Diary of a Mad Customer Service Agent - Episode 4 (Here's Your Sign)

tryskele (64)in #newbiresteemday • 6 years ago

Sit back, time for a timewarp....back to 1986. I had recently graduated high school from a small town in Illinois. (Up until 1983 I had lived most of my life in Mission Viejo, CA. 1983 hits, my mom loses her job she had had since she was 18. One of the drivers she had worked with was opening his own office...but WAY OUT in the sticks of Illinois. Seeing she would be paid closely to what she was in an semi-depressed area, she thought it would be a great idea to move us from California to Illinois. Of course I didn't want to go. I had just started high school and we moved during Spring Break. We even had to live in a motel for a month until we found a place the 3 of us could agree upon. So, I endup in a yellow house that is surrounded by corn and across the street.....soybeans. No, I was not a happy camper. After graduation, I didn't have much choice in the matter. My mom sent me back to California to go to school and live with my Aunt and Uncle. (The sperm donor couldn't be bothered, plus he was an hour away from where my school was). They never had any kids of their own and now they had a 17-year-old girl living in their house. I was snarky, opinionated, vocal, except when I didn't know you. They tried to have me live under rules that I had never lived under before. I had a bedtime OMG. I had to be home by 10pm unless I had class or work. My normal curfew was 12 am unless I was running late then I had to call in. But of course, it didn't matter that I was going to school full time. I needed to work full time too. When I moved in I was given 2 weeks to find a job or I was out on my tail. Luckily I found a job before the end of the week. My very first honest to goodness REAL job. Where you work for peanuts and see even more go out in taxes. I was going to get paid ...a whopping $3.65/hr. I had to pay for my own food, gas, car ins, school, books and so forth. If I did not keep up with keeping things clean after myself I would be fined.

I know, I know this is supposed to be a customer service story. I needed a little background so you all knew how my mind worked at that point. So, I was living in jail. I went to school at 7am had class until 9 am worked until 3 then went back to school until 10pm M,W,F. On T & Thurs I would go into work at 5am work until 9am was in class until 6 pm then worked 7 - 10 pm. Plus full 8 hour days on my weekends. If I got close to having overtime, they'd kick me out. So that was the only time I had to go hang out with some of my old friends. I was a busy girl, intended to keep it that way.

So, being my first job I didn't really know what to expect or what was 'acceptable.' Just to remind you too this was at the time you had to dress semi-casual. No khakis and polo tops. There was an image to uphold. The highly encouraged women to wear dresses as much as possible, even though slacks were completely acceptable. Store that were open on Sundays paid time and half because it was not a 'normal' workday.

Here I am 5'4" about 110 lbs, wearing a dress and low heels. Stocking sheets. I had a 6 foot rolling rack that I had gone into the back and pulled what I needed to stock the floor. MOST stores, especially back then, the sheets were with the sheets unless it was a display item. The pad I was working on had 15 individual stands for 4 - 5 shelves on each side that was full of ....you guessed it...SHEETS. I had a stack of sheets in my arms, probably about 10 packages and I am stock in the middle of the pad. A lady walks up to me and asked me where 'the bedding was?' I asked if she was meaning bed sheets? She said 'yes.' I paused, looked around a bit. Had dropped some of the sheets I was holding and asked her to hold what I had left so I could pick them up, which she quite nicely obliged me. I gathered up what had dropped and took the ones she held onto for me and placed them on a display bed that was right next to us. I looked back at her again and asked 'Sheets? Right?, for the bed?' She was slightly irritated and said 'Yes, I told you that!' I turned around and looked around some more and said 'I'm sorry I have no clue where the sheets are at..' Completely angry with me and yelling at me for wasting her time she then asked how long I had been working there, I mentioned sometime...I think it was like 3 months. She turned around 'You mean to tell me you have been working in this department for 3 months and you do not know where the sheets are located???" I paused again....looked around looked back at her and looked around again. 'Said, nope... I don't have a clue where they are. If you want I can get someone else to help you." Of course she did and questions about my mentality and ability to work were thrown into question. I went up to my assistant manager, with the straight face I had managed to keep this whole time and asked for her help. I gave her the low down and what was going on. She tried so hard not to laugh. She walked up to the lady, of course the lady had the worst things in the world to say about me. My assistant manager proceeded to walk her to everyone of the 15+ displays of sheets that she had been standing in the middle of. When she realized what happened she stormed out and said she'd never shop with us again. I don't think I had ever laughed so hard up until that point in my life. I guess the sheets were in a bad location?? Who knows.