Wednesday, June 9, 2010

It's My Own Retail Wednesday!!!

This one's for you, Rebecca, to whom I am still planning on sending a superspecialsomething, but got a bit sidetracked by life.

I do not work in retail, so this post is a little bit misleading but I had my own retail misadventure today and I had to share.  Because it is Wednesday.  If I could share with you half the things that happen in first grade on a daily basis, you would die laughing/gasp in horror/both, and sadly, it would not be viewed kindly by those who pay my bills... so, in order to stay gainfully employed, I shall regale you with other tales.

The scene: Large, nice chain supermarket. 

The characters: Me, 17 yr old (my guess) deli boy, store manager

Me, to Deli Boy (DB):  Can I please have a price list for party trays?

DB: Uh, can you explain that?

Me: You know, like a list of prices for ordering a deli tray for a party.

DB: You want to buy some paper trays?

Me: No... you know when you have a party and..

DB (interrupting, with a knowing wink): Yeahhhhhhhhh

Me (ignoring, it's 9:30pm and pouring rain, I want to go home): ... and you want a deli tray for your guests?  Like.. a tray of lunchmeats and rolls?

DB: Yeah.... we don't sell that.

Me:  No.... it's not something you sell.  (Knowing full well they do party trays)  It's a list of prices.  How much it costs to order a tray of lunchmeats and rolls for a party.  You know, like if you're ordering  a tray for 15 people it costs this much.  If you're ordering for 25 people, it costs this much...

DB:  Yeah... um... we really don't sell that.  But let me go ask someone.

(Me, waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and wanting to walk away but he finally returns and hands me a book).

DB:  This is all we have.  (It's a book on counting calories).

Me: No.  Um... (trying to think of how else to explain)

DB: Let me get my manager.  (walks away.  Returns with older man.)

DB to Manager:  This lady wants to know how many people to serve at her party.

Manager (looking at me like I'm an idiot):  Well, how many people did you invite?

Me:  Nevermind.

14 comments:

Stina said...

ROFL. Sad thing is, you're not the only one to have this happen. For me, the woman was in her thirties. Now the teen I could understand. I don't remember party trays at those parties. But a thirty year old?

Unknown said...

Lol, I totally agree, Stina, but he works in the deli dept! :)

Misty Waters said...

OMG, I totally had this experience in Home Depot recently! Apparently, no one ever thought of doing a wall in cork board and I was a complete idiot. Should I send them a picture of the finished wall?

Stephanie Thornton said...

I worked in retail for years and it sucked. There were a lot of people like your deli guy I had to work with. Not only did customers make me want to pull my hair out, but so did my co-workers.

Now I work with teenagers, but they have an excuse. All those hormones would drive anyone nuts. :)

Rebecca T. said...

Oh. My. Werd! That was hilarious! I love the way he described it to his manager at the end :D

Yeah! Retail Wednesday is taking over the world!


Mwa hahahahahahahaha!

Old Kitty said...

Oh no!!! What kind of shop is that? Glad you decided to take your business elsewhere. Good grief. I hope you found a better, more informed, more helpful place. Especially as it was raining too.

Take care
x

Bethany Elizabeth said...

Hahaha! This made me giggle. Seriously, sometimes there's a total disconnect between employees and customers. Like.. what was that kid thinking? (he probably wasn't. *sigh*)

Jemi Fraser said...

That's so funny! I can imagine you barely managed to restrain yourself from leaping over the counter and strangling them :)

Laura S. said...

LOL, you explained it well enough so that kid obviously wasn't listening to you at all! I almost fell off my chair laughing at how the kid explained it the manager at the end. I hope you eventually got what you wanted elsewhere!

Sarah Ahiers said...

ugh that is terrible

j.m. neeb said...

That is a FANTASTIC Retail Wednesday!! I can totally picture it...

I can't remember the author (and am too lazy to do a quick google searc... just bein' honest!), but whoever penned the book "The Dumbest Generation" was clearly onto something.

Lisa Gail Green said...

OMG I probably would have run out screaming by that point. Sometimes, the idiocy people display astounds me. At least you can laugh afterwards!

Hannah said...

Haha!! People are dumb. I mean sometimes really, really dumb.

prashant said...

I totally had this experience in Home Depot recently!
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