My very first customer as a grocery cashier only bought 1 of a “2 for 1” item. My trainer was standing behind me, and had literally taught me nothing except how to unlock the register. It rang up at full price and the guy was instantly irate. “This is supposed to be half price!” As if I had any way to even know there was a sale. He pointed at the item so I walked over and looked and saw the 2 for 1 sticker. I glanced at my trainer and he just looked on dispassionately, so I told the guy “Uh, I think you have to buy two for the ‘2 for 1’ deal.”
Immediately started screaming at the top of his lungs. My trainer comes up and starts apologizing to the man “I’m so sorry this cashier is stupid. I’m not sure where he got the idea that he shouldn’t discount you. I trained them better than this. It’s so hard to find competent workers.” Then he swiped his badge (which I couldn’t have done without him), and changed the price manually.
After the guy walked away happy having saved 50 cents on his kinder egg, the trainer turned to me and said “Don’t waste my time again. You should know this all already, you fucking moron.” and walked off. We had spent exactly two minutes total together since training had started, and he spent most of that insulting me for not somehow knowing how to cashier already.
I had to call him back over two minutes later to show me how to process a check, and he was so angry.
I did so poorly at Wal-Mart that they will not rehire me (I tried out of desperation), though I mostly blame them for hiring me right before a holiday and never giving me any training.
I don’t consider myself stupid at all but being at a new job with poor training was discombobulating and really hurt my feelings. I was supposed to call someone to let them know something they should have known themselves and then they got irate about not being told and left a review the higher-ups got upset about and I was like damn, am I actually dumb? Because a lot of people are criticizing me right now. In retrospect it was silly but at the time…
This sounds like ragebait fiction. Your trainer would be fired for talking to people like that. Unprofessional. And also you were right. “Two for one” does not mean one of them should be half off.
When I was a retail manager any manager like that would have been out the door. Their job is to make it possible for the floor people to do their jobs, and part of that is protecting their staff from asshole customers.
Even when our people screwed up, we didn’t tolerate abuse of our staff. If the customer has a legitimate complaint they can be civil about it. Otherwise they’re welcome to leave. Even from a pure business perspective, you can’t tolerate abuse. New staff costs more than assholes spend.
Every customer service job I have worked has had managers like that. This was before smart phones so maybe they just weren’t worried about getting caught.
One time I was the only one of four people scheduled to show up on Thanksgiving, and there were at least twenty people at my register while the manager just stood off to the side and watched me. One of the customers yelled at me to “Stop smiling!” when I politely greeted the customers as I scanned like hell, and the other people in line just nodded along. I’ll always regret not quitting on the spot.
Sounds like retail to me, that industry is a breeding ground for abusive environments.
At my last job the store manager got away with smacking the assistant manager on camera in front of people. Multiple reports sent up the chain. But the assistant manager had already put in two weeks notice a week before this happened, so head office just brushed it under the rug. I had watched the security video of it happening myself so I know it’s not for lack of evidence.
The running theory was that that manager gets transfered to stores as the company’s wrecking ball when they want to clean house. She would get transfered to a store, then all of the staff would end up quitting or getting fired for bullshit reasons. We weren’t the first store it had happened to. I ended up quitting to go work at a warehouse for more money with a fraction of the responsibility.
My very first customer as a grocery cashier only bought 1 of a “2 for 1” item. My trainer was standing behind me, and had literally taught me nothing except how to unlock the register. It rang up at full price and the guy was instantly irate. “This is supposed to be half price!” As if I had any way to even know there was a sale. He pointed at the item so I walked over and looked and saw the 2 for 1 sticker. I glanced at my trainer and he just looked on dispassionately, so I told the guy “Uh, I think you have to buy two for the ‘2 for 1’ deal.”
Immediately started screaming at the top of his lungs. My trainer comes up and starts apologizing to the man “I’m so sorry this cashier is stupid. I’m not sure where he got the idea that he shouldn’t discount you. I trained them better than this. It’s so hard to find competent workers.” Then he swiped his badge (which I couldn’t have done without him), and changed the price manually.
After the guy walked away happy having saved 50 cents on his kinder egg, the trainer turned to me and said “Don’t waste my time again. You should know this all already, you fucking moron.” and walked off. We had spent exactly two minutes total together since training had started, and he spent most of that insulting me for not somehow knowing how to cashier already.
I had to call him back over two minutes later to show me how to process a check, and he was so angry.
I did so poorly at Wal-Mart that they will not rehire me (I tried out of desperation), though I mostly blame them for hiring me right before a holiday and never giving me any training.
I don’t consider myself stupid at all but being at a new job with poor training was discombobulating and really hurt my feelings. I was supposed to call someone to let them know something they should have known themselves and then they got irate about not being told and left a review the higher-ups got upset about and I was like damn, am I actually dumb? Because a lot of people are criticizing me right now. In retrospect it was silly but at the time…
Clearly you weren’t ready for the lifetime career of being a Walmart cashier.
This sounds like ragebait fiction. Your trainer would be fired for talking to people like that. Unprofessional. And also you were right. “Two for one” does not mean one of them should be half off.
Absolutely.
When I was a retail manager any manager like that would have been out the door. Their job is to make it possible for the floor people to do their jobs, and part of that is protecting their staff from asshole customers.
Even when our people screwed up, we didn’t tolerate abuse of our staff. If the customer has a legitimate complaint they can be civil about it. Otherwise they’re welcome to leave. Even from a pure business perspective, you can’t tolerate abuse. New staff costs more than assholes spend.
Every customer service job I have worked has had managers like that. This was before smart phones so maybe they just weren’t worried about getting caught.
Yep same here. Some of the most miserable assholes you’ll ever have the displeasure of knowing work as retail managers.
One time I was the only one of four people scheduled to show up on Thanksgiving, and there were at least twenty people at my register while the manager just stood off to the side and watched me. One of the customers yelled at me to “Stop smiling!” when I politely greeted the customers as I scanned like hell, and the other people in line just nodded along. I’ll always regret not quitting on the spot.
Sounds like retail to me, that industry is a breeding ground for abusive environments.
At my last job the store manager got away with smacking the assistant manager on camera in front of people. Multiple reports sent up the chain. But the assistant manager had already put in two weeks notice a week before this happened, so head office just brushed it under the rug. I had watched the security video of it happening myself so I know it’s not for lack of evidence.
The running theory was that that manager gets transfered to stores as the company’s wrecking ball when they want to clean house. She would get transfered to a store, then all of the staff would end up quitting or getting fired for bullshit reasons. We weren’t the first store it had happened to. I ended up quitting to go work at a warehouse for more money with a fraction of the responsibility.
This is state law dependent iirc.