I recently had a strange encounter at my local Ralphs grocery store. An encounter that suddenly felt like an incident and almost became an altercation. I don’t know if the cashier mistook me for a shoplifter or a serial killer or if he just hates handling “returns,” but after getting nowhere with the store or the seemingly helpful people at Kroger (the parent company), I give up and will never shop their again. EVER.
It all boils down to this: What exactly does the cashier mean when he says, while you are simply trying to return a mop, “I know you. I’ve played this game with you before?”
Before that I discuss the rather plump envelope I received from the IRS (and I don’t mean the defunct 80’s record label) and how they wanted about 50% of Y in back taxes. Huh? Yeah, that’s what I said.
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Our family has had it with Ralph’s too. They are the most rude store in the area.
Last Sunday was the final straw for me. While, I was obviously in a rush, picking up a birthday cake and fruit tray for my 6-year old son’s birthday, the woman in charge behind the deli counter first joked that the cake wasn’t there (pretty cruel) then told me I’d have to pay for it there because they’ve had people “skip out” without paying. In other words, she was accusing me of being a thief. I stood there incredulous, with a cart full of other groceries with which I now contemplated standing in line again. Did I mention I was in a rush. I told her I was not going to do it and she graciously told me, “I’ll give you a break, honey.”
After I paid, I got to my car and realized I’d forgotten ice (probably because I was upset about the other incident). I went back and decided to go through the self-scan where a perky young woman greeted me with a high pitched squeal that I only later realized was a “howdy” (I think). Since I did not respond immediately, she muttered, not inaudibly, “well some people are a little snooty today”. I lost it and insisted the manager come over and complained about both incidents.
He calmly looked at me and said “I’ll speak to those people”, rolled his eyes, and walked away.
Never going back.
Thanks for the Talking Heads reference!
Dan –
GOOD FOR YOU!
Clark Howard, the financial guru, calls it “voting with your feet”. It is one of the reasons I no longer shop at Walmart unless it is an EMERGENCY, no longer eat at O’Charley’s and a small group of other retailers and restaurants. I am tired of giving my money to people who treat us like we are of little or no consequence but are actually the fuel that fires their businesses.
You’re obviously sick of doing the “under the flightpath” intro. I personally enjoy the intro, especially when you don’t want to do it! However, to give you a break, I thought of something. The people who pay for the podcast know your intro. That’s why we bought it. You could leave out the intro for the premium episodes. You’ll still need it for the free episodes because you can’t guarantee that those listeners have heard it.
CSI Ralph’s. LOL
Dan,
I went through the same thing with the IRS, my employer had sent out 2 1099s, one to me and one to the IRS, of course the amount to the IRS included my travel expenses for the year. It was a riot, they just assumed that I was trying to screw them over, and that I should just pay… Worked it out on the phone in the IRS office in 5 minutes, why they couldn’t have just said this was the issue when they contacted me originally, instead of just saying “ohhh, it’s a routine audit”.
Sorry about the Ralph’s disappointment…
Thanks for another GREAt podcast,
John
Similar recent experience at Kmart. I was shopping with my 3 year old son. I bought him a toy car in the store and opened the pack to let him have it in the store. I kept the packaging and then at check out put the packaging up on the counter. After she scanned it, I asked her kindly if she wouldn’t mind throwing away the packaging. She gave me a look like I had totally messed up her day. She said, “there’s a trash can over there in the corner” and then she rudely tossed it aside.. Then when paying I swiped my card and picked up the pen ready to sign my signature. Apparently for certain small amounts you don’t need to sign anymore, I dont know, but she reached over, took the pen from my hand and put it down in a little pen holder. Are you kidding me Dan? WWDD (What would Dan do?) I don’t know, but I took the pen out of the holder, put it down next to the card reader, picked up my trash, put it back in my buggy as the lady was glaring at me, and walked out. I left the trash in the buggy in the parking lot. Thanks for the show Dan. Terrific as usual.
Sean
It’s no different here Dan, though there are some exceptions – Apple stores being one. I have lost count of the amount of times I have gone for the “screw this, I am going right to the top” option. The thing is, if you shop in a store that routinely screws its own employees, guess what kind of service you might expect?
Slightly in defence of the store though, I don’t know anywhere that gives you a refund onto another card, even from the same account. Here they will instead offer you vouchers.
I’m just the same, but I do wonder if we are “sweating the small stuff” – pretty soon you can find yourself complaining about poor service everywhere. One of the things you could do is to try mystery shopping – it was an eye opener to me when I read about how staff are supposed to greet people (genuine smile, not forced) and the time limits they are set (pizza restaurant).
The Sunshine Tax ahahahaha. That made me laugh, because as a former Southern California resident I know exactly what you mean. We pay insane amounts to sit in the oh so wonderful sunshine.
About your Ralphs experience, its never good when one cashier with a bad attitude can ruin your whole experience. I’d say give it another chance though. we all have those days, maybe you just caught him on his.
Don’t worry about the IRS thing, everything will work out.