NTKOG #101: The kind of self-assured consumer who, when she feels she has been wronged, demands you go significantly out of your way in order to correct the perceived error — and stands there tapping her foot and not apologizing until you do so.
I am: the friggin’ worst at asking for what I want in any relationship, cashier/consumer included.
I am not: often so confident of my perceptions that I’ll take my own word over someone else’s when it comes to questions of short-term memory.
The Scene: One of my favorite book stores in Harvard, Thursday night. I walked in with a Hamilton in my pocket, prepared to buy a $2 used paperback mystery before heading out for a slice and a beer — what amounts to a bit of a spree, in my world. After a pleasant chat about Wodehouse with a bookseller (love this fine city), another girl rang up my purchase, which came to $2.13. Handed her the tenner and dug through my pockets for a while to find exactly thirteen cents. Few minutes later, at the pizza parlor, reach in my pocket to pay and — nothing. Book-seller had forgotten to give me my $8 change.
Called the bookstore immediately and explained what had happened, and could he ask my cashier if she’d forgotten to hand my cash back? Put me on hold ’til my slice was lukewarm, then told me the cashier was 100% absolutely positive she had handed my change back. “…but if you like,” he sort of grated out, “you can come back and we’ll be more than happy to conduct an official drawer audit.”
Laughed it off and read part of my book. Can you imagine?! Making someone count through an entire drawer of cash, just to recover $8? Depending on how busy the store was, closing down a register would probably cost them more than $8 in lost revenue and pissed-off customers! It would be self-involved and humiliating and … oh god, I had to do it.
When I returned, I jumped to the back of the long line (hey, I was being self-interested, not totally assholic) and when I got up to the front, the cashier I’d had smiled at me for a moment, looked down at my empty hands and then realized why I was there. Her smile melted like cake frosting at a picnic.
“Hey Jim,” she called to another employee, “Can you handle the other register while I do an audit?” I wanted to apologize like a friggin’ drug, but stayed strong. As my cashier laboriously began counting twenties, I watched Jim, oozing charisma, chat and grin with a grizzled old customer. “Did you hear about Salinger?” the customer asked as he was walking out; Jim nodded.
I looked up at Jim and smiled. “Poor Howard Zinn, getting overshadowed by Salinger. It’s the literary equivalent of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.” Jim swiveled on his heel and took two steps away from me, not acknowledging that I’d even spoken. A few minutes later (my cashier was by now hand-counting the teetering pile of ones crammed into the register), Jim asked my cashier when it had started snowing; I told him it had started about ten minutes ago, and he grimaced at me, then walked another few aimless steps away. FUCK. These people HATED ME.
As the time stretched on (seventeen minutes, to be exact) and my cashier counted all of the loose change in the register and went back to re-count the ones, then added the whole mess together with a thumbnail sized calculator, I grew increasingly upset. Surely eight dollars couldn’t be worth this: all the math, and the hatred, and clogged register. I’m being so super literal with you when I say that bile rose in my throat and my eyes were coated with a thin sheen of tears. I wanted to beg her: stop it! stop the counting! it’s okay! i’m not blaming you and maybe I was wrong! But I’d forced myself to do this and had to see it through. As she finished totaling the register, my stomach knotted with the possibility that she actually was right and that all this had been for nothing.
After she stared at the total for a minute, silently, and without making eye contact, she peeled a five and three ones from the register and shoved them toward me. ”Wait, are there — so the money was there?”
“I guess I made a mistake,” she said, in a voice like cracking ice. I mumbled about sixteen apologies (sorry for all the math!); she kept her head bowed and said nothing. As I skulked, ashamed, out of the bookstore, I overheard Jim joking to another customer: “…kind of the literary equivalent of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.”
Goddamnit. Goddamnit.
The Verdict: I will never do this again, never never never never. This is not only the most horrible thing I’ve done for the blog, but, I think, the most horrible thing I’ve ever done, period. I was visibly shaking for about five minutes after I left the store. For someone so high-strung and quick to be cut by others’ resentment or even just perceived resentment, doing this for ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY is not worth the eventual cost of sweet boozy PTSD therapy.
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Awwwww. You need a hug. *Hug*
Anyway, I don’t think you did a horrible thing at all, really. I think it would have been really horrible if you thought they had short changed you and really you found the money in your other pocket and they did the drawer audit for nothing. But you were right, and they could have been a LOT nicer to you about it considering they were the ones who messed up.
Did Jim really steal your MJ/Farrah Fawcett line? The unmitigated douchery!
You know what? That’s a bunch of crap. My husband worked at a bookstore during college, and he agrees. He says that yes, he would have been pissed to have to audit his drawer during working hours, but if/when he realized it was his mistake he would’ve completely changed his tune.
No one likes to have to do extra, and perceived unnecessary, work on the part of an ungrateful customer/client/co-worker/etc. Especially when you think said person is in the wrong. But as soon as you realize that is not the case, then dude! It’s now totally and completely your responsibility (as the offending person) to make things right.
At the *very* least, this chick owed you a big apology. A very big apology. If you really wanted to push the NTKOG envelope, you could call the store today and report her POS attitude to the manager. Not that I think you will, considering the trauma you’ve already endured in the name of this particular endeavour!
FWIW, as a former customer service-type employee myself, I am telling you to give yourself a break – you definitely didn’t do anything heinous and/or worthy of being distraught over. I promise
.
Oh, and yeah, Jim TOTALLY sucks.
I would’ve done the exact same thing! I might have possibly counted my change before I left the store to avoid going back later, but if I hadn’t I would’ve gone straight back there. And if the sales people start giving you evils you remind them of customer service skills – j’adore telling people their customer service is shit, I enjoy it so much I could take it up as a career. I’m a bad person.
haha, that’s the thing: I usually count my change in the store, but she actually didn’t give me any change at all. I’d been so caught up in giving the correct change in coins that I totally forgot about the bills part of the transaction. It was definitely as much my fault as hers, which is one of the many reasons that I usually wouldn’t have gone back. I would have just counted it as an eight-dollar reminders to remember to grab my change!
So now you can never go back to your favorite bookstore, I’m guessing?
Oh, no, I’m going back. This bookstore is too good to pass up. They have a huge remainder section where you can get recent releases for like $6! And an amazing used section!
Had I actually been wrong about the $8, though, that would have been a different story… I would have had to invest in a false mustache or something. (Actually, that plus my fedora would be too awesomely eccentric for words.)
I recently started reading your blog after being nudged in this direction by Yes and Yes and am really enjoying it. I have to write in and say something: this happened to me too. I was at my favorite used bookstore in NYC and I paid for a book with a $20 dollar bill, but the owner/cashier/whoever he was gave me the change for a $10. When I told him that I gave him a $20, he basically looked at me like I was a criminal and acted like I was trying to trick him into giving me more money. He did offer to give me the money, saying he would figure it out when he counted down the drawer at the end of the day, and I told him I was in there all the time and could check back. But I was SHAMED into doubting myself even though I knew I had just gone to the ATM and hadn’t broken a $20 yet. So in the end, I just handed back the extra $10 bill he’d offered me, because it was worse to feel like a criminal than to get MY money back. I though the satisfaction that I knew I was right would be enough, but every time I think of it I get irritated because I am an incredibly honest person that always tells someone when they give me too much change. That bookstore lost a frequent customer because I only went back to buy a book once, when I was on a trip back to visit after I’d moved away and was doing a nostalgia tour of the neighborhood.
My point of telling you my story is that what was wrong in that situation was NOT you asking for YOUR money back. Especially in this economy, no one has any right to make you feel like it is JUST $8. They have no idea what your situation is & your money could have been a calculated splurge in a very tight budget. What was wrong was THEIR attitude towards you. I can’t even believe the cashier didn’t apologize for being wrong, nevermind that they were so unfriendly while the audit was happening. They offered that option, which means it’s not unheard of. Situations like these are WHY people don’t stand up for themselves — we feel shamed and embarrassed and even humiliated.
But if you hadn’t asked for the money, you might have felt bad about it too, just like I did. And I wasn’t even offered the option of counting down the drawer. I should have suggested to give my my number if the drawer was off, now that I think about it. That’s a nice compromise that does not involved the shame of standing in front of everyone.
Keep challenging yourself, it’s wonderful to read about!
2 things spring to mind:-
A) You need that money more than they do.
B) This never happened to me as such, but a friend of mine did have it happen in a bar (well they paid with a £20 and got change for a £10). They refused to audit the till until after closing, but when they did they found it was over, called my friend the next day with an apology, and gave them the money back the next time they were in. It was totally worth it for the bar though, cos we don’t drink anyplace else when we’re in that village.
Dear, there are simple procedures that should be followed. The clerk usually puts the money on top of the register until she makes the change. Normally the audit comes at the end of the evening and then you are notified if there is an error. There is no shame in being frugal. Donate the eight bucks to Haiti or hand it to a homeless person. Buck up–life is tough.
Herein lies the difference between you and me; when I feel I’ve been wronged, I go in, guns blazing. In fact, I would have watched her audit the whole drawer and glowered at her the entire time. The way I see it is – if people are going to be friendly and willing to admit mistakes or at least willing to point out my mistakes in a good-natured manner, I’m willing to do the same in return. In fact, I PREFER to do the same in return. I like smiling. I like being nice. Once the interaction turns sour, however, I’m as bitchy as bitchy can be (See: Brunette Bartender).
Perhaps if we combined forces, we could achieve some sort of happy medium. By the way, you still haven’t answered me re: blogger play time. I need it. TRUST.
Well, you know I have to comment about this since I *was* that evil spawn of Satan, at my old job, who made people count their drawers.
1) Never feel sorry about getting your correct money back. The girl is a cashier for a living. If she doesn’t count the money properly, she’s not doing her job. Mistakes happen, sure, but as a consumer you need to double check her work.
2) You probably saved her from receiving a verbal or written warning by going back and getting your money. I’m not sure what the book store’s thresh-hold is, but chances are that if she made any other mistakes, she could have gotten in trouble.
3) I could go on all freaking day about cashiers, but I won’t. I’ve seen it all when it comes to hotel/restaurant cashiers, and some crazy money-stealing techniques are lurking out there. I’m sure she did it on accident, but you never know. I’ve seen a ton of people go down for floating checks and purposely giving out the wrong amount of money.
I’m just glad you weren’t there with me, or else she would have gotten something worse than a write-up!
Dude, that’s some really good perspective from the other side of the register — I wouldn’t have even thought of the possibility that she could have gotten in trouble! I know when I worked at Hollywood Video, my register was always perfect every single night except my last night, when I was short $20 because a customer had pulled some verbal acrobatics with coupons and switching his change and stuff. The manager totally accused me of stealing it (!!!!!) and told me I probably would have been fired if it weren’t my last day.
Whoa, totally random tangent. Just thinking about registers. You’re totally right, though, that consumers need to double-check cashiers’ work — it’s better for everyone that way!
I like your Salinger/Zinn MJ/Fawcett line! I know how much it can suck to make a fuss about things (as one of the most shy people on the planet, that’s normal to me) but you were in the right. Even if it was difficult.
The poor guy got Huxleyed!
Why did YOU apologize!?! Especially after they treated you like you were the biggest jerk in the world. You could have been a big asshole about the whole thing and you would have been within your right to do so. You did the right thing.
Oh man, my righteous indignation would be taking over at this point. I see why this totally sucked for you, but YOU WERE RIGHT! It was YOUR $8! $8 in a g.d. economic crisis!
Really? This is the most horrible thing you’ve ever done? You’re a freaking Saint.
lol, I’m no Mary Ingalls — I just have really really brutal social anxiety. I Just meant it was one of the more distressing ordeals I’ve ever put myself through.
Ok, Jim sucks.
You were polite about it, and it’s $8.00 – I mean, I know it’s not $100, but it’s not 50 cents, either.
While this bookstore may be great, perhaps its employees are pretentious wankers? Maybe?
Kind of felt that way last night! But one of the other employees talked to me about PG Wodehouse for like half an hour and recommended a great book! These are actually the only two jerkfaces I’ve ever encountered there, so hopefully this post doesn’t scare anyone away!
What absolute ARSEHOLES!!!
That’s GREAT customer service for you!
While I totally understand how uncomfortable you were (and would probably feel equally as mortified), unless Jim or the cashier owned the bookstore they had nothing to be upset about…they get paid by the hour. What they do during that hour, as long as its bookstore business is no matter (and it’s not like she had been standing around doing nothing and you made her work, she was ringing customers). And the bookstore didn’t lose sales anyway.
You got what was rightfully yours, the cashier learned to pay a little closer attention and Jim is an ass.
Dear a little aside. While a sophomore at a prestigious West Coast university, I took a temp job at the main bookstore. The manager asked me to void and initial many receipts. I was upset when I was not hired permanently, but I made a mistake in asking what I was initialing. To my delight the manager was arrested for embezzlement for a very large sum of money. Sincerely I hope she got life.
$8 is a significant amount of money for me so I don’t think that I would have had any problem making a fuss (and while I don’t think you should feel bad, I think it shows how compassionate you are and that’s just awesome). I’m so horrible at math that I probably wouldn’t have even noticed the error.
Yesterday at the video store they were playing some Howard Zinn documentary and I was like, what’s up with this? And I just found out about Salinger late last night. I’m really out of the recently-dead-famous-people loop.
In other news, I had lunch with my mom the other day and I was telling her all about your blog and some of my favorite posts. I guess it’s sort of a weird thing to do but I just love your writing.
Ugh. You know, I would probably feel really bad about it if she had been at all nice, but the fact that she was so horrible? Worth it. Especially if this is your favorite bookstore and you’re in there all the time, I can’t understand the attitude. Sheesh.
I can’t say that I’d have the balls to go back after time passed, but I think you deserve your hard earned cash!
Delurking to say this post made me so furious!
You were the victim of terrible customer service and have no reason to be ashamed. As a former retail worker, I know the frosty attitude of the cashier stemmed from her own shame. However, if she was any good at her job, and any sort of upstanding human being, she would have put on her Big Girl Pants and apologized.
There are so many situations where customers abuse their “always right” golden status, but this situation doesn’t even come close. You did nothing wrong and if they had one pint of sense and common decency they would have gushed heart-felt apologies.
I’ve been reading your blog for a few weeks and LOVE! I’ve simply never commented before (hello skulker), but I just HAD to here. I worked in retail for years (thank God no longer), and her behavior was completely wrong and undeserved.
Wow. You have waaayyyyy better manners than I! I probably would’ve done something completely asshole-ish whilst walking out, such a giving them the bird. Want to trade some manners for some asshole?
I’m enraged that these people were such a-holes to you. You were nothing but polite, and they should have been the same to you. Why should you feel bad about the fact that they were basically STEALING YOUR MONEY? (Is it still stealing if it’s inadvertent? If they act like big jerkfaces about it, I vote yea.) I’ve had to do this before, but the cashiers were super nice and didn’t even question me! There was no audit involved.
p.s. I hope this was the Coop, because that’s my go-to place in Harvard Square for using the bathroom when I’m not a paying customer. And I’m going to pretend that I’m really sticking it to them.
i can totally see why this made you super uncomfortable, but duuuude! they TOOK #8 FROM YOU. it’s even WORSE that they made YOU feel like the bad guy on top of it! (i’m super impressed you followed through with this, though. despite $8 being a decent chunk of change, i probably would have convinced myself it was worth $8 to me not to make a scene. EVEN THOUGH i believe you were 100% in the right and within your rights as a customer to do so.)
Seriously. What ASSHOLES. I can’t believe the attitude they gave you. And honestly, you ARE a nicer person than I am because if they’d started that shit with me, I’d have tossed off some snide comment like “you can knock off the attitude.” I’ve worked as a bookstore cashier too, and there was no need for the rudeness.
Plus, come on. If you’re smart enough to be shopping at a bookstore, you’re probably poor. For serious. The Dumb Rich Girls are too busy spending their money on shoes.
Wishing I lived in Boston so I could go give them the stink-eye.
er. $8. not the number 8.
What sucky customer service skills those people have. You have no reason to feel like you shouldn’t have been able to ask for your change back. Ugh. That just makes me so irritated. You shouldn’t feel bad. I hate fake customer service, especially when it’s shoved in your face like that.
Big Kudos bars to you for going back and getting the money that was owed to you. My (pretend) balls shrink to the size of raisins when faced with situations like these.
This story is the perfect example of principle, fair and square. My husband and I always debate this – I’m totally the kind of girl who would ask for a recount, refund or any verb with a “re” in front of it, if it’s warranted, which in your case it was. Why? Because the cashier “was absolutely 100% sure” that you were wrong. Principle. When you know you’re right, it’s about trusting yourself, as you did, as much as it is about proving that someone else is wrong, which should never be the point, however I does classify as a fringe benefit, most def. But maybe that’s just me (I have no shame.. but I do have principles!) You are obviously upset about this, which I admire, because you are clearly so genuine and kind person. I like you TKOG, I really do, so I must say this:
You deserve to be and feel assertive and not feel bad about it! Your intentions were good and that, my friend, sets you apart from the person who is demanding a recount simply out of spite or frugality. The way I see it, your choice to ask for an “audit” was a prudent one — you’re on a mission to reinvent yourself and step outside your comfort zone. Consider this experience one big step for TKOG!! (yes, double exclamation point.)
xx
Oh man. I could never do that, so I’m so impressed right now. I used to work at a Borders in Sydney where the customers were predomanantly very wealthy ( and really enthusiastic about change and correct money and asking for discounts). I only ever saw a till audit happen once and the customer was so snarky and rude about it the cashier was the one shaking and literally HIDING so she didn’t have to deal with them. Her obvious discomfort at his behaviour however didn’t stop him from LEANING over the counter and sneering that he knew she was there. I don’t know, I’d kind of think that the employees would be okay with counting out the money? Sure it’s annoying and whatever buuut it happens? It’s not that awful…
But basically as long as you were polite and jokey about it, they don’t really have a reason to be so horrrible. bookstore fail.
I agree with your other readers- no need to feel terrible about this one. Yes, it was an annoyance, but you didn’t make the mistake. You should feel good about this small victory- and maybe next time that cashier won’t be so quick to deflect a customer’s complaint.
I was at subway the other day and ordered tuna on a salad. I asked for non fat ranch dressing, and i watched the dude put ALOT of non fat mayonnaise on it instead. I couldn’t find the balls to tell him, as he was obviously new and i didn’t want to embarrass him. So I wasted 5 bucks on a mayonnaise salad that i didn’t eat. That was on Wednesday and I’m still thinking about my five bucks and that nasty salad. You did the right thing. I should have spoken up. I will never make that mistake again.
You did the wrong thing and you’re a horrible person for wasting that poor cashier’s time.
Well, you’re not, but everyone’s saying the same thing, so I thought I’d try to mix things up. Knowing the squirming NTKOG must have experienced, I understand the last tag you put on the post, but whether or not this becomes your regular behavior (I’m guessing not) this is what the blog’s about, right? And you’ve had lots of positive experiences come from asking for things you deserve/want, now you can add $8 to that list.
Anyway, this kind of thing is what boys are good for, find a boy and make him face the wrath – probably all we’re good for.
Haha Muscles, I was thinking the same thing about wanting to break the monotony of NTKOG supporters.
I definitely support TKOG trying being more assertive, getting way the eff out of your comfort zone, as part of your NTKOG project.
Also, if you really only had a single Hamilton in your pocket when you set out for your night on the town, that’s kind of incontrovertible evidence that you didn’t get your change.
The way I’d approach the decision in this scenario is: You just have to assign a probability to your being mistaken or having dropped the change while rearranging your pockets or something — maybe 25%. Then think about the cost of taking a few minutes to walk back to the bookstore and waiting for them to audit it — maybe $2.50. Then assign a rough social cost of the annoyance inflicted upon the employees and other customers — maybe $4. Then I’d take into account a slight disincentive that the populations needs to enforce upon the store and employees to keep them honest — the same way train conductors have to check tickets at least sometimes to disincentivize freeriding– maybe $0.50. Altogether that’s
((100%-25%) * $8) – $2.50 – $4 + $0.50 = $0.00.
So it’s a pure toss-up in my book.
Does this maybe illustrate why it takes me so long to make decisions?
I agree with the general consensus, here; Yes, it’s annoying to have to do an audit when (as a cashier) you feel the customer is wrong, but as soon as you see that the customer is right, then you should be able to apologize and not make them feel like *ish.
Umm, yeah. I used to be a cashier and this happened to me once. And you know what? It’s not a big deal. Some middle-agded dude tried to tell me that I had failed to give him $20 back and rather than argue, I called over the department supervisor and she ran a drawer audit and it balanced out to the fucking PENNY. Because I am awesome.
Anyway. It’s a pretty common practice and quite frankly it is basic customer service to check if a customer thinks they are being shortchanged. Being rude about it is not cool.
Also, that dude stealing your line? Epic douchery.
That’s excellent the kind of thing I would never do, and exactly the kind of thing I’d regret not doing all month long.
PS — Thank you for the Howard Zinn reference. Just…thank you.
I don’t really see anything wrong with what you did…and I’ve worked behind a register before. I guess it just depends on what day you catch people.
For one reason or another, though, I really enjoyed this entry. Heh. Don’t know why.
A coupla’ things…
First of all, forgive me for joining the chorus here as you’ve more than received the comforting reassurance of your innocence, but as one who works with a cash register I have to weigh in. You did absolutely NOTHING wrong by agreeing to come back for an audit. Money is money (eight bucks or fifty) and right is frigging right, right? I’m surprised Jag-off Jim (given his later behavior) offered the audit in the first place but as long as he did you were right to take him up on it and he should’ve honored his goddam offer by treating you like a human being. And as for the girl behind the counter (as someone above stated perfectly), she’s being paid by the hour anyway so it’s not like you’re keeping her after hours to do this. It’s her frigging job whether it’s ringing a sale, changing a light bulb or righting a goddam wrong! “Buck up, book-store-register-girl, and lose the freakin’ attitude.” To err is simply human, to act like you’re incapable of it is pathetic.
And secondly, to further address the attitude business… the mere fact that the two of them reacted the way they did when the truth came out, displays more insecurity on their part than ever should’ve been felt by you. It was apparently colossal for either to admit a mistake. What horse shit! Not to mention… because you got back in line when you returned and waited like everyone else instead of barging up to the front saying, “I’m the one who called!” should have shown them at the outset you were an honorable person and not some kind of a pain who was doing this to cause trouble… and that should’ve been met with an apology by them right there. “Sorry for the inconvenience, Miss, if you don’t mind waiting a few minutes we’ll try and sort this out. Mistakes do happen.” Courtesy goes a long way, especially when its absence (given all the apologizing YOU did) is obviously making the customer feel like shit. I’d like to take a copy of “Catcher in the Rye” (a hard copy no less) and whack this Jim over the head with it and tell him he’s the kind of phony asshole Holden Caulfield was referring to.
I recently had a similar situation where a woman gave me a ten for an eight dollar cocktail, and when I gave her the change she said I gave her a twenty. As I don’t have time to do an audit on the spot and after asking her to check her purse one more time (even though I was convinced I was right) I gave her the extra ten and called it a day. It wasn’t a fifty or a hundred which is easy to disprove, so I figured if I was right I would just eat the loss. And I was right because my count came out ten dollars short that night. This woman is not a regular but she does come in from time to time and the next time she did I said, “By the way, miss, remember the time you came in and you thought I shortchanged you? Well, I was ten dollars short that night, just for the record.” And because this all had gone down with smiles and a dollop of courtesy, the first night and this night, she couldn’t get the ten out of her purse fast enough. In fact she over-tipped on the second night just to show her appreciation. As I said, courtesy and respect go a long way.
And finally (sorry to go on so long here but Jim and the math major really pissed me off!) you’re going to love P.G. Wodehouse if you haven’t already. He’s flat-out my favorite writer when it comes to humor and what to do with a sentence. He’s timeless.
And speaking of what to do with a sentence, YOU certainly do, young lady…. I really enjoy your writing!
Wait. Hold the presses. Did someone just recommend P.G. Wodehouse to TKOG? That’s… that’s like… recommending… Itchy and Scratchy to Bart Simpson. Um, TKOG, can you help me out and come up with some actual literary examples?
My point is, she couldn’t be more already into Wodehouse if she legally changed her name to Bertie Wooster. So, your recommendation is both superbly apt and laughably unnecessary.
Also, scribbler50, I really liked your story about the bartender and the refund. I really think that’s the best way to handle the whole situation. TKOG is a regular at that bookstore, so that’s definitely how the store employees should have handled it.
(Just to be clear, “hold the presses” was supposed to imply that I was so surprised that I was mixing my metaphors of “hold the phone” and “stop the presses.” Now that I reread it, it looks just like a plausible sincere misstatement of “stop the presses.” Sigh. What can I say, I’m not TKOG. (Pun intended.))
I cannot believe that she did not apologise. How rude! I hope she reads this blog sometime and feels bad!
If it makes you feel better, she probably would’ve gotten a right up for her till being over. So you saved her her job, in a sense. But if does suck.
I’m not cross-promoting my blog, but I had a very similar post situation back during the holiday shopping season and a particularly sticky-fingered Target parking attendant.
And you do stop and think, oh man, maybe he WAS right and I was the jerk… but sometimes you just gotta trust your gut. I know it’s hard, but at the same time, who cares? These people don’t know you, and oh wait, that’s right, it’s YOUR money. Who cares how much. I got into an argument over $5 bucks.
But I remember that feeling of not wanting to speak up for yourself. You just gotta practice. It gets way easier. And then you get into situations where you’re telling people off for no good reason
Dude… DO NOT feel bad! Customer service is a big deal in and they DEFINITELY shouldn’t have treated you like that. You didn’t even get an apology when you got the money back?! CRAP SERVICE I SAY! Even if I did this to a friend (much less a loyal paying customer) I’d apologize. Granted, part of the reason this flusters me is because I am a giant nag about good customer service*, but still.
*Good meaning fair, adequate, proper. If Sally McDouche comes to my hotel and demands to use a gift card that expired in 2008, sorry, no can do. But I’ll offer her a 10% discount as consolation. That’s good, proper, fair customer service. I don’t, however, believe in the style defined by prostrating oneself before the customer and offering to shine their shoes with humble, unworthy tears.