, and didn't know what to do with all the extra energy it had.
I went to the tomato aisle to buy some tomatoes for the salad I wanted for dinner, and the guy who worked there had both ends of the tomato aisle blocked off with boxes of tomatoes and a stock cart on the other side. I rolled over and asked him if I could perhaps get to that aisle so I could buy some tomatoes, and, without a word, he pulled a box of tomatoes from the cart and stuck them on top of the boxes in front of me, giving me a selection of the eight tomatoes still in the box, and none of the tomatoes that were in the aisle. I shrugged, and picked up a couple of tomatoes, then realized that the produce bags were on the other side of my cart, by where he had his stack of boxes, and I could not reach them. I cleared my throat a couple of times, and finally said, "Excuse me, could you please hand me a bag to put my tomatoes in? I can't reach them from where you are keeping them just now." The guy handed me a bag, and while I reached across the cart and boxes for it (I was standing up on my one leg by this time, trying to reach), my shopping list, pen and coupons fell out of my hand that I was using to hold on to the cart so I wouldn't fall, and scattered all over the floor. The guy just looked at me, turned back to his tomatoes and proceeded to ignore me, so I very loudly said, "Oh, no, that's fine! It's very kind of you to offer to help me the way you did, but I am sure I should be able to pick up this stuff on one leg! Thank you very much for your kind offer!" The kid proceeded to ignore me some more, then the produce manager came around the corner. Now, I happen to know the produce manager, as I have been shopping at this store for years. I called him over, and he asked what was up, and I mentioned to him that he really needed to take a few of the produce clerks back to training, and told him exactly what had just happened. While I was telling him, he said, at one point, "You mean he didn't even offer to help you?" At which point, said produce guy STOPPED pricing tomatoes and ignored both of us while he very quickly walked away and into the back produce storage area. Mike apologized, and I went to do the rest of my shopping. As I rolled away, I told him, "Man, this cart is terrible today!"
So, I got a whole bunch of produce kind of things and had them in my little cart. I went across the produce department to get some raisins, and was headed directly for the raisin shelf. When I started to get close enough, I turned off the accelerator, and the cart is supposed to stop immediately when you do that, like it always does. But, today, the cart decided to have a brake failure, right then and there, and poor ducky's cart rolled directly into the raisin and dried fruit shelf! The collision knocked some raisins and stuff off the shelf, and knocked me out of the cart and onto the floor, right on my butt and on Nubby! Three people, none of whom actually worked in the grocery store, came running to help. After they helped me get up and sit back down on my cart, one woman told me very quietly, "Make SURE you make them file an incident report. I've seen them try to blow off stuff like this before." So, when one of the employees who had seen what happened finally asked if I was all right, I told him, "I need a new cart that actually has brakes, please, and I'd like to file an incident report with your manager." When the manager came back, I told him that the cart was in poor repair, and needed to be blown up or repaired, then told him what happened (every employee who had seen what had happened had suspiciously disappeared, but I was able to give him three names, because I knew them). Mind you, this was close to ten minutes after I had fallen off, and they had brought a new cart and then left me sitting there alone to wait for the manager to come back. Not so much as a "Here, let me wait with you until he gets here, to make sure you're all right."
I explained to the manager that I had already been fairly unhappy with how I had been treated by a produce clerk, and that this had pretty much added big injury to insult. I had fallen on my tail bone (I have a bruise there now), and when I hit my Nubby on the floor, it broke open a scab, which was bleeding just a little. I was more worried about my tail bone, because I have disc problems in my back, and am dreading that this may cause them to flare up again. He took my name, address and phone number, and promised to call me at home to get the information for the incident report, because, as I explained to him, my friends were waiting for me, and I still had to finish shopping and catch up with them. I didn't want to inconvenience them further by making them wait even longer for me to finish shopping.
I finished my shopping, and went to the checkout to pay for my many groceries. The cashier was very nice, and I told her it would be part food stamps, part cash. She said, fine, go ahead and run your food stamp card through the electronic thingy, so I did. When she was done ringing, she said "$134.67, please." I said, "Are you sure? I don't think I bought that many items that were not food stamp eligible." She said, "It says right here, total due, $134.67." So, I paid the cash money, and then, as my friends and I rolled away, I looked at the receipt, trying to figure out what was going on. Turned out, the cashier had not credited any of it to food stamps, and charged cash for everything. I headed straight back to the customer service counter and showed them the receipt and tried to tell them what had happened. The cashier saw me, and immediately started hollering over from her register, "Oh, I must have forgotten to have her run her card, I'm sorry." I told them, she did have me run my card before she was even finished ringing everything, and that I had specifically told her it would be part cash, part food stamps. She hollered, "Oh, I must not have been able to hear her over the customers," and I said, then why did she have me run my card through the machine if she didn't hear me? This chick was trying to tell them ANYTHING so that it would look like it was my fault, and not her own screw-up. After about three more of these interruptions, I finally hollered back at her, "Fine, whatever, just let them fix it, will you? They have it under control here. You just pay attention to the customers you have now." Brian, the customer service desk manager, chuckled at me and said, "If you hadn't said it, I would have." So, they fixed the boo-boo, gave me back over $100 in cash that I had overpaid, charged that amount to my food stamps like they should have in the first place, and I was finally able to leave and go home.
Now, what you have to understand in all this is that I used to work in retail, both in sales and in management. I am not just being some bitchy customer that no one can please when I complain about things like this. I completely understand how hectic retail sales can be, and how annoying a customer can be when they seem to be clueless and you have to take them by the hand and help them through every little aspect of their sale. I understand that some management policies suck more strongly than one of those new Dyson ball vacuums. I understand that your feet hurt, that you've had a long day, that you have problems at home, that retail workers are probably the most underpaid, underappreciated people in America. But, here's a memo: When I shop at a store, I expect the same level of service and consideration that I gave my own customers back when I was the one who had sore feet, a long day, problems at home, a jackass for a boss, low wages, and customers that could not find their own asses without help if they used both hands. It's part of retail, folks, either learn how to do it right, or find a job that you can handle. Quit trying to blame your own incompetence or unwillingness to do the job on everybody else.
Wow, do I feel better having said all that! Of course, I still have a huge bruise on my right butt-cheek from my fall, my little Nubby still hurts, and I was so annoyed that I ended up forgetting to pick up about a dozen other things I intended to buy. They were on my list, but I decided that I was too aggravated to be arsed to spend any more of my money there. And, apparently the manager that was going to call me back did, in fact, try to call me ten minutes after we left the store, while I was still in the car, riding home. When I returned his call, I was informed that he was already gone for the day, and I instructed them to have him call me back on Monday. Meanwhile, my sore butt and I will be sitting on fluffy pillows all weekend, and hoping that we don't have back issues.
hugs from ducky
Since I've got no leg now, they let me use the little electric grocery carts, which, as many of you may or may not know or care, I really like to do, because they are an opportunity for real adventure on wheels! Well, they gave me a little electric cart, and I noticed right away that it was missing the little spot on the top where I put my produce and other "delicate" groceries to keep them from getting smooshed in the big area of the basket below it. But, being a brave and adventurous ducky, I thought I would just go anyway, because I could always just put my produce on top of the stuff that doesn't smoosh so easily. As I merrily rolled away, I noticed that the little cart seemed to be lurching a bit, and either going tooo slow or too fast. I thought this was just because it was fully charged for a change, and didn't know what to do with all the extra energy it had.
I went to the tomato aisle to buy some tomatoes for the salad I wanted for dinner, and the guy who worked there had both ends of the tomato aisle blocked off with boxes of tomatoes and a stock cart on the other side. I rolled over and asked him if I could perhaps get to that aisle so I could buy some tomatoes, and, without a word, he pulled a box of tomatoes from the cart and stuck them on top of the boxes in front of me, giving me a selection of the eight tomatoes still in the box, and none of the tomatoes that were in the aisle. I shrugged, and picked up a couple of tomatoes, then realized that the produce bags were on the other side of my cart, by where he had his stack of boxes, and I could not reach them. I cleared my throat a couple of times, and finally said, "Excuse me, could you please hand me a bag to put my tomatoes in? I can't reach them from where you are keeping them just now." The guy handed me a bag, and while I reached across the cart and boxes for it (I was standing up on my one leg by this time, trying to reach), my shopping list, pen and coupons fell out of my hand that I was using to hold on to the cart so I wouldn't fall, and scattered all over the floor. The guy just looked at me, turned back to his tomatoes and proceeded to ignore me, so I very loudly said, "Oh, no, that's fine! It's very kind of you to offer to help me the way you did, but I am sure I should be able to pick up this stuff on one leg! Thank you very much for your kind offer!" The kid proceeded to ignore me some more, then the produce manager came around the corner. Now, I happen to know the produce manager, as I have been shopping at this store for years. I called him over, and he asked what was up, and I mentioned to him that he really needed to take a few of the produce clerks back to training, and told him exactly what had just happened. While I was telling him, he said, at one point, "You mean he didn't even offer to help you?" At which point, said produce guy STOPPED pricing tomatoes and ignored both of us while he very quickly walked away and into the back produce storage area. Mike apologized, and I went to do the rest of my shopping. As I rolled away, I told him, "Man, this cart is terrible today!"
So, I got a whole bunch of produce kind of things and had them in my little cart. I went across the produce department to get some raisins, and was headed directly for the raisin shelf. When I started to get close enough, I turned off the accelerator, and the cart is supposed to stop immediately when you do that, like it always does. But, today, the cart decided to have a brake failure, right then and there, and poor ducky's cart rolled directly into the raisin and dried fruit shelf! The collision knocked some raisins and stuff off the shelf, and knocked me out of the cart and onto the floor, right on my butt and on Nubby! Three people, none of whom actually worked in the grocery store, came running to help. After they helped me get up and sit back down on my cart, one woman told me very quietly, "Make SURE you make them file an incident report. I've seen them try to blow off stuff like this before." So, when one of the employees who had seen what happened finally asked if I was all right, I told him, "I need a new cart that actually has brakes, please, and I'd like to file an incident report with your manager." When the manager came back, I told him that the cart was in poor repair, and needed to be blown up or repaired, then told him what happened (every employee who had seen what had happened had suspiciously disappeared, but I was able to give him three names, because I knew them). Mind you, this was close to ten minutes after I had fallen off, and they had brought a new cart and then left me sitting there alone to wait for the manager to come back. Not so much as a "Here, let me wait with you until he gets here, to make sure you're all right."
I explained to the manager that I had already been fairly unhappy with how I had been treated by a produce clerk, and that this had pretty much added big injury to insult. I had fallen on my tail bone (I have a bruise there now), and when I hit my Nubby on the floor, it broke open a scab, which was bleeding just a little. I was more worried about my tail bone, because I have disc problems in my back, and am dreading that this may cause them to flare up again. He took my name, address and phone number, and promised to call me at home to get the information for the incident report, because, as I explained to him, my friends were waiting for me, and I still had to finish shopping and catch up with them. I didn't want to inconvenience them further by making them wait even longer for me to finish shopping.
I finished my shopping, and went to the checkout to pay for my many groceries. The cashier was very nice, and I told her it would be part food stamps, part cash. She said, fine, go ahead and run your food stamp card through the electronic thingy, so I did. When she was done ringing, she said "$134.67, please." I said, "Are you sure? I don't think I bought that many items that were not food stamp eligible." She said, "It says right here, total due, $134.67." So, I paid the cash money, and then, as my friends and I rolled away, I looked at the receipt, trying to figure out what was going on. Turned out, the cashier had not credited any of it to food stamps, and charged cash for everything. I headed straight back to the customer service counter and showed them the receipt and tried to tell them what had happened. The cashier saw me, and immediately started hollering over from her register, "Oh, I must have forgotten to have her run her card, I'm sorry." I told them, she did have me run my card before she was even finished ringing everything, and that I had specifically told her it would be part cash, part food stamps. She hollered, "Oh, I must not have been able to hear her over the customers," and I said, then why did she have me run my card through the machine if she didn't hear me? This chick was trying to tell them ANYTHING so that it would look like it was my fault, and not her own screw-up. After about three more of these interruptions, I finally hollered back at her, "Fine, whatever, just let them fix it, will you? They have it under control here. You just pay attention to the customers you have now." Brian, the customer service desk manager, chuckled at me and said, "If you hadn't said it, I would have." So, they fixed the boo-boo, gave me back over $100 in cash that I had overpaid, charged that amount to my food stamps like they should have in the first place, and I was finally able to leave and go home.
Now, what you have to understand in all this is that I used to work in retail, both in sales and in management. I am not just being some bitchy customer that no one can please when I complain about things like this. I completely understand how hectic retail sales can be, and how annoying a customer can be when they seem to be clueless and you have to take them by the hand and help them through every little aspect of their sale. I understand that some management policies suck more strongly than one of those new Dyson ball vacuums. I understand that your feet hurt, that you've had a long day, that you have problems at home, that retail workers are probably the most underpaid, underappreciated people in America. But, here's a memo: When I shop at a store, I expect the same level of service and consideration that I gave my own customers back when I was the one who had sore feet, a long day, problems at home, a jackass for a boss, low wages, and customers that could not find their own asses without help if they used both hands. It's part of retail, folks, either learn how to do it right, or find a job that you can handle. Quit trying to blame your own incompetence or unwillingness to do the job on everybody else.
Wow, do I feel better having said all that! Of course, I still have a huge bruise on my right butt-cheek from my fall, my little Nubby still hurts, and I was so annoyed that I ended up forgetting to pick up about a dozen other things I intended to buy. They were on my list, but I decided that I was too aggravated to be arsed to spend any more of my money there. And, apparently the manager that was going to call me back did, in fact, try to call me ten minutes after we left the store, while I was still in the car, riding home. When I returned his call, I was informed that he was already gone for the day, and I instructed them to have him call me back on Monday. Meanwhile, my sore butt and I will be sitting on fluffy pillows all weekend, and hoping that we don't have back issues.
hugs from ducky