Sometimes I feel the need to validate decisions I make at work. Like the woman that almost teared up in anger and complete disbelief when the shirt she tried to return with no receipt that was $10 less than what she CLAIMS she paid for it. People always claim they paid more than the sale price that comes up and are consistently proven wrong when they "find" their receipt later. Usually, to be offered up with an explanation that "Oh, I guess I was thinking about another shirt!" Except for that one magical time I pulled up a customers account because she was SO that type of bitch that would call and write letters until she got her way and she had actually paid LESS than what the computer pulled up as the lowest price and then I remembered why I actually looked up her account. She WAS that bitch that pitched a fit to use a coupon with a sale item EVEN THOUGH THE COUPON CLEARLY STATED THAT IT COULD NOT BE USED WITH A SALE ITEM. It was one of the most satisfying moments in my working life to inform her bitchy face that SHE WAS RIGHT! She DIDN'T PAY $19.98! SHE PAID $9.98! SO SUCK ON IT! BET YOU WISH YOU HAD TAKEN THE $19.98 NOW DIDN'T YA???
This is standard practice in retail, especially in clothing retail so I never really understand where the shock and surprise comes from. This woman doesn't really argue so much as she just stands there looking out into the mall and utters over and over again that she can't believe that I won't return it for what she (CLAIMS SHE) paid.
Much to her and most of my customers dismay, I am not stirred by the emotional breakdowns that people have in my store caused by their own stupidity. (Other examples include the over 60 day returns where
I am supposed to 'make an exception' for the very compelling reason that they want me to. Or, I accidentally washed this with bleach so I want to exchange it for another one.) My usual tactic is to remain calm, almost stoic, as they make their plea, or get angry and make threats. Because after 10 years? It's really the best thing you can do. I still get emotionally charged after they leave, but I have found that getting angry and defensive along with them really gives them that much more ammunition if they try to go further up the ladder to do a return. The time that I
lept over the counter when a customer called me a cunt and the other time when a mother turned to her daughter after speaking to me and said "can you say ignorant, honey?" and my response was "can you say BITCH, honey?" Both times the customers got their returns.
So as this woman is going on and on and providing me with imaginary evidence that she did pay full price (I say imaginary because her response when I said I would need a receipt to prove what she paid and she held out the tag to the the shirt that she was returning and said "I paid this price!" Um, not exactly what I was looking for. She then switched gears and went with the traditional rant of "This is my favorite store and I love this store and I come here all the time and I can't believe YOU ARE DOING THIS TO ME." Because I think the real important part here is that she truly believes that I AM DOING THIS TO HER. I made the policy and if only someone else nicer came in, she would get her money back.
With a calm face and a calm voice I keep repeating sentences of the same variety. "If you think you paid more, you can certainly take you shirt back and look for your receipt." "Without your receipt, this is the price that you will refunded." She even busted out with "Well, is your return policy POSTED?" Yes, it certainly is. On the receipt. She finally caves and said that she has been looking and looking for the receipt for WEEKS and she just can't find it so she "will take the return but now that I know what kind of store this is, I WON'T BE BACK." Yeah, you are getting a store credit so good luck with that.
So she leaves and I'm here feeling all kinds of angry that people take out their shit on sales people when it's THEIR DUMB ASS FAULT they lost their receipt or didn't come back into the store in time to do their return. And I start to think that if I just gave people what they wanted and didn't argue with them maybe I wouldn't be as pent up and stressed out. Maybe it's not worth the argument? Maybe I shouldn't be self-righteous with my sense of what's right and wrong? What do I give a shit if the customer gets a free $10? Even though on a logical level I know that it's bad for business to let customers have free rein and if EVERYONE got a free $10 then it would add up to a huge loss, but after interactions like that I have to wonder if it's worth it for my mental stability.
So I'm starting to doubt how I run my store and my general sense of self and how I deal with things. I pull up the customers account and it takes all of one minute to right everything in my world. Because? Not only did that customer only purchase her top less than two weeks ago, but it was the ONLY purchase that she has made in the past 12 months. (Remember the "I come here all the time" line she fed me? Clearly she forgot to include the "I come here all the time but I never buy anything" part of her story.) And not only that, but she paid EXACTLY WHAT SHE GOT REFUNDED.
I win.
