Excuse Me, Do You Work Here?

I want to tell you about something that happened to me today as I was in the grocery store and yes this is a true story…

After a nice workout I figured I better stock up on some food and hit the grocery store on my way back home.  I casually walked down the aisles picking up the odds and ends that I needed and in one aisle I was squatting down to get something from the bottom shelf as I felt someone about knock me over.  I looked up and this woman (snooty woman) said “Um do you work here?”  I looked at her for a second thinking “you just about ran me over and now you’re asking if I work here” (thinking to myself of course).  I know I had a dumbfounded look on my face as I stood up (thinking surely she will see I am not in the store’s attire) she said “don’t ever stare at me like that, I will have your job!”  Still confused (pissed actually) I decided to play along with her.  ”What is it you need mam,” She says “The sauce that I always buy is not in it’s usual spot.”  As I stand there puzzled and still unsure how she has not put two and two together that I don’t work there I reply with “Well it’s right there, the one you are looking for and that’s not a big inconvenience…”  She gave me a look your mom gives you when they say your middle name and you know you’re in trouble.  ”Where is your manager, you NEVER talk like that to a customer?!”  I smile sheepishly and say “oh he is right over here let me go get him.”  She follows me before I have the chance to tell the poor guy about the situation and she blurts out to him “your employee is one rude person who should be fired right now for the indecent things she said to me!”  The manager confused looking at me and then looking at her said “Mam, what are you talking about,” and she jumps in again about how rude I was (thinking to myself: lady you are the one that about ran me over with your cart in the first place)  When the manager finally gets a chance to get a word in he says (and realizes that I was playing along and calmly grins at me)  ”Mrs., I am very sorry about this and I will take the necessary actions and deal with this. I am sorry about the inconvenience.  As she struts away looking back at me like oh I told you!  I turn to the manager and we both laugh.  I finished my shopping and saw the lovely person in line so I got in the other one right across where she could see me and I saw her eyes cut at me like “what on earth are you doing in line?!”  She walked out right before me and as I make my way to the car (we happened to be parked right next to each other ironically) and I said “have a good night!”  I saw her standing there in the parking lot clueless as I was wondering how she did not realize that I was not a worker there…

TRUE STORY.

Watch out for customers like this and if they are rude like this then at least have a little fun with it!  Enjoy your weekend!

Consumers in Control… or Out of Control?

I was just browsing the internet a little while ago and I came across this site called Consumers in Control also known as Complaints.com Sadly I have heard of the site but never took the time to go visit it until today.  Okay first let me say that even though our site Business Beware is for the business side, I still think that it’s cool that consumers have an outlet as well.  Face it, we all are consumers at some point anyways…

Well I searched a bit (since it’s free and open to the public) from states to different dates and just looked at a few of the complaints that were filed.  I have to mention this one that I found though because it’s too funny not to.

(this was filed in FL) “I went to Burger King and ordered a whopper.  When I pulled up to the window I saw the guy who was handling my burger was not wearing gloves when he prepared it and I saw him wiping his hand on his pants.  I am sitting here with diarrhea at the moment and I think it was from that boy not wearing gloves.  This is unsatisfactory from the Burger King’s store and policies….”

Ha, okay do you see why I had to share that with you?  Too funny right or should we say a little too much information…  As I searched more of the complaints filed against businesses I came across more and more posts just like this one, where you think to yourself “get a life people.”  For someone to take the time to write this is crazy.  So what good is it doing to tell people this?  Is it helping them out?  I do have to point out that this is what happens when sites are free, you get crazy people who have nothing better to do but to fill your emails or sites with nonsense.

I would not say that the person who wrote that is out of control, maybe a bolts short up there but not out of control.  What is out of control?  Well to me it’s when your customer calls you up and says (or screams into the phone) “Your business is crap and you are crooks who stole money out from under me! I am reporting you and putting you on the Better Business Bureau!”  As you sit there and take it or try to get a word in, they keep going on and then a quick hang up before you can at least say one word.  (if this has never been said to you, be thankful but doesn’t mean it won’t happen) And let me note that the reason the customer called so upset and said these things was simply because we charged him for one extra part that was three dollars that he agreed to while standing outside of his house.  Out of control?  Ugh yeah, I would say so.  People, this is exactly why you have Business Beware so you can warn others about these customer experiences!  Take advantage of it!

Consumers in Control is a site for consumers by consumers or course.  While I think the concept is good and something maybe consumers can benefit from, I would not be inclined to really take some of the complaints seriously and partly because it’s free.  There are some crazy people out there that just want to blow off some steam.  If you are going to post on a site to file a complaint, be classy about it and use a site like Business Beware where our members are serious about helping out fellow businesses steer clear of out of control consumers…

What if you could say this to a customer?

Aloha!  (no I am not from Hawaii but I love to say that).  We have a new customer saying up or should I say a customer comic… What if you could say this to a customer, how great would that be??

To see more of our customer sayings from members and ones we come across visit our Customer Sayings page on our site.

If you have a great customer story that you would like us to share with everyone too, send it our way!

Enjoy your weekend!

Doctors and Lawyers Can Be a Tough Crowd

Some of the toughest people to do work for or have a contract with are doctors and lawyers.  And let me correct myself, not all of them are but as a whole percentage, they are.   How many times have you gone out to do a job where you are remodeling their house, installing a fence, building a new driveway, etc.??  Sometimes they think they know how to do what you do and tell you what to do as you are there to your job in what you know how to do yourself.  There have been many times I have gone out to bid a job and I have had a lawyer tell me what to do as if they are almost better than I am.  I have doctors call all the time needing bids done.  For instance, one doctor called and wanted us to install a softball batting cage for his daughter.  We told him no problem and got all the information from him and then he proceeded to tell us that he wanted us to be out there that day to get it done.  Well considering we were about 2-3 weeks out with other jobs, I don’t think he cared.  We did what we could and worked him in since it was a process anyways and when it was done, we tried calling him and left messages but when we did get ahold of him, he kept saying how busy he was and that we needed to talk to his wife to collect money.  Well we called her and she would not call us back so we called him again and he acted like he had no time for us even though we worked him in and got the cage done for his daughter.  It took about 3 1/2 weeks of phone tag with him and telling him how it was, that he finally got his wife to come in and pay. 

Like I said, I’m not saying all doctors and lawyers are like that but most that I have delt with are all the same.  I just can’t stand those who think they know more and are better than others.  Get over yourself is all I have to say.

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