Srsly? What the heck.

I get it. I'm guilty of this sometimes, too. The whole thinking my time is somehow more valuable than someone whose job it is to offer customer service.

We don't just wash cars, we don't just have a huge gift shop. We also offer detailing services for vehicles. This can take hours and hours. People generally drop off their vehicle for the day returning to pick it up before we close. People also generally call in the afternoon for a status report. "Is my car done? When will be ready for pick up?" Normal stuff. Expected stuff.

Today's call:
Them: "I'm calling to see if my car is finished."
Me: "Ok, hold on I'll check."
*I am totally flustered because today is crazy busy, the phone keeps ringing off the hook. Yet, I leave the register, go outside and ask if the green SUV detail (the only one out there) is done. It is. Good!*
Me: "It's the green SUV, right?"
Them: "No, it's a beige Lexus."
Me: *wanting to yell as I realize they just got a normal wash* "What kind of wash did you get?"
Them: "Oh the _____. I left and told them I'd be back to get it later. Is it ready for me to pick it up?"
Me: *wanting to yell even more* "What time were you here?"
Them: "Oh... let's see.... it was 11:30 a.m."
Me: *not amused since it's been 2 hours since they left their car and on a long day it takes only 30 minutes* "I am certain your vehicle is done and ready for pick up."

*click*

Seriously?! What the heck.

We do not have time to go outside to check if your car is done from a simple wash. That is not a service we offer. Our time is money, just like yours. If you don't have the time to wait for your car, fine. Pay, leave it and come back before 5 p.m. But please DO NOT call and expect us to be your personal assistant. Hundreds of cars come through our company on busy days. We cannot and do not have time to let everyone know when their car is finished. That is your job.

Waiting......

We allegedly close at 5 p.m. every day. If you call and ask, "What time to you close today?" I will always answer "5 o'clock."

Common courtesy ... or, forget that, common sense would tell a person that if they bring in their vehicle to be washed around 4:30 p.m. and they are planning to *leave* and pick it up later they really ought to pay prior to leaving the premiss, yes? Clearly, this is not common knowledge, thus this post.

Once again this evening I was stuck at work waiting for one person to pay. I can't close my shift until everyone has paid. Doesn't matter if we close at 5 p.m. Doesn't matter if the manger/owner told me to close. I have to wait. This is not an issue if the person is on the property. If they're around we'll let them know we'd like them to pay so we can close. However, when said person has up and left... I am at their mercy. In this case I was waiting for 45 minutes. Totally not cool, folks. Totally not cool. I get that you have a life, but please keep in mine I have a life, too. A life that happens when I am not at work. A life you're keeping me from by leaving and running errands while I am stick at work waiting for you to arrive after we have already closed.

I realize most places of business do not have this problem. Most places offer a service that you cannot (at least legally) leave prior to paying for whatever services or goods they offer - for example a restaurant, grocery store or super store such as Target. Please keep in mind that when you find a place that you *can* leave... PAY BEFORE YOU LEAVE or else DON'T LEAVE.

Thank you very much.

We do have signs in place and when a person is getting their car detailed we make sure they are aware if they do not want to pay prior to seeing the finished product (totally understandable) to make sure they are back to pay and pick up *before* 5 p.m. So we are actively trying to fend this type of behavior off.

I bought it just last month and other common lies...

Today a sweet customer came in. She had a problem with an item she had purchased. Our return policy states returns must be made within 10 days, with original receipt and the items should have the tags still attached. Pretty normal stuff, except many places give longer than 10 days... say 30? Or if you're Target you give 90 days.

 Customer insisted she made her purchase last month. She knew it was last month because she bought it for a friends Anniversary. Ok. No receipt. No tags or tickets on the item. We looked. And looked. And looked. We didn't have a duplicate item in our store. The item did look somewhat familiar to me but I had no idea what the price was so even if we were going to issue a refund - how much do we give?

 After quite some time of searching in the computer I found it. She had purchased the item in question on 3/29/11. Yeah.... not last month. Not even 90 days ago. We're talking 5.5 months she's had this item. That's like... a lot longer than our typical 10 days policy. That's.... that's a long dang time. I'm not sure who would refund you at that point except Costco and we certainly aren't Costco. We're a small independent business. We want to believe you. We don't want you to end up with a defective product. We don't want you to waste your money. However when you insist you made your purchase "just last month" and we can prove you made it 5.5 months ago... how much do you honestly expect us to believe? Really?!

Moral of the story... keep your receipts and for heaven's sake don't try to return stuff you bought 5 months ago. If it doesn't work or isn't right take it back ASAP for everyone' sake and KEEP THE TAGS/TICKETS!

Thank you.

Ya gotta respect the money... right?

It was hot today. I mean, for us, it was hot today. Our days are generally in the mid 60's so "hot" is relative for sure. Rumor has it the temps were up to 91 F in places. Needless to say I sold a lot of water and other beverages today. One sweet older lady came up and bought a 1.5 liter bottle of Aquafina. I told her that would be $1.65. She proceeded to put down one dollar and then sort through her coins. Somewhere along the lines she had been given a .10¢ Canadian coin. She didn't realize that's what it was and I let her know. The look on her face was of such disgust... not with me, mind you, but with the coin. It was hard for me not to laugh. She told me, "Throw it away! It's worthless!"

I didn't toss the coin. Ya gotta respect the money, right? Even if it isn't the currency of our country. I saved the offending coin.

The customer is not always right because often times the customer is an idiot

Ok, so while I work at a gift shop as the manager/buyer and sometimes cashier; said gift shop is attached/part of a hand car wash.

On the bottom of all of our receipts is the following:

*Return this vehicle & receipt & save*
$2.00 off the Executive regular price
$2.00 off the Works regular price
Offer expires after 10 days of receipts date

One day an older gentleman comes in and states he's here for his $2. Um. What?! We don't pay people to simply show up; even employee's have to actually work in order to get paid. This guy wasn't getting a car wash and he hadn't had his car washed with us for about two months.

First, the cashier got to explain to him that the receipt is simply a coupon for $2 off his next car wash if he comes back within 10 days with the same vehicle. He tells her that's crazy as no one would get their car washed every 10 days. She calmly told him that we do actually have many customers who come in once a week and many of them do take advantage of the discount coupon which is on each receipt. He wasn't buying it and refused to listen to her.

As the gift shop manager I was the closest manager to the situation so I went over to relieve the cashier and I attempted to explain it to him. He argues with me that his receipt says we'll give him $2 for showing up. (Okaaayyyyyyyy)

I then call the manager of the car wash to come in and talk to him. While the manager is talking to him, he's getting more irritated and angry that we won't give him the $2. Then in walks my Grandfather (the owner of the whole mess) and HE tried to calm this guy down and talk some sense into him... while that's going on my Grandmother (the other owner of the whole shebang) happens to come in and she gets involved, too.

Keep in mind it was a very busy day. Each one us had things we should have been doing not to mention the scene this was causing in front of all of our paying customers who were very much within hearing range of this raving lunatic.

Not one of us ever got through to the guy that no where on the receipt does it say "show up and we'll fork over $2 just because you're awesome". Not to mention, if it did, he wouldn't qualify, being that he was not awesome.

Eventually, after arguing for more than an hour with this guy, he finally left. He was royally pissed off and still believed we owed him two bucks for stopping by with his two month old receipt in hand. Thankfully, on his way out he was yelling how he would never return. Music to our ears.

Therefore the customer is not always right because the customer is often a freaking idiot.