I have had a job since I was 16, but always in the food business until a little over a year ago. I decided to go to work for a popular department store in the South and have never been around such insanity as I have while working in retail. Here is a list of some of the craziest things I have heard/seen/been asked.
1. "Do you work here?" While I was standing behind the counter, checking someone out, with a name tag on.
2. "Can you turn the music down? It is way too sensual and there are kids in here." We play country music and throw back 70's jams.
3. "Where is the bathroom?" While standing literally ten feet from the entrance to the restroom.
4. "Why can't I use a coupon on a gift card? It isn't listed as an exclusion!!"
5. "Why do you only have NC State apparel? Carolina is clearly the better team, why would you do that??" Yes, because as a sales associate making barely above minimum wage, I decide what products our store carries.
6. "How much is this?" *Price is clearly listed right on the front*
7. "Why do you even send out coupons if they don't work on anything?" Yes, I send out the coupons individually to everyone.
8. While checking the fitting room I found a mysterious white powder that turned out to be a food supplement scattered across the floor and all over the walls.
9. Also while checking the fitting room I found a pair of pants thrown on top of a sign that hangs 20 feet in the air.
10. While checking the fitting room I found a styrofoam cup that was clearly full of pee. We have a public restroom.
11. A coworker once found a pair of tighty whities full of poopy skid marks hanging in the fitting room.
12. Another coworker walked in on a couple having sex in a fitting room. The fitting room in the kids section to be exact.
13. "Is Sanford (the town we are in) a poor area? You don't have many high end stores."
14. People constantly try to return things that were bought at other stores.
15. A man once came up to me to check out. I totaled up his purchase and he told me he had a gift card. I told him he could go ahead a swipe it. After he did my register would not take it. I looked at it and it was for JCPenney's. I told him that would not work here. He said, "Wait, where am I?" Looked around for a second and then left everything and walked out.
16. "Do you sell adult onsies?"
17. An elderly lady lectured me that the store should not have the underwear section so close to the door because "that's a private matter".
18. We used to gift wrap and after I wrapped a ladies present she said thank you and left. I later found out that she went up to one of my coworkers and said "Can you believe this disgusting gift wrap job?" and then demanded for it to be rewrapped.
19. A lady came in looking for a suit, shirt, and tie for her husband for a wedding he was supposed to be in. Everyone in the wedding had already bought theirs and he had to match. She brought in a receipt, which just has the upc number on it and tells you nothing about the product, and demanded that we get everything he needed in the right color. After spending hours helping her she got mad that we had to order something and she had to use a card instead of cash to pay for the online order. She then cussed out my coworker, threw her receipt and pen at her, then said she would never shop here again.
20. A man asked me if he could try on a pair of shoes. I brought them out and he asked for one of the footie socks. When he took his shoe off he had toe nails that were at least 2 inches long and were pure black. His foot smelled horrendous, but he just went on like nothing was happening.
21. A young man, probably about 15 or 16, came in with his mom and was trying on a lot of clothes. I went in to check one of the fitting rooms after he had left and it smelled like something had died. It turns out he did not wear deodorant yet and proceeded to try on clothes in every fitting room in the men's department. The smell lingered for about 2 hours after he left and was so bad I had to spray disinfectant and air freshener to get it to go away. The worst part was we had to damage out the clothes he tried on because they smelled that bad.
