As some of you might know it is May 4th also know as Star Wars day! I will say I am lucky in the fact that I work for a company that lets me dress up for it.
May the 4th be with you! (I love that joke)
Hug a pony my friends!
Work
Workday
I took this weekend off because of a few personal things (some of which I will get to talk about) but all in all I had a great weekend. First time in a while.
One of the cooler things about my job is that I am a training store manager. This means I get to let my store and go help other people. I also get recognized for going to special events and meetings. I got chosen to go to the Diversity Leadership meeting, formerly our Women’s leadership meeting (don’t know WHY they would send my pony loving self to this meeting…..oh wait).
Still it was a good meeting with good information that I get to take back to peers and all that.
Personally, I was excited for another reason as well.
So one of the first activities the group (about 40-50 people) did was your introduction and something special about yourself. I, personally, knew exactly what I wanted to say. #Ponies4life
But I wasn’t alone.
It got halfway around the room and a wonderful young lady stood and said her introduction and told everyone “I can quote anything from MLP!”
I froze.
My group (who know me so well) all turn and point to me with cheer on their faces and wide smiles as they know how much of a fan I am. I just sat there with a big grin on my face.
When it came to my turn, I was a bit nervous. While I have been outspoken about my Bronyism with my peers and coworkers, this was a meeting at my corporate offices. Could I brave the waters that I would be treading? I was of two minds about saying something when they first asked what made us special.
But a certain fellow manager spoke out and had given me courage.
I proudly stood up and let everyone know that I had an online blog (with a wonderful readership [Thank you!!]) and that I too was a huge fan and supporter of all things Pony.
I want to say thank you to this fellow PonyGal who gave me the strength to ensure that I would stand up. You keep rocking it. It fills me with joy to know you are out there.
Hug a pony my friends.
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Mini post!
I have a mini post today as I have completed a very long week at work (yes, in retail our weeks are different from yours as this thing you call the weekend just means we are busier).
As it so happens, like always, life is coming down hard on me and iis making it difficult to post. My wife has been sick and with the incredibly busy week at work, I have not had a chance to get one of the post I have been meaning to get out complete. Fear not though, I will be back and hopefully in greater numbers.
Hug a pony my friends. Here is a picture for your amusement.
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First day back.
So I have been enjoying some time out of my store, both with my vacation and with helping out some other stores with my manager mentoring. I had enjoyed my time off immensely and was looking forward to coming back to work.
I should not have been so excited.
All in all it was a good day. Numbers for everyone was good. We were very busy but we were handling it well. I was training a new person, saw an old manager of mine.
You know, a good day.
Should have been my first clue.
It was about an hour to close and I was helping a regular customer when the phone rang. It was from a private number. Now, if you remember a blog post I did a couple of weeks ago about the prank calling through a private number, you know I am always a little leery. I answer the phone and am immediately greeted by an adult male who is upset to the point of yelling. He asks for one my other key-holders who is not working at the moment and I inform him that they are unavailable. I ask them what the call is about and he interrupts me and says he can only talk to one of the managers. I inform him that I am the store manager and asked if I could help him. He tells me that his son came in a few weeks ago and bought an item from us that requires an ID to purchase and that his son is not of age and was able to purchase the item from my employee without being carded.
Now the employee in question is one of better employees and has never, EVER not followed this policy. He is one of the better ones.
So I ask him the date of the purchase and he says he doesn’t know. I ask for the receipt and he says his son lost it. I then go to ask him another question and he interrupts me again and tells me to stop stalling and to help him. I told I was trying to and asked how he paid, and he said cash. He then asked why I would let this happen. I told him this was not store policy and I would be starting to look into it but I needed information, only to be interrupted once again by him saying that I was trying to just to protect my employees and that I must approve of the practice of selling items to minors. I told him that was not the case and that we took every one seriously but I needed to do an internal investigation. He asked if I was calling him a liar, to which I was confused and said that I was correcting him on the statement that I do not approve and take the matter seriously.
He then started to demand his money for the game back. I told him I would do everything I could to take care of him but I needed to know some information. He told me that his son had bought it in September (different date now) and that he paid case so there was no way for me to look it up. I asked if his son had a loyalty card with us and he starts YELLING at me that his son was under age and that he was not old enough for a card. I informed him that you only have to be 13 to be a member and he heatedly told me that they did not have a membership. He then insisted that I give me the cash back for the game and that my employee fired.
Now, it has been 15 minutes on the phone. I have a line of customers waiting, a new person on the register wanting help, and a customer that I am in the middle of ringing up waiting patiently. I have been yelled at, called a liar, and told I have to do something because a customer wants it.
Did I mention that I had had a good vacation with no headaches?
So I proceed to tell the customer to bring in the game and I would see what I could do but that I needed more information to start an investigation. The customer told me that that was not good enough and that he want my employee down there, the employee to apologize, me to fire him, and have his money returned in cash. I told him the that I would have to look into the matter before I fired ANYONE. He then demanded his money back. I told him to bring the game back I would see what I could do. He then told me that was not good enough and that he wanted me to say that I would give him his money back. I told him that, Yes I would give him his money back. He then hung up.
Now for the rest of the night, I am stressed out. I am depressed and cannot focus well. My head starts to hurt me and I look at every person who comes in my door with fear in my eyes, waiting to be yelled at some more. At 9 o’clock we close and I start to think it really was a prank call. I think back at how I was torn down. I think about how horrible it is that someone wanted someone fired, and it was a “prank”. How time was wasted and energy spent and people hurt for what? A prank call.
And there are no repercussions.
People are horrible. I see them everyday. I weep for those around me. I rejoice at those who give me a smile because I know how rare that is.
Tonight, I will be clutching a pony for comfort. I will try and unwind and relax enough so my muscles don’t cause me grief tonight. I pray that I can relax enough to sleep. What is sad is I am now dreading tomorrow. I now look at it in fear of what will people say next. All that time off wasted.
Hug a pony my friends.
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Attack on me.
I cannot stand being called a liar, an idiot, stupid, and other derogatory remarks. Being told off by customers is never fun but is part of the job (of customer service) they say.
Why is it part of the job?
Who says its normal?
It is not normal to call someone names over the phone. It is not normal to threaten someone that you will get them fired because you feel slighted, even if you were!
Why do we accept it?
How come we just stand there and take it? Why do we let people attack us over and over and look at them with a forced smile and say “Hey a nice day” after it all is over?
People are terrible.
This comes about after I had this altercation with a customer today. I had someone calling to look for a new product for something that is over 20 years old. I told the customer that we do not carry said product, new or used, and that I know a store that possibly carries it. Before I can even tell the customer the name, he calls me a liar. He said he just saw the product being sold new a week ago. I told him I had not seen anything and that we still did not carry it. He then asked about accessories for the 20 year old product. I told we did not carry anything for the product and that he would have to find a retro store for it. He then asked for specific items and told me to look them up. After each item, I asked if it was for this same 20 year old product and he said yes. I told him after each one, including one that he couldn’t remember the specific name for, that we do not carry the product and I would not be able to assist him. He then asks for a made up item that has never been made before. I inform him that we would not be able to help him further and hung up on him.
He calls back several times while I am busy and I am unable to get to the phone until 15 minutes later. I answer with my company and my name. He asks me to repeat my name and tells me he just called me and I was extremely rude to him on the phone. He asks why I would hang up on him, and I inform him that I would not be able to assist him in finding items we do not carry. I told him repeatedly that we do not carry these items. He said I was the rudest person he has ever spoken to in his life. He said he was just looking for a not so hard to find product that we actually do carry that has all the stuff he wanted. I told him that I would be able to look that up, but he cuts me off and says that I was rude and an idiot and he didn’t want to talk to me anymore and he wanted the manager. I informed him I was the manager. He told me that my company were idiots to give me a store to run and he had no idea how I could be a manager. He wanted my district manager’s name and number. I told him my DM’s name but said I would have to take his phone number and have my DM call him. He said that wasn’t good enough and that I was refusing service. He asked for my customer service line and that he wanted a local number to call. I told him it was a 1 800 number and that there was no “local” area coded number. He told that I was being rude again and that he now had enough to get me fired. He then told me he would do what he could to get me fired. I told him if there was nothing more that I could do, that he could have a nice day and he hung up.
Now I know most of you would say “Hey, pony guy. This was just a harmless prank call.” I beg to differ.
I have handled my share of prank calls but this one was different. The person attacked me personally. He threatened me and said he wanted to take away my livelihood. I don’t care who you are, you just don’t do that.
So now I am at home, being fed a delicious sandwich by a loving wife who knows that bacon is one way to make me happy. I have my pony and coffee as well and am calming down. I still feel angry at the whole thing. And I know that people will be say I am too sensitive but I don’t understand why we accept this kind of behavior.
Hug a pony my friends. Feel better. I will try as well.
My Stuffed Little Therapy 