Post by Lantlas on Feb 6, 2007 23:51:06 GMT -5
"Regulation"
“Can I help you, sir?”
“Yeah, this DVD don’t work.”
Seemed to be a lot of that going on for supposedly brand new DVDs. Regardless, I wasn’t allowed to argue the situation, and I retrieved one of the return/exchange forms. “We’ll replace it for you,” I offered.
“Why the hell do you sell DVDs that don’t work?” Yes, because it’s me who personally made sure the DVD you purchased wouldn’t work. I control those things; I thought everyone knew that. Before I could respond, he walked over to the new release wall. “Gee, is this DVD gonna work?” He continued going through every DVD on the rack, repeating the same question, then as his girlfriend brought up another copy of the same movie, he stormed out of the store and knocked over one of the displays.
“No offense,” I muttered to the girlfriend, “but it’s not as if I have anything to do with the DVDs not working. Those things happen.”
“I know,” she replied, “he’s just having a really bad day.”
Of course. When you’re having a bad day, why not take it out on your local retail clerk? That’s what we’re there for, isn’t it? At least the girlfriend was nice, and I put through her transaction. Afterwards, I walked over to the fallen display and started picking it back up piece by piece. At that point, I saw two feet standing near me, and I knew exactly whose they were.
“Alex, what did you say to that customer that made him so mad?”
It had to have been something I did. I guess that was a customary symptom of an angry customer. “I didn’t say anything, Boss. I didn’t have the chance to say anything before he stormed out of the store and knocked over this display.”
“He wouldn’t have gotten angry if you had handled that situation properly.”
This guy was really getting on my nerves today. Sarcastically, I rolled my eyes and came back with, “oh really, and what exactly did I do wrong this time?”
“You didn’t apologize to them. And also, you shouldn’t offer a replacement unless they ask for one.”
How many stupid regulations were there at this place? I couldn’t take it anymore and walked away to watch some of the kids who were heading back to the music video section. That was easily the highest area of shrink in the store because of its limited view from the front counter, and kids with extremely big sweatshirts and their hands in their pockets were constantly looking around, I assumed to make sure no one was watching. I walked up to them, trying to make sure it wasn’t just because they needed help. “Can I help you guys find something?”
“Nah, we aight,” he responded.
“Great grammar, genius,” I muttered to myself as I was walking away. Try a verb sometime? Though my disdain for the boss was growing immensely by the day, as I neared him, I motioned back to the area in which they were. “Boss, I think those kids might be stealing something.”
“Okay, well keep an eye on them,” he instructed.
“What do I do if I see them take something?”
“Well, you can’t accuse them,” he replied.
I can’t what? “Why not?”
“If they’re not actually stealing, they could sue you for that.”
“But if they are actually stealing, I still can’t do anything?”
“No,” he answered.
“Then what can I do?”
“You do your best to keep them in the store, and call security if you’re absolutely sure they took something.”
“And then they’ll do something about it?”
“Well,” my boss’s face grimaced again, “no, actually. They’re not really police officers, so they’d have to give them the chance to stay until the real cops get there.”
“But they couldn’t force them to stay?”
“No, they’d have to tell them that they called the cops, but they couldn’t keep them there.”
“So basically what you’re telling me is to prevent shrink, we keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t, but if we see something, we can do almost nothing because people’s feelings are more important, even if they actually did commit said crime of which they were accused.”
“No no,” the boss replied, “you can call security.”
“Who, in turn, will do nothing..”
“They’ll call the cops.”
“But they can’t keep them there.”
“No, they can’t.”
“So what’s the point?” I asked.
“To do your best to prevent shrink, but not to put yourself in danger in doing so.”
“Or just to save the company from potential lawsuits,” I murmured under my breath.
“What did you say?”
“I said I’ll keep an eye on those youths.”
“Okay,” he nodded as he walked towards the back… again. It wasn’t ten seconds that he disappeared when I saw one of the kids take out a knife and slice open one of the DVD boxes. Caroline saw it too, and whispered to me, “what should we do?”
Without responding, I walked out of the door and called security’s number on my cell phone. “Yes, security? This is Alex from MovieXPress.”
“What can I do for you, Alex?” the voice answered.
“I just saw a kid slice open a DVD and put it in his pocket.”
“You’re sure you saw it?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t approach them, just try to keep them in the store and we’ll send someone.”
I flipped off my phone. Before I had the chance to corner them, they took off running down the mall! The hell with regulations, I wasn’t letting them get away with it. I started running after them, yelling “shoplifters!” To my dismay (and disgust), not a single person did anything but get out of the way. They did, however, get in my way, and I began to lose them. All of the sudden I heard one of them gasp. Over the tops of several heads, I saw that they had run into Chris from Orange Julius, and Chris had effectively laid them out with a clothesline.
Security was running up to them, and they started to take Chris away! I ran through the crowd and tried to stop them. “Excuse me, officers, but those two kids were shoplifters!”
“He struck a civilian,” the officer responded. “We have to take him in.”
“And you’re just going to let those kids go?”
“We didn’t see them steal anything.”
“But I did!”
“Sorry kid, you shouldn’t have followed them.” I walked back to the store, steaming about the fact that they had taken Chris, who’d taken a risk to stop two criminals, and instead of arresting the criminals, they’d taken the guy who stopped them away. Man, something was really wrong with the laws in this country.
Stepping in the store, I felt eyes glaring at me yet again. “Alex, where did you go?” the boss asked.
“I saw those kids steal something and run.”
“And you went after them?”
“Yes.”
“You leave me no choice. I have to write you up. If you get written up again, you’re fired.”
Double whammy. As the boss disappeared, I felt my pocket vibrate. “What’s up, bro?”
“Did I just see Chris take out two kids?” Brian asked.
“Yeah, two kids who were stealing from my store.”
“Oh really,” Brian responded. “Then why’d they take him away?”
“Because I guess they could get sued for accusing the kids of stealing something, even though they did.”
“They can sue for that?”
“Apparently,” I growled. “They might have done it, but dammit, you hurt their feelings in the process! Away with you! Pay them money for stealing from your store!”
Brian had nothing for that one, and sadly, neither did I. What was this world coming to?
Help me get this read on the web... www.fictionpress.com/s/2231693/6/ scroll to the bottom of the page, at the bottom left, click the submit review button.
“Can I help you, sir?”
“Yeah, this DVD don’t work.”
Seemed to be a lot of that going on for supposedly brand new DVDs. Regardless, I wasn’t allowed to argue the situation, and I retrieved one of the return/exchange forms. “We’ll replace it for you,” I offered.
“Why the hell do you sell DVDs that don’t work?” Yes, because it’s me who personally made sure the DVD you purchased wouldn’t work. I control those things; I thought everyone knew that. Before I could respond, he walked over to the new release wall. “Gee, is this DVD gonna work?” He continued going through every DVD on the rack, repeating the same question, then as his girlfriend brought up another copy of the same movie, he stormed out of the store and knocked over one of the displays.
“No offense,” I muttered to the girlfriend, “but it’s not as if I have anything to do with the DVDs not working. Those things happen.”
“I know,” she replied, “he’s just having a really bad day.”
Of course. When you’re having a bad day, why not take it out on your local retail clerk? That’s what we’re there for, isn’t it? At least the girlfriend was nice, and I put through her transaction. Afterwards, I walked over to the fallen display and started picking it back up piece by piece. At that point, I saw two feet standing near me, and I knew exactly whose they were.
“Alex, what did you say to that customer that made him so mad?”
It had to have been something I did. I guess that was a customary symptom of an angry customer. “I didn’t say anything, Boss. I didn’t have the chance to say anything before he stormed out of the store and knocked over this display.”
“He wouldn’t have gotten angry if you had handled that situation properly.”
This guy was really getting on my nerves today. Sarcastically, I rolled my eyes and came back with, “oh really, and what exactly did I do wrong this time?”
“You didn’t apologize to them. And also, you shouldn’t offer a replacement unless they ask for one.”
How many stupid regulations were there at this place? I couldn’t take it anymore and walked away to watch some of the kids who were heading back to the music video section. That was easily the highest area of shrink in the store because of its limited view from the front counter, and kids with extremely big sweatshirts and their hands in their pockets were constantly looking around, I assumed to make sure no one was watching. I walked up to them, trying to make sure it wasn’t just because they needed help. “Can I help you guys find something?”
“Nah, we aight,” he responded.
“Great grammar, genius,” I muttered to myself as I was walking away. Try a verb sometime? Though my disdain for the boss was growing immensely by the day, as I neared him, I motioned back to the area in which they were. “Boss, I think those kids might be stealing something.”
“Okay, well keep an eye on them,” he instructed.
“What do I do if I see them take something?”
“Well, you can’t accuse them,” he replied.
I can’t what? “Why not?”
“If they’re not actually stealing, they could sue you for that.”
“But if they are actually stealing, I still can’t do anything?”
“No,” he answered.
“Then what can I do?”
“You do your best to keep them in the store, and call security if you’re absolutely sure they took something.”
“And then they’ll do something about it?”
“Well,” my boss’s face grimaced again, “no, actually. They’re not really police officers, so they’d have to give them the chance to stay until the real cops get there.”
“But they couldn’t force them to stay?”
“No, they’d have to tell them that they called the cops, but they couldn’t keep them there.”
“So basically what you’re telling me is to prevent shrink, we keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t, but if we see something, we can do almost nothing because people’s feelings are more important, even if they actually did commit said crime of which they were accused.”
“No no,” the boss replied, “you can call security.”
“Who, in turn, will do nothing..”
“They’ll call the cops.”
“But they can’t keep them there.”
“No, they can’t.”
“So what’s the point?” I asked.
“To do your best to prevent shrink, but not to put yourself in danger in doing so.”
“Or just to save the company from potential lawsuits,” I murmured under my breath.
“What did you say?”
“I said I’ll keep an eye on those youths.”
“Okay,” he nodded as he walked towards the back… again. It wasn’t ten seconds that he disappeared when I saw one of the kids take out a knife and slice open one of the DVD boxes. Caroline saw it too, and whispered to me, “what should we do?”
Without responding, I walked out of the door and called security’s number on my cell phone. “Yes, security? This is Alex from MovieXPress.”
“What can I do for you, Alex?” the voice answered.
“I just saw a kid slice open a DVD and put it in his pocket.”
“You’re sure you saw it?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t approach them, just try to keep them in the store and we’ll send someone.”
I flipped off my phone. Before I had the chance to corner them, they took off running down the mall! The hell with regulations, I wasn’t letting them get away with it. I started running after them, yelling “shoplifters!” To my dismay (and disgust), not a single person did anything but get out of the way. They did, however, get in my way, and I began to lose them. All of the sudden I heard one of them gasp. Over the tops of several heads, I saw that they had run into Chris from Orange Julius, and Chris had effectively laid them out with a clothesline.
Security was running up to them, and they started to take Chris away! I ran through the crowd and tried to stop them. “Excuse me, officers, but those two kids were shoplifters!”
“He struck a civilian,” the officer responded. “We have to take him in.”
“And you’re just going to let those kids go?”
“We didn’t see them steal anything.”
“But I did!”
“Sorry kid, you shouldn’t have followed them.” I walked back to the store, steaming about the fact that they had taken Chris, who’d taken a risk to stop two criminals, and instead of arresting the criminals, they’d taken the guy who stopped them away. Man, something was really wrong with the laws in this country.
Stepping in the store, I felt eyes glaring at me yet again. “Alex, where did you go?” the boss asked.
“I saw those kids steal something and run.”
“And you went after them?”
“Yes.”
“You leave me no choice. I have to write you up. If you get written up again, you’re fired.”
Double whammy. As the boss disappeared, I felt my pocket vibrate. “What’s up, bro?”
“Did I just see Chris take out two kids?” Brian asked.
“Yeah, two kids who were stealing from my store.”
“Oh really,” Brian responded. “Then why’d they take him away?”
“Because I guess they could get sued for accusing the kids of stealing something, even though they did.”
“They can sue for that?”
“Apparently,” I growled. “They might have done it, but dammit, you hurt their feelings in the process! Away with you! Pay them money for stealing from your store!”
Brian had nothing for that one, and sadly, neither did I. What was this world coming to?
Help me get this read on the web... www.fictionpress.com/s/2231693/6/ scroll to the bottom of the page, at the bottom left, click the submit review button.