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The Service Industry: Your Best Stories Here
I was in the "5 things nobody knows about you" thread and was writing about my time while working for a couple of different major airlines. It occurred to me that I have a LOT of awesome stories from my time at the airport.
Then it occurred to me that I have had MANY jobs where weird or awesome things happened. Then it further occurred to me that I bet there are a lot more folks who have stories to tell - So Let's Do It! Put your best stories here! |
I'll start:
While working at a major airline, I was called down from the ticket counter to help clean one of our jets that had come in on the last flight of the night. Our crew wanted to get it cleaned quickly so we could all get home early. Cleaning a plane on the inside involves many things but one of them is cleaning out all the seatback pockets, crossing the seatbelts, vaccuming and general wiping. Upon getting almost to the back of the plane, I noticed a seatback pocket that appeared to be stuffed with newspapers. Prior experience had taught me that, even with gloves, to NEVER reach into the pockets without being careful because people who dont think will often deposit things that could hurt us or things that were just disgusting. Imagine my surprise when I carefully removed the newspapers and discovered that someone had neatly wrapped a human turd in a newspaper and deposited it in the seatback pocket. a HUMAN TURD, y'all! We later found that it had happened a couple of other times in the system and I believe that even found the lady doing it. Needless to say, GROSS! |
I my early days I was involved with the casinos,so one night we were ask if we would like to make some over time seting up and after consert party that was being held at xyz casino where I worked.So we set things up for about a hundred ppl,it was top of the line spare no money set up.So hear we all wait for the folks to show up ....low and behold it Mr.Acky breaky himself band and all.
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as a therapist, I was working with a woman who incidentally, said she had a poltergeist in her home.
those who know me well, know I dont deal well with paranormal stuff...but I had to swallow my own apprehensions so I could continue to work with this client. The manifestations were not why she was in therapy but they came up in sessions as incidental information... one day I went into my office, which had been locked, no one had been in there since I had last been in there... and in the middle of my desk, was a 3 inch columnar pile of things taken from my desk... just like she said she encountered many times at home... her appointment was next... |
softness
I beleave there are things we just arent suposed to understand,I know there is such a thinga s the paranormal cause ive see it with my own eyes..gives me the willies it dose.
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Selling auto parts for 15 years makes me understand why real mechanics are needed. So many times customers would come in, tell us what's wrong with their vehicles and expect us to diagnose the problem. Most times a neighbor or relative will do the work. I've often said, when whoever does the work tells you what part you need, come back. These people are called parts changers and will keep coming back to spend more money to fix a simple problem that their parts changer can't figure out. I always welcome these people when bonuses are given out. If they went to a real mechanic, I'd of made less.
Once a guy with a Caddy came in and said he had his front brake pads changed a month ago and couldn't stand the squealing anymore. I asked who did the work and he told me the garage, but he bout the pads himself at Auto Zone. I asked how much he paid and laughed when he told me. All I could do is go to the back, get 3 different sets of pads. Took them out of the box and lined them up on the counter. Showed him good, better and best. When he asked me about prices I thought he'd faint. I finally told him to make up his mind, I had other customers. Eventually he took the best ones I had and they weren't cheap for a Caddy, but you get what you pay for. In his case, it was paying to have his front brakes done again. Sometimes you have to feel sorry for those that don't know much about cars and trust the people they know to do them right. When I was a service manager at a garage and I'd have to tell a customer what was wrong with their car, all I'd hear is I don't have that kind of money and isn't there something else we can do to get them running. We call it putting a band-aid on a wound, but letting them know it will only last a short time and they'd have to come back again for another band-aid. |
I worked for a high end faucet manufacturer.
My first day I answered the phone and gave a price for the faucet the man was inquiring about. THEN he asked if I had 3/4" nipples. I was so offended that I hung up on him. He called back and asked for my boss who pulled me into his office to inform the that it was plumbing part. Ooops. I worked for Carls Jr. when I was a teen and wore the promotional button "We do great things with our potatoes" on the tip of my preggy belly. When a man came in and exposed himself I offered to make him a hot coffee. Because, well, it was OBVIOUSLY cold out there. |
Did I tell y'all about the time that I took a seasonal job at Office Depot to supplement what I earned as a Project Manager for the state because I had HUGE cell bills while dating a certain Jackhammer? (Cell Bills were like $500 a month!)
Don't ask me about the days of working for the State from 7am - 5pm and then getting to Office Depot at 5:30 and working until 11pm...only to do it alllll over again 5 days a week :blah: (it was worth it ;) ) Yeah, I had worked at Office Depot on the night shift for a couple of weeks when I discovered that someone had put a dead squirrel in a Wal-Mart sack and shoved it into a shelf of merchandise. :blah: |
When I was 16, I got a job at Michael's Art & Craft Stores. I ended up working there for like 6 years!
Anyway, we always had tons of kids and parents in the store looking for projects for Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls and dads who needed something to keep their kid(s) busy on their custody weekend...etc. One day a woman was in with her son. She had asked for some help getting some supplies together. She wanted bandanas, beads and glitter glue. So I showed her where everything was. Then I was called to the cash register to ring. She proceeded to not pay ANY attention to her child and he was running around with one of the bandanas on his head, a stick from the floral dept and a fake plastic sheriff badge. Playing cops and robbers. A bit later, I see the mom and not the boy... I wander around doing my usual straightening up in the aisles. Then I wander down the aisle which held kits to make dream catchers and sun catchers. Like this: http://cdn2.overstock.com/images/products/L12126383.jpg We stocked all the extra paints on the bottom of the aisle ledge, all lined up by SKU number for ease of ordering. Probably about 100 paint bottles. I see the boy. On the floor. He had moved all the paint bottles onto the floor and was arranging them in rainbow order, like this: http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/1892/937/...cts/23415b.jpg :| :| :| I just about had a heart attack. I asked him where his mom was, kind of loudly so she might hear. He shrugged his shoulders and stared at me. I walked to the aisle where the mom was and reminded her (probably not as nice as I should have) to keep an eye on her child. She just kind of looked at me, half apologized, and walked over to get him to bring him back to where she was shopping. This is just one of MANY stories I could tell about working at Michael's :annoyed: |
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I am jealous. I never once got a turd. Human or otherwise as a surprise gift. |
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GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Unsupervised kids in a store = HUGE GRRRRRRRRRRRR!! A family came in with a bunch of kids at Office Depot right before I quit and the little assholes....er, kids.....were running all over the store. They knocked over several displays of pens, pushed rolling office chairs all over the place, and generally were loud, obnoxious, and rude. The BEST part? The family finally made their way up to the cash register to check out and I just happened to be lucky enough to be covering someone who was in the restroom. The mom reached into her oversized purse to get her wallet and then proceeded to pull out a shitty baby diaper that was all taped up and tried to HAND IT TO ME TO THROW AWAY FOR HER AND WAS OFFENDED WHEN I BENT DOWN AND PICKED UP THE TRASHCAN AND HANDED IT TO HER TO THROW AWAY HERSELF. The funny part? She was so offended that I didn't want to steep my fingers in her kids nasty ass fecal dumpage that she asked to speak to a Supervisor because I was "being so rude to her". The best part? Me being able to look at her and say, "I *am* the Supervisor." |
I have spent years in the following fields:
fast food retail hospitality I. Hate. People. :blink: |
I could tell you a time I had my 5th transfer to our main warehouse because the owner liked me or just liked to see how many times I could move in 7 years.....anyhow, I was working the counter with a customer when a short guy came in about the same time the owner came up behind me and she whispered in my ear, I'll take the customer at the counter and I want you to run around to the other side and walk near that man who just came in. I did as she asked and when I came back to the other side, she whispered in my ear again.....I just bet someone you were taller than him and I won. I just burst out laughing when she said that.
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the elderly can be amusing
I worked in health care for many years. I walked into a hospital room to asses an elderly couple. Introduced myself which prompted a swift reply....hello dear, I am Mrs Feeble and this is Mr Feeble. It made my day.
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I interned at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo for part of my horticulture degree. One of my tasks was to learn about landscape immersion, which is simulating the native environment of a species using comparative hardy plant life. First though, you have to know how exhibits work. Many people are under the assumption that barriers/walls/fences are put up to keep the animals in. Not so. They are to keep humans out. If you go to a zoo, you will see at least two levels of barriers..one to keep the animal from getting to the human barrier and a human barrier to keep the animal safe from them. So you might see a glass wall or chain link fence where the humans might stand, some grass and simulative plant materials, a dip in grade, and either a water moat or wide ditch or a wall closer to the animal. Keeps everybody safe...
and its a good thing. You read about how monkeys throw feces at humans? Well, they learn it from the humans themselves. It is awful the things humans do at a zoo. And it is menacing to watch parents who are oblivious to the behaviors of their kids. Kids who grab limbs of trees and try to crack off a good portion of it so they can taunt the gorillas with it. Kids who throw food at the animals, and pop cans and baggies and toys. Or kids who hang over the fencing or sneak thru a fencing area, to bang on the glass enclosures. Meanwhile parents are talking, walking, hollering, grabbing elbows, or worse, videotaping little johny or susie while they make faces at a primate who is obviously getting agitated. |
the time i (per store policy) returned a pair of jeans and the lady had had her 'LADY TIME' INSIDE of the jeans. or a miscarriage, either way--she got her $ back. (there's a special place in hell for ladies who return worn clothes and stand there while some clerk has to touch your used filth--you're not being slick, you're being gross--if you can't afford it, don't buy it, trashy.)
the time a woman had the audacity to ask me into her fitting room because she got 'stuck' in her shapewear (read: girdle). the time a woman opened her fitting room door to ask me if 'this' is how one is supposed to wear 'a thong'. the timeS women peed in fitting rooms/changed tampons and left them in the fitting rooms/peed in a drain and my coworker caught her squatting with her skirt hiked up and (i'm guessing) panties pulled to the side/handed me a used diaper to dispose of (fuck you and your kid)/peed on a patio/peed on a chair/pooped on a wall/smeared poop on a wall/left behind hypodermic needles/left behind a bag of weed/told my coworker that he hoped he died of aids/washed their bodies in the bathroom after being released from the half-way house/shelter. people are awesome. |
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meanwhile. the staff is supposed to be sales-focused to 'drive' those numbers up 20% to last year. maybe, if we were selling haz/mat -wear. |
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WORD! What is it with people and their nasty?! I'll never forget the time I walked into the bathroom at Office Depot after a fucking 12-hour shift one Saturday and someone in the women's bathroom had spread their lady time and feces all over the walls, floor, and even CEILING in one of the stalls. It looked like a gotdayum Jackson Pollock painting in there! Or the time when someone filled both sinks full of toilet paper and turned the faucets on to flood not only the bathroom but most of the employee breakroom and manager office. Or how about the time a man showed up at the airport for a flight and was covered in feces? Or the time someone tried to return a chair at Office Depot that they had *obviously* had sex in. (yes, there were stains of an obvious nature) Oooh! OH! Or the time a dude showed up wanting to make 300 copies of his "novel" that included full-color photos of him having sex with random objects such as donuts, stuffed animals, and even a Pringles can. |
Having worked in the service industry, I have the utmost respect for folks who work in food service, retail, medicine, etc. anywhere you have to deal with the public.
I always say "hello," "please" and "thank you" - especially "thank you." If the person assisting me is wearing a name badge I always call them by their name. |
yuck!
While I was working at another casino as banquett chef I went to the bathroom that we had in the kitchen for our staff,each night threre are two ppl scedualed to keep it clean but the ppl who use it are suppose to take care of there own mess like flush the dam thing,not get water(or what ever) everywhere and put things in the trash can. I went in one night about mid shift and OMG the nasty mess was plane awfull and stank like something had died in theire.I called the santation folks who came down to check it out.Well folks he took one look in the door then called his offiice who sent three ppl down in what looks like haz mat suits to clean it up.They found a dead rat in the water tank of the toilet,old diapers in the garbage along with tampons and condoms.The whole staff and I had a long meeting about this in wich they were told that till some renovations were dont the bathroom would be closed so if u need to go please ak for a personal break of 5 minits.This means that had to ask for a break then go three floors up the elevator to the bathroom by the lunch room and then get back in 5 minits,It didnt take long before they were haveing a fit cause they needed a bathroom back in the kichen are to save time.Three weeks later they got a new bathroom..self flushing toilets,times water in the sink,hot air dryers for drying hands with gave off a sent that was srtonger when blown over washed hands...oh yes each member of the staff had to key card in to the bathroom so now I didnt hear ...I didnt do it....I wasnt ever in the bathroom ect.U bet they were a whole lot cleaner after that.
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OMG! I have so many stories like these that I could write a book! And I bet I'm not the only one. Anyone who has worked with the public has my utmost respect. All my work life, on and off, I've held public jobs. My first job was at a pizza parlor. (Which after two weeks, I realized that I would NEVER again in my life work in the food industry.) I've managed convenience stores and hotels. I've worked in tax offices and doctors offices. I worked for the last Census. ugh... So many stories, so little time...lol
Some of the worst though: While managing a Shell convenience store which had a laudromat: someone decided to fingerpaint a mural in the restroom with their own feces. I have to admit, they had quite the artistic talent. I just wish they had used a different medium...ugh In the laudromat I had to hand wash the washers and vacuum out the dryers. You would not believe the nasty disgusting filth you find in a public laundry. *shudder* Dirty diapers, used tampons and maxipads, human/canine/feline feces, puddles of piss in washers... When I worked as an optometric technician for an eye doctor, I had to take folks into a little dark room and administer different vision tests with different machines. You would not believe the amount of times that patients would piss in the chairs. It blew my mind!! It's a doggone EYE doctor office!!!!! wtf?? As for the hotel, you can just imagine the insanity I have found in the rooms and even in the pool... |
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Then again, as a teen working for BK, I had no problem with the guy who would order his stuff in drive thru and then drive to the window, naked from the waist down and jacking off. I took the money from his free hand, gave him change, and wished him a good day. Of course, as he drove forward, I jotted down his license number and asked the GM to call the 5-0 for a public indecency charge. The police came, I gave them the info between getting orders out (for those of you who don't know, fast food drive thrus are often timed and those times can make or break a raise for the staff and bring down fiery rings of fast food Hell upon the restaurant in general) and thought nothing of it. Then the dude came back. Doing his thing...literally...again. This time, I'd had a really rough lunch, I'd been up since 3am and I'd had to walk to work that day due to car issues, but I lost it. I started with the inappropriate giggle and then it just escalated from there. I just kind of tossed his food at him and he sped away, but not before I saw the crestfallen look on his face. Sorry, dude. I can do three inches on my own, yanno? Bad luck for him, one of the officers I spoke to before about him was in the lobby and went after him. I never found out exactly what happened but I didn't see him anymore after that. Too bad, I was just starting to get used to the guy. :blink: |
A woman in a hotel where I used to work had a baby in the locker room restroom and was screaming It's Not Mine.
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At a different hotel, people used to call the front desk screaming that their room had been burglarized....
I would ask them what had alerted them to the alledged break in. They would reply that the lights were low, the trash was empty, soft music was playing and the bed was turned down. I would ask if there was a candy and a note about complimentary turn down service on their pillow...(cause every time I break into a room I leave a single fiendish piece of chocolate for them as a memento of my visit) The Candyman Strikes Again! |
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I call that the Shaggy Syndrome...."it wasn't me!" |
You people are depressing the hell out of me.
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I work for a Production Company now.
One day someone called and asked to rent a midget. Not book, not hire, not a little person....no, they wanted to rent a midget. |
I worked for a financial firm that dealt with reposessing automobiles and boats and also dealt with car loans when I was in my early 20's.
I'll never forget the time I had been dealing with a lady who claimed to have faxed me proof of her cashier's check at least 6 times. I informed her that we were going to come pick up the car unless she provided the necessary documents, at which time she began screaming, "Im FAXING IT TO YOU RIGHT NOW! IS IT NOT COMING OUT OF YOUR MACHINE RIGHT NOW?" "No." I answered. "But Im faxing it AS WE SPEAK", she said. Come to find out, after me asking her to describe IN DETAIL exactly how she was faxing the papers to me, she was actually holding her papers up to her computer monitor and hitting the "print screen" button repeatedly. :| |
I was the director of an adult psychiatric inpatient unit within the confines of our state mental hospital several years back. I would often work late or come in at odd hours (insomnia). My office was in the basement of a very old building that once housed the morgue. It was about 2 AM one morning and I was making some rounds on the units and most all the patient's were either sleeping or unusually quiet (rare but rather nice). I had just settled down to review charts in the basement and this voice bellowed out over the PA system stating boldly, "THIS IS GOD!" Now mind you there were speakers in the pt. rooms much like the one's that are found in modern day hospital rooms today (really therapeutic for paranoid patients). Within a matter of seconds the staff and patient's were out in the halls waiting for 'God' to speak again. Before I could get to the patient that was the guilty party of knowing the code to access the PA system he had spotted a patient turning paintings around and hanging them backwards down the halls as all the commotion was going on. Right before I got the phone away from him he was shouting (where this pt. could not see him) to "Put those paintings back or you don't get your weekend pass, BANG, BANG...signing off, THIS IS GOD."
My guess is several of those patient's remained with us a little longer than anticipated since they had now heard the voice of God. There was quite a bit of xanax dispensed that morning...to staff. God, I miss those days. |
Ok, I am getting totally grossed out here.
I like the PA stories tho. Never had a message from GOD. But we did have an employee named Clark Kent so I didnt think anything when I heard him paged. But Clark was followed by Lois Lane, Jimmie Olsen and Perry White! It was good for a chuckle and a reprimand for all those involved. |
Working Bar Mitzvahs....
Also at a fancy hotel where I once worked were various Bar Mitzvah parties... The kids, would go in the bathroom stalls and lock all the doors then crawl out. Tie all the chairs together and to the table with cloth napkins. Make sculptures in the salt shakers with layers of salt and ketchup. Line matches up on ribbon between 2 tables and catch them all on fire. Try to play choking games with belts and napkins. Their parents in the room looking fondly on...... Yeay. |
When I was a teenager I worked at a place called Hollywood Kiddieland. I was working a helicopter ride when a lady tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to stop the ride and get her son off it because he was scared. I did as she asked. When her son came around to the gate, he said to his mom, why did you make her stop the ride, I was having fun......as his mom just tugged him away.
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Oh this is the best one yet. :| |
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I am really grateful that bean counting doesn't mean that much interaction with people.
*goes back to petting abacus* |
We can reverse this shit and talk about the service we have received too.
I can't wait to talk about how I went through a drive through a year or so ago and the person at the register sneezed into her hand and then used her snottyness to cap my drink. Um, NO. |
Or driving through and they ask "will this be for here or to go?"
Well, I was planning on sitting right here at the drive through munching on my fries. :quickdraw: |
omg this i have so many of these stories but something that always sticks out in my mind is this:
I worked for MCIWorldcom for 6 years in customer service and when 9/11 happened there was a skeleton crew at the center that i worked at because most everyone went home---so there is like 20 of us on the phone when usually there would be like 300 or more so 9/11 has just happened and we literally had people calling in wanting to know why they could not reach new york and they were seriously mad like irate we were all like well just turn on the television youll know why it was freakin sad |
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