Lies, lies at Frys
Oct. 30th, 2003 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserFor those without one near them, Frys is a massive electronics store. When I say "massive" I mean on that super-store level, like a K-Mart or a Walmart sized place. At least here in northern California, they're known more for the ultra-suckiness of their employees than their size. Almost none of the store clerks speak English, and those who do fake not being able to so they don't have to help anyone. Anyone in the know won't buy computer cards/chips/hardware/thingies there, as nine times out of ten they don't work.
(Don't ask me how they stay in business. I hear tell that Frys in other parts of the country are better, maybe they keep the northern CA ones afloat.)
So, in search of the new HP game (Quidditch World Cup), I make the dire mistake of going to Frys. The game came out yesterday, so I figured a whole day would give them time to get it priced and on their shelves. Wrong.
I walked in, wandered through the PS2 game section. It's not there. I hunt down clerks, and on the third try finally found one who was willing to make an attempt to communicate with me. He said that the store had some, but they were "in the back". If I came back tonight or tomorrow, they might have them on the shelves by then. I asked if he could go get one from the back for me, and he suddenly lost his grasp of English, muttered something, and wandered off.
Not about to be thwarted, I went up to the customer service desk. Putting on my brightest smile and my telephone voice (very cheery, perky, 'I want to help you!') I told the lady my story: The nice clerk said they had some in the back, but he was too busy with his restocking to get one! But he suggested that if I come up here, customer service could send someone!'. I don't like lying, but that's what the clerk should have said, so it was more like me being helpful than dishonest, right? (Riiiiiight.)
So the customer service chick scurried off to the back. And by 'scurried' I mean "meandered, stopping occasionally to have a smoke, flirt with random customers, and have dinner". Twenty minutes or so later, she came back with box in hand. Since I was hitting the forty minute mark of my hour lunch, I thanked her and rushed off to check out.
No line, woo! I hand over my credit card, and while he's ringing it up I looked down at the box. Aie! Customer service chick hadn't brought me back a PS2 copy as I had asked for, but a PC copy! "No, no!" I cried, startling all the short Indian men around me. "No! That's the wrong version!" But alas, my credit card had already been charged. So I went off to wait in another line to get the charge reversed...
Now, nearly an hour into my quest for the game, I was still empty-handed. I went back to customer service chick, but my perky voice and sunny smile didn't work a second time -- she wouldn't return to the back to get the right version.
So time for lie #2 (or as we'll call it: Me correcting what the employee should have done). I went back to the game department and found a new clerk. I looked him in the eye and told him that customer service chick told me to come back here and have one of the game clerks go in the back and get the right version of the game for me. He nodnoded, bowed, and ran off... straight into another customer. After picking the customer up, he was obligated to help him. I watched. Once finished, he rushed off towards the mythical "back" again, only to stop when another customer needed him. And another. And another.
Finally, somehow, he returned with the game. It was even the right version! Though I would have rather stuffed his pants full of rabid cats, I thanked him and went up to check out. I believe the game was not marked correctly and they overcharged me, but at that point all I wanted to do was get OUT OUT OUT, so I paid and left.
Watch the game doesn't work when I load it up tonight...
(Don't ask me how they stay in business. I hear tell that Frys in other parts of the country are better, maybe they keep the northern CA ones afloat.)
So, in search of the new HP game (Quidditch World Cup), I make the dire mistake of going to Frys. The game came out yesterday, so I figured a whole day would give them time to get it priced and on their shelves. Wrong.
I walked in, wandered through the PS2 game section. It's not there. I hunt down clerks, and on the third try finally found one who was willing to make an attempt to communicate with me. He said that the store had some, but they were "in the back". If I came back tonight or tomorrow, they might have them on the shelves by then. I asked if he could go get one from the back for me, and he suddenly lost his grasp of English, muttered something, and wandered off.
Not about to be thwarted, I went up to the customer service desk. Putting on my brightest smile and my telephone voice (very cheery, perky, 'I want to help you!') I told the lady my story: The nice clerk said they had some in the back, but he was too busy with his restocking to get one! But he suggested that if I come up here, customer service could send someone!'. I don't like lying, but that's what the clerk should have said, so it was more like me being helpful than dishonest, right? (Riiiiiight.)
So the customer service chick scurried off to the back. And by 'scurried' I mean "meandered, stopping occasionally to have a smoke, flirt with random customers, and have dinner". Twenty minutes or so later, she came back with box in hand. Since I was hitting the forty minute mark of my hour lunch, I thanked her and rushed off to check out.
No line, woo! I hand over my credit card, and while he's ringing it up I looked down at the box. Aie! Customer service chick hadn't brought me back a PS2 copy as I had asked for, but a PC copy! "No, no!" I cried, startling all the short Indian men around me. "No! That's the wrong version!" But alas, my credit card had already been charged. So I went off to wait in another line to get the charge reversed...
Now, nearly an hour into my quest for the game, I was still empty-handed. I went back to customer service chick, but my perky voice and sunny smile didn't work a second time -- she wouldn't return to the back to get the right version.
So time for lie #2 (or as we'll call it: Me correcting what the employee should have done). I went back to the game department and found a new clerk. I looked him in the eye and told him that customer service chick told me to come back here and have one of the game clerks go in the back and get the right version of the game for me. He nodnoded, bowed, and ran off... straight into another customer. After picking the customer up, he was obligated to help him. I watched. Once finished, he rushed off towards the mythical "back" again, only to stop when another customer needed him. And another. And another.
Finally, somehow, he returned with the game. It was even the right version! Though I would have rather stuffed his pants full of rabid cats, I thanked him and went up to check out. I believe the game was not marked correctly and they overcharged me, but at that point all I wanted to do was get OUT OUT OUT, so I paid and left.
Watch the game doesn't work when I load it up tonight...
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no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 03:25 pm (UTC)Funny thing is, I ended up at KFCs and got potato wedges and a biscuit instead. I would have been better off at In&Out...
no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 07:51 pm (UTC)A gaming store next time, for sure!
no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 08:20 pm (UTC)Oh, and I spent several minutes of going back and forth on my friends page wondering why your mood icon kept having this weird glitch where it became a bunch of lines. -.-
no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 08:33 pm (UTC)And I agree! Nice customers should be treated well, and the bad ones should be mocked and tossed out of the store!
no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 09:12 pm (UTC)And thanks to another comment to this post, I am eagerly awaiting the opportunity to use the phrase "cubic fuckton".
no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 09:25 pm (UTC)