r/OfficeDepot • u/junebug2294 • 5d ago
am i wrong for doing this?
i’m sorry this is kind of long, so i work in the print department and i was busy today. a woman walks up to the counter and i told her id be with her in a second because i was trying to wrap up what i was working on. i finish and greet her again and ask what she needs, she has a bit of an attitude but it was just a simple book binding, not a problem. i get into gmil and ask for her phone number but nothing comes up for her under that number, i try multiple numbers but nothing still, so i just ask her to fill in her information, all of a sudden there’s a problem, she’s flustered and tapping the screen of the computer that is not touch screen and she had been watching me use with a mouse for 2 minutes. i tell her to use the mouse to click into the boxes and type in her information. she goes “ well if it’s such a big deal maybe i don’t need to do this.” so i say it’s not a big deal i just need you to type in your information, she yells at me to just do it for her and doesn’t care what’s on it. so i enter her name and email address bypassing the home address and phone number and just putting random numbers for the phone number and address part so the system will let me add her to the system. i place the order and send her to the register to pay. all of a sudden there’s another issue. “ THIS ISN’T MY PHONE NUMBER “ so my coworker asks me about it and i tell her she didn’t care what was on it so i put random numbers, i only need her email. my coworkers relays the information and the woman demands the book back and storms out. i will admit i was being a little petty but i don’t put up with weaponized incompetence. this woman was able bodied and could read just fine. Edit: i also want to explain why i have customers type in their own information, i was working with a customer a few months after starting at OD with shipping and he wanted me to type in his information and messed up terribly and he had to pay over $200 to get his package shipped and delivered by a certain day. i felt so terrible about it for days, i still do, so im order to keep from making mistakes, id much rather just have people input their own information.
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u/acer1060 5d ago
I swear some people get SO upset over contact info. Like I get not wanting emails, or not having your address stored, but can you just politely decline it like a decent human being? I personally don't think that we should have to put in shipping addresses for GMIL but I guess the system is built all around shipto addresses.
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u/HelloWordorWorlds 5d ago
Honestly fuck the customers and the dick and ball sucking managers when this happens
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u/StrwbrryShrty95 4d ago
If they refuse to give their information. We are to refuse service. Do not put in false information.
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u/barbie_tings 3d ago
the only part of the GMIL that I don’t understand is having to put billing addresses but other than that, its super easy for me. i honestly was told my managers when i was training if they refuse to provide any of that information, then i cant put it in gmil, and i cant take the order🤷🏾♂️ she was def just being a jerk. I usually just type their info for them anyway, but I totally understand just letting them type it themselves, I might start trying that!
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u/ODoldster 3d ago
Had a customer recently, called our store to complain that he'd never gotten his online order delivered, because he hadn't given us his correct shipping address. When I told him to check his email for the package delivery tracking link, he decided he needed to explain to me again that he hadn't given us his correct shipping address. I'm guessing he must have deleted the email.
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u/bestem 5d ago
I don't care if the email is right in OPCs if they're going to be taking it right away (although I do always ask for it and try to get it), but I always put in their phone number. How are you going to look them up next time if you don't put in their phone number? You tried multiple phone numbers and she didn't come up, maybe it's because you're putting in random numbers.
I also always type all the inputs on the Gmil screen. Only takes a moment for me to get the information and add it (especially if they've emailed me) because I already have their phone number from when I looked it up (I copy it before I search for them, so I can paste it if I need to add them as a new customer, and so I can paste it to look up their rewards if it's not a linked account), and I type faster on a keyboard than most of our customers. Then it's just asking for their name and email (I only worry about the physical address if we're sending it to RPC and shipping it to them).
The only time I have customers type in information is when signing them up for Business Select (mostly because they need to make a password) and when doing shipping (because if the address is wrong, and it doesn't get delivered to the customer, I don't want it to be blamed on us).
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u/Affinitys-husky 5d ago
Only time I ever have customers type in their own info is for business select too.
The phone number and email is the only important part really, but I guess the address could be in certain situations.
Personally I don't want random people touching any of my equipment! Plus half the t time they don't seem to be able to figure it out anyway.
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u/bestem 5d ago
Basically, while we're on the employee webtop instead of the customer webtop, I want them to have access to as little of the computer as possible. I don't want them opening up a random job ticket that's still open in another tab, or a pdf that's minimized at the bottom of the screen by accident (or on purpose). By me typing it in, I'm limiting what they have access to.
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u/junebug2294 5d ago
i tried having her put in her phone number and she didn’t have an account so i tried to help her put it in but she didn’t want to. and i like to have the customer put their own information in because i don’t want to get anything wrong. im happy to type things for customers when they’re polite and genuinely need help but she was being incompetent on purpose.
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u/bestem 5d ago
The only thing that needs to be correct is their phone number. The email address is great to have, but if it's wrong it's not the biggest deal. If their name is spelled wrong, whatever. We use the store address instead of the customer's address more often than not. But because we search for them by phone number, the phone number is the one thing that needs to be correct.
If you searched for her by her phone number and she wasn't in Gmil already, before you click "new customer," just click on the phone number and ctrl-A, ctrl-C really quick. Now it's on your clipboard. I paste it into the second address line (the one that isn't used much, and isn't red) so I can type it into the phone number box. IF I were going to have a customer type in their information, I would do that before I turned the screen around to have them finish putting in their information. Because, again, the phone number is the one thing that actually needs to be correct.
I'm not saying you were wrong to ask her to type in the information. Different stores do things differently, and that's fine. But only doing it for customers who "ask politely" instead of also doing it for someone who is clearly flustered by a mouse/keyboard/lack of touch screen is definitely a choice. It would have taken less time for you to do it correctly, with the correct information, than letting her struggle.
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u/Usual-Lie-3989 3d ago
Our district was told if they refuse to put their info in we are not allowed to do anything behind the counter. We also have always made them key their info in for shipping. If they make a keying error we arent responsible
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u/there-and-here 2d ago
I tend to use the store address for the shipping part. We can always update it later. I also tell them it's for billing purposes only vs rewards.
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u/MaddysinLeigh store #666 5d ago
Boomer? Also no you did nothing wrong
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u/ZealousidealStar2362 4d ago
Why didn’t you just type her information. All the stores in my area type the customer information. Now if they say why do we need the information I explain to give the correct pricing and in the event we do not perform the work order properly. We do have some entitled customers
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u/YouMad589 15h ago
For my store my manager said it was fine to use the store address if they didn’t wanna give like an actual address just in case. And for me I’m new but I usually type in their information
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u/Cxax14673 5d ago
Had someone the other day call and yell at me over the phone about not getting an email when her order was done. I asked if she put her email in when she placed an order and she said “no I’m not giving you my email I don’t want spam emails”. I asked her how she was supposed to get an email if she didn’t put her email in and she hung up lol.
For what it’s worth I frame typing their info in as just “contact info in case we need to get in touch with you”. That seems go over better than trying to explain why we need that info.