Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Current Musical Selection: A Perfect Circle - A Stranger

interesting situation arose at work tonight. for whatever reason a customer bought a label maker that was supposed to be 17 bucks.. its normally 50. well the cashier rang it up with the wrong numbers, swapped a couple, and comes up with some kind of trapper-binder think thats like 9 bucks. of course the cashier had no idea about the ad or the items in it... so they person, knowing its rung up wrong, says nothing and walks out with it. that was two weeks ago. come yesterday, the customer wants to bring it back and get money back for it. ofcourse we cant do it because the item isnt on his receipt. staples caves in. we realize the SKU was flipped, so they are willing to give him up to the 17 bucks back, even though he only paid 9. but the item isnt 9 dollars anymore. its 50 once again. he now demands 50 bucks. the cashier calls me up. i say go to hell. i call the manager up. she says well only do the 17... and told him... seeing as its double what he paid, he ought to take it. i let it slip that the item is actually 50 now. the customer stops. says. see ya. ill keep it then. fast forward to today. customer comes back in, demands the 50 bucks back. we say no. 17 only. customer takes all names down, and copies of the paper work, and is writing a letter of complaint to corporate against me and the manager. interesting situation to be in. i dont really care much about it. but it got me and the manager talking for 20 minutes about morales and ethics involved with it all. especially how the double standard exists. how its acceptable for the customer to say nothing when he pays half what he should, and doesnt correct it. but how its unacceptable for us not to give him double of THAT back later on. at what point are you being unethical when you change your intentions of a returrning an item when you find out the value of the item changes. besides, doesnt have to become highly unethical to then argue to get double what is owed to you, when you have no claim to it?

besides which, it parallels another circumstance at work for me. a girl who im somewhat friends with has been sicking out of work, on average, a day a week. lately shes gone over a week straight without showing up. management, who likes me, told me shes going to be fired for it. that they are waiting for a call back from corporate HR in Mass. to hear how to do it best. so do i have any ethical responsibility to tell the girl shes going to be canned? what if i said shes been working for the company for 4 years? what if i said shes been doing this for all 4 years? what if i said shes a good worker? what if i said shes never very good at her job? what if i said shes coming from a broken home? what if i said her boyfriend is a [convicted] drug-dealer? what if i said i felt sorry for her? and what if i said she does drugs too? makes the story quite interesting to think about. each layer to the story is true. all in all, while it may be moral for me to tell her, its not necessarily ethically required that i do so. well.. i guess not. i have to remind myself that what i was told by management was priviliged. as was the information i did not relay to them about her. any of which would likely only expediate the process. so i guess im not going to say anything. i can say she deserves to be fired. but honestly, she doesnt deserve to stay employed either. such and interesting day.

also got one nice compliment. i sold some guy a 400 dollar digital camera and shit to go with it, plus a plan on it. he told me he got hit by a master salesman. laughed when he said it, and just said its easy to do with good quality products. he laughed. he told me hes sold insurance for 30 years, he said he knew a good salesman when he heard one. that was pretty cool to hear. i guess i never consider myself to be a salesman. just someone that answers questions and moves shit around. but i guess i am. ive sold more in warranties than ive earned in wages. and i dont make a penny for it. i guess... if i did, id consider myself more of a salesman. intersting thoughts today.