crappy work stories
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12796
Printed Date: 01 October 2025 at 9:41am
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Topic: crappy work stories
Posted By: lizzle
Subject: crappy work stories
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 8:12pm
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Am getting really annoyed with my job. I actually like it most of the time- no thinking,easy as, packing is like palying tetris a little. but customers have been really annoying me - they seem to treat me as if I am an idiot. now granted some people at PNS are, but I don't act like one and don't expect to be treated so poorly.
ex. a. woman A and woman B are standing at checkout. Both have put 10 or so items on conveyor belt. I start scanning "NONONO -that isn't mine" starts woman A yelling/ "UGH those are MY groceries" woman B - turns to woman A and says "honestly these girls just dont think do they?" ex b. happened today - some unwashed man looks at me as I am returning something and whistles at me - like you would to a dog. I look at him evilly. He looks at me. "come here!" me"excuse me?" him - exasperated "she wants you" me"who?" him pointing "HER" as if talking to someone really thick. I go over and SHE is looking at socks. she"i want some socks" me" you are in the right place then" she":last time I bought ones they were too big. whcih should i buy now?" she was really annoyed that I couldn't psychicly predict the size of her feet. i suggested that she look at the ones she had bought before and get smaller ones. this satisfied her. first guy :"geez, next time she should come faster when I ask" me:" next time try saying excuse me rather than whistling" and walked away/ this is the long line of people treating me and other girls like crap just cause we work in a supermarket. Getting me so annoyed. Some people are just lovely and really nice, but those arses really get me down. |
Replies:
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 8:14pm
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I shall drop shop and go one day and come down your checkout Liz we will be nice to you. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 8:28pm
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Liz, i would rather be served by you ANY day of the week, than the teenagers who talk over and around me to their friends about whos hooking up and who isn't and who was, like, soooo drunk, and whos going to so and sos party etc
Hugs to you, chick, I've done the checkout chick thing and hated the way people look down on you. ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: Sarah Beth
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 8:30pm
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I hated the way I was treated when I worked at a supermarket. I still remember when a snooty women yelled at me for ruining her christmas as we didn't have any of a certain cheese left.
Scan their products slowly, and know at the end of the day you are a much better person than them! ------------- "> 
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Posted By: Leish
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 8:33pm
I honestly just don't understand why some people are so blardy rude to retail people/people in the general service industry. It is so much easier to be pleasant yet there is this huge portion of society that are hell bent on just being plain rude.  Lizzle. Hope tomorrow is better.------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Sarah Beth
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 8:35pm
What gets me, is being rude doesn't mean the job will be done better or quicker. I deal with a few lawyers, if they are friendly and nice, I am more likely to do the job quicker, if rude and yell, it goes to the bottom of the pile   ------------- ">
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 8:47pm
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I ditto Leish! -------------  |
Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 9:01pm
The airline industry is just as bad...in fact over the phone people are often even ruder!
I've had people blame ME for the fog in Wellington, the fact that thier son has no alarm clock and therefore missed both the shuttle and his flight, I am obviously personally responsible for setting the fares and of course it is MY website that somehow changed thier online booking from what they wanted to random dates. (and no they are not capable of checking thier itinary the three chances they have before confirming thier booking OR reading the fare rules). Customer Service jobs would be so much easier without the customers! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Spudling
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 9:17pm
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I was a beauty therapist in my past life and working in NZ wasnt so bad but I did a stint in Notting Hill London, man I was treated worse than a stray dog, I hated it.
Everybody sh*ts out the same hole, but us that are a bit more down to Earth don't mind wiping our own bums where as these people who think they are all that must just hate having to do it....thats what I think of whenever somebody thinks they are better than me. Big higs love, try and dont't let the dickheads of the world get you down ------------- http://tickers.families.com"> 
http://tickers.families.com"> 
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Posted By: almostthere
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 9:21pm
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Argh.. I cannot aggree more!
I also work in customer services, and I do the best I can. I have had customers tell me that I am a half wit and have been spoken to as though I am the dumbest person on earth. On the upside, there are the select few that are really nice people. And they are the ones I work in CS for :) ------------- http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/2128f6"> 
http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/2128f6 - chart |
Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 10:10pm
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i really dont understand why people are so rude to customer service people, surely there are better things to do in life than complain? Nice for some if the tragedy of their life is that their groceries were packed wrong or something ....
I have a work story, bit amusing tho For those who havent met me, im european, i have green eyes light brown hair, fair skin and a few freckles. Anyway, yesterday i was about to go to lunch and this asian guy walks in and starts yabbering away to me in chinese, i looked at him and said "no, dont speak chinese sorry " "oh" he says "you dont speak chinese ?" "no, I speak english" "oh.....Oh....but...you arent chinese?" ......I just looked at him dumbly, Honestly ! 
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Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 06 December 2007 at 10:40pm
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Hehehehe reminds me of the time when I had a lady come in and and was booking a holiday....she was worried about going somewhere hot though and not packing enough screen because "wouldn't it be awful to come back looking like a Maori????"
My reply?? "Really? I'm part Maori." There endth that conversation. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Jennz
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 1:11am
When I was at uni I worked at a petrol station for a bit and you would honestly think that when the petrol prices went up the excess was being put straight into my bank account the way some people acted! 
I had a friend who used to be so revolting to retail people, especially at restaurants etc- in the end I just stopped going out with her. Personally I would never be stupid enough to be rude to someone who would be handling my food ------------- Jen, Charlotte 7 & Kate 3 
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Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 9:06am
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I've worked in supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, retail - the gamut for students really. Then when I graduated I worked for an airline.
It did not instill my faith in people. After the airline, I actually retrained and got a new degree and moved into IT where I didn't have to interact at quite the same level with these people. Yes it was that bad. lizzle your stories sound all too familiar. Yay for you getting qualified and having an end in sight! Sarah beth I got blamed for ruining christmas when we ran out of brandy cream and I constantly got yelled up for charging extra on flights when people had to change them because they slept through their original one
The best thing (for me) was that the whole time I was working in retail (especially supermarkets)and studying I had the knowledge that these stupid people were treating me like and idiot but soon I'd be out of there doing what I enjoyed and earning more than they probably did. That knowledge kept me so warm at night  -------------  
 
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Posted By: 11111
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 9:09am
Oh Liz I so feel for you it really sux when you are treated so dumb just because you are working in PNS. I encountered so many there and by the end of the day you feel so yuck. Chin up smile sacasticlly(SP?) with out being rude so they can't complain. And make them feel as small as they happen to make you. I use to love being pilitely rude it was so much fun. ------------- Deborah Mum to:   
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lizzle wrote:Posted By: ShellandBella
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 9:52am
Yes, theres sweet comfort in knowing it won't be forever! When I was working in Oz in the operating theatres, it was my first time working with this particular surgeon, and I was all scrubbed up ready to assist him, when he started to make some very deragotory (?sp) comments about kiwis and our accent etc. Over the course of about 10 minutes he got ruder and ruder until eventually I just unscrubbed and walked out the theatre with him looking rather bewildered. He came to apologise after, and I told him that he didn't know me and how I found his behaviour very offensive and refused to work with him if he couldn't keep his mouth shut. A couple of weeks later, I was in theatre with him (not assisting thank God) and the poor girl who was was also getting s&^t from him...so, he was never rude to me again, but I felt for the other girls who were too scared to say anything. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 9:55am
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Good on ya for sticking up for yourself! - oh I wish I could go back to those days and insert some choice phrases I only thought of later. -------------
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Posted By: ShellandBella
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 10:03am
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You kind of have to in that environment...some surgeons/doctors think they're higher than God and can treat the nurses like crap. They soon learn which ones can defend themselves ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Tiff
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 10:35am
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I've worked in retail for many years and until earlier this year was a manager of a store.
One of the biggest things that would annoy me was how people only took the time to write the negative letters/emails. You could have given someone the most fantastic service and they would be so appreciative but not enough to write a quick note. So now if I've ever been anywhere that has given me fantastic service I take the time to send an email etc expressing my thanks. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 11:54am
I've had the same thing....a father had a go at me becuase HIS young adult son had no alarm clock and slept through both the shuttle arriving to pick him up and his flight. And the father said it was MY fault!!! (of course it could have been...I believe that was the same week I was responsible for the fog in Wellington.)------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 12:00pm
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of course it's your fault Paws - the sooner you accept that the sooner the world will be a better place
Do you still get the totally daft questions too? - like the 'can I have a free flight to Dunedin because my cat is down there and the neighbours can't catch it to bring it up' or the great one I got from a travel agent asking if they needed to print a ticket out for the dog traveling in the hold. -------------
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Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 2:35pm
Hahahaha! Ok.....lets see.....I've been asked if we fly over the ocean (still my personal favourite call), for a rental car from Auckland to Sydney (yeah sure - watch out for those drop bears while you're there yeah?), I always love how people ring up and ask for the number of other airlines (oh right becuase I'm dying to help you contact the competition), the people who want to go from Here to Australia (ummm 1. we are the international call centre - here could be anywhere on the globe, care to be more specific? and 2. You have seen the size of Aussie right? Did you have a particular place in mind becuase just plain old "australia" isn't going to cut it) and lets not get into the fact that people are often amazed at how you can leave Auckland at 10.00am and arrive into Sydney at 11.30 (Caller: wow that IS a quick flight isn't?? Me: Let me introduce you to a little thing called time zones.) Ones I haven't taken but have heard about are the people who fly in and want to do a day trip by train to Wellington (guess where they were calling from), the person who went on and on about booking a seat for Heather and only finally at the end cared to mention Heather was a dog .
Gosh I love my job. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 2:40pm
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Oh and one last thing....I don't care if you are Gold Elite....if we tell you to check in 2 hours before your flight then do it. Don't smugly say "oh I'll check in about 45mins before it will be fine I'm a gold elite" and then come bleating to me when you're not let on the aircraft because the FLIGHT IS FREAKING CLOSED!
*breathes* ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 3:05pm
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gosh, i remember when i worked at paknsave.. i said "hi" to a customer and he went absolutely bolistic at me for saying "hi" and not the correct word which is "hello"
------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Posted By: Sarah Beth
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 4:10pm
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One of the worst I had more recently was from a child!!! The call centre phone number was similar to what now, he called and yelled at me for lying, cursed at me for not leting him speak to 'what now' then hung up! ------------- ">
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Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 4:27pm
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haha oh my gosh! It's totally the same! People are just consistently stupid! Paws you've had some awesome ones! -------------
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Posted By: SquishysMum
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 4:28pm
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I used to work at the accommodation office at Massey - I lost track of the amount of times parents would ring at account time and ask me why THEIR child hadn't been paying their rent!!!
"But they've been getting their loan/allowance etc every week" "yes, but it goes into THEIR bank account, not ours. What they choose to do with THEIR money is THEIR problem, and now yours, as you signed guarantor on their account." "But why haven't YOU taken the money out?" "We do not have access to your child's bank account...." It would happen EVERY day around the end of semester, and some of these parents could be REALLY abusive! |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 5:08pm
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Reminds me of my 018 days. I have some great stories from there. Specialy as I was on the support desk and the "supervisor". ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: pepsi
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 7:25pm
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Some people are just dickheads and probably act like dickheads to whoever they deal with.
Don't worry, the next time they are being their usual dickhead-selves to some staff member at McDonalds someone will probably spit in their burger. |
Posted By: Sarah Beth
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 7:41pm
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My favourite one was Mr Pratt. I couldn't find his policy in our system and he got angry with me. My response...
"I am sorry Mr Pratt, there are a lot of Pratt's in our system and I can't find you" ------------- ">
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Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 07 December 2007 at 9:37pm
I sure I remember you telling me that one when it happened....priceless!! ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 08 December 2007 at 6:25am
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LOL SB....
Our number is similar to PP....OMG dial quick and you get us - one woman refused to accept that we werent PP...so we took her details and told her we would get back to her...Bet she used the right number when she did ring back!!! Have to say tho - there are some real idiots working in supermarkets...esp at WW down the road from here...OMFG could you be any slower, and they are mostly young school leavers...and sorry but there is a reason they are working in a supermarket = and they dont help people who are doing a decent job! BTW when i buy shopping I want it in bags...unlike the idiots at NW the other day who asked if i wanted 8 packs of nappys and three bags of dog food in a bag....UMMMM YES!!!! isnt that part of the service....and dont look grumpy when you then have to pack it.....YES they got THE look from me.....and i think one even got a YES OF COURSE I DO!!!! |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 08 December 2007 at 8:08am
| I know what you mean BS - there are defintintely some idiots working. i finish at 4:30 and "officially" am meant to wait until someone relieves me (i say "officailly" as because I complained about working wiht no pay!!! they take me off so they don't have to pay me overtime that I demanded), and the high school kids are always late and never really understand that if you start at 4:30, you should be there...at 4:30. I went shopping after work a few days ago and asked for a book of stamps and the girl became all confused about "when did PNS start selling books?" |