'Tis the season...for holiday breakdowns.
Dec. 10th, 2010 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apple_pathwaysSo, I threw a minor tantrum in a clothing store today. I think the tantrum itself was justified; it was just staged in front of the wrong audience.
The store was Lane Bryant, that bastion of fashionable clothing for plus size women. I went to look for a Christmas gift for my mother, because I had a coupon for $25.00 off a $75.00 purchase, as well as a $25.00 gift check; this means I could buy $75.00 worth of merchandise for only $25.00 out of pocket. Cha-CHING! (Those who know me in RL know I love a bargain--if you compliment me on an article of clothing I'm wearing, I have to try really hard not to disclose exactly how much it cost.)
Right away I was annoyed, because the items are cleverly priced so that it is virtually impossible to come within $10.00 of the $75.00 minimum. Every combo I came up with (a sweater and a camisole to go under it, for instance) would come to about $74.50, and they WILL NOT let you have the coupon unless you reach or exceed $75.00 EXACTLY (before tax). I was going to leave without buying anything when I noticed some giant signs that said "Sweater Sale - Buy One Sweater, Get One Free (Select Styles)". I could smell a bargain, so I tried to scope out which sweaters were the "select styles" they spoke of. I was VERY CAREFUL to look for sweaters on tables that had the correct signage on them. I've worked for this store when I was young, and I know all too well their habit of only placing one or two items on sale, advertising for a HUGE SALE, and then making it extremely confusing to figure exactly which items are part of it; I guess they figure that as long as they can get you into the store, you're likely to buy something anyway.
It turns out one style was a pretty cotton sweater I had considered buying for my mom, and another was a lovely green sweater I coveted for myself. (I figured: I'm allowed to buy things for myself if I get them FREE!)
So, I picked up the two sweaters and a camisole to go under the one I wanted for my mom. I was about $0.50 shy of the $75.00 minimum, so now began the task of finding an item that is both inexpensive, and something I would want to buy anyway. There were a few useless coin purses for 10 bucks, and some earrings for twelve, but nothing that I wanted. So I went to look in the clearance. There was one really cute black tunic top that would come in handy over the holidays, but it was only marked down to $30.00; I can't afford to spend that kind of money on myself right now. But then I noticed a sign over the clearance section that announced "Take an extra 40% off the clearance price!" This meant the shirt was really only $18.00, and I could live with that.
So I gathered my stuff, and waited in line. And waited. And waited.
ANOTHER thing I hate about this store: the service is SO SLOW! There are two registers, both taken up by returns. I don't know what it is about returns that is SO FRICKIN' COMPLICATED (only managers are allowed to do them, so I wasn't allowed when I worked there), but I have never seen one accomplished in under 15 minutes. The cashiers are chatting away with the customers, taking their sweet time; one of the ladies was STILL SHOPPING as the cashier sorted through the pile of stuff trying to determine what it was she actually wanted to buy. I stood there patiently--or at least, in my best impersonation of patience. All the time I'm waiting, I just know that when I get up there, something is going to go wrong, and I'm not going to get the sale prices I saw advertised. I can just FEEL IT.
Finally, the cashier asked if one of the ladies would mind waiting a minute while she rang me up. The first thing I notice when she rings up the clearance shirt is that I didn't get 40% off. I asked if it would come off at the end, and the cashier informed me that the extra 40% off was for "Gold Dot" clearance only. (i.e. The stuff that's been marked down all year and still hasn't sold.) Now, NOTHING I looked at had a gold dot on it, and I'd been willing to bet that 90% of the clearance didn't meet the requirements, despite ALL of it being displayed under the signs, but hey: it did say so on the sign, and it's my own damn fault for not reading closely enough. "Ok, I don't want it then," I said.
Then she rings up the sweaters. They both come up regular price. "This one isn't part of the deal" she says, holding up the green sweater I wanted for myself.
"But it's on the table with the sign," I pointed out.
She goes to check. (That's another strike against this store: the employees NEVER know which items are on sale! They always have to "go check". It's really not their fault: it's company policy to have about a dozen part-time employees who only work 10-12 hours/week, so no one is there enough to really know what's going on.)
She comes back and announces that the sign is only for the sweaters in the front, and not the ones on the side.
That's when the tantrum happened. "You've got to be kidding me!" I said, in not quite a raised voice, but definitely in exasperation. "This store is a NIGHTMARE! Why does it have to be a mystery which items are on sale? This was on the same table with the sale sweaters!"
"No," she said. "The sign is on a completely different table."
I nearly became unhinged at this remark. When you push three tables together so they form one large table and then pile THE SAME KINDS OF SWEATERS on all of them, can you really make the argument that the signage is on "A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TABLE"?!
I could myself becoming angry, so I told her that I didn't want any of the things I'd picked out then. I hate to rant at retail employees, because I've been one before, and it sucks. I KNOW that they have a floor plan that tells them where to put everything, and so it's not the fault of this individual store that the signs are unclear. I know that! But she continues to try to pacify me, in a very defensive and condescending voice: "Send an email to the company! Let THEM know you don't like the signs!"
Grr, whatever! I had thrown my tantrum, and I was ready to go.
After leaving the store, I immediately started to feel guilty. Yes, the cashier was clueless, but she certainly wasn't at fault. I've been ranted at by irate customers for the very same issues I was angry about today, and it happened to me TEN YEARS AGO, so I know this is a problem with the company, and not the employees.
I went into Borders to do some more shopping, and as I let the soothing presence of books mollify me, I planned out my apology to the staff. It took me awhile to get to a version that was a true apology, and didn't contain any passive-aggressive remarks that tried to shift part of the blame onto them or the store.
I'm pretty sure going back to apologize made me seem even crazier than my temper tantrum did to begin with, but what else is new? Just a side effect of KEEPIN' IT REAL, YO! ;)
The store was Lane Bryant, that bastion of fashionable clothing for plus size women. I went to look for a Christmas gift for my mother, because I had a coupon for $25.00 off a $75.00 purchase, as well as a $25.00 gift check; this means I could buy $75.00 worth of merchandise for only $25.00 out of pocket. Cha-CHING! (Those who know me in RL know I love a bargain--if you compliment me on an article of clothing I'm wearing, I have to try really hard not to disclose exactly how much it cost.)
Right away I was annoyed, because the items are cleverly priced so that it is virtually impossible to come within $10.00 of the $75.00 minimum. Every combo I came up with (a sweater and a camisole to go under it, for instance) would come to about $74.50, and they WILL NOT let you have the coupon unless you reach or exceed $75.00 EXACTLY (before tax). I was going to leave without buying anything when I noticed some giant signs that said "Sweater Sale - Buy One Sweater, Get One Free (Select Styles)". I could smell a bargain, so I tried to scope out which sweaters were the "select styles" they spoke of. I was VERY CAREFUL to look for sweaters on tables that had the correct signage on them. I've worked for this store when I was young, and I know all too well their habit of only placing one or two items on sale, advertising for a HUGE SALE, and then making it extremely confusing to figure exactly which items are part of it; I guess they figure that as long as they can get you into the store, you're likely to buy something anyway.
It turns out one style was a pretty cotton sweater I had considered buying for my mom, and another was a lovely green sweater I coveted for myself. (I figured: I'm allowed to buy things for myself if I get them FREE!)
So, I picked up the two sweaters and a camisole to go under the one I wanted for my mom. I was about $0.50 shy of the $75.00 minimum, so now began the task of finding an item that is both inexpensive, and something I would want to buy anyway. There were a few useless coin purses for 10 bucks, and some earrings for twelve, but nothing that I wanted. So I went to look in the clearance. There was one really cute black tunic top that would come in handy over the holidays, but it was only marked down to $30.00; I can't afford to spend that kind of money on myself right now. But then I noticed a sign over the clearance section that announced "Take an extra 40% off the clearance price!" This meant the shirt was really only $18.00, and I could live with that.
So I gathered my stuff, and waited in line. And waited. And waited.
ANOTHER thing I hate about this store: the service is SO SLOW! There are two registers, both taken up by returns. I don't know what it is about returns that is SO FRICKIN' COMPLICATED (only managers are allowed to do them, so I wasn't allowed when I worked there), but I have never seen one accomplished in under 15 minutes. The cashiers are chatting away with the customers, taking their sweet time; one of the ladies was STILL SHOPPING as the cashier sorted through the pile of stuff trying to determine what it was she actually wanted to buy. I stood there patiently--or at least, in my best impersonation of patience. All the time I'm waiting, I just know that when I get up there, something is going to go wrong, and I'm not going to get the sale prices I saw advertised. I can just FEEL IT.
Finally, the cashier asked if one of the ladies would mind waiting a minute while she rang me up. The first thing I notice when she rings up the clearance shirt is that I didn't get 40% off. I asked if it would come off at the end, and the cashier informed me that the extra 40% off was for "Gold Dot" clearance only. (i.e. The stuff that's been marked down all year and still hasn't sold.) Now, NOTHING I looked at had a gold dot on it, and I'd been willing to bet that 90% of the clearance didn't meet the requirements, despite ALL of it being displayed under the signs, but hey: it did say so on the sign, and it's my own damn fault for not reading closely enough. "Ok, I don't want it then," I said.
Then she rings up the sweaters. They both come up regular price. "This one isn't part of the deal" she says, holding up the green sweater I wanted for myself.
"But it's on the table with the sign," I pointed out.
She goes to check. (That's another strike against this store: the employees NEVER know which items are on sale! They always have to "go check". It's really not their fault: it's company policy to have about a dozen part-time employees who only work 10-12 hours/week, so no one is there enough to really know what's going on.)
She comes back and announces that the sign is only for the sweaters in the front, and not the ones on the side.
That's when the tantrum happened. "You've got to be kidding me!" I said, in not quite a raised voice, but definitely in exasperation. "This store is a NIGHTMARE! Why does it have to be a mystery which items are on sale? This was on the same table with the sale sweaters!"
"No," she said. "The sign is on a completely different table."
I nearly became unhinged at this remark. When you push three tables together so they form one large table and then pile THE SAME KINDS OF SWEATERS on all of them, can you really make the argument that the signage is on "A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TABLE"?!
I could myself becoming angry, so I told her that I didn't want any of the things I'd picked out then. I hate to rant at retail employees, because I've been one before, and it sucks. I KNOW that they have a floor plan that tells them where to put everything, and so it's not the fault of this individual store that the signs are unclear. I know that! But she continues to try to pacify me, in a very defensive and condescending voice: "Send an email to the company! Let THEM know you don't like the signs!"
Grr, whatever! I had thrown my tantrum, and I was ready to go.
After leaving the store, I immediately started to feel guilty. Yes, the cashier was clueless, but she certainly wasn't at fault. I've been ranted at by irate customers for the very same issues I was angry about today, and it happened to me TEN YEARS AGO, so I know this is a problem with the company, and not the employees.
I went into Borders to do some more shopping, and as I let the soothing presence of books mollify me, I planned out my apology to the staff. It took me awhile to get to a version that was a true apology, and didn't contain any passive-aggressive remarks that tried to shift part of the blame onto them or the store.
I'm pretty sure going back to apologize made me seem even crazier than my temper tantrum did to begin with, but what else is new? Just a side effect of KEEPIN' IT REAL, YO! ;)
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 04:34 am (UTC)At least you were big enough to go back and apologize... this makes you BEYOND awesome!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 04:54 am (UTC)I hate when people try to make your frustration seem petty.
Yes, THIS, exactly! No, it's not the end of the world if I can't buy a sweater I want, and I certainly shouldn't take out my frustration on people who don't deserve it, but a little understanding would be nice! Why not just agree that the placement of the sign could be confusing, and then admit that she's unable to do anything about it?
no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 06:22 am (UTC)I don't know if the employees themselves would've been the sort to make any sense of your apology, but I, for one, am impressed at your hardiness and maturity. I probably would've just sworn the store off completely and pretended it was entirely to do with the obfuscation of their sales.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 05:13 pm (UTC)It's funny: I've had meaner customers, but I can hardly remember what the people who shouted at me were talking on about; it's just the especially weird customers, like this guy, whose stories I remember.
One of these days I'll tell some stories about my job as a musuem front desk guard--I had some very interesting interactions with people there, including the Ambiguously Racist Schizophrenic and the disabled man who used to sexually harrass female staff through use of his Stephen Hawking-style text-to-speech program. Good times!
And that is a quality tantrum you were witness to, there! Jesus, how DARE you suggess he could dispense his own water??
no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 11:39 am (UTC)You get a million 'good person' points for apologising, though.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 03:21 pm (UTC)But, I was a pain in the ass, and that merits an apology!