Annoying People

It's 02:21 and I'm sitting in bed blogging. It's honestly the only time I'm motivated to blog. I thought I was tired an hour ago but I guess... not anymore.

I was supposed to blog about my day out with Sue on Monday but I have been procrastinating with transferring the photos onto my laptop... so maybe another day.

I wasn't planning on blogging about what happened today because I really wanted to forget about the whole situation but I was listening to Ladies Who Lunch (podcast), made by one of my favourite Youtubers Ingrid Nilsen and her friend, who is also a Youtuber, Cat Valdes, and was inspired, and I basically just want to get this off my chest. This is how I am, I need someone who I can just rant to about annoying things that happen in my life so that I can get it out of my brain and stop thinking about it. Normally, this someone would be my flatmate, Nia, but she's away for a few days and I have no one else to talk to.

Therefore I'm turning to my blog....

I have grown to be a person that tries not to complain about stuff. I can say that I have quite a high tolerance/endurance level when it comes to anger. People who know me would know I rarely ever get angry, none of friends have probably seen me shout (in anger) before. It mostly only happens around my family because my brothers annoy the hell out of me.

But yeah.... I don't really get angry over small things or things other people do that I can't control, or at least I don't show it out to people, because I always think it's not worth wasting your energy over things like that. However, everyone has their limits and my limit is quite high. And today, there was a customer who really crossed the line.

If you are a fellow sales assistant or have been one yourself, you would understand and relate to this.... and that is, you try your hardest not to let those few annoying customers get to you, because if you do, it really ruins your day and it affects your attitude towards others for the rest of the day. And when your job is to be smiley and nice to people, you can't afford that to happen.

So today, as usual, I went to work, and did what manager asked me to. I was happy to see my colleagues and to chat with them while we were hard at work. And because there was no one in the Shoes department, I had to go help out. There was this family who I approached... the dad said something along the lines of, "Hi, do you have this pair of shoes? I contacted your call centre and they said you have them." To which I responded immediately with, "Sorry, we do not have any left as they are all out of stock." Without any hesitation he replied, "And you know that at the top of your head?" I was like, "........ yeah..... We don't have any left." In my brain I was thinking, I've been working here for almost 2 years and I work 4 days a week, of course I know my stock. But of course, he wasn't aware of that, so I try not to be annoyed by his attitude. My colleague Sarah was with me at that moment, so she reaffirmed the customer that it is true that we do not have those shoes.

He looked annoyed and tried to argue that he called the call centre and they said we had them so why are we saying we don't have them... and was like, are you sure you don't have them???? So in order to calm him down, both Sarah and I went into the stock room to check if we have those shoes. And as we knew it, we didn't. So I dreaded the moment where I had to announce the bad news to them that we are really out of stock. But this happens on an everyday-basis, I'm used to it anyway. I approached them with the bad news and suggested they buy it online. To which the dad said, "Oh I know you have them online." So I was like, "...... okay, so I can help you order them if you want." Sarah helped me explain to them their delivery options and everything. Although he still wasn't really happy, he decided to go with it. But then he started arguing with his son and wife about how he wanted to Click and Collect and that it's a wiser choice than to deliver to home and I felt really bad for his wife to have a husband that treats you so rudely in public.

Anyway, I placed the order and when I asked for his card details, he asked if he could pay by cash... which always annoys me as I don't understand how people aren't aware that when you're making an "online" order (like when you're doing it at home), it's not possible to pay by cash. But we normally offer to put cash onto a gift card and use that to place the order. So I said, "Uhm.... we can, but we would have to head to the main tills as we don't take cash at this till." I know customers would feel annoyed when I say that, and I would prefer not to do that either, but that's just how it is at our branch.

Being the person he is, once again, he wasn't pleased but his wife offered to use her card, so I was like, "Great! Okay!" And he was like, "Oh yeah, we'll use her card." He didn't seem that annoyed anymore, which I was obviously glad about. I then quickly finished placing the order so that I can get rid of him asap. However.... when I printed his receipt out, there was one page missing (it was either the printer or the computer acting up). I knew there it was missing, but I gave it to him anyway. Because I didn't want to have to deal with him anymore. But he realised that his payment details was not on the receipt (which is supposed to appear on that missing page). At that point, I already closed the page which we made the order on and couldn't retrieve his receipt any longer.... So I suggested he check his email because there'll be an digital copy of it there. Before even checking, he was like, "This is unacceptable! I want to have a receipt with my payment details on it. Can you not print it out again?!" I was like, "I'm sorry but there must have been something wrong with the printer, and I don't think I can retrieve that receipt anymore." In that moment, I was scared because he was getting agitated and I couldn't think of any way to help him. At the same time, I was annoyed and borderline angry because he was rude and unreasonable.

"I want to speak to a manager, " was what he said next. And as a sales assistant, that is the one thing I hate to hear most. Like why can't customers believe that what I just told them is the truth and that there is nothing else my manager can do about the situation, she's just going to come over to say the same fucking thing. I just couldn't deal with him anymore at that point, so I walked away to go to the nearest phone so that I could call my manager over to deal with him because I didn't want to have anything to do with this anymore. I couldn't get hold of a manager so Sarah went to help me out because she knew he was a difficult customer and I was stressed out about it. Sarah later told me that, when she was trying to help him out, he apparently said that I was lazy and it seemed like I didn't want to help him. And that, he knew I probably had a long day but I shouldn't be acting that way and that he wanted to talk to the head of branch about it. At the point when she told me that(which was after the customer left), I couldn't care less about him anymore. However, Sarah did stand up for me and defended me, which she always does and I'm always grateful for.

I was at the main tills, which is where the phone is, hoping that Sarah could help me solve the problem. But they then came walking towards me and I was like, damn it, WHY?!
He was still going on and on about the missing payment details because it made the receipt seem very misleading and that it looked like he didn't pay for the item (which I understand), although Sarah told him repeatedly that it's not that important. She said they checked his email and it didn't mention his payment details there either. And he kept blaming me that for not being able to print out that page and I was furious at that point and I decided to stand up for myself and said, "It's not my fault that it didn't print out, I can't control the printer." To which he stared at me for 2 seconds and then only said, "I know, I'm not blaming you. I just really think it's unacceptable. I expect so much more from you guys and this makes me not want to shop here anymore." Sarah immediately said, "Really?!" He was like, "Yeah, this is not what I expect from your store." These people have obviously not shopped online before and do not understand the mechanisms of it and I know we need to care for every customer but I think we can afford to let this one go.

He was still very persistent about it and so we offered to help him call customer services to see what else we can do to help him with his stupid problem. I made the call, luckily they picked up really quickly and I explained the whole situation and he guy on the line told me to track the customer's order and we'll be able to see his payment details there. I did so and it worked. Problem-solved. I printed the page out and tried to put on a smile while I gave it to the customer. He finally seemed pleased and I although was furious, was glad that everything worked out and we didn't need the managers' help. I guess I learned something new about tracking the customer's order thing. However, before he left, he asked for my name. He reassured me he just needed it in case anything goes wrong with the order and that he's not going to report me to anyone. Well, I gladly gave him my name because I know that I did not do anything wrong. After he left, Sarah was like, "If he ever comes back, you're going to avoid him aren't you?" hahahahaha "Of course. I'll run as far as I can."

Like I mentioned before, I don't get angry easily. Nia has commented on me being very calm (which I don't believe but I guess if she says so). I guess today I've learned where my limits are and that is, when you blatantly blame me for something I didn't do, I will fight back. I am a very nice person and I always believe that there's no point fighting fire with fire. I understand customers can be annoyed with the services we provide sometimes and they can be very unreasonable, but when they're trying to shout in your face, you need to react with kindness and understanding. I've done it before, and it always works. However, everyone has their limits and as human beings, you should be smart enough not to cross those lines because you will just cause yourself trouble. But I guess some people are just plain stupid.