Dec 22 2010
Vultures
Yesterday, the company I work for made a huuuuge mistake. It was a technicality that pretty much left our store barren and looking pretty darn pathetic. It may sound like a teeny error when written about here, but trust me, it was huge. Our store is closing and, yesterday, it became 75% off everything for sale in the store. That included games, wireless accessories, game console accessories and movies. Except… it wasn’t for movies. Someone coded the computers t0 allow them to register all the new movies for 75% off. Imagine getting a TV box set that was originally $40 for $10. Not too shabby. Some movies ended up being $1.65. We were packed. The busiest we’d been in three years. BUT…
At 3pm, my manager entered a conference call with his managers and discovered that, lo and behold, the movies were not supposed to go on sale. Figure that! It changed to a one-day sale, but we were already losing movies left and right to people that were buying $100-$200 worth of merchandise. Why is this significant and why the hell am I writing about it?
Because people are vultures. They’re never, ever happy with the deal they get. Perhaps if I was on the other side of the counter I would be singing a different tune, but from the people I experienced yesterday, I’ve come to the conclusion that people are always looking for the best deal and will never be fully happy unless something is free OR they get exactly what they think they’re going to get.
For instance, some dude spent $200+ on movies and games, came back, and decided he didn’t want The Hangover ON BLU RAY, arguably one of the funniest movies EVER, for $10. He thought it was 75% the sales sticker and not the original price and he wanted to pay $5 instead of the $10 he had originally paid. Knowing it was super busy, he got BACK in line, refunded The Hangover and kept on shopping. My coworker, Dave, had to re-scan everything he had previously bought just to accommodate his prima donna ass.
A lady came up to the til THREE separate times purchasing ONE movie at a time and then going back for more. Then, when she had her fourth movie, she asked if she could budge to the front of the line (which had 7 people in it by the way) because she was only purchasing a single movie. My manager told her to go to the back of the line and wait like everyone else. With tone.
Someone had M&M’s in his hand and thought they were 75%, but they were Buy One Get One Free, and he refused to buy them. Reason: They were too expensive… Okaaaaay.
Perhaps standing behind the counter has given me a unique perspective on customer service and the mannerisms and attitudes of certain types of people. Don’t get me wrong, maybe if it had been a 75% off Glee merchandise, I would be right there rubbing shoulders with the weirdos. And, I will say that 75% of the people that I have come across during my time at work have been tolerable and that perhaps 15% have been awesome and become somewhat friends. That 15% though, man, is wicked. And it was that 10% that came out to the sale yesterday. Vultures. Fucking vultures.
Maybe that’s what life is. 75% of the people you come across are going to be tolerable. People you can hold a decent conversation with and just hang with. No big deal. 15% are going to leave lasting impressions on you, become your dearest friends with whom you just create that chemistry with based on likes/dislikes and your personalities. That other 10% though? Those are the people you can’t stand and you cannot find the patience to tolerate. People that you just don’t want to deal with and even look at because it creates this erupting volcano within you full of rage and contempt. Yeah, those are the people to watch out for. They’re never happy, always trying to get their way and never willing to compromise. Somewhere out there, there are people who love this 15%, but for the life of me, all I wanted to do was take the Caution: Wet Floor sign and smack em in the face with it.