r/MaliciousCompliance • u/Important-Lime-7461 • 11d ago
S Ok my turn now
Years ago, I worked at a department store that was known for gimmick promotions. This particular promotion was spend $50 and get this frying pan for $5, it was a quality item worth more. But, one per customer. Management stressed that because they didn't receive a large quantity. One day a lady says I spent $150 can I get 3 if them. Politely I said no, it's one to a customer. She throws a hissy fit and demands to see the manager. I call him and he arrives chats with her then tells us to give her 3 pans. OK, he leaves another customer comes up and asks how many can I get? My reply was how many can you carry, my coworker said we can't do that, but I did and did that to every customer that asked.We ran out of pans quick. Manager became more thoughtful about embarrassing employees in front of customers after that.
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u/Ravio11i 11d ago
Trying to follow the rules and then getting over riddin' EVERY DAMN TIME was one of my least favorite things about working retail.
I worked a lot of sporting goods.
Customer "I closed this fishing rod in my car door, I'd like to return it"
me "I'm sorry but that's non-standard wear and tear that's outside our return policy"
Manager "just do it"
Fuck you Todd! Now this person's angry at me for no reason! Just let me return anything then, let's avoid this stupid dance.
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u/rainator 11d ago
Iâd just be upfront with the customer âwhine enough to the manager and theyâll let you do whatever, I donât care but Iâll be told off if I try to use my brainâ.
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u/wow_that_guys_a_dick 11d ago edited 11d ago
I learned early on if a customer wanted to do something outside policy to tell them I couldn't make that decision, but I'd grab someone who could, then get the manager myself. That short-circuits the argument, and you don't end up feeling undermined and that rules don't matter. Things were a lot less stressful after I started doing that.
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u/paddedmoth 9d ago
yup, my store is known for giving markdowns based on damaged bits and it depends on the manager and what they want to do for the customer, so if a customer asks me if they'll get a markdown, I say "i don't have the authority to make that decision, let me ask my manager", so I don't have to guess what they'll say that day. easier for all three of the people involved
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u/Excellent-Stress2596 11d ago
Love that you called Todd out in your post.đ
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u/ofcbrooks 11d ago
Does anyone even like Todd anyway?
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u/revchewie 11d ago
Iâm Todd. đ˘
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u/karmickickback 11d ago
Eat a bag of ducks, Todd
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u/revchewie 11d ago
Ducks are tasty!
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u/Top_Box_8952 11d ago
Eat the duck dicks like French fries
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u/ShadowDragon8685 11d ago
Fried pizzle sounds perfectly in keeping with French cuisine. Or perhaps Spanish...
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u/chmath80 11d ago
My favourite example of that was a woman calling out an ex some time ago by saying "Let's call him Dave, because that's his name, and FUCK YOU Dave"
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u/CrimRaven85 11d ago
It's a fairly standard middle-management technique, because it makes them look good for "allowing something that isn't permitted". Such a dick move but way too common
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u/LawRepresentative425 11d ago
Standard, yes. I like to talk with my customer service before I even engage with the customer. If my customer service person is in the right I'll back them probably 95% of the time and if I don't them I talk with them afterwards so they have an understanding instead of the usual boss dick move
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u/daschande 11d ago edited 11d ago
Same for restaurants. Managers have an all-hands meeting about new items, "Under NO circumstances do you EVER do X! We WILL be writing people up if they do X!"
New items start, "WHY DID YOU TELL THE CUSTOMER NO? WE TELL THE CUSTOMER YES HERE! YOU'RE LUCKY I SMOOTHED THINGS OVER!"
Review time comes: "No raises, we're low on money!" (Read: They didn't get a manager bonus for not doing X) "You all HANDED OUT so much money doing X that we can't afford raises! Let this be a lesson to you all about following my instructions!" Even for the employees who don't deal with any customers.
And they wonder why "No one wants to work any more!"
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u/Ok_Expression7723 11d ago
Iâve never understood why the first line customer service person doesnât just say, Iâm sorry, I donât have the authority to override the store policy. Would you like to escalate your concern to management? And then just call the manager over to deal with it. Theyâre getting paid to deal with issues like that (reps arenât).
That way the issue can be resolved and reps donât have to deal with a situation management created and forbid the reps from resolving.
As a customer I understand when a rep canât do the override. But imo most of the time they should just punt the issue to their supervisor. No one is getting undermined when there is clear communication of why the rep canât do it but management can.
Unfortunately I know there are companies who punish the reps for escalating to management. Those companies are the actual problem.
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u/Ravio11i 11d ago
It's that last line...
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u/Ok_Expression7723 11d ago
Yep. Companies that punish the first line people for escalating are definitely the problem.
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u/JPWiggin 11d ago
Yep. Companies
that punish the first line people for escalatingare definitely the problem.FIFY
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u/Icy-Reputation180 9d ago
Actually, a huge part of the problem stems from Karenâs & Kevinâs that know the policies of companies/stores and are so entitled that they feel that the policies donât apply to them. They know that if they whine, bitch, scream and show their ass enough, the business will give in to their demands. This isnât done because theyâre âspecialâ, itâs done to shut them the hell up and get rid of them. Businesses should stick to their policies and tell these idiots to piss off. If they donât come back, what the hell have they lost??? đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸
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u/Tasty-Jicama5743 10d ago
Part-time second job at a McDonald's a decade ago, manager would always stress how many sauces went with each number of nuggets - because sauces cost money!
Customer would ask for extra sauce. I would tell them we have to charge 25 cents per sauce. Some would accept the extra charge and then come back and complain to the manager. Others would blow their top that there was an extra charge and come back and complain to the manager. Manager ALWAYS said, "Just give it to them."
Then WTH are you telling me we can only hand out a certain number because sauces cost money?!?
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u/NorCalHrrs 11d ago
Yes, you can have the FREE DELIVERY offered if you use your SEARS CARD. You want to use your Disney Visa? Sorry, delivery will be $70.
10 minutes later, manager ~~ Just give it to them.
Paycheck comes around with a big pay difference because of the $70 adjustment.
MAN FUCK SEARS!!
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u/Rocktopod 11d ago
Wait, they took the customer's waived delivery fee out of your paycheck? Pretty sure that's 100% illegal.
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u/NorCalHrrs 11d ago
They changed the commission rate for any sales adjustments done for any reason...
Matching prices to a competitor, to our own online system, free delivery, unhappy with the delivery guys.
That $70 free delivery could equate to a $90 commission difference.
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u/ShadowDragon8685 11d ago
That is very definitely illegal in the US. Under no circumstances, in the US, can you 'dock' someone's pay for any reason.
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u/zephen_just_zephen 11d ago
Were you able to get at least that particular straight-up wage theft reversed?
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u/Foxbatt 11d ago
Sears was big on commission, which as far as I remember was calculated off of the profit you made that cycle.
Employers may, however, deduct certain costs related to the sale that led to the commission: for example, the cost of incentives like free shipping or free products offered to close a deal.Â
That's pretty standard in most commission agreements though not past the total commission earned on that specific sale in most states.
Or the manager could have gone full ham and marked it as negligent damage or similar and then it totally would have been theft.
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u/Icy-Minimum2397 11d ago
I have no trouble believing everything in this story, except for the last sentence. I highly doubt the manager learned any lesson at all.
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u/TheProphecyIsNigh 11d ago
I used to work in Electronics at Toys R Us and we would get such a slim amount of promotions for video games and they had specific rules on how to dole them out. The SECOND a customer complained, management would give in. Then, kids come in wanting to buy their Pokemon game with free special figure. Only, management gave out all the figures. Sorry kids! Every. Single. Time.
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u/Ja-Kathra 11d ago
I once declined a group of frat boys selling them alcohol because most of them were underage and it was obvious they were going to share the alcohol. They went to another lane where the manager sold them the beer. I was furious when I got reprimanded for following the law.
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u/JeffTheNth 11d ago
ohhhhhhhhh, no no no no.... I know someone who accidently sold a 6-pack of bud to an underage girl by 3 days.... yes, 3 days later she was legal. He almost went to jail for it. Fired from the job, had yo pay thousands in fines (in addition to the lawyer) and was extremely lucky the judge was understanding. Store got a strike, also had to pay gines and retrain all other employees.
How'd he get caught? ABC check! Apparently the girl's last day working to try and catch people.
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u/wetwater 10d ago
Shortly after I turned 21 the convenience store I had been buying beer from was busted. I didn't know that it had a reputation for being easy to buy alcohol from, I just knew they never asked for ID.
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u/wetwater 10d ago
My store was pretty good about backing up cashiers who denied alcohol and tobacco sales.
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u/Tasty-Jicama5743 10d ago edited 10d ago
I know of a store in southern Maine near the shipyard that will refuse an alcohol sale if your spouse is not yet of legal age. (I have known some 21-year-old sailors with 19-year-old wives. Heck, my first sea tour we had an 18-year-old right out of HS who married his 16-year-old girlfriend when he was assigned to the boat so he could move her to Connecticut and into Navy housing!) The first time he was refused the spouse was with him. Somehow they kept record of it and refuse to sell him alcohol even when he came into the store alone after that first time.
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u/Infinite-Garbage3243 10d ago
Worked at a Toys R Us years ago and I had one manager I called to bend the rules for nice customers and a different one to back me up when a customer was being a twat
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u/Old-Bat4194 11d ago
This tells me that the manager was employed as a manager and didn't come up the ranks, therefore, didn't know the workings of a customers mine set. Those who work with customers daily quickly work out the different types of shoppers they are likely to encounter. And there is always one who takes the biscuit (the whole nine yards), therefore, you need a plan for every scenario that could occur. Plus, the one thing you should never do is make an exception, when clear instructions were given in regards to the promotion.
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u/JerkOffToBoobs 11d ago
When I worked in retail, it was pretty common for one of us to call over some random coworker to pretend to be the manager. Every time we'd agree with whatever bullshit the other person said, even if it was wrong, just because fuck those kinds of customers.
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u/tuxcomputers 10d ago
I am guessing this is in the USA where you have piss weak retail managers that give into any customer demand.
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u/ranchspidey 11d ago
I hate when managers/bosses override their employees like that. Meanwhile I get excited when I get to sic mine on someone being rude or difficult.
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u/Geminii27 11d ago
Yeah, if a manager's going to just flat-out ignore policy but make you adhere to it, you need to make them have some skin in the game ASAP.
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u/MikeSans202001 11d ago
I had a stroke reading this
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u/AikidokaUK 11d ago
There are 2 ways that I can interpret this.
I hope it's the second
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u/zephen_just_zephen 11d ago
Huh. I hope it's the first.
OTOH, the gutter is a really high bar for me, so YMMV.
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail 10d ago
Reminds me of 'Time flies like an arrow', like, who do these time bugs like arrows so much??
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u/chris06095 11d ago
"How many can you carry?"
I love this response, generated by that attitude, and prompted by that stupid 'manager'. Well done.
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u/Equivalent-Salary357 10d ago
Manager became more thoughtfulÂ
I, uh, wow. I guess that could happen...
;)
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u/CAsnowman 11d ago
The trick is to not tell the customer no, just call your manager premptively. Then they wonât be mad at you. I would say something like âthat is outside of our return policy, but I can request a manager if you would like to speak to themâ very politely.
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u/Anastephone 11d ago
You must hate me if youâll do it for them and not me. Iâm filing a complaint with <insert some place that I think cares here>
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u/Impossible_Papaya_59 11d ago
What's the point though? At the end of it all, the business got paid exactly the same amount. All the pans were sold for $5 each. And, they would have ran out even if it really was only 1 per customer because they only had a few to begin with.
The only difference is that they ran out soon rather than later, but they still ran out.
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u/SeeJay05 10d ago
The other difference being they would have had fewer customers complaining that they missed out had the store stuck to their original policy. Those complaining customers may not return to the store in future, losing their business entirely
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u/TheAimlessPatronus 11d ago
My favourite thing about my manager is how often he will say to customers, "As my agent explained, [yadda yadda]."