Out-Of-Work Borders Employees Deliver an Honest Farewell

[-Samurai-]

-If I am not on the clock then I can not do anything other than point you in the right direction. Even if I still have my uniform on and am walking through the store. No amount of whining or name calling can change that, Sorry.

This shit always drove me crazy.

I worked in a store that has an escalator, and our lunch room was on the top floor. We were connected to the mall so I would often go grab Subway on my break.

I can't tell you how many times I'd get to the top of the escalator, Subway bag and drink in one hand, and using the other to talk on my phone, when I'd get people that just started asking me questions. I always wanted to ask; "Are you fucking blind?". I was on the phone and holding food. That either means that I'm the worst employee in history, or I'm on my break. Go away.

 

[Formica Archonis]

I am polite to people in public, and I never cause a fuss at the store- I do know these guys are people, and I do try to be as nice as possible.

Congratulations, you are the good kind of customer. No one will talk about you behind your back because you give them no reason to.

You know how people will remember incredibly bad meals they had and absolutely amazing meals they had but won't remember exactly what they ate for lunch Thursday before last? It was probably good but nothing really memorable? It is with customers as it is with food: We remember the really good ones fondly, the really bad ones angrily, and all the others slip out of our minds quite quickly. I'm sure none of the people you worry about could so much as pick you out of a lineup later the same day, never mind laugh at you.

 

[Koroviev]

I volunteer at a used book store and the overall experience is rather enjoyable. I can really only recall one customer who was somewhat rude. I had to think for a second about what change to give and he gave me a really condescending look. However, other than that, everyone is generally polite and pleasant to deal with. Then again, the demographic that buys new books (i.e. the ones that pay more money) probably feels quite a bit more entitled than the one that pays less (i.e. very often people with disabilities and the elderly; lots of cool old people!).

 

[RikuoAmero]

The problem is that a shift in attitude while working retail is almost inevitable. Even the laziest people I know went to work on the first day with the goal to do a good job. They made an effort to be friendly, they made an effort to do good work.

The problem comes in that there are very view customers who actively make a good impression...and I wouldn't expect them to. Most of them are doing what I do. Exchange a few pleasantries, ask a question if I need to, buy what I want to buy, and get out.

The problem is, that's a null customer. Neither good or bad, and easily forgettable.

Add in the well meaning ones who are so uninformed about what they want they no one can help them, the customers who deliberately make a stink for no reason because they know they can get special treatment that way, the customers who blame the employees for corporate decisions, the customers who don't abide by the basics of hygiene and make you deal with disgusting things that are certainly not part of your job description, the (surprisingly numerous) ones who think its perfectly alright to cut their kids loose in a store for an hour or two so they can 'get their energy out' (and usually buy nothing, of course, stretching the definition of 'customer'), the customers who are willing to lie to your face in order to save a few bucks, the thieves (whether the sort that walks out with items down their pants or those that just try to claim discounts/returns/rewards they know they're not entitled to), the fact that all these types of people are far more numerous than you would ever have imagined all serve to break down that attitude fairly quickly.

In almost every business, the person who deals with the customer takes the most crap and makes the smallest amount of money.

Of course we don't mean it when we smile, the last guy just punched us in the face.

I'm not saying where I work, but in the alcohol section, there's one regular I know who literally doesn't bathe. At all. He'd come in and stink the place up every morning. Pretty sure he sleeps out in a field too. I don't mean it to be rude, but jesus...the stink he left behind him meant that whenever he stopped by, I literally had to stop breathing.

 

[Formica Archonis]

I can't tell you how many times I'd get to the top of the escalator, Subway bag and drink in one hand, and using the other to talk on my phone, when I'd get people that just started asking me questions. I always wanted to ask; "Are you fucking blind?". I was on the phone and holding food. That either means that I'm the worst employee in history, or I'm on my break. Go away.

Where I work employees took to carrying outer jackets that covered the company logo whenever they went outside, else they'd be asked questions while eating lunch at McDonald's and the like. Seriously. But my 'favorite' is the guy who arrived five minutes after closing and found the door locked, so he walked around the building and waited outside the employee exit door and tried to get us to reopen the store for him when we came out.

 

[Anacortian]

This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers.

Also, read and enjoy:
http://www.actsofgord.com

 

[Aetera]

I've worked two retail jobs and I agree with every single thing on that list. I worked at my college bookstore, which is a Barnes & Noble, and a GameStop located in a mall. God, the things I've been through. Just... guh. Close to minimum wage at both places, by the way.

One of my "favorites" was from working at Gamestop. I'd been trying to get through to this idiot mother that GTA 4 wasn't appropriate for her 7 year old son, telling her about, among other things, how an M rated game is equivalent to an R rated film, and how you can sleep with a hooker to restore your health then beat her to death with a baseball bat to get your money back. She just brushed me off and talked to me like I was an idiot, all, "no, this is the one he wants! Just sell me the damn game!"

...Needless to say she came back to the store the next day to return it, bitching screaming and cursing at me, and tried to get me fired. The manager just laughed at her.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot! How could I forget? For anyone that has ever had to deal with idiot customers, this is the best website EVER.
http://notalwaysright.com/

 

[-Samurai-]

I can't tell you how many times I'd get to the top of the escalator, Subway bag and drink in one hand, and using the other to talk on my phone, when I'd get people that just started asking me questions. I always wanted to ask; "Are you fucking blind?". I was on the phone and holding food. That either means that I'm the worst employee in history, or I'm on my break. Go away.

Where I work employees took to carrying outer jackets that covered the company logo whenever they went outside, else they'd be asked questions while eating lunch at McDonald's and the like. Seriously. But my 'favorite' is the guy who arrived five minutes after closing and found the door locked, so he walked around the building and waited outside the employee exit door and tried to get us to reopen the store for him when we came out.

It's funny that you mention that. Some of the other employees took jackets or removed their work shirts, and many of them were still approached by customers.

We had to wear hunter green polos, and you could usually see the collar or some small part of the shirt under the jacket, so people still bothered them.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I was going to apply for a job at Borders when they opened here, but I got an email saying 'Thank you for your application. We will be holding a group interview session on Thursday at 11am. There will be games and team building activities. Everyone is asked to bring a copy of your favourite book, CD or film. If we have time there will be some one on one interviews later.'

No fricking way. The word 'team' alone was enough to throw me off: that has got to be the most systematically abused word in the English language. So I wasn't greatly surprised when Borders went down the toilet, and I had fun picking over its corpse for bargains. I feel terribly sorry for all the poor sods who worked there though, and at least a few of these experiences corroborate to what happened to me working in hospitality.

The only bookstore I'd ever want to work in would be one run by Bernard Black.

 

[crimsonshrouds]

I work at wal-mart so i nodded my head with everything that was written.

Retail sucks

 

[MeTheMe]

This is... beautiful. Yes, bitter, but so much more beautiful...

 

[adorabelle]

This well-put list would never fly here where I live (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Mainly because most of the people working at bookstores (the big ones, at least) know only the bare minimum about literature.

I have stumbled many times upon store clerks who had a lot of difficulty when spelling/searching for the authors/books I was looking for and I am not even talking about the foreign ones... They couldn't give me reading tips to save their lives. And if they did, it would be from books on the bestsellers list only. Or god forbid, self-help books.

There is a famous writer here that is called José de Alencar. He is a required reading in most high schools. And, one day, I was looking a book BY José de Alencar and the clerk told me something like "I don't think there is a biography out yet." And I explained I didn't want a biography, just the book "The Guarani" written by him. The guy said: "I had NO idea that that guy was also a writer..I don't think we have that..." I had no idea what he was talking about, so I asked...Well, he was talking about a politician (José Alencar, also) who had recently died...So, there...

I am not trying to sound snooty or anything, but this "farewell" did set that tone. Let's just say that the employees here as just as "stupid" and/or "annoying" as the buyers these guys are talking about.

I actually applied to work at a bookstore one summer and they didn't want me, because I was "overqualified"(their words, not mine) and I am just a university student. So that about sums it up.

 

[littlewisp]

What tickles me about these kinds of things are that while true, you also forget that they clock out, leave their work place, and become consumers themselves. Odds are, each and every single retail worker out there -- no matter their intentions! -- have done something to irritate or cause grief to some other retail worker. It's easy to not see signs, gloss over something you were looking for but were in a rush and didn't see, all of that.

Though some things customers do are just rude and I'll never understand, I hope these ex-borders employees (and really, all retail workers who act as though customers are the bane of existence) do recognize their own hypocrisy.

(I worked as a camera girl for a santa themed shop, a barista in that same shop, and as a check-out/customer service/returns girl at lowe's. Believe me when I say I know how dealing with people can be soul destroying)

 

[Tselis]

Well damn. That's just awesome.

 

[hooksashands]

Employers are always looking for people who have the patience of a monk abbot, because yes, customer service is not very fun. I was a trashman at one point. I drove around and picked up garbage, recycled bags, encountered raw human feces and vomit and sputum, and horrors the likes of which no human being should be meant to endure.

My clothes smelled awful, 'cause I worked with garbage, so eventually I would have to burn the clothes I wore to work. One time I was hosing down the compacter part of my truck and a mcdonald's salad cup with a piece of rolled roast beef stuffed inside it fell out, and the meat was swarmed with maggots that writhed and pulsed. Another time I observed (and carefully avoided) a hairbrush drenched with what I am fairly sure was human blood, like someone combed off a person's scalp with it.

Oh, but you work at a bookstore, huh? And... and kids make you occasionally replace the carpeting in their section. Sounds rough.

 

[Rancid0ffspring]

SNIP.

One former to another.... I feel your pain! I ran the magazine department in the Watford branch for a while. I left before the company went into administration but I had some friends that worked there till the end...

I have several more to add.

- We always hated it when you took 7 or 8 magazines up to Starbucks and either didn't bother to return them, or if you did, dump them in a pile in the wrong sections.

- When the company was in administration... coming up to us and asking when we were closing and then scoffing when we said we didn't know was freaking rude! We were losing our jobs D**KS!

- Being able to use a voucher for half your purchase was a courtesy of the administrators.... They didn't have to honor them so don't treat the staff like crap.

- They couldn't sell some books because of legal disputes with publishers Customer claims they're going to complain to your head office about our attitude.... WHAT HEAD OFFICE? Administration! Head office DO NOT exist any more!

 

[Toaster Hunter]

As a worker in customer service, I agree totally with this list. The things people say and do fill us with seething rage and disdain for humanity. Thank you for putting it in words.

 

[Ariyura]

SNIP.

One former to another.... I feel your pain! I ran the magazine department in the Watford branch for a while. I left before the company went into administration but I had some friends that worked there till the end...

I have several more to add.

- We always hated it when you took 7 or 8 magazines up to Starbucks and either didn't bother to return them, or if you did, dump them in a pile in the wrong sections.

- When the company was in administration... coming up to us and asking when we were closing and then scoffing when we said we didn't know was freaking rude! We were losing our jobs D**KS!

- Being able to use a voucher for half your purchase was a courtesy of the administrators.... They didn't have to honor them so don't treat the staff like crap.

- They couldn't sell some books because of legal disputes with publishers Customer claims they're going to complain to your head office about our attitude.... WHAT HEAD OFFICE? Administration! Head office DO NOT exist any more!

LOL, it was even better when they started threatening that they weren't going to shop there anymore unless we did this or that... and it's like we no longer care if you shop here or not, don't you understand that we're closing.

Or the people who sit in isles reading books and magazines and you tell them they need to move and they go, "This is why you're closing!" And I look at them and say, no we're closing because you want to read the whole book here instead of buying it.

 

[Ariyura]

Sorry Double post T_T

 

[Rancid0ffspring]

SNIP.

One former to another.... I feel your pain! I ran the magazine department in the Watford branch for a while. I left before the company went into administration but I had some friends that worked there till the end...

I have several more to add.

- We always hated it when you took 7 or 8 magazines up to Starbucks and either didn't bother to return them, or if you did, dump them in a pile in the wrong sections.

- When the company was in administration... coming up to us and asking when we were closing and then scoffing when we said we didn't know was freaking rude! We were losing our jobs D**KS!

- Being able to use a voucher for half your purchase was a courtesy of the administrators.... They didn't have to honor them so don't treat the staff like crap.

- They couldn't sell some books because of legal disputes with publishers Customer claims they're going to complain to your head office about our attitude.... WHAT HEAD OFFICE? Administration! Head office DO NOT exist any more!

LOL, it was even better when they started threatening that they weren't going to shop there anymore unless we did this or that... and it's like we no longer care if you shop here or not, don't you understand that we're closing.

Or the people who sit in isles reading books and magazines and you tell them they need to move and they go, "This is why you're closing!" And I look at them and say, no we're closing because you want to read the whole book here instead of buying it.

HAHA! Hell yes.

Did you store have a star bucks? People lining up rattling the doors on a Sunday morning.... Absolute savages those people.

One of our supervisors would tease them by finishing his morning team meeting, go to open the door but turn back to the staff at the last moment, pick something up and then say something like "I don't really have anything more to say but want these people to wait a bit longer, just look like i'm saying something important" Just to see the tremor of disappointment that they have to wait another 30 seconds for their coffee fix.....

Small victories. Sometimes we needed them.

"I'm looking for a book" is correct. They walked into your store looking for a book. They didn't say they looked for a book when they hadn't. If they did you'd have a point, but if not then shut up and do your job.

They are not bitching about the fact that the customer is after a book.

It's the fact that they've walked in the door straight up to a member of staff (without having browsed, searched... anything) and said "I'm looking for a book". The correct phrasing would be "could you help me find this book" or "Do you know where I can find this book"

Yes, it was our jobs to assist people in finding the books they wanted and I know it seems a petty thing to get annoyed about, but it was infuriating.

I would also like to point out that I worked with some incredibly helpful and friendly people at Borders. Customers were really bloody rude in that store and did treat you like crap.

The only positive thing I have taken from that place is some amazing friends.

Oh, and if there was only one issue of that book left.... and it wasn't where it was supposed to be? Chances are someone was spilling coffee on it in Starbucks!