Ah, the joy of customer service. I have soooo many of these.
As a bank teller:
1. The customer who wanted me to take $500 out of his account that was ALREADY overdrawn by $220. Why? He wanted to buy some more things for his car. No, it wasn't messed up. He wanted a new stereo. He had already paid for the new paint job and tires (that's where he had overdrafted his account in the first place).
2. The customer who was overdrawn by almost $600 and wanted to take out a loan with our bank in order to pay us back the money she owed us. Yes. Because we are SO likely to give money to someone who has been negative in their checking account with us for over a month.
As a cashier/customer service person for a national grocer:
1. For those who don't know, WIC is a form of government assistance meant specifically for pregnant women and children. Only specific amounts of very specific foods are allowed to be purchased with WIC. For example, you can buy bread, but it has to be wheat bread, and only certain size packages. Only particular cereals, and only in precise amounts.
Anyway, I actually had more than one person who demanded that I "change" their government-issued WIC form OR the sizes of the bread/cereal packages so that they could get what they wanted. Because what you all don't know is that I'm secretly the Queen of the World and I can do things like that.
2. Then there was the guy who got angry with me because I wouldn't ring up his dog's kibble as "people food" so that he could buy it with his food stamps.
That grocery store job was the worst, though. I live in central Georgia, and the thing that non-southerners should understand about winter weather in our area is that GA snow does NOT equal, say PA snow, or Chicago snow. We very rarely get snow - we get ice, with a thin layer of snow on top of it. No one I know owns snow chains. Buildings in this area are built to a different code, and many of the older ones simply cannot handle the weight of snow on their roofs. It's just so rare here...
Anyway, I was scheduled to work one evening at the store, and snow was in the forecast. Sure enough, it started snowing, and the younger teenagers started being sent home (fear of angry parents). At about 7:00pm, it was pitch black. At around 8:00pm, one of my co-workers mentioned that management was refusing to let her go home. Keep in mind, she was newer, she was young, but an adult nonetheless. HOWEVER, she also didn't own a car. And cab services in our area won't run in snow. She lived four miles away, and normally walked to work. She was scheduled until 11:30pm. Management knew they could boss her, though, and she was too timid to say no.
Well, it made me mad. Plus, by that point, I had worked there for four years, and though I wasn't in the union, I knew what the union booklet said about almost every subject. So I told them I was going home. And I was taking her home, and we were leaving. Right now. It's was about 9:00 at that point, and I was scheduled until 10:30. I took her home, and then, crawling very slowly, made it almost home when my cell phone rang at 10:00. It was my manager. Demanding that I come back to finish my shift. I told her it wasn't possible, the roads were already getting treacherous, and I was almost home.
The next two months, I was "punished" by having my hours severely restricted. I don't regret it, though.
I am so glad I don't work there anymore.
