JEW Make the Call -- Shitty Target Cashier Edition

[FRANKRIZZO]

Wasn't able to read everything , if the guy indeed offered to fight you outside auto fired.

[Dan Druff]

indeed in my opinion you should have asked for the manager early on instead of asking 7 times for the cashier to do it your way...and also, a bystander saw your behavior as rude enough to come to the assistance of the checker...to me that says you were escalating rather than trying to solve a problem calmly...as Micon often said to you on the radio show, more flys caught with honey

thanking the bystander calms things down some by the cashier taking control of the situation and separating the bystander from you...the bystander gets to be a hero for a few minutes, bfd really buts it's what he wanted...

it was a bad situation but it takes two to make a tango.

Asking for the manager early was definitely an option, and would have prevented this from escalating into what it did, but again that isn't my responsibility. It's my choice when to get the manager. At first I just didn't want to wait until a manager could come up (sometimes it can take awhile). After the guy kept refusing to help, I wanted to get clarity as to exactly what he thought he was doing -- whether he was stupid, malicious, or both (turned out it was both). I was about to call the manager anyway, and indeed offered at one point that I'd forget this whole situation and not tell the manager if he'd just fix the price and be done with it. He still dug his heels in.

Regarding the other customer, his involvement didn't mean anything. Unfortunately in our "Karen videos" era, a lot of morons snap-default to taking the employee's side when they hear a customer/employee argument, even if the customer is 100% right. To this dummy, the Target employee was trying to help a customer solve a problem, and the customer was defiantly refusing to follow his instructions, plus getting angry that the problem wasn't getting solved. Unless you fully heard what was actually happening, and unless you knew Target's policy on these Circle discount matters, it could easily appear I was the asshole here.

There's also the "deference to the experts" issue. I was telling the cashier that I don't need the barcode, and that the password reset takes forever anyway. The cashier was saying that the barcode was the only way out of this. You'd think the employee would know and the customer would be the incorrect one, but in reality it was the opposite. But to the bystander, it just looks like I'm being stubborn and not letting the employee help me.

Finally, the cashier never attempted to separate the bystander from me. He thanked the guy right before walking away, after the bystander had already (temporarily) backed away from me. He didn't say, "Thanks for your support, but please let me take it from here." He just thanked the guy twice, because he was thrilled the guy harassed and threatened me. Even when dragged into an HR meeting where his job was seriously on the line, he did not ever claim to be attempting to deescalate with that bystander. He simply admitted he thanked the guy, and could not offer up an explanation as to why he did it. It also escalated things further, as the bystander now felt empowered to continue his harassment, as he had just been validated as the hero.

The thanking of the harassing bystander was by far the most egregious behavior in this whole thing. I thought that, the manager thought that, and HR thought that. Without that element, they simply would have coached the idiot, maybe written him up, and moved on.

[hesterandeldridge]

maybe if another customer took the cashier's side it was for a reason , most customers won't ever intervene in another customer's dispute with store management. the few times i have seen it , it was the customer being the dick head/aggressor, but that can't ever be you because you always right.

[Dan Druff]

maybe if another customer took the cashier's side it was for a reason , most customers won't ever intervene in another customer's dispute with store management. the few times i have seen it , it was the customer being the dick head/aggressor, but that can't ever be you because you always right.

How was I wrong here if:

1) The solution the guy wanted wasn't going to work, and I knew it

2) The solution was going to take a lot of time, since my last 2 Target password resets took 45 minutes or so each

3) He refused to fix the price unless I went down the above ridiculous road

4) The guy almost got fired, based upon my true and correct description of the situation, all of which the guy admitted to

5) The team shift leader volunteered to the store manager that she was perplexed why the cashier didn't just fix the price like everyone is supposed to do. "It took me a few seconds", she said.



So what's more likely here? Target's own management determined I was in the right, and I was actually wrong?

Or a dickhead customer wanted to play hero because he heard a customer and an employee arguing, and assumed it had to be the customer's fault?

Tough one. I'll let you think about that for awhile.

[hesterandeldridge]

so a software update could not have been done since the last time you tried resetting your target password?

when was the last time you tried ?

[Dan Druff]

so a software update could not have been done since the last time you tried resetting your target password?

when was the last time you tried ?

Like a year ago.

Maybe it’s faster, maybe not.

Wouldn’t have helped either way, and I knew it, so why bother?

[hesterandeldridge]

so a software update could not have been done since the last time you tried resetting your target password?

when was the last time you tried ?

Like a year ago.

Maybe it’s faster, maybe not.

Wouldn’t have helped either way, and I knew it, so why bother?

you are just stubborn . we can just agree to disagree.

[Dan Druff]

Like a year ago.

Maybe it’s faster, maybe not.

Wouldn’t have helped either way, and I knew it, so why bother?

you are just stubborn . we can just agree to disagree.

Yes I'm stubborn when employees go on a power trip or keep asserting stupid shit which is wrong. I've never denied that.

In any case, while I first thought you were a dupe, I do believe now that you're a radio listener who decided to start posting, so I'm glad you're here, even with our arguing in this thread.

[hesterandeldridge]

you are just stubborn . we can just agree to disagree.

Yes I'm stubborn when employees go on a power trip or keep asserting stupid shit which is wrong. I've never denied that.

In any case, while I first thought you were a dupe, I do believe now that you're a radio listener who decided to start posting, so I'm glad you're here, even with our arguing in this thread.

i told you from the beginning i listen to your show, why would you doubt that .

i listen to like 15 podscast a week , yours is on my top 3.

I also use your intro to fall asleep when im not with my gf , dont know if its a compliment or that your intro is a bit boring , but it works.

[GrenadaRoger]

indeed in my opinion you should have asked for the manager early on instead of asking 7 times for the cashier to do it your way...and also, a bystander saw your behavior as rude enough to come to the assistance of the checker...to me that says you were escalating rather than trying to solve a problem calmly...as Micon often said to you on the radio show, more flys caught with honey

thanking the bystander calms things down some by the cashier taking control of the situation and separating the bystander from you...the bystander gets to be a hero for a few minutes, bfd really buts it's what he wanted...

it was a bad situation but it takes two to make a tango.

Asking for the manager early was definitely an option, and would have prevented this from escalating into what it did, but again that isn't my responsibility. It's my choice when to get the manager. At first I just didn't want to wait until a manager could come up (sometimes it can take awhile). After the guy kept refusing to help, I wanted to get clarity as to exactly what he thought he was doing -- whether he was stupid, malicious, or both (turned out it was both). I was about to call the manager anyway, and indeed offered at one point that I'd forget this whole situation and not tell the manager if he'd just fix the price and be done with it. He still dug his heels in.

Here's where we have a fundamental disagreement...i believe each of us is always responsible for the choices/actions we take...we don't always the best choice so we review/remember the situations, try to learn from them and do better next time.

[Dan Druff]

BUMP

Could have had a sequel to this story yesterday, but it ended very differently and calmly. But I think I learned something new about Target's system which apparently not a single employee seems to understand.

So I happened to be back in that area yesterday (which again, is about 30 min away from me) and needed something at Target. I wasn't expecting any discounts or sales, but was surprised to see there was a good "Circle" deal on the item. Uh oh!

So I "activated" the deal on the app, just like last time, and went to the cashier. I entered my phone number into the system, just like last time.
This was the only item I was buying, but was different than the problematic one last time. The cashier I got was someone not present during the whole mess last time, even though it's the same Target. This time it was a woman in her 60s.

Well, guess what? The fucking Circle discount didn't come up.

And guess what again? The cashier was asking me to bring up the barcode to activate it. When I politely explained that the phone number works just as well as the barcode, she repied, "No, that's only for points."



DEJA VU!!!

However, this time I remembered my password to the barcode, because of the entire ordeal which occurred last time. So I said "Okay" and reluctantly brought up the barcode. THE DISCOUNT WORKED AT THIS POINT!

So was the asshole cashier from last time right all along? Was I just a stubborn Jew who couldn't accept it?

Not quite.

First off, this is from Target's own website regarding Circle:



Note it says "Enter your mobile number or scan your Target Circle™ barcode to redeem saved offers at the same time."

So that's exactly what I did. I saved the offer as instructed, and entered my mobile number. Didn't work until I scanned the barcode, yet they're supposed to be equivalent, as per above.

Also, I have used the phone number to activate Circle discounts before, and it frequently (but not always) worked. In fact, even the day of all these problems back in November, some discounts worked with the phone number alone.

So clearly the "it's just for points" answer regarding the phone number was incorrect, and even the store manager verified that.



But then what happened yesterday? How come the phone number didn't activate the discount, but the barcode did?

I think I've discovered that the barcode is more reliable to work properly, whereas the phone number only works sometimes. This is an error in Target's system. It's not intended to work this way, but that's what happens. This is also likely why that Target stores are having so many issues with the Circle discounts working properly.

So while the phone number is supposed to be just as good as the barcode for Circle discounts, it actually isn't.

At the same time, the cashiers are also incorrect that the phone number is "just for points", because that's also not correct. It works sometimes, but other times it doesn't. None of the cashiers seem to know this. Even the manager doesn't seem to fully understand the situation, as he believes the phone number and the barcode work 100% the same.

I'm posting this to now encourage you guys to use the barcode instead of the phone number, if you have selected Circle discounts, as it's likely to be more reliable.

Just shows you how incompetent Target is, with a huge company unable to get this right despite many stores complaining to corporate about the constant errors.

[hesterandeldridge]

its why you cant fully fault an employee for a fuck up from corporate or their IT department.


the upside is if you find the hacks to a system you can also use it to your advantage