The People You Meet

While I've been in school, I took a job at Bed Bath & Beyond thinking it was easy and enable me to concentrate on finishing school. It is easy. Even on busy days, I leave the job there when I leave. Some days make me wonder about our customers, though.

Bear in mind that our return policy is extremely liberal. We have a "satisfaction guaranteed" policy without a time limit. We know that we are being taken advantage of to a certain extent, but corporate believes it is good will and creates "raving fans" of those who are not trying to get something for nothing.

Most transactions are fairly routine when working the Customer Service desk. The product is broken, wrong size, not needed–whatever the issue–and the credit can be given toward a new purchase or returned in the original form of payment. We ask why the merchandise is being returned, mostly because we want to know if it's been used or damaged. We cannot sell a used product as new. It's okay if you tried it, that's why we have a "satisfaction guaranteed" policy.

Then there are times when I have to bite my tongue and control my reaction.

Like today when a gentleman returned all the spa products to give his wife for her birthday. When I questioned him about why he was returning them, he stated that his wife decided she wanted a divorce instead. Oops!

Or the gentleman that called about an apple peeler we sell. It peels, slices and cores apples for pies. Seems the apples were too thin and became too soggy for the customer in the pie. Unfortunately, we were not able to adjust the thickness of the slices...

A good percentage of customers tell me a long story when a few sentences would do. But most people just want to be heard. I assure them that we will take care of them and find someone to do so. We practice lots of patience at BBB.

No matter how busy it seems, I try to remember to treat others the way I'd like to be treated. Some days I'm a little nutty and need someone to listen to me.

But, please, if you plan to return sheets–wash them first!