The lady behind the counter being asked to re-count 29,000 pennies so ol’ boy can prove a point about his hostility to a megacorporation? That’s me. That’s what I do.
A couple of weeks ago, someone decided to clear my desk for me (she was mad about her service). People have stolen markers off my coworkers’ desks and written “[Company] sucks” on their desk space while their backs were turned. I’ve been threatened with knives and other physical and sexual violence, I’ve been called every name but my own, and had people cheer a customer on when she’d pushed me to the point I was so frustrated I cried. Behavior like this is normal in my line of work. I am paid to not only take your money, but to take your abuse.
Sure taught ‘em a lesson with that stunt, kid!
It’s just a job. I am not the company I work for — I am your neighbor. The person at the counter is a low-level employee, a tiny cog in a big ol’ wheel, who doesn’t make policy, doesn’t set the rates, and doesn’t make company decisions. Meanwhile, a clever dickweed like this gets covered in the newspaper like some kind of urban hero for abusing wage workers.
What an absolute asshole. The smugness about taking it all back, changing it at Coinstar, and then paying in cash just makes it worse.
If you want to make a point, write a pointed letter or take your business elsewhere. Do not terrorize the clerk. How hard can this possibly be?
I wish that political leanings were a part of the customer satisfaction surveys that always pop up in my online and phone interactions. I think the data points could be interesting. I only say this because I was going to suggest cross-posting this to Feministe because there can never be too many reminders, but then I realized that those readers by and large aren’t the assholes that you and this person have to handle… I hope.
Last comment: What a complete asshole. I feel lucky to have never encountered someone that vile (nor as vile as your experiences) in my multiple customer service jobs.
I am horrified! I had no idea! I thought worker abuse was mostly from management with the odd assholish customer thrown in once in a while. I thought that customers are for the most part pretty decent except for a few who are a bit demanding or argumentative.
I feel so angered reading this post. This is inhuman. No one should have to put up with such shit. I can’t believe there are customers like this!!
I am normally very nice to the people behind the register at grocery stores. The only time I lost my temper at any worker behind any counter was when they overbooked a flight and refused to board me even though I had bought the ticket because the plane was already full . This was on a day that I was flying across the county to visit my wife for her graduation ceremony. Even the earliest next flight they could put me on meant that I would miss the graduation. I was really exasperated and said some pretty harsh words to the (already harrowed) woman.
I’ve never examined my behavior regarding that incident after that, but reading this post, I suddenly feel very ashamed. I will be extra nice to the poor workers behind the counter from now on to compensate!
The usual stuff is pretty passive-aggressive. Like today I had someone pay a $200 bill in ones to be a dick (we do have several waitresses who pay in small bills but they’re regulars, comically apologetic, and identify with how shitty it can be to work with the general unwashed public). It’s not a big deal to me because I can count the money fast and if I don’t make a big deal out of it it sucks the enjoyment out of the transaction for the smug customer. Or today, I had a customer come in with some “questions” like, “Why are you so stupid?” and when I avoided engaging said questions, asked completely innocent, not-aggressive things like, “So you aren’t going to answer my questions, are you? God!” On a surface level it’s pretty funny, and you get ridiculous stories to share with friends and coworkers. But on a personal level, honestly, sometimes it’s really fucking hard to get through the day and keep a smile on your face for the people who aren’t acting like assholes.
i wish there was a better recording of this song on youtube. this post brings it to mind.
oh, hm. video embed works in preview but not in posts, i guess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkdneMqtK7k
ugh what a moron. (and an asshole, but that’s been covered). I don’t understand what his point was. “I hate paying for electricity?” that’s not a point, that’s a whine. There was nothing clever about his stunt. The more I think about it the more angry I get.
If these people had any backbone, creativity or ambition, they would toilet-paper the senior management’s houses or something that would have a chance of being even marginally effective political theater. But they don’t. So they visit their aimless frustration on people with even less recourse than them, thereby participating in the system they probably believe they despise.
I just read this after going over some of the comments on this: http://tinyurl.com/azdf5l
… yeah, that’s my life too. We have a pretty degrading (to the employee) “Just say yes” policy that everyone know about, so customers can pretty much count on the fact that if they cause a big enough scene, we’ll do what they want; if we resist, the general tactic is to call us stupid until we’ve been humiliated into giving them their stupid three dollars back or whatever. I can pretty much count on being treated as completely non-human (or worse) several times a day. (I have the bonus of being quite small, female, young and articulate — not a combination that goes over well with people.)
Thank god I’m going back to school soon (finally) and then the majority of my work will be with cats and dogs!
As a crash course in human decency, everyone should be required to work retail, or some form of customer service, for a year.
(I have been known to get annoyed with people at a service desk for silly company policies, but I try to make a point of apologizing for being angry and saying that I’m not angry at them, I know they’re doing their job.)
What gets me is the whole “this is a new idea” theme. The paying in unrolled pennies is so old I think there is a Marx Brothers skit about it. Almany is just a jerk who went to an enormous amount of work to make an unnecessary point to the wrong person. What gets me is that he will never realize that he missed making his point because his initial plan was flawed.
Been there, dealt with the petty harassments and I agree that it isn’t funny. We all do things to help out regular customers who aren’t jerks like the AA guys who always bought their coffee supplies at the end of the day with rolled change.
for what it’s worth, the couple of times that i’ve been truly angry while on the phone with a cust-serv rep, i’ve told them very clearly that i’m not angry with them, but with the company and that i was sorry when i got short and/or loud. no name calling and no cursing at the person earning their rent. i’ve been that person and people can suck really hard sometimes.
oh, also, the one time in recent memory that i’ve gotten spectacularly crappy service from the rep, i could tell that it was incompetence, rather than an attitude issue, and i told the person who fixed what the first screwed up how wonderful she was and thanked her profusely for fixing very quickly what could have been a very big screw-up if it hadn’t been caught in time.
so, i guess that’s all to say, some of us aren’t so bad, but you know that already, and i’m sorry there are so many asshats out there.
SECONDED. This really reminds me of a lot of issues I’ve had with privileged-person-protest (not that I know the realities of this dude’s life, but I Am Drawing a Parallel Here): big, showy, obnoxious gesture and yelling, with no real respect for or understanding of what they claim to have a problem with or how they affect the actual people involved. BOO to you, Mister-I-Bet-I-Can-Pay-It-In-Pennies-’Cause-Aren’t-I-A-Rebel. BOO.
I cringe every time Mr. B. gets frustrated with a company, because he gets the pissiest tone with customer service people. I apologize to everyone who has to work with people like him (he’s not as bad as the guy in the story).
I swear it should be a law that everyone has to work some kind of customer service early in their lives.
Here via a link on shakesville…
I live in Chicago and take public transit. We get douchebags sometimes who decide to FIGHT THE MAN!!! by paying their fares in pennies. This doesn’t really affect the CTA as a company in any way. The people it does affect are the riders who have to wait for every penny to be put in the fare box before the bus pulls away and thus are late for work, the riders waiting to board the bus behind the penny guy (and it’s ALWAYS a dude), and the people who want to pay a cash fare later who have problems doing so because the fare box is full of pennies. The driver doesn’t care. He still gets paid. The CTA doesn’t care. They still get paid. It’s the other consumers who are inconvenienced.
There’s a lot of people who just don’t think things through, and who lash out and MAKE A STATEMENT that really only says they’re morons.
I’m with Isabel: what a fucking whiner. The fat cat CEOs probably read this story and laughed at the idiot for wasting his time, NOT the time of their workers’ or the humiliation they endured.
Only an ignorant person would take out their frustrations about corporate issues on the wage workers.
When I worked customer service, I would, with a smile, take their complaints and abuse, then hand them the phone number and email of the corporate office saying, “This is who decides _____. I cannot help you with this.”
It is my belief that any service industry wage worker does not have to put up with shit customers, just because they happen to be the one at the front desk/counter/register. They certainly aren’t paid enough for it and should rightly speak back/up to the asshole(s). Venting is one thing, abuse and humiliation are another.
(Perhaps I’ve been lucky with understanding management, as I’ve never been fired or even felt that would happen? Other folks’ experiences?)
Talking back to a customer who’s being a shit? Oh yeah. Depends on where you’re working and how sympathetic your supervisor/manager is, but I’d imagine at least a majority of low wage jobs, that would get you in Serious Trouble. Cuz the manager may realize the customer was being a shit, but they have to report to their manager, who’s gonna be the next one that customer complains to — and on up the line.
When I worked customer service, I would, with a smile, take their complaints and abuse, then hand them the phone number and email of the corporate office saying, “This is who decides _____. I cannot help you with this.”
*cheers*
It’s a mixed bag that I can see both sides of. On the one hand, if you’re working for a company that actually is evil (as opposed to just ‘annoyed some guy some day’), you should expect to get some negative reactions for your clear support of the evil company.
But as a customer it’s unfair to take out your rage solely on a minion of the company who didn’t personally do you any wrong, especially if your rage might cause that minion to lose his/her job or otherwise punish them more than the company. If one department gets behind in its work because of your statement, no real harm done. If clerks are forced to work unpaid overtime to fix your screwup or fired because the department failed to meet production quotas, it may prove that the company is evil, but you contributed too.
I am sorry about the fuss caused by this man. It’s quite shocking to see the attitude of customers towards the services people. If they have the issues, why don’t they simply write letters to newspapers or the newsblogs? The man should spend one day at the desk and we will see how he feels after hours of facing the likes of the customers. May I suggest you send the letter to newspapers and newsblogs? So people would be aware that it is not funny at all.
Hi There!
I was wondering what kind of company you work for where people get so hostile. I have never had that kind of thing happen to me. People complained to me a lot, there were some angry people who had to blow off steam, but that was about the extent of it.
@Brooklyn: My company has an official blogging policy that prevents me from giving out any details. Stupid blogging policy.
@Emmy: “Evil” is relative. A lot of people think the company I work for is evil, in that they have a lot of annoying policies and a generally inconsistent customer service reputation. I joke that I work for the devil. But you know, a job is a job, it pays the rent. Part of the job is defending, to some degree, the reputation and policies of the company, and I have to do that regardless of how I feel about the company’s policies because it’s my current livelihood. Honestly, most really awful complaints are made by people who just don’t want to pay their bills.
@Anne:
ZOMG I wish. Unfortunately all “corporate” complaints come right back to a poor, beleaguered woman in my office who has just as little power and agency as I do.
Ugh. I agree that this isn’t funny or clever. It isn’t going to affect anyone who actually has the power to change prices, so what exactly is it accomplishing?
I cringe every time Mr. B. gets frustrated with a company, because he gets the pissiest tone with customer service people. I apologize to everyone who has to work with people like him (he’s not as bad as the guy in the story).
Dr. B: a close relative of mine (a generally wonderful lady, make no mistake) is the same way. except she’d get really angry with me if I apologized on her behalf. It’s super awkward.
But do we ever let the CSR or the company know about a REALLY GOOD job someone has done? I say “pay it forward” and am optimistic enough to hope that makes a difference in someone’s day.
I’ve had these experiences too; while I’ve been lucky enough that most of the people whom I served were not like this, I’ve dealt with my share of people who seem to think that customer service means that the customer can treat you any way he or she wants.
I’ve always tried to be courteous to people in customer service positions, but even more so since I had that job at OfficeMax years ago.
Talk about misplaced anger. Yet another jerk who should be directing his energy to dismantling the bigger structure. Why can’t people see what their oppression really stems from? I hate to think that most people in our country are that near-sighted, but alas…
What percentage of Americans–like this punk-ass, penny-paying dipshit–do you think are complete assholes? I tend to think it’s over 98%, but some people think that’s excessive. I have a friend who’s a convenience store clerk, and he puts it around 65%.
What say you?
So Wile E. Coyote there, in order to make his point, had to do the following:
1) Spend time calling around to find banks which had enough pennies to carry out his plan;
2) Spend time and gas money going from bank to bank to wait on line and get pennies;
3) Possibly pay a fee for the change if he was not a depositor at the banks;
4) Spend time unwrapping the pennies;
5) Spend time and gas money and physical effort to haul the pennies into the car, then into the utility company;
6) Spend time being a prick arguing with the cashier and her supervisors, then waiting around for staff to count pennies;
7) Spend time, gas money and physical effort to haul the pennies back out of the utility company;
8) Quite possibly pay a fee to use a coin machine to convert the pennies to cash;
9) Spend time and gas money going *back* to the utility to pay the bill.
So, to make his point, whatever that point is (that he’s an asshole who probably doesn’t pay his electric bill for months on end and doesn’t try conservation in the least if he’s racked up a $350 power bill, perhaps?), he spent hours and two to three figures in money.
And made some poor schmuck’s life just that much less enjoyable.
That’s “Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius.
One of my friends used to work as a tech support in Ireland, where she supported broadband customers living in Ireland and the UK. Since she is not a native English speaker, she got a lot of aggressiveness from the customers. One good thing though, was that the broadband companies had a clause in the contract relating to abuse of customer support. It happened more than once that a customer got his or her contract canceled (with no refund) because of abuse behavior towards the people at the other end of the phone.
Fuck people like that. I used to work at a call center dealing with people’s company cards and, during the holidays, gift cards. The people who were polite and actually interacted with me like I was a human being and not an extension of the computer system got way more effort out of me when their card was having trouble than did the rude jackasses who yelled or treated me like I was stupid. Those people just got an “I’m sorry, you’ll have to call your company” over and over until they hung up.
As a result, I always take into account the human cost of my actions in interactions with customer service personnel. You can tell who’s worked customer service before by how they treat people. Count me in with the mandatory customer service jobs.
Hey Lauren, late getting to this thread, as usual…I am perpetually late these days, it seems.
I did customer service in a national call center for a Very Big Company that Ships Things for several years.
I was nearly deafened over: late golf clubs and fishing rods, stolen earrings (but if you had NOT left it at the door, they’d be screaming about that too), lost lingerie, and my all-time favorite, a missing fire-engine red bikini. (“Do you know how long I have looked for that exact color, bitch!!?!!!?!”)
But the truly important things? AIDS drugs, fertility drugs (that must arrive ON TIME or wait another month), colostomy bags, mortgage payments and such? Those people rarely screamed, they would usually just cry.
Taught me lots about human nature and assholery.
If Daisy is late, count me extra extra late. Stories like this drive me up the freakin’ wall, since I’ve worked in customer service for most of my working life.
I cringe every time Mr. B. gets frustrated with a company, because he gets the pissiest tone with customer service people. I apologize to everyone who has to work with people like him (he’s not as bad as the guy in the story).
Dr. B: a close relative of mine (a generally wonderful lady, make no mistake) is the same way. except she’d get really angry with me if I apologized on her behalf. It’s super awkward.
It’s a total lose/lose situation there, though. It’s like, when I was a low-level manager at a Major Bookstore Chain. I was essentially the first line of defense for the real managers. I handled returns and exchanges. If someone came up to me and wanted their money back, and they had a receipt, I could give it to them. Our official policy was 30 days, but it was left to my discretion. But, if you don’t have a receipt, or it was, say, an open DVD? You’re not getting your money back, and I wasn’t allowed to do a return on that. Official policy.
So, a normal person, when being told “I’m really sorry, but our official policy is that we don’t do returns without a receipt or on open DVDs” says “Oh, well, that sucks, but okay.”
But if you get pissy with me, argue with me, and demand to see my manager, then the store manager comes down. And promptly gives you back your money, making me look like a liar or an incompetent asshole.
Which only reinforces the notion that it pays to be an abusive asshole to retail employees because it’s the jerks who get their money back or their product exchanged, while polite who you really wish you could help get shown to the door.
Ugh.
It’s enough to make you want to scream.
Jesus H Christ, yes. This happens all the time, and there’s been an ongoing dialogue for 2-3 years at work about how management needs to have our backs (they generally don’t).
We tried to have a dialogue with management about it, during the staff meetings, but we were told by the store manager: “You’re lucky to have jobs here at all. There are dozens of people lined up on any given day to get a job here.”
I started looking for a new job that same day, because I just couldn’t take that kind of complete and utter disrespect for employees. Like, we’re coming to you because we like our jobs and we what we’re doing (which was why we were working for such relatively low wages), but when we come to you and say “Look, this is a problem, and it’s really ruining employee morale” you tell us that we’re lucky to have jobs?
Screw that.
The upper management never had our backs when it came to that kind of stuff. It’s so toxic to the work environment, too. I used to think that my boss didn’t realize how much it was building resentment in the ranks, but after that conversation, I realized that she knew, but just didn’t give a damn.