One time at a pizza restaurant I worked I answered the phone and gave my co-worker's name with him standing right there.
"Thanks for calling (Restaurant name) this is (co-worker's name), what in hell do you want?"
I've never seen someone's mouth literally hit the floor like in the cartoons before or since.
Another time a woman was being a bitch and arguing with me and she finally looked at me and said: "Well you don't have to be rude!"
I said: "You don't have to be stupid either, but you still are."
Another time an asshole was being an asshole on the phone and said he was going to get me fired.
I said: "Good luck you stupid bastard!"
I was once.
But I got unemployment so I had that going for me. Which was nice.
Actually the bastard that said he was going to get me fired got me fired. I was convinced it was a setup by my boss though, and the unemployment bureau agreed. I sent her a thank-you note for the paid vacation. Wish I could have been there when she opened it!
Understand such incidents were after trying to be civil for quite awhile (except the time i was screwing with my coworker) but some customers refuse to let you.
You won't find a more customer oriented and professional retail manager than me, but I don't put up with bullshit from customers or employees. The customer is NOT always right but they are my paycheck and are treated as such, unless they are being an asshole for no good reason.
I've been yelled at; I've been threatened with the BBB and even the police ; I've been threatened with social media; I've been threatened with the Mafia. Hell I've had a gun in my face, and I've never backed down or allowed any of my employees to be in danger. And almost every pissed off customer (except the most extreme cases) left happy when I was through with them.
"One time at a pizza restaurant I worked I answered the phone and gave my co-worker's name with him standing right there."
Everything you needed to know about guestwho in a nutshell, folks.
I used to have a co-worker that the entire call center LOVED. Not because she brought donuts, or because she'd play faux manager for difficult calls, or anything like that, but because if you were having just a REALLY shitty day and every call started with swearing (not that unusual an occurrence; due to a chronic understaffing problem wait time was sometimes two hours), you could leeeeeeean back in your chair, and there was about a forty percent chance you could hear her down at the end of the row, going off on someone, which she did in grand fashion, and usually when they deserved it.
Ehhh. If he still has the same attitude, I'd dispute his claim that you wouldn't find a more customer oriented or professional retail manager than he is - after all, some of those stories might be his early career, and customers make you go a little bit bonkers before you settle in and get used to the fact that people are shitheads.
But he's DEFINITELY not the bottom of the barrel.
@matthewg you must work with some really crappy people if the worst thing you can think if is to be them!
@abel_hazard yes those were years ago, except the one I got fired for; that was 3 years ago. But like I said, I'm sure it was a setup. The guy kept calling over and over for about 2 hours and wouldn't let me do anything for him. I thought at the time he seemed odd for an "upset" customer, and I thought at the time it almost seemed like he was reading a script and just trying to push me as far as he could. The next day my bitch boss referred to him by name like she knew him.
She did screw three other managers over because her daughter didn't like them, and one week previously she admitted to me that she fired the last one because he talked against her slut daughter.
After I was gone her management "team" consisted of her daughter and two of her daughter's friends.
I don't know your coworkers. I've had a few over the years that would be bottom of the barrel.
But for real humans, with a sense of humor, answering a phone and giving someone else's name isn't exactly the same as cutting the tails off of kittens.
I guess I didn't write in the comment that the particular phone call where I said "what the hell do you want" was a dead line. The phone rang but there was no one there; my coworker didn't know that though, and his expression was priceless.
Since you obviously think very highly of me maybe you'll like this one. I was standing at the cash register ringing in deliveries for one of my drivers once, and suddenly I noticed my leg was getting warm. When I looked down another one of my drivers was squatting beside a cabinet behind me with a can of cooking spray and a cigarette lighter, torching my pants.
Good times.
Recently I watched as a scumbag literally screamed at a pharmacist because their insulin had no more refills and it was a Saturday so they couldn't call the doctor. Scumbag went on to say the pharmacist changed it in the system just to spite them and that the pharmacist fucked up and wasn't professional enough to own up to it. I wish so bad the pharmacist could have said what she really wanted to say and tell that trash to leave.
"Thanks for calling (Restaurant name) this is (co-worker's name), what in hell do you want?"
I've never seen someone's mouth literally hit the floor like in the cartoons before or since.
Another time a woman was being a bitch and arguing with me and she finally looked at me and said: "Well you don't have to be rude!"
I said: "You don't have to be stupid either, but you still are."
Another time an asshole was being an asshole on the phone and said he was going to get me fired.
I said: "Good luck you stupid bastard!"
But I got unemployment so I had that going for me. Which was nice.
Actually the bastard that said he was going to get me fired got me fired. I was convinced it was a setup by my boss though, and the unemployment bureau agreed. I sent her a thank-you note for the paid vacation. Wish I could have been there when she opened it!
Understand such incidents were after trying to be civil for quite awhile (except the time i was screwing with my coworker) but some customers refuse to let you.
You won't find a more customer oriented and professional retail manager than me, but I don't put up with bullshit from customers or employees. The customer is NOT always right but they are my paycheck and are treated as such, unless they are being an asshole for no good reason.
Everything you needed to know about guestwho in a nutshell, folks.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BaCkSK1xRDk
But he's DEFINITELY not the bottom of the barrel.
@abel_hazard yes those were years ago, except the one I got fired for; that was 3 years ago. But like I said, I'm sure it was a setup. The guy kept calling over and over for about 2 hours and wouldn't let me do anything for him. I thought at the time he seemed odd for an "upset" customer, and I thought at the time it almost seemed like he was reading a script and just trying to push me as far as he could. The next day my bitch boss referred to him by name like she knew him.
She did screw three other managers over because her daughter didn't like them, and one week previously she admitted to me that she fired the last one because he talked against her slut daughter.
After I was gone her management "team" consisted of her daughter and two of her daughter's friends.
But for real humans, with a sense of humor, answering a phone and giving someone else's name isn't exactly the same as cutting the tails off of kittens.
I guess I didn't write in the comment that the particular phone call where I said "what the hell do you want" was a dead line. The phone rang but there was no one there; my coworker didn't know that though, and his expression was priceless.
Since you obviously think very highly of me maybe you'll like this one. I was standing at the cash register ringing in deliveries for one of my drivers once, and suddenly I noticed my leg was getting warm. When I looked down another one of my drivers was squatting beside a cabinet behind me with a can of cooking spray and a cigarette lighter, torching my pants.
Good times.