Burger King ejected 25 low-income residents who were waiting for the Red Cross to arrive after their Minneapolis apartment caught fire and burned to the ground. An assistant manager explained that the fire had slowed foot traffic to “virtually nothing,” and that the crowd had to either wait somewhere else or deal with the police.
managers
Steak 'N Shake Manager Denies Drive-Thru Service To Deaf Mother
By 1.27.08
A Steak ‘N Shake manager refused to serve Karen Putz, a deaf mother of three, after she asked to place her order at the drive-thru window as allowed by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The manager claimed it was “policy” to force Karen to order like any other customer:
“You’ll have to drive around again so I can take your order through the speaker,” the guy said.
Best Buy Refuses To Honor 2 for $25 DVD Sale
By 1.26.08
Silly Jason. He thought a Best Buy sign reading “2 for $25” meant he could buy two DVDs for $25. He obviously didn’t read the part of the sign that requires customers to buy Saw IV.
CompUSA Refuses To Accept Cash
By 1.20.08
A CompUSA cashier summoned her manager and a security guard when Bud tried to pay for his purchases with cash. The promise of 40% discounts drew Bud to the Boisie, Idaho store, but he settled for a 10% discount on an iMac and several accessories.
I start counting out hundred dollar bills and the clerk goes nuts! “Sir, we don’t accept cash for this kind of purchase! You must use a credit card!” she says at the top of her lungs. (I see her also hit a button on the phone at the same time.)
Experience A Retail Manager's Morning
By 12.28.07
As part of USA Today’s series on retail management, the newspaper shadows a Toys R Us manager for an hour on a Saturday morning during the holiday season.
Retail Industry Suffering From Shortage Of Managers
By 12.28.07
The retail industry needs more managers, reports USA Today—people entering the workforce don’t usually consider retail a viable career path: “Students find banking, technology and other fields more promising because there’s more ‘growth potential, a better work/life balance and a clear…
PetSmart Employee Beats Dogs, Keeps Job
By 11.4.07
Reader Matt watched a PetSmart PetsHotel employee strike several dogs while waiting to pick up his pet. Matt immediately spoke with the store manager, who called the next day called to condemn the employee’s actions as ‘horribly inappropriate,’ and to promise that the employee would no longer work with dogs. Ten days later, Matt received another call, this time from the District Manager.
..the District Manager called us back and stated that she watched the video in slow motion, and that while she could understand how we interpreted the employee’s gestures to have been inappropriate, that she has concluded that the man was just playing with the animals, did not in fact strike any dogs, and was not inappropriate.
Matt writes:
Blockbuster Manager Curses At Customer Who Refused To Sign Up For Rewards Program
By 8.26.07
A Blockbuster manager responded to reader Sarah’s refusal to sign up for Blockbuster’s rewards program by declaring: “Fucking customers, I’m tired of everyone not listening when they don’t even know what they’re talking about.” Sarah had politely declined to enroll in the program several times before the outburst.
Home Depot Fires Four Corrupt Managers After Receiving Anonymous Tip
By 8.5.07
Don’t doubt the power of the unidentified tipster: Home Depot recently sacked four corrupt purchasing managers accused by a whistleblower of taking bribes. In exchange for the payoffs, the managers arranged for Home Depot to stock tiles and other flooring products from Asia. From the AP:
Post Office Meltdown: Customer Flips Out On Video At Brooklyn Post Office
By 3.24.07
After several minutes of the customer’s rant, three police officers respond to the scene, but the 5-minute, 43-second clip ends too soon to see what happens next.
Best Buy: No Warranty? You Are Not A Valued Customer
By 3.18.07
A sleazy Best Buy salesman tried to scam Phil into buying a warranty. Phil was offered a “free warranty,” which may exist in Narnia, but not Best Buy. When Phil’s purchases were wrung up, he noticed the salesman scanning a warranty coupon with a gift card.
Best Buy Quotes Four Different Exchange Policies
By 3.3.07
Best Buy quoted four different policies to Mark when he tried to exchange his step-daugher’s iPod speaker. The speaker was purchased as a gift from BestBuy.com by her father, who is currently serving in Afghanistan.
After we received the items, we decided that she would take back the iPod speaker set because we already had one in the house. That way she could get something that she would enjoy, and she could still use our speakers. It sounded simple, just return the item, get a store credit, and let her pick something out. We were so wrong on that one.
Mark brought the speaker to Best Buy, where he was told that the stores could only return, not exchange items purchased through the website. Not wanting to argue, Mark went home and called customer service. A supervisor said only the corporate office could help. When Mark reached corporate, he was told stores could accept exchanges. The CSR gave Mark a case number and an 800 number to call if there was a problem exchanging the speaker at the store.
Rogue Manager in Astoria Violates Blockbuster Corporate Policy
By 2.22.07
The woman I spoke to said that Blockbuster’s corporate policy is that you should be able to sign up for just a membership, with no fee and no requirement to sign up for Blockbuster Online. She said that franchise stores have the choice to set their own policies, but that all corporate-owned stores should be following that rule. She also confirmed that my local store is corporate-owned, not a franchise, and should therefore be following the rules.
Confessions Of A Former Walmart Manager
By 10.12.06
The recent wage caps on veteran employees are supposed to encourage employees to advance through the ranks rather than staying in the same job, year after year.
We Call Up Liquour Store That Allegedly Humiliated Readers Girlfriend
By 10.5.06
We called up Shannon to find out about The Wine Press policy against humiliating customers. She was very feisty. We told Keith to have his girlfriend call the manager. Actually the most part is the aspersions Shannon casts against blogs.
WalMart. Always Low Compassion, Always.
By 9.18.06
Running low on gas and stuck with nothing but a gift card WalMart won’t let you use? Far from home? Screwed? In your desperation, don’t try to sell the card at a loss to another customer. Wal-Mart will call the cops on your soliciting ass. Then they’ll throw you out of their parking lot and call you a “vagrant.”
