| True Customer Stories |
| I was at the 1st floor registers when a lady came up and asked if we sold gift cards. I told her yes, we have a few different ones down here and a larger selection upstairs on our 3rd floor. "So, I can't buy one here?" she asked. I said, yes, you can, but if she didn't like the 2 we had down here she could go up to our 3rd floor for more options. "So...I can't get one here?" she asked again. I ran through my answer a third time. She walked out of the store mumbling something about bad customer service. -Cari- |
| A customer asked my coworker if there was an exit on the 3rd floor that led out to the ground level. My coworker's answer: "The window?" -Cari- |
| I once sold a customer $300 in erotica books. He wanted them double bagged, and extra bags laid on top so the rain wouldn't damage them. -Cari- |
| A customer called asking about a specific book. I told him I'd have to put him on hold and check the shelf. He asked if I couldn't find it on the shelf, could I please page on the overhead to find out what customer in the store had it. -Cari- |
| One of my supervisors spent 10 minutes trying to find the title "Condom Nation" in the computer before she realized the customer meant the title "Condemnation." -Cari- |
| A young woman asked me if we carried a specific book. I couldn't find it anywhere in the computer. "Well, it might not be out yet," she finally said. "It's not supposed to be out until 2005." It was 2003, but she thought she'd ask "just in case." -Cari- |
| My manger was asked for a book about serial killers. He misheard it as cereal colors. -Cari- |
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| I asked the lady customer I had just wrong up if she wanted a bag for the books she just bought. She said, "No, it's like carrying a box of tampons." That's the only explanation I got. -Cari- |
| One of my fellow coworkers paced up and down the calendar section several times before he realized the customer on the phone was asking for "desk" calendars and not "deaf" calendars. -Cari- |
| A customer in a red shirt came into the store and told me he'd come all the way from the east coast to go to Canada, but they wouldn't let him cross the border because he had something on his record. He didn't tell me what it was, but he told me, "I'm not a terrorist or anything, I just want to get into Canada.This is making me so mad I want to drive up there with a machine gun and kill them all!" He spent the next half hour studying maps of Canada and browsing the travel section for tips on how to sneak across the border. I never found out if he made it, but if he did, I hope he stays. -Cari- |
| A ten year old boy once asked me where we shelved our parental advisory cds. -Cari- |
| I've had several customers (mainly women) come to the registers holding a British edition of Vogue, Cosmo, etc, and had them ask, in all seriousness..."Is this magazine in English?" ~Al~ |
| A young woman approached the registers and asked if we sold books. I, thinking it a strange question to ask at a bookstore and feeling rather silly, responded with, "Nope." "Oh..." Said the confused woman and turned to walk out the store (past tables full of books). I had to chase her down and tell her that yes, we did sell books. I still want to know what she was thinking when she asked that question. ~Al~ |
| Some of the customer service stories that happen in our stories are based on actual events. Since we can't fit them all in, we thought we'd share some that didn't make the cut. Some of these stories are from Cari's time working at the Bellevue bookstore, and the others are from the airport store. Remember, if it wasn't for stupid people, none of us would have an above average IQ. |
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| Misprounced Book Titles: The Village of the Bassett Hounds The Hound of Bakerfields House of Seven Gerbils Mayor of Castner Knott (a now-defunt Southern upscale clother chain) The Mayor of Castor Oil -Scott- |