ngdawg

I sent out three posters that were prepaid and ordered-two to people in one town and the third to another town. Two arrived too damaged to be of any use.
I love writing letters expressing either dismay or pleasure. Guess which one this displays.

Attn: Postmaster, Bordentown

Dear Postmaster:

On Thursday, October 12, I purchased 3 mailing tubes for the purpose of sending pre-ordered posters. These were then sent Priority Mail, two to Bordentown, one sent to Trenton.
On Saturday, October 14, I received phone calls from the Bordentown recipients. The first call was to inform me that her poster arrived with the tube completely bent in half(as if someone had stomped on it) and the poster destroyed. The second was to inform me that hers arrived wet and damaged. The third, sent to Trenton, arrived unscathed.
The fact that the two that were sent to Bordentown were received damaged leads me to believe that your facility was horribly lax in the handling of these packages. Had I known of this disregard for mail that apparently is the norm for Bordentown, I’d have taken other precautions. Unfortunately, my trust in the postal system, especially when it comes to shipping something like mailing tubes Priority has cost me over $35 because I now have to send replacement posters to these people and pay once again for that.
I am in the business of art to make a little money; The blatant disrespect for packages entrusted to your facility voids this purpose and now I have to spend even more to use another method because I can not trust your staff to do their job.
I am not aware of any guarantees when it comes to sending anything Priority. I do believe that the mailing tubes and usage of them would facilitate the proper handling of them so that destruction would not be an issue and I would also be of the belief that paying more for something to arrive quickly would also guarantee it would arrive intact.
Then again, I also used to believe in Santa Claus.

At work, they promoted this kid to Asst. Manager of the departments I work in. He's a freakin idiot. Rarely does recovery(straightening stock, etc.). He can't seem to get it through his head that, when doing returns, he'd be much more efficient and get them done faster if he handles them department by department; instead he spends hours walking from one end of the store to another trying to put them back on shelves. If he's told to restock, nothing else gets done; if he's asked to go to Customer Service, nothing else gets done. I've found entire sections of stock that are either supposed to be marked down or put out and it's not done.And every time I ask about it, the MOD rolls eyes, knowing he once again didn't do his work. So, guess who's expected to pick up after him....
Are these examples and, as I'm sure, the many we come across daily, signs of just sheer stupidity or just not caring enough to even try to do something right?

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

snowy

I had something like this happen to my family yesterday. We were at Border's Books in downtown Portland, my parents, my SO, and I. We had browsed the stacks for a while before deciding on some purchases. We approach the register, and stand in line for a good 10 minutes while this cashier utterly incapable of intelligent thought helps out the people in front of us. Meanwhile, another lady has come to stand in line, so there are three people--my dad, myself, and this lady--waiting to make purchases. Does the guy call for another cashier? Yes. But what does she do? Instead of waiting on us, she assists the guy in finalizing his sale and visits with the people for a while, like we're not even there.

We bitched on the way out about it, and my mother was trailing along behind us after having bitched out the cashiers for ignoring us for so long, especially when there were other employees on the floor IN CLEAR VIEW of the registers. As we walked by the coffee shop on the way out, I guess one of the employees there was making fun of us for being upset at the way we were treated. My mother stopped and bitched her out too.

Guess we won't be going back to Borders in Portland.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Carno

Never mind.

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http://how-to-spell-ridiculous.com/

snowy

Was that kind of response necessary?

Somehow I don't think so.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

blahblah454

I feel for you ng, its like everywhere we look incompetence runs rampant. Mistakes and blatant damage like that happen all the time and there is nothing we can do about it, all the companies do is say "opps, my bad", half the time they don't even apologise.

One company I hate for this in particular is banks, they screw up all the time and yet never have to pay for their mistakes. My girlfriend is a single mother and doesnt have a whole lot of money to be throwing around, the bank screwed up and put an extra $10,000 in her account and then noticing this decided to take every penny out of her account. All this happened before she even realised it. So we were at the store buying groceries and it said insufficient funds, so she calls the number on her card and it says she has 0 dollars in her account, so I used my credit card to grab the groceries. We then went to the bank and got one of those printed reciepts that says all the recent transactions (from the machine, it was a friday night and the bank was closed.) We found out about everything the bank did to her and she called a 1-800 number for the bank to see if they could fix it. The person on the phone told her what happened and said that the bank would fix it on the next business day... it was friday night, on a long weekend.

It wasnt so bad because I was able to grab the little things that were needed, but what would have happened if rent was due? what if there was a large bill due? I am a student and dont even have a job right now so can't handle anything like that, and she is a single mother barely squeaking by, and the bank doesnt even say sorry or do anything to make up for it. They have no one to account to. GAH! Sometimes I hate the system.

Prince

My wife went to Walmart two weeks ago, took look for sprouts or whatever those green things are that you eat on a bread... She found them to be a month and a half expired. She went and spoke to the manager who apologized for it. She then proceeded to look for a loaf of bread...and she picked one only to find green patches of mold all over it. She approached the store manager once again, saying that while she loved shopping at Walmart for the non-consumables, she didn't like to buy produce, bread or meat there just for stuff like this...the manager just replied, "Yeah I don't blame you, I go to H-E-B (a grocery store chain in TX) for mine."

She went back yesterday - the expired sprouts are still on the shelf.

That's not a far cry from just not giving a shit.

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Who is John Galt?

ngdawg

In many ways I DO blame management for these faux pas. Prime example, again where I work: We were busy as hell, the line at check-out spilling into the aisles and ONE cashier, who wasn't even a regular cashier, but two called out and she was told to cover.
I stopped what I was doing and opened a register and took some customers. Ten minutes later a page comes over:'NG(not really), please report to Misses registers.'.....Uh...dude...wanna leave your desk for a few minutes and actually LOOK first? This particular manager does not help recovery, does no do any cashiering or customer service; our prior store manager did it all, even worked stock in the back. Since he left(was fired), morale has hit the skids, we're kept much later because the store is so trashed every day and that's because they don't schedule enough people; sales are down, credit aps are way down and customer service ratings are down.
If the bosses don't give a crap, why should employes? Selling outdated food after being told? Sheer laziness and uncaring and I would have contacted the DM about it.
Employes standing around talking when there's a line of people waiting? Inexcusable. And if whoever is in charge isn't going to fix it, then we have to be the bitches and are called as such. I had a woman demanding that I call a manager because the line was so long...I didn't care for her impatient attitude under the circumstances, but I understood it. I also knew calling that lazy ass manager would do little...apparently so did the girl in Misses who jumped on another register so I wouldn't have to page him.

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

feelgood

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Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war

hunnychile

....And don't even get me started on phoning and having to listen through 10 minutes of Voicemail Hell while trying to contact a live, helpful, capeable person at any of the following places;

A. the water department
B. the phone company (any of them!!!!)
C. the electric company ...in almost any town USA.

It's getting out of control.

ALSO... if another salesperson calls me from India about my purchasing a protection program /or whatever the heck it is/ for my Mastercard, I'm going to loose it! It happens every day!! I've asked them to remove my name from the list. But no. So now I never answer them "in order of the script they read" - because they really don't know English very well and I start asking them lots of questions i.e., "where is this calling center?" They never answer. I stay on and mess with them at this point. Yes, sounds mean but, honestly...I'm tired of US companies outsourcing jobs and how bad these telemarketers handle us -their customers.

Whew! That felt good! Thanks.
hunny

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"I need compassion, understanding and chocolate." - NJB

Toaster126

Well, I do... that's why we have tape-guns. 99% of problems are due to customers failing to package things properly, though.

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"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

SugahBritches

Some people don't take pride in their work or do it well.

If you do a half-assed job, you aren't going to get far. I personally take pride in doing a job right and doing it right to begin with. However, it's frustrating to see so many other co-workers that really don't give a hoot. Drives me crazy! If a parent/teacher/etc, has to come to me and ask for help for what someone else should have done, I find a way! But, you know what? Then the co-worker(that should have done the job to begin with) gets snobby with me because I did it! WHAT is up with that????

Bottomline: No one takes pride in their jobs anymore...........PERIOD. And it just gets worse.

genuinegirly

It does all come down from the managment. The lax employee will not learn to do the job efficiently if no one shows them how to do it. They won't bother learning it until someone shows them that their job is on the line. Shouldn't be any place for someone who doesn't give their share.

Incompetancy and apathy indicate that they are in the wrong profession. Either inspire them to pursue their dreams on their own, or politely kick them out the door.

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"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

streak_56

personally... I loved your letter... and I know Canada Post really doesn't care because we were doing work in their sorting facility and let me just say that those people could be football players with the way they were throwing packages around. Seriously... a guy booted one halfway accross the warehouse... I don't really trust sending anything through mail... I usually send my mom a cheque and a letter outlining what I want bought for present with the cheque I sent, strictly because my gifts never arrive on time (sending them 6-10 weeks in advance for b-days or x-mas).

Lady Sage

Ng? I love the quite about Santa it really made my day.

I completely understand though!

As for the expired food... call the health department, give them specifics and watch the thunder roll.

I love being evil muahahahaha!

__________________
If only closed minds came with closed mouths.
Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open.
It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper
Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch.

ratbastid

Okay, this is sort of awful, but... here it is.

My local grocery store has hired a large number of mentally challenged people to work as baggers. Now, I'm as open-minded as anybody would be who's never been much around mentally challenged people. I'm saying "mentally challenged" because I believe it's the polite way to say the term I was brought up using, which is "retarded". That's how I am with mental retardation--I'm not sure how to be around it or even how to say it.

Anyway, these folks are all over the place on the scale of functionality. Some of them are fine at their job. But some of them... Let's just say, I've gotten home with some grocery bags that contain a loaf of bread and a jar of pickles. I don't exactly feel comfortable complaining about that--I mean, what, am I going to go up to the guy and tell him he screwed up? It's totally understandable, giving what he's working with. And yet, I get home with wadded up bread.

genuinegirly

Yeah, that's messed up. You should inform the management that their humanitarian efforts are not practical.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

ShaniFaye

What I like about the Kroger I go to all the time is....They hire a lot of Downs syndrome kids, and they have a senior DS worker train a new DS worker and they have NO problem telling the training not to put the bread in a bag with anything else lol and they arent always nice about it either

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

Lady Sage

I always tell the bagger...

"Can I carry that seperate? It is going to a different place than the rest"

Say it with a smile and they gladly hand it over. They feel good that you actually see them and know they are there and your bread or eggs go unscathed.

Besides the bread goes in the microwave when I get home so im not lying,

__________________
If only closed minds came with closed mouths.
Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open.
It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper
Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch.

ngdawg

While I agree with the part about being in the wrong profession (It's no secret I hate retail), personal satisfaction in getting something done well is just nonexistent any more.
When I was in school two years ago, I signed onto work study; I was placed in Financial Aid as their gofer/file clerk. My first day there, I was shown the file room. It was a disaster. No one had put a single folder away for weeks; students who'd graduated months before were still in the active areas. I was to work 4 hours a day and they'd assumed my first week would be just cleaning the crap up. After 3 hours, I asked what else should I do....
My dad, upon hearing us whine about a task, would constantly tell us, 'instead of wasting time whining about it, do it quick, do it right. Done and you're outta there.' He's right. Not only is the unbearable over with quicker, but there's satisfaction in knowing you don't have to do THAT again because you didn't do it right the first time.
The boss I mentioned earlier accused me of slacking off when I went to another department to help out; he couldn't believe I'd finished my own work, but I had and every time I finish, he acts like I'm lying until he sees for himself. While I say they get what they pay for (and they pay shit), I know what I'm supposed to do and do it fast because I can't stand doing it.
The thinking some people seem to have about unpleasant tasks is, to me, backwards. Avoidance and nonchalance only stretches out the mundane and unpleasant. And blatant sabotage, as in the case of kicking packages around, is only going to get you fired-not something that looks good on the next job ap.
If you don't like what you're doing, you can keep trying to find something you'd like better. But when stuck, at least do the best you can so you can move forward. Somehow that line of reasoning is lost on too many.

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

SirLance

The first time I went into combat, our team sergeant said something like "I was gonna make a motivational speech, but you dumbasses wouldn't remember it anyway. So remember your training, and remember that I'm behind you all the way."

There are too many places where the team concept means that someone sits on his ass while his minions do it, and the results show.

Team pride = individual pride, and if the manager doesn't get that, nothing will be done with pride.

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DEMOCRACY is where your vote counts, FEUDALISM is where your count votes.

Lady Sage

*Insert humor*

Wasnt that a deadly sin anyway?

*Finish humor*

__________________
If only closed minds came with closed mouths.
Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open.
It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper
Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch.

analog

Sorry to hear about your posters, that really sucks.

But I'd say this guy you're talking about is 1. literally the dumbest person ever, or what I believe is 2. knows EXACTLY what he's doing, and is doing it that way because he knows it cranks away a lot of time. He just wants to get through his hours and collect his check, is my guess. And yeah, it sucks for everyone else left behind to clean up behind him like he's a little kid.

SirLance

Taken in spirit, but I think they meant pride in the sense of vanity or narcissism where I refer to a reasonable self respect arising from action.

Pride isn't a bad thing in that sense, but vanity is always counterproductive. When ego gets involved, look out!

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DEMOCRACY is where your vote counts, FEUDALISM is where your count votes.

feelgood

So so so true. Most of the time the customer really doesn't have a clue as to why they should package their items really well. For starters, package carriers whether it'll be FedEx, UPS, or USPS can cause wear and tear on the package. If your package and its content isn't done well (Bubble wrap fragile items, etc) then chances that it aint gonna make it.

In fact, today, we had a customer who shipped a bottle of wine to someplace in Toronto and someone had put it in the cargo container before noticing that the content was dripping out. Wasn't bubble wrapped at all.

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Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war

The_Dunedan

I dunno...we had a UPS problem awhile back when they demolished a $2,000 rifle in-transit. When the customer's FFL recieved the gun, the barrel was protruding out of the box. Bear in mind, this is double-boxed, stuffed with newspaper, and mummified with strapping tape. When you're shipping an A-Bolt, you take no chances.

The second thing the FFL noticed, after the protruding muzzle, was that the front sight was broken off. Not simply missing, but broken cleanly off, about 1/16" above where it meets the barrel. That takes a lot of force.

When he opened the box, he discovered that the barrel and reciever had been slammed so hard that the stock was cracked in two places; the wrist had a 4" crack running from just behind the reciever all the way to the cheekpiece, and the toe/spur of the stock was nearly broken off.

$2,000 and a previously-satisfied customer, down the drain.

After doing about two weeks worth of detective work, we discovered that the package in question had, in fact, been dropped more than forty feet and landed on a forklift. Landing on the forklift had broken off the front sight when the gun struck, and then when it fell off the forklift, it landed squarely on the exposed muzzle. Some asshole dropped it while trying to load it onto a conveyor, had retrieved it, and had then sent the visibly damaged package ( now readily identified, for thieves, as a gun ) on its' way.

Then UPS refused to honor our insurance. The recieving FFL, not knowing what to do, had contacted us first instead of UPS...so UPS said he'd waited too long, and that -he- must have destroyed the gun.

We ate a $2000 loss, probably lost a customer, and havn't used UPS since. The rifle, a Browning A-Bolt in .300 Winchester Magnum, was beyond use except for spare parts. The barrel, front sight, stock, magazine housing, and trigger-gaurd were all sufficiantly damaged as to be unuseable. We ended up with a marginally-useable reciever and not much else.

Trust me, if you want UPS/UPS/FedEx horror stories, talk to a gun dealer.

Toaster126

There are lots of people that aren't working their dream job. They are just collecting a paycheck. I'm not sure there is anything wrong with that.

__________________
"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

little_tippler

I think you were very right to complain, if they were even minimally efficient they would offer you some compensation. I myself hate having to write letters of that sort. Here in Portugal the mail service is generally ok but I have had problems before too.

I also have a good one about poor service: Once I went to buy tampax, as women do sometimes. I had never noticed before but on this particular day I noticed that the packets of tampons have a sell-by date. This box had a sell-by date from 6 months back. I was kind of shocked. Imagine how many unaware women are out there using tampons, and how irresponsible it is to have on your shelf such an intimate product that's past its date by six months. So I took a box and went to the check-out with the rest of my stuff. As the cashier was running my stuff through the till, I remarked that the tampon box, and all the other ones on the shelf it came from, were past their sell by date by 6 months. She didn't even flinch. She said, oh, sorry. Then she proceeded to try and put the tampon box on my tab. To which I said sometihng to the effect of "Did you not hear me? I just told you this box is past itsdate by six months and you still think I want to take it?" She shrugged and got on with things.I told her to tell the manager and that was it. I still regularly find this problem with tampons in supermarkets here. I think it's disgusting.

__________________
Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

Grasshopper Green

tippler, are you sure it's not a manufacturers date? I've never heard of tampons having an expiration date. Interesting...I'm intrigued and am going to check at work tomorrow!

ng, I think whoever said that the manager knows what he's doing by walking back and forth across the store is spot on; when I was working at Food Lion in NC, we had to do the same thing every night before the last cashier left. It was a coveted job because it was time away from cashiering. I would never send certain cashiers to do the go-backs (what you call recovery), because they would do the same thing...just to keep away from their registers. It actually got to the point that I did them myself so they would get done quickly and right the first time. The cashiers that fooled around weren't happy that their screw-around time got taken away.

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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

Redjake

A lot of people don't deserve their jobs and are definitely not performing their jobs well - however, one thing I've learned over the years, having worked in opposite sides of business, is that you need to look into situations a bit further before immediately placing blame. More than likely, if someone "can't do their job," it's because they weren't trained right. I shudder at the customers that walked out of the first restaurant I worked at after it took me 5 minutes to ring up their order correctly. No one ever showed me how to use the cash register system, and when I had a problem, the management simply did it for me - without showing me how to. Not my fault. I bet the customer thinks that I can't do my job and wonders if anyone can do it correctly.

Speaking of restaurants, many customers feel it is their right and duty to bitch at waiters/waitresses when their food isn't correct or if they don't get an immediate refill. Before you really "give it to them" about how they can't do their job, perhaps ask yourself the question, is this their first day? Did they get trained correctly, if at all? Are they going through a divorce? We all have bad days at work.

A big argument is "well, at work, you are expected to perform, no matter what's going on in your private life" and "he shouldn't be working here if he can't do it correctly, business is business!" We are all human! Shit happens. Perhaps the crappy, recently-promoted assistant manager simply doesn't understand the concept behind running a business. He would do his job perfectly if he understood how to run a business from a "business owner's concept" - and someone should show him how to do it. If he doesn't listen, and keeps performing badly, it is definitely the upper manager's fault - and then they are definitely not doing their job. However, I think it is always important to look into things before asking if anyone can do their job correctly.

Maybe the reason none of the employees near the register rang you up is because they didn't know how? Perhaps the reason the other cashier who was called to the front didn't open a new line and instead helped the original cashier is because he needed the training - to perform and do his job correctly.

I don't know. Many of the reasons people seem to have no care about their job and put forth no effort is because they were put into that line of work involuntarily or with unusual circumstances. You can't expect someone to care about expired products in a store if they have been fired from their corporate job and are single with 3 kids and have parents in resthomes. Expired products is the least on their mind.

Say you go through a drive-thru at McDonald's and the order is wrong. Why can't they do their job? Can anyone do their job?

.....or was the entire mainframe down for the region and the restaurant having to do the orders manually.

I guess my only point is to look at both sides. There are people who don't care, people who don't care for a reason, and people who are trying to care but aren't directed to care.

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Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

ngdawg

It's entirely possible that he is just killing his eight hours because he 'knows' whatever doesn't get done by him will get done somehow.
A few nights ago, he filled a U-boat( large flat cart) with all kinds of crap; pillows, quilts, etc., and left it in the center aisle. It sat there the full hour we crossed shifts and he left, leaving it there. I pushed it to the stockroom; I have my own duties and limited time to do them and wasn't about to cover his ass.
At 10:30, just as we were ready to leave work, a page comes over that I have to come to the stockroom and pick up my returns I went to the manager that paged me(same idiot that told me to go to the registers after I'd already been there 10 minutes) and showed him my return cart I'd been working on and said ' this is mine,that's not mine, it's Eddie's'. He responded that, if I had left at 5pm, someone would have to finish whatever I left behind, to which I replied, "Uh, no, because I FINISH what I start before I go home.'
I did grab a few things off it to put them on shelves(I really had no idea if they were returns, but they were at that point) and was the last to leave.
The closing manager was surprised-she'd gone back to the other and said I should not be responsible for that and thought he'd stopped me. Of course he didn't.
It's been an ongoing thing with this kid, to leave things undone, half done or done so poorly they have to be done over. Everyone knows this and I've been overly vocal over it. It's as if they feel they can't undo the promotion or something or just expect him to get better. When I started the job, I wasn't shown much more than how to fold towels. I wandered the departments trying to memorize where things are, what things are, etc., but I figured it all out. I just don't get why people don't put any effort into anything including things they don't like to do.
A co-worker and I decided to do a little 'test' to see how much others work when we aren't there. A customer had left a can of coke sitting on a shelf, unseen from the main aisle. We cleaned up well, but left the coke can. We both had off the next three days, came back and the coke can hadn't moved.

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

analog

I agree. I think that there are a lot of people for whom "dream job" entails simply collecting a steady paycheck, maybe not involving manual labor all day, which they can reasonably count on to be there from week to week. Whether or not they work to be certain that job will continue to be theirs is a separate matter.

For those who are unemployed, a "dream job" might be anything at all. When you have to feed and house yourself, let alone maybe having a family to care for, "dream job" goes right out the window in favor of "whatever will put food on the table".

For example- I don't at all expect or need the people who work at Walmart to be cheerleaders or run at my whim. All I want, all anyone should want, is a person who treats their customer base with respect, and is polite. I would respect a person who is sincerely polite and respectful of their customers just as much as a person who walks around as a beacon of (potentially false) happiness.

Yes, that's great and all, but let's all get real for a moment. We're all just trying to make our way. For some, it's a summer job- for others, it's their literal bread and butter. The stories told here are not of the sort i'm referring to- you all are talking about people who don't respect their customer base. The #1 rule is that if you disrespect the customer, you lose them, and we all know that.

These horror stories of bad customer service show those people who have no desire to respect their employer by respecting the customers, whether or not it's the job they really want to have.

The saddest part of the whole equation is that there are those jackasses who coast through their day trying to waste time and dodge work, when there are people all over who have a sincere desire to work honestly to earn their check, but can't find a job.

mixedmedia

Two stories - both related to services we use where I work.

DHL -
Shipped a critical package International Express to China. Not valuable, but it was a timely matter.
Came in and tracked the package the next morning. Tracking number pulled up nothing.
Called Customer Service very concerned and perturbed. This was not the first time DHL had lost a package of mine. Was told by Customer Service that they would check with the driver and the local facility and get back with me.
NEVER received a call back.
In the meantime, I sent the package out again the same day using Fed Ex and the package arrived without a hitch. To this day I have no idea what happened to my package.
About a week later I get a call from a DHL salesperson wanting to know how DHL might persuade us to give them more of our business, lol.
So I tell him the whole story. He is "shocked" and "outraged." Promises he will "investigate" and "get back with me." NEVER heard from him again.
Yesterday, I get our DHL bill and we were charged for the shipment.
LOL, and I was not surprised at all for this was not the first time they had billed us for the delivery of a package they had lost.
And I took no satisfaction from calling the poor girl in billing and demanding short payment confirmation after relaying the whole story once again.
Needless to say, I will not be using DHL again for any of our shipments.
But, I think I will write DHL a letter about it. Thanks for the inspiration, ng.

Zephyrhills Water -
We've had a water cooler in our office for about two years now and they deliver water once every other week.
One week they didn't deliver and we ran out of water so I called Customer Service to request they drop us off at least one or two bottles in the interim before our next scheduled delivery and they proceeded to tell me that the driver had reported a regular delivery to us and that if we wanted "extra" water we would have to pay extra for an unscheduled delivery. Ooh. Then I got mad. And after going around and around with this woman for about 10 minutes with her implying that I must be lying about not getting our water, I asked to speak to her manager. The manager apologized and arranged for some water to be delivered the next day. But then, sure enough, two weeks later we get a bill charging us for the water we didn't receive AND the "extra" water and the unscheduled delivery. I was furious! I did manage to speak with someone who assured us we would not have to pay for neither the water nor the deliveries but it took two invoices and two phone calls to finally get it all straightened out. Unbelieveable.

I realize that most jobs kind of suck. I don't "like" my job. But I don't see that as a reason to be rude or not care at all. If anything, you can take some satisfaction out of being kind and helpful to people who are looking for your help to make their own day a little less tiresome and stressful. It's a reciprocal thing, but many people these days aren't imaginative enough to see it that way. These days, when you come across a person in a Customer Service role who is truly thoughtful, it's like a novelty. You want to send them candy and flowers. It's kind of a shame.

__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

ngdawg

Oh
My
Freakin
God.....
I get a call this afternoon, the third tube had arrived damaged Since that went to a different town, it would appear that the one post office was not to blame after all. The first damaged one was sent back to me; I received it yesterday. It's cracked wide open with what appears to be a bootmark. The poster inside is indeed, destroyed.
Armed with this damaged tube and my receipts, I marched into the post office I'd used and demanded the Postmaster to file a formal complaint. Of course, he 'wasn't in', so they got me their 'supervisor'.
This woman tried to pin this on ME!! "Well, there's no markings indicating 'fragile'." Hello??? I replied that there should have been SOME proper handling and that I could even see maybe one...but ALL THREE? Again, she tried to blame me for their incompetence.
I am sitting here shaking my head in total disbelief.....

__________________
Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

mixedmedia

Yeah, I use USPS a lot for my eBay business, and honestly they do a pretty good job for the most part, but unless you buy insurance they admit to no culpability for the treatment of your packages by their employees. It doesn't seem right, but I suppose its better than having no public and fairly inexpensive method of mailing/shipping at all.

__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

Gonth

wow, just...dang. Those are some nasty stories. I've always been afraid of shipping expensive things. I've had to ship my computer up to college and back twice now and I can hardly sleep the entire time its in the mail. Honestly I think the only reason it survives is because it weigh's about 40 pounds and is almost 3 feet square by the time they double box it. The outer box gets torn to hell, but so far the computer has been untouched, thank god.

As far as retail goes, the reason people don't care is because they know they won't get punished for it. If your boss holds the sythe of death over your head you're going to work your ass off, but if he's a lazy SOB then you can bet his underlings arn't going to to anything.

The sad thing is this kind of attitude is getting drummed into kids at a young age now. Teacher's can't fail students when they do poorly because it reflects badly on the teacher and not on the student. When I realized that it really blew my mind and you can bet I stopped working as hard, in HS atleast. College is different because most teachers will fail you in a heartbeat. Doesn't matter to them if you pass or not, you're still paying. And if you fail out the college will just let someone else in to replace you. No skin off their nose.

__________________
You are the most important person in your world

ngdawg

Update: I received a call today. I'd mailed a second poster to the third woman. Used a different post office, had the mailing tube marked 'fragile' and 'photos-do not bend'. I wrapped the poster in bubble wrap.
She got it damaged....smashed again, apparently. When asked if I wanted insurance, I hesitated and told the counterperson of my travails and then said 'what are the chances this happens a 4th time, right?' She stuck a big orange FRAGILE on it.....
It's one of two central sorting USPS warehouses....
I'm delivering the new poster myself next week.

__________________
Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

MSD

At this point I would probably be the guy ont he jury who has a very lenient definition of what constitutes justifiable homicide.

Xell101

Having begun running into shit like this I can understand why people start blowing shit up and randomly shooting people. I don't agree with or condone such acts but I can see where they're coming from.

Mrs Master

After what you've been through, if I was god, I'd say you've earned life time cover with the 'Get out of Hell Free Card'

Intense1

It's all got to do with management, or rather, leadership, I believe. The restaurant business is one of the best examples of this point.

1. My local fast food joints

I have, in the past year, investigated all the numerous fast food joints in town, (I also skip and whistle past the TFP Health and Fitness thread, I might add) and have noticed that, while the same type of teenagers and young adults are working at these places, their level of courtesy and quality of service is vastly different. McDonalds, Wendy's and sometimes Burger King are abissmal in how they treat customers - no smiles or "Welcome to ...., can I take your order?", no thank yous upon delivering your order, which may or may not be correct in its assemblege. On the other end of the spectrum are Taco Bell (best) and Sonic; in both I get the most polite of responses from their staff and almost always correctness in my order. In between is Krystal, and while they get my order right, sometimes the brusk nature of one or two of their staff is a bit much, they always have a "welcome" and "thank you" to give, even if it is a bit "plain spoken", so to speak.

It has to be how these kids are trained and how much true customer service is or is not modeled by their managers.

2. Local Chain restaurant

About 25 years ago, there was a restaurant close to me named "The Cooker", and it was the place to go for either dinner or lunch with friends (sort of like an Applebys.) The atmosphere was great, service was excellent, food was even better (their rolls were heavenly!) Their servers made decent money and often stayed and worked there for quite a while, which is not the norm for food service, I've been told. Their policy was to please the customer - once I ordered broccoli casserole, and when the manager came to ask how our food was, I mentioned to him all was well except my broccoli tasted like non-stick cooking spray. He apologised profusely, asked what other vegetable I might like (free), and took off the price of the offending item from my bill. Another time I had ordered a glass of the house wine, and when the manager made his usual trip to our table and asked if I enjoyed my meal and wine, I told him all was wonderful except that I didn't like the house wine as much as I liked the other white on his winelist. He took off the price of the wine from my bill, with me trying to get him not to. I mean, it was my choice to order it, it wasn't their fault. He did it anyway.

Needless to say, the Cooker restaurants everywhere had people lined up to get inside them. That is, until the original owners sold to another company. After that, none of my friends would even countenance going to the Cooker! It was awful! A few years later, they all folded, one by one.

(edited to add: I am not a babe that I would warrant such service, believe me! )

Management matters, and good leadership means good business. Obviously the postal workers in Ng's situation do not have good managers/leaders.

Side question - does anyone know how much money postal workers make? Since their jobs are often civil service jobs, can they be fired for incompetence?

__________________
(none yet, still thinkin')