5 Funny Stories from Retail Sales š
According to the United States Department of Labor, close to 5-million Americans are currently working in retail. During College, I worked at a Retail Office Supply Store and have many stories.
A lot of these stories come from my memory of working in retail over 10 years ago. There were many scenarios which involved customers, which found creative ways of stealing from the store.
What lies within the storage cabinets
It was a typical day, nothing out of the ordinary going on. Everyone wanted to get out early(as usual). We went ahead and quickly organized the store. We then left to go on and enjoy our evening.
Then an hour or so later, we were alerted that the motion sensors went off.
No one thought much of it, until we arrived at the store the next morning.
Then we saw that all of the display laptops were stolen!!
It had so happened that customers were hiding in the office cabinets over night and came out when everyone was long gone. Since there were no cameras, we werenāt able to find out who did it. The criminals had monk-level patience.
200lb printer, no problem
Being an office supply store we carry lots of heavy electronics. One of the most heavy being a really large laser printer. Not 200lbs but it was quite heavy!
A customer asked about the display model and said he wanted to purchase one. When we went to the back to check if we still had any available.
The customer then grabbed the display model and ran out of the store with it!!
He didnāt look like a bodybuilder, but he was he strong!
I wanna know what my husband is hiding
A customer came in with her husbandās laptop looking to get it repaired. Later she said that she didnāt remember the password, and if we could crack it.
It is against company policy to do that, but it was done anyways, and the employees viewed the photos in the laptop. From what I remember, the husband was hanging out with all sorts of celebrities!
Thatās how people like you get F*&$*# up
Every now and then there is a customer who is spending too much time looking at a particular item. By too much time, I mean about an hour or so.
Now that may not be a lot for a laptop or expensive piece of equipment, but it sure is for printer ink.
The standard procedure is to keep having employees check if the customer needs help. The customer became frustrated and began getting confrontational.
Meet me outside, come on letās go, thatās how people like you get F*&$*# up!
It reminded me of the Kevin Hart scene in the movie 40 year old Virgin. Who knew asking a customer if they needed help after a long time would lead to that.
Rats!
A customer went to the back of the store looking for storage boxes. 5 minutes later, he came running to the front with a worried look on his face. This was because a rat crawled right near his leg.
The store was infested with rats, and they were there for weeks. Talk about a spooky shopping experience.
Those are just a few of the stories, I have from Retail Sales. Iād love to hear your stories from retail sales, feel free to post some comments! š