Monday, March 10, 2008

High-Maintenance Show Poodle

Every week I get a case of the Mondays. Usually it continues on well into Tuesday, but that's only because people keep refusing to prepare. That's all I'm going to say about that at the moment.

This week's Monday was going better than usual...until 3:00. That's when the High-Maintenance Show Poodle came in. Before I tell you about her, I will tell you about the derivation of the title High-Maintenance Show Poodle. It is a term created by my mother to describe people (customers in particular) who are very picky, very demanding, exceedingly unreasonable, and who truly believe that the world revolves around them. That should give you a pretty good idea of the charmer that walked in the door on my beautiful Monday.
I was blissfully unaware of her existence until one of the salesmen came back to ask me how quickly I could hem a pair of pants. I replied that it would have to happen tomorrow because there were a few orders leftover from Friday (why they didn't get done by one of the other girls on Saturday, I really couldn't say) and two jackets that needed my attention. He took the rejection back to the customer who was very unhappy. The salesman came back a minute later to tell me the woman needed the suit for her brother's birthday on Thursday, but that today was the last day it could be picked up for him to have it in time for his birthday. I grudgingly agreed to have the pants hemmed by 5:15, two hours and 15 minutes later. Turns out that wasn't good enough, either.
Now I have to concede the one and only point she has in her favor. She called and was told that if she came in she could have the pants. The problem with that is that no one informed me and I can't be expected to keep other people's promises. I won't attempt to count the number of times I have told they guys they need to ASK ME before they promise anything. To his credit, the salesman who ended up being the go-between from me and the customer gave her a firm no when he found out I had not authorized that kind of a rush. From then on I hear her call someone who I assume was family and tell them she couldn't find anyone to do the alterations. With 15 minutes notice? Of course you can't find anyone who'll do that. She called a local tailoring service and they told her it would take two weeks. She said, "that won't help me," and hung up on them. Earlier she had commented that perhaps she should have come in on Saturday. When the salesman politely agreed with her she fired back with, "well forgive me for having a life." In my experience, the people who say that have lives filled with a lot of superfluous things like weekly manicures and tanning beds. Anyhow, she was upset and left.
A few minutes later our store manager called me. She had somehow tracked him down and whined until he agreed to call me. He asked me to hem the pants. I, in turn, asked him which better-prepared customer (who had been waiting two days longer) I should push back and not finish their order today. Perhaps it's not the best idea to talk to your manager that way, but I didn't want to hem the pants. However,I finally agreed to have them done by 4:30. I made sure they were done no sooner than 4:30. She had to have them up to Salt Lake by 5. Good luck, sweetie.
So, here is the advice I would give her to get her out of the show poodle category:
1. You know what your brother's birthday is every year. Prepare better.
2. Take responsibility for your own lack of preparation. Your stress is not my fault.
3. Take rejection politely. Being rude and aggressive doesn't earn you any friends, it just makes your new enemies pray you get pulled over for speeding on the freeway.
There were some things to make me feel better. I took deep cleansing breaths while I repeated my new mantra (three weeks old): I can't fix stupid. I can't fix stupid. I also got to see the Wienermobile at the gas station by UVSC when I went to pick Eric up. I would have provided photo documentation, but I didn't have my camera in the car.

6 comments:

Abbie said...

Ok. This seriously has to be your funniest post ever. I loved how you wrote "your stress is not my fault". Nor is her lack of preparation but unfortunately people often think that being rude and mean will get them places. I HATED that aspect of working for Marriott. Trust me, we got a few "regulars" who thought they owned the hotel. Ya... I won't even get started on that.

Carrie and Karl said...

Don't you love people like that? I completely understand the frustration, I hate those customers too. I like the ones who sincerely apologize for being such a pain and leave a tip or a drink from Sonic though.
One of my dad's favorite mottos at work was: Lack of prior planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

Hollys Hobbies said...

I think I may also have to adapt that as a new saying in my vocabulary "I cant fix stupid!" I LOVE it! Also, I am still waiting for your address, I have bought your prize and have no where to send it. I promise I am relatively safe LOL, ask Della and hopefully she will vouch for me as we have been best friends for nearly 24 years! :)

Della Hill said...

LOL!
My husband called me a freakazoid because I was laughing so hard at this post.
I will disagree with Abbie though. This post was funny, but the one about your toes ("Had none" and "Wee") was even funnier.
I will have to join Carrie in quoting our dad. He also says "You can't protect the world from stupidity".
-Della

Della Hill said...

For anyone who is interested in your toe post where you discuss "Had none" and "Wee" it was written on September 16, 2007 and can be found under the tag about your own personal quirks.
It's even worth reading a second time.

A said...

I used to work with a lady who would say, "Nobody gets it but us, huh?" and I feel that to be true sometimes. In another job, I had a guy who would say, "Sorry to make my emergency your emergency, but..." and then proceed to expect me to drop my life to fix his issue anyway. At least he apologized first, right? Actually, he's lucky I liked him (platonic like, don't worry) or he would have had a hard life. Anyway, in your case, this lady was way out of line. She probably assumes that since you work in a "church" place you have to be nice. Where she missed the memo about returning the favor, who knows.