I learned today that I'm a racist (question buried inside)

[jmowreader]

Yes, folks, it's time for the Customer of the Day!

This afternoon we have two candidates for retail immortality. Both of them called me a racist. I don't know why.

The first person called me on the phone and said he'd bought some 16-foot pressure-treated 1x20s from me and wanted to know if he could return them. (You guys who know your wood are currently asking "huh?" Your consternation is quite appropriate; pressure-treated 1x20s are not made and if they were I wouldn't have any. You know what I had to go through to get 1x8s? And they make those!) I got him to give me the exact size of this stuff...3/4" thick by about 20" wide. I told him we wouldn't take them back because we don't sell anything like that. After being accused of calling him a liar (the question is, how do you answer that question when the guy IS a liar? I mean, come on...if you're going to come up with bizarre-ass shit like that, at least choose a dimension that will come out of the logs they harvest today, 'kay?) he then said I was a racist and that I had a problem with "some people." (And I don't think he meant "people with imaginary wood," either.) I forwarded him to the store manager; dealing with belligerent morans is his job. (The store manager called me. "What the fuck is a 1x20?")

The other one wanted an aluminum patio awning 18 feet in projection. I even called the company that makes my awnings; the longest projections they make are five feet in aluminum, 12 feet in fabric--and I have no other source of supply. I then explained the situation and told her that there were five places in Fayetteville that make custom aluminum awnings. I gave her names and addresses and even called a couple to get prices. "If I was white, you could get me what I want, couldn't you?"

I've never been a racist before. I don't want to be one. How do I go about this?

[Random_Australian]

1. don't sweat.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. First of all, how do you know the race of these people?

THEY CALLED YOU ON THE PHONE! :wtf: I'm confused. What idiots. it's their problem, not yours. They get thru life making everything a race issue because they don't want to admit they're just idiots.
Duckie

[jmowreader]

3. The second one was in the store

The first one called on the phone. The second one came in, and she was definitely black.

But the first one was the real trip...I didn't hear what I wanted to, so obviously I'm being discriminated against.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

4. The second one...

You called around and helped her find what she needed....How did that equate to you being racist? I swear that's so dumb.
Duckie

[meow2u3]

23. I think it's a case of pot meet kettle

It sounds to me as if they were the racists, not you. They're accusing you because they're guilty; in other words, they're projecting.

[madrchsod]

5. don`t feel bad

my son worked for the midwest big box in the the chicago area..what happened to you is nothing compared the lunatics had to deal with.

[LisaLynne]

6. Wow! I think you had a weirder day than I did!

I guess you might as well just join the KKK and ... and ... Um, I can't think of anything else racists do. Maybe boycott pro sports or something? :shrug:

Anyway, sorry about that. Retail sucks sometimes. :hug:

[RoyGBiv]

7. I feel your pain ...

I deal with people face to face, so they can legitimately claim I knew they were of a certain race when dealing with them. What they don't seem to understand is that I treat everyone who hasn't paid a bill in three months the same, which, by the way, is pretty much the same as I treat a person who pays their bills on time every month, the only difference being that I won't give you the benefit of the doubt about certain things.

I've had legal complaints filed against me for violation of civil liberties. None of them have ever gotten past square one after the investigation starts because it quickly becomes apparent that the customer was a complete idiot, but it's still annoying and not one of those things you appreciate having in your employee file, no matter the outcome.

[uppityperson]

8. I have told people this:

"Your race has nothing to do with it, you are just a jerk"

[Bossy Monkey]

9. "No ma'am, if you were white, yellow, blue, or light green with purple

polkadots, you'd still be a knucklehead."

Sure you'd get fired, but wouldn't it be fun?:P

Sorry you had a bad day.

[Haole Girl]

10. Working with the public sucks.

Some days you feel like you barely stay afloat, don't you? I know the feeling, believe me.

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. Obviously, you know nothing about customer service

For the first customer, you should've gone to the nearest redwood forest, felled a tree large enough to yield a 20-inch plank, then cut and milled one to the dimensions he needed.

Oh, wait — he wanted to return some. Okay, in that case, you should've accepted them, then glued them back together to make a suitable tree and gone to the forest and transplanted it.

For the second, you should've turned her into a Caucasian, then done exactly what you did before.

I guess they just don't teach real customer service anymore. :eyes:

[dweller]

12. Hi Jack!

Now, if you were an entrepreneur you would have connected caller number 1 with customer number 2 and worked out a 1x20x16' pressure treated aluminum 18 foot projecting custom whatever you call it. And it would have been the bomb! And Bush would have taken all the credit for the economic upswing due to the sale.


i bet your name isn't Jack, but i just wanted to give the NSA guys something to do with their time checking all the threads here...


dp

[jmowreader]

13. I'm thinking about building a 1x20x16 fold-out looney bin

I know, I know, "looney bin" isn't politically correct. We're supposed to call them "mental health centers" or something like that.

But these people aren't mentally ill. They're just fuckin' looney, man.

[trof]

14. honky cracker

This one IS going in your book, isn't it?
;-)

[trof]

15. thread ender

I can do it every time.
;-)

[wildhorses]

16. I thought I was the official thread ender around here

:P

[AmyDeLune]

17. That's Thread KILLER

and I thought that was my job!

[wildhorses]

18. when did I get promoted and

where is my raise?

[AmyDeLune]

20. Once you graduate to Thread Killer

you don't get a raise, just a Serial Killer from petty cash...:P

[kwassa]

19. well, here is my take on it ...

and you may not like it, but their thoughts about you being a racist may stem more from the way you were speaking to them than what you were talking about. They might have perceived you as being disrespectful to them, and therefore extrapolated that you did so because of their skin color.

That is my guess.

I have spent years in retail and customer service situations and dealt with all kinds of customers, too. I know that there are customers out there who are more than a little crazy, but they are few and far between. In my experience, if you treat people in a positive way, they will be positive right back. I don't worry about the crazy ones.

[Redneck Socialist]

21. You could tell them to go fuck themselves

You'd be out of a job, but it would be momentarily satisfying.

I feel your retail pain.

[Ellen Forradalom]

22. Sadly, there are people in the world

who will play on white guilt as if it were a piano. They poison the well as much as any racist.

I have a friend who teaches eighth-grade math. Apparently, if a student is doing poorly, it's because my friend the teacher is a racist. One student said she got in trouble because my friend has a beef against Ethiopians. No, she said, I have a beef against people who act up in my class.