OK I know we are all tired of hearing about lousy customer service in retail and restaurants, but I couldn’t let this go:
Retail store. December 20th. Shopping with my father. Now thankfully, as of yet, my father’s Parkinson’s disease has only progressed to his arm and hand… for now… so we wait in the line and it’s busy and we get it. 5 days before the most over-marketed phony holiday of the year, we understand so we make conversation with others in the line.
It’s finally our turn, Dad starts moving the stuff from his cart to the check out and drops some of the smaller stocking-stuffer stuff. Dim-witted cashier, huffs like it is taking time out of his day… I know some might say, “If he’s got PD, do this shit for him and make it faster.” Fuck you, this disease will progress to the point where he won’t be able to do this for himself at all, so we are letting him hold on to the abilities he has left. Slowly watch your father deteriorate and then tell me not to take him in public.
So, Dad was picking up on the cashier’s frustration and getting anxious and dropping more stuff. People in the line were not reacting at all. During the 10-15 minute wait we were talking about my father’s Parkinson’s and others in the line were contributing who they knew had it… blah blah blah typical conversation stuff… so the people in the line were totally cool.
The cashier was huffing in frustration and rolling his eyes. He was ringing stuff in and shoving it in the plastic bags. Even after I gave him the canvas ones. Then he takes the plastic bags and dumps them in the canvas ones and throws the plastic bags in the garbage. Hurray for defeating the purpose! Now Dad goes to pay for it, he had a $20 gift card to the store and gave that to the cashier first, by now dad is embarrassed and ready to leave.
The cashier: What is this?
Dad: It’s a gift card.
Cashier: *Huff/Sigh* I know that, how much is it worth?
Dad: Twenty dollars… I’ll put the rest on debit.
The cashier didn’t say anything at all, no acknowledgement what so ever. He swipes the gift card, chucks it in the garbage, swipes the debit card, and then turns the little terminal. Dad has to get his glasses, by the time he gets them on and goes through the prompts, the terminal times out and he has to do it again. Which sends the cashier off. He huffed again and almost yelled at dad, “it timed out because you took too long to push a few little buttons!”
I was done and so were 5 people in the line. I told him to cancel the order and give me cash for that $20 dollar gift card that he used already. He had to call a manager. The manager came and I repeated everything that happened. She said there were no cash refunds on gift cards. So, I said program me another one but I will never be back to use it. The worst was that she offered no apology on behalf of the company that hired this idiot. I will never be back and the people that abandoned their carts will have something to say too. —Cashback? Not from you
This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2010.
Wow! Just, wow! Wish you could print the name of the store so we could all boycott! In lieu of that, if this store has a head office, perhaps the top banana would be interested in your story. If it was my company, I would definitely be interested.
At risk of sounding like an internet tough guy, if anybody had dared to treat either of my parents or my in-laws (father-in law had PD – passed away 6 years ago) like that I’d have had hell’s own time keeping from going over the counter and pulling his chocolate spider out through his mouth. You did everything right OP. You might consider notifying corporate ,name the branch and the manager and by all means feel free to give your never-to-be-utilized gift card to the skeeviest street person you meet.
I hope your Dad has many good years left.
don’t mind Ivan, all… he’s just still all riled up from that roddy piper beatdown vid.
Were you taking notes Ivan?
because item #1 should be…. don’t beat people up because they refuse to wear your sunglasses.
They live, we sleep. *troz*
J-J-Jimmy & TIMMAH’S famous “Cripple Fight” was a reference to that epic beatdown, y’know. >: )
I’m with Ivan on this one – also at the risk of sounding like an Internet tough guy, I think I might’ve ended up in jail for a while in a similar situation. My Dad also has a touch of Parkinson’s and could possibly have the same problems, except not to that degree. And maybe down the road *I* will have those problems.
i’m not a tough either, but the horns would come out and i would see only red…grrrrr
Holy frig OP. Hopefully the store has a head office, call them up and demand an explanation. Local media also loves these kinds of stories….contact a few of them and watch it air.
Woodchipper. Rent one.
o.p., you were lucky to get the cash.most places will only give you their crappy merchandice. but yeah, parkinsons is a bitch in itself, and so is alzheimers. the two of them are simular, but one fucks you up worst than the other. but just so you know, i understand the shit that you have to go through with your dad, forgeting stuff, and looking for thing that aren’t there.
if anyone has a problem with these people, they should remember one tiny thing, their turn is coming, sooner or later. we are all gonna be like that someday, some worse than others. o.p., you have my best wishes for your dad, as a very dear friend of mine, has alzheimers and it is progressing faster each day.
What a sin. You’re doing the right thing by letting your father try and do as much as he can on his own. I’m sure he’s grateful for every little thing he is able to do. It’s unreal how some people don’t know how to respect others, especially with someone who has a visible illness or disability. Shame on them!
OP …You sure are patient.
Not for dealing with your Dad’s problem in a kind & caring way…no I’m talking about taking shit for no reason.
I leave you with a consoling thought. THis cashier is getting older, we all are & if they manage to reach old age they will probably experience a similar loss…it may not be the particular problem your fathers going through, but they will weaken, they will lose memory, they will become more infirm as they age & if they are as miserable to everyone else as they were to you & your father, they won’t have anyone who will want to be anywhere near them. So they can go it alone…& good luck with that !
UGH this bitch makes me so angry. Especially since I’ve been working with older people (and younger) with disabilities such as this.
I used to talk to a patient who has huntington’s disease. He’s a little hard to understand, but you just have to take the time to listen. He does everything he can for himself while he can and you gotta respect that shit.
The disabled get shit on like you wouldn’t believe. My mom injured herself this past month and was in a wheelchair and going out with her REALLY opened my eyes as to how, on the whole, people with a disability are treated like SHIT. People would huff and puff at her when she was trying to wheel herself down an aisle at a grocery store, or try to cut us off because we weren’t going “fast enough.” One time my mom was pushed into a rack by someone trying to get passed us. Funny thing is, all they had to say is “excuse me” and we would’ve moved over so they could pass.
In any event, OP, you did do everything right — however, it likely wasn’t a manager that you dealt with, but some supervisor who doesn’t give a shit about their job. Call the store manager and bitch them out, then contact corporate. And finally, start calling local tv stations — this is the kind of shit they eat up. A little bad press never hurt a corporation because it encourages them to shape the fuck up.
FUCK this made me mad. Your poor dad. I know exactly how you feel because people treated my mom this way. Thankfully, her situation was only temporary, but if one more person had’ve treated her like shit I probably would’ve lost MY shit and punched them in the throat. You’re a better person than I am, OP. And good for your dad for doing what he can while he can.
At first I felt bad, but after reading about “canvas” bags part, I understand why the cashier was acting the way he was. It wasn’t because of your father, it was because of your bags. If you would have used plastic, he wouldn’t have been such an asshole.
-spoken from experience.
“Holy frig OP. Hopefully the store has a head office, call them up and demand an explanation. Local media also loves these kinds of stories….contact a few of them and watch it air.”
This is why you’re an idiot, cigarettian. Everything you write is baseless opinion and probably things you hear other people say, repeat, then hope others think you’re somewhat intelligent. Any idiot or cigarette can regurgitate shit they’ve heard others say/write before. You know nothing of business or media so please use your ass for taking things in and not talking out of.
demand to see the manager or owner,refuse to leave until you get satisfaction or at least an apology…many people that i deal with in retail shouldn’t be in those positions…they are rude,impatient and condescending… many need to be re- trained in dealing with people…
start writing letters and don’t stop until this dropout douche gets fired. And by “fired” i mean literally seared with a blowtorch.
i would have punched her in the face for you