nancylou

Next Tuesday, we start doing shipment at night, after the store has closed. Nine at night til six the next morning. That is the only down side, that I can see. We are guaranteed forty hours, there are no customers, no idiot manager that I hate, no customers, no frigging dress code, did I mention the no customers part. It will mess up my sleeping for the next three weeks, but come on, no customers, how can you beat that?

When I was with RadioShack, I had the keys to the store and I loved doing shipment early in the morning before the store opened up. The shipment would arrive at six or seven, Thursday evening. I would walk into the store at five-thirty or six Friday morning. Eat my breakfast and get to work. Boxes flying all over the place, because I was just emptying them and letting them pile up. I was a shipment machine, LOL. Eight o'clock or so, I would stop and start crushing the empty boxes. The manager would show up around eight thirty, we would talk for a little bit, then he would do his paperwork and I would go back to my shipment. Nine o'clock and it was time to open the store. So for three hours, I was happy.

But, that of course is not completely true, because even though the store was closed, I still had to deal with customers. How, you might ask, well let me give you some examples.

I had customers calling the store at that time of the morning (six) wanting to know if the store was open. Because, they would look out their window, see the lights on in the store and assume that meant that the store was open for their questions. I would tell them that there were no salespeople in the store to help them and to call back after nine o'clock. These customers would then have the balls to ask me why I was in the store, if not to help them. I would kindly tell them, that I was doing shipment, tell them 'goodbye' and hang up the phone.

Then of course, there were the idiots in the street going across the street to Bagel Delight, to get their morning coffee and bagel, because they were too lazy to make themselves. They would walk passed the store and every one of them had to try the door because at six in the morning, they had to go into RadioShack. Even though the sign clearly said that the store opened at nine, they would bang on the door to get my attention, to ask if the store was open. Dah, the locked door should have been answer enough. Some would actually wave (or try to wave) me over to ask me a question. Depending on my mood, I would go to the door and ask them what they wanted. First thing they would want, is me to open the door, that wasn't going to happen, at which point I would walk back to my boxes. Most of the time, I ignored them and they got the hint and walked away. Really, if the door is locked, the sign says 'nine' and your watch says 'seven oh three', why would you bang on the door and ask if you can get something?

But then again, this is the same neighborhood, where some dumbass walked in and demanded that one of the salespeople fix his cellphone. Why, you ask? Because dumbass was fooling around with it and somehow changed the language to 'Chinese'. Even though he insisted that when he bought it A WEEK AGO, that was how the salesperson left it. Right, did I mention that at the time, the salespeople in the store were black, the assistant manager was spanish, the manager and I were white? At one time, we did have an assistant manager that was Chinese, but sad to say she had to transfer to another store to help out. Li and I were a deadly combination. Not to each other, but to the customers and especially to the salespeople. That was the only time, that I didn't always side with the salespeople, you mess with my salespeople, you need to deal with me, except if it was salesperson vs Li. Nope, sorry, Nancy has a new mistress, salesperson had to fend for his or herself. Anyway, back to dumbass and his Chinese phone. Salesperson Joanne, suggested he go to a Chinese Restaurant and have someone there fix his phone. It sounded like a good idea to me, but idiot gave her a nasty look and left.

I was in thie store for three years and I hated every minute of it. No, it wasn't the store I hated, it was the neighborhood. Customers would tell me, 'you must hate your job'. No, dimwit, I love my job. I LOVE doing shipment, I LOVE doing displays and planograms, I LOVE organizing stockrooms. What I hate, is dealing with stupid customers. Maybe three quarters of the customers are normal, sensible people, but it is that other quarter of idiots that make me want to cut someone. In this neighbor, they consider themselves 'open minded'. They are all for gay rights, women's rights, going green. But they are as racist as the deep South in the 1960's. Oh, don't get me wrong, there are black people in Park Slope, but for the most part, they are the nannies that take care of the children, so that the parents can relax at home. You want to hear how racist the Park Slopians are, take a seat.

So, one afternoon, I had finished my shipment and was hanging with the salespeople just before it was time to leave. Frank, Gainson, and Ben were standing close to the front of the store. Joanne was standing behind the counter and I was leaning against the T wall. A 'T wall' separates the left and right sides of the back of the store. Say you had a wall that was in between your living room and the kitchen, but you could stand in front of that wall and see both rooms, that is a T wall. So, this stupid Park Slopian 'female dog' walked into the store. Frank said 'good afternoon' and Gainson also said 'good afternoon'. She walked past them without a word. Joanne said 'good afternoon' to her, as she walked past the counter, also without acknowledging the greeting. I had been watching her since she walked in, and I could see where and to whom she was going. I forgot to mention (but you could probably correctly assume) that Joanne, Frank, and Gainson are black. Ben is from Puerto Rico. So, Miss Racist had now reached me, and the salespeople were smiling because they knew what was going to happen. Miss Racist asked me for help. I told her that she needed to talk to one of the salespeople. Forgot something, salespeople take all kinds of certifications to know all that they need to know to sell. As a stockperson, I did not need to take all that crap, so unless the customer had the most basic of questions, I can't help them. So, back to Miss Racist. She actually looked behind her at all the black faces, and told me that she wanted 'my help'. I told her that they were the salespeople and they were here to help her. The salespeople were silently laughing at her ass because they knew what my number one rule was. (do not diss my salespeople). So, she stood there looking stupid, until Frank took pity on her and asked her want she needed. She gave me one last look and then reluctantly talked to Frank. But then all of a sudden, realized that she had left her wallet at home, and left. Open minded my butt.

So, I am looking forward to doing shipment at night, without customers asking me stupid questions. This is supposed to last three weeks. Hmmm. This is Heaven.

Bus drivers have to deal with stupid people.

Here in NYC, we have 'limited' buses on most of the bus routes. They are buses that stop only at main bus stops (mostly transfer points). At the top, where it says the route number and destination, it would also say 'Limited'. For example, for one of the buses I take to work it says 'B82 Limited Coney Island Ave via Kings Highway'. Got it? The driver also puts a sign in the window, that reads 'Limited' in three inch purple letters against an orange background. Sounds simple enough, wouldn't you say?

Nope, because stupidness is alive and well in NYC.

At least once every morning and once every evening, there is some dumbass on the bus, who doesn't understand the concept of an 'limited' bus.

He or she will ring the bell to get off at a local stop and then get mad at the driver, when he doesn't stop. When the driver informs stupid that it is not a 'limited' stop, stupid's response is always 'I didn't know this was a limited bus'. huh. Like I said, stupid.

The only ones more stupid than the ones on the bus, are the ones standing at a local stop, that wave their arms at the bus to stop. Yesterday, we had this guy in a pink shirt, standing at a local stop. The bus drove past his ass, but got caught at that block's traffic light. Stupid in the pink shirt ran up to the bus(in the middle of the street, mind you) and started banging on the door and cursing at the driver to be let it. Driver just ignored pink shirt. The light went green and we drove away.

Then of course, there are the idiots that just get on any bus that comes along, and then wonder why they are on the wrong bus.

An example, at the Flatbush Ave and Nostrand Ave stop, there are five different buses that stop there. Actually, when you count the limited versions there are really seven. So, you can see how someone not paying attention will end up on the wrong bus. Okay, some idiot is always sure to get on the B103 and as the bus makes the turn on Avenue H, he comes up to the driver and asks 'isn't this the B41? (The B41 goes straight up Flatbush Ave) Come on, does 'B 1 0 3' look like 'B 4 1'??? Just basic reading, people.

What about the idiots that have to go looking for their metrocard or change for the bus? So, you were just walking down the street, saw the bus and thought to yourself, 'hmm, maybe I should get on that bus?' Come on, you know you are getting on the bus, have your fudging fare ready. And put your fudging phone down for two seconds, so you can concentrate on finding your fare, dumbass.

I love the idiots that hold up two singles and ask 'does anybody have change', and then THEY GET MAD when nobody has any change for them. Are you kidding? You know you were getting on the bus and you know the bus does not take dollar bills, go into a candy story, buy a pack of gum or a chocolate bar and get fudging change. Don't expect us to have change for you and then get pissed when you are sh!t out of luck.

What about the idiots who come up to a bus that is caught at a traffic light (yards away from the bus stop) and bang on the door to be let in? Right, your clumsy ass falls, you sue the MTA, and the first question that the bus driver is going to be asked is 'why the fudge did you open the door?' Walk your ass to the bus stop and wait for the next bus, dumbass.

It really is amazing how stupid people are.

Hello everybody out there.

I have been in retail for over twenty years and I have always wondered, why are customers so stupid?

Why do I need to waste fifteen minutes of my life, explaining a sign to an English speaking twenty something woman, who thinks that she is better than me, because she is shopping and I am helping her? Obviously she isn't better, because she does not understand a sign that reads 'first two are $1, any additional ones are $2'. Really, why is that so hard to understand??? And yet, it took me fifteen minutes to go over it with her. She kept on asking me, 'how much would the third one be'? Dah.

Then there is the dimwit I helped yesterday. She wanted glitter pens. All we had were glitter glue in different colored sticks. She wanted to know if they could be used as pens. On the package, it clearly stated 'GLITTER GLUE'. I showed her that it said 'glue'. but she wanted me to ask someone else. So I got a hold of a fellow employee and told him the problem, he said that it is a glue stick, not a marker. I told him to talk to the lady, because I was done with her. I later asked him what happened. He said that the lady still insisted that she would be able to use it as a marker and took them to the register to pay for them. Dah.

Currently, I work in Staples, but before that I worked at RadioShack for 10 long years. You want to talk about stupid customers.

RS sells HP printers and they sell ink that goes with the printers. That is the only ink RS sells. No other HP inks, no canon ink, no epson ink, no brother ink. In my ten years in RS, I officially worked in three different stores, and I helped out in over ten other stores for a few days here and there. No matter what store, no matter the neighborhood, at least once every week I worked in RS, some fool would come into the store looking for an ink that RS didn't sell. When the idiot was told, that RS didn't have his ink. He will then ask the question 'then where can I get my ink?' Are you kidding me?? How about the place you bought your printer for starters? When told to go to Staples or OfficeMax, the idiot would look surprised that THOSE stores would sell ink. Stupid.

There were customers that came into RadioShack, looking to buy Metrocards for the bus/subway. One customer came into the store, looking for a power cord for his REFRIGERATOR.

Customers would come into the store and say 'phone case'. What the fudge does that mean? Doesn't anybody use sentences anymore? Or, they would shove their cordless battery in someone's face and say nothing. Doesn't anybody have manners. A simple 'please' would sound a lot better than saying 'I need to put minutes on my phone'.

Minimum wage does not mean minimum respect.
The customer is not always right. Sometimes they are dead wrong.