Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Frustrating Customers and Fake Phone Numbers

Today I had my first truly terrible customers. I was in the tobacco bullpen (the only register where you can buy tobacco in the store), and a woman comes up with milk she would like to ad match. When she finds out it's the wrong brand, she gets really angry. Though a little unusual, it was no big deal. However, she decides to pay for her second set of items with a check. Our system randomly prompts for more information to protect against fraud, and she absolutely refused to give it to me. She claimed that she didn't have her driver's license on her, and that she didn't know the number. I called a manager over to see if we could bypass the system, and only then does she produce her license. Then the computer prompts for a telephone number. She says she doesn't own a telephone. I call the manager over again. She gives him two fake numbers (saying: "They're telephone numbers, I just don't know for who"), and then finally gives us a (semi-)legitimate number.

To top matters off, the customer deliberately signs with an X instead of her name. She tells her husband to take the cart and leave when I surreptiously call the manager over a third time. The husband refuses his wife's order, and walks out. Since we return our customers' checks, our primary guarantee for payment is their electronic signature, so it needs to be right. Finally, after five more minutes have passed, she is clear to go.

All this over a $34 bill.

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