The funny thing about a service economy, writes Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Journal, is that it’s created a world where people who interact with the public are deliberately trained to be rude and compassionless. She thinks it’s partly because we threw out manners right as we reached a cultural moment where we interact with strangers more than ever. But that’s only part of it–she also notes that clerks are trained to get in your face and aggressively push for higher sales, and that the dreaded “Dead Face”–that stony look that’s used to shut down any communication at all–is probably taught by consultants as an efficient way to handle people. [More]
employees
Goodwill Fires Worker With Down Syndrome After His Mother Buys Him A $3 Shirt
By 7.31.10
The Goodwill in Washington Iowa fired a thirty-year-old employee with Down syndrome after his mother bought him a $3 shirt. Goodwill initially refused to sell the shirt because of a policy banning employees from making purchases on days they were working. Another employee intervened and approved the sale after the employee’s mother explained both that she was a family member and not an employee, and that the employee with Down syndrome had no interest in buying clothes. When the employee reported to work the next day, he was fired. [More]
Is Bringing Your Dog To Work At PetSmart "Theft Of Services?"
By 1.19.10
A former PetSmart employee says he was terminated for “theft of services” after he brought his dog to work on an overnight shift that he was doing as a favor to the store manager — and left the dog in the pet day care facilities. No other employee was working at the time, so he was supervising his own pet. Should this count as “theft?” [More]
Stores Worried About Employees Using Gift Cards To Steal
By 12.31.09
Gift cards may encourage spending, but they also make it easy for employees to steal, writes the New York Times.
Among the variations of such crimes, cashiers often do fake refunds of merchandise and then, with the amount refunded, use their registers to electronically fill gift cards, which they take. Or sometimes when shoppers buy gift cards, cashiers give them blank cards and then divert the shoppers’ money onto cards for themselves.
Not All Fired Target Employees Who Went Zhu Zhu Crazy Got Their Jobs Back
By 12.29.09
Target fired employees for prematurely buying Zhu Zhu Pets, then hired them back. Ellen says her son, a former New Jersey Target employee, got the former treatment, but not the latter. [More]
Macy's Cheerfully Helps Customers Get Parking Tickets
By 11.27.09
The employees at the Macy’s in Washington, DC, sure were helpful earlier today! They showed customers where they could park for up to two hours while they shopped. Unfortunately, it turns out Macy’s employees are not well-versed on parking rules in DC, and the manager there doesn’t really think it’s Macy’s problem. [More]
'I Stopped Denying People': Ex-Bank Of America CSR Tells All
By 11.27.09
Here’s a testimonial from a former Bank of America customer assistance employee. She was fired on Monday for offering repayment plans to too many customers, even those who “deserved” the 29.99% APR for making late payments. After hearing her story, you might conclude that this job was never a good fit for her skills. The next time you run up against a dead-sounding CSR, though, remember that people like Jackie don’t make for profitable collections department employees, which is why they don’t stick around for long. [More]
Geek Squad Agent Doesn't Have Time To Look For Multimeter, Let's Just Send Off Laptop For 3 Weeks Instead
By 11.11.09
The usefulness of Best Buy’s Geek Squad depends entirely on the competence of the employee you get when you go in for help, and unfortunately Scott landed one of the lazier ones. Here’s his sales pitch to Scott over a laptop that wouldn’t start: “It’s going to take at least 10 minutes for me to get the multimeter or another adapter. It’s going to be a problem inside the computer, let’s just send it in.”
Honeybaked Ham Fires Employee Shot In Store Robbery
By 9.26.09
A North Carolina Honeybaked Ham store manager was shot in an attempted store robbery in April, and has been recovering on worker’s compensation since the shooting. Now that his benefits have run out, the store very thoughtfully has terminated his employment. (Update: Honeybaked Ham sent us a statement with their take on this situation, which is appended at the end of this post.)
The 7 Types Of Employees You Meet At Best Buy
By 7.10.09
Gizmodo paired up a former Best Buy employee with a professional illustrator and created a taxonomy of seven Best Buy employees you’re likely to meet whenever you shop there. The two who probably get the most coverage on our site (and who are probably the most annoying in general): Pervy Geek Squad Guy and Slick Careerist Manager.
Slate Investigates If It's Really Illegal To Fart On A Sandwich
By 4.19.09
Nina Rastogi decided to look into food tampering laws in the wake of our Domino’s Pizza story last week. It turns out you can spit in food in Ohio without fear of jail time so long as you don’t have a communicable disease. Ohio is clearly the place to work if you are an angry restaurant employee, and the place to avoid if you’re a diner who easily angers waitstaff.
Best Buy Employee Arrested For Stealing Credit Cards
By 2.10.09
Uh oh, another Best Buy employee has been caught swiping data from customers. Unlike the woman last August who went on small time shopping sprees, this woman was caught using a card reader to swipe and store info on as many as 4,000 customers at the Best Buy store located at 1880 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd in Palm Beach, Florida.
Walmart Employee Hates New Trash Cans, Will Throw Yours If You Set It Near Him
By 10.17.08
Ricky had a bizarre run-in with “Larry” at his local Walmart, where he was shopping recently with his mother, who needed a new trash can. While Ricky browsed the automotive accessories counter, his mom did mom things in the silk flower department, and she left her new trash can next to Ricky’s leg while she wandered off. It turns out, you do not leave trash cans anywhere in Larry’s line of sight if you know what’s good for you.
Proactiv Saleswoman Goes Insane When You Try To Return The Product
By 9.27.08
Amanda just had a frightening experience with the woman at the Proactiv kiosk in her hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi: “[Mall security] told me to come over and get away from her because she would not stop yelling, and refusing to do anything until I was out of her sight.” [Update: we’ve received more information on who to contact to resolve this issue. Check out the bottom of the post for details.]
This Subway Is Going To Reject Your Coupon One Way Or Another
By 9.20.08
Dale couldn’t redeem his “free 6 inch sub” coupon at his local Subway. Was it because of a particularly lazy employee, poor management, or dire financial straits? Maybe it was all three, considering the string of completely unrelated excuses Dale was given over just a few minutes.
Papa John's Is Taking Your Theft Seriously, And Gets Offended If You Don't Believe Them
By 7.31.08
Mark didn’t like how a Papa John’s pizza delivery guy was acting, so he paid the delivery charge but marked through the tip line on his receipt. Two days later, he discovered an extra $6.42 had been tacked on. When Mark called Papa John’s to report the theft, he spoke to someone who obviously hasn’t gotten our memo that “taking it seriously” is about as reassuring as “your call is very important to us.”
