It’s early on an oddly warm November morning. The manager of the store who happens to be my dear friend and I are working hard, unpacking shipment and putting new merchandise on display for our customers’ shopping ease and pleasure. With Thanksgiving coming this Thursday many early birds, (pardon the Thanksgiving expression) are getting a head start purchasing their Holiday gifts, decorations and wrapping paper. The store is ramping up, the music is playing happy holiday tunes and everyone is busy enjoying the early holiday spirit!
A tall, young gentleman arrived at the cashier counter and asked me if there was a particular Transformer action figure on hold. He stated the name of the figure and told me it should be on hold for ‘Keith’. After a bit of searching, my manager found the character on top of a display of Snuggies placed on the shelf behind the cash registers. The man was thrilled! He smiled a big, wide smile and asked if any other stores in our chain had this same character. Eager to help, we called one or two other stores; no one had any of the figures. The gentleman, Mike was his name, then explained to us that this figure, which we sell for $5, was selling for up to $75 on Ebay! He left his name and telephone number and asked if we would be kind enough to call him if any more of this particular transformer was shipped to us. With that, he left, thanking us for our help.
For the next hour we continued to be busy, very normal for this time of year. While pricing a shipment of gag soap, soap that looks like any regular bar but suds to a bloody lather, a middle-aged woman appeared at the register. Politely she asked if we had a particular transformer on hold for Keith. I looked at her, startled, and explained that we had such a transformer on hold, but that a gentleman named Mike had already picked it up. Her eyes opened wide and with a glare that can only be described as crazed, she began to berate me. “Why didn’t you ask for ID?” she demanded! “I don’t know anyone named Mike and that toy was for my son and I”, she exclaimed! Now, please keep in mind, her son was not a little boy, he was a grown man who wanted the toy to sell on Ebay.
ID, I thought to myself, are you kidding me? This is a $5 toy! But knowing I couldn’t say those things out loud, I simply informed the woman that the only ID we require for picking up a toy on hold, is the knowledge that the toy is on hold. With anger in her eyes, she told me her son had given distinct instructions that ONLY Keith or Regina were permitted to purchase the transformer. I informed her that the only paper on the toy was a note that it was on hold for Keith, there were no further instructions. She seemed horrified! I then asked her how someone else could know the toy was on hold under that name. She replied, (hold onto your hat), that her son was so excited to know he found one of these “valuable” toys that he posted its location on his Facebook status the previous night!
Politely I responded that we sometimes forget the fact that Facebook needs to be respected for its broadcast capabilities. I expressed my regret that the wrong person had picked up the toy but told her that we truly had no way of knowing Mike was not sent to pick it up. (I mean really…if you want to keep something secret, it shouldn’t be posted as your Facebook status!) She told me the loss of the toy was extremely upsetting to her and that I needed to fully appreciate the gravity of the situation! Gravity she said! A $5 toy! OY!! She glared at me, a full, harsh stare for about 45 seconds. She then walked around the perimeter of the cashier’s desk and stood right inside the doorway. Before heading out of the store, she glared at me for another full minute! There was honestly nothing more I could say to help this woman feel better about what had happened. I believed anything additional would just make her angrier. I wanted to explain to this woman that there were things in life worthy of being upset about but this wasn’t one of them! Instead, I went back to pricing gag soap, as if the clip, clip, clip of the pricing gun would calm the situation. After a minute or so, I turned around to find she had gone.
The Holidays are a busy, fun, wild time in retail. The days fly by as customers and stock keep us on constant move. Most people in our store enjoy the fact that the toys are fairly priced and that the children in their lives are going to love and enjoy them. It’s a happy place and customers like the ‘Transformer Lunatic’ are, thankfully, rare.
So, happy shopping everyone! Black Friday is around the corner – enjoy the hunt! But hopefully keep in perspective that a toy is just a toy and its purpose is to make someone you love happy. Remember, the loved ones are what's important, not the toy. And try to remember that every retail sales person is someone's loved one.
Happy shopping to all!!
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