Don't Answer

 People have the weirdest ideas of managers.

Like you get those people who just assume that managers are the ones who 'know everything' and therefore if they 'want all the answers' they just need to speak to the manager.

Like I've had multiple people demand a manager for tasks that could have easily been solved by one of my fellow associates.

Like when they have questions about pets. Or want help picking out a pet. Or want to know if there's a certain time frame for returns. Like...all these questions can be answered by anyone in the store. You don't need a manager to get the answers. 

And like, before I became a manager, I was the "Go to person" for my managers because I had twice the experience working in the petstore than the rest of them did. So I knew the most answers about animal care. 

In any case. 

Today I got an ... odd phone call.

Where when I answered the call the customer on the other end said that they needed to speak to a manager.

Which. Lookie there. I am a manager. 

So I was like "I'm a manager, how can I help you?" 

And the lady legit was like "oh no, don't give me that. Managers don't answer phones! Let me talk to a manager." 

Like she did not believe that I was a manager...simply because I answered the phone.

Like yes. In many places its the 'grunt' workers that will answer the phones and take calls.

But at my job it's the opposite. Most of the time its ONLY the managers who have phones. With the exception of our PetCare department. The worker there usually has a phone as well since we get a lot of pet care questions. 

In any case I had to be like "I am a manager, ma'am. How can I help you?" 

Though I did have that brief moment of being like "Oh, no, you're right. I lied to you, I'm not a manager hold on let me go get the real manager." 

*shakes head* But no. I took offense to it. Like lady. "I AM a MANAGER. What can I help you with?"

And wouldn't you know it?

It was a stupid question that could have been answered by ANYONE.

And of course the lady had to do a stupid long explanation story of how she has a service dog and her son wanted to get the dog a toy for her birthday which was just a couple of days ago but we bought this toy that was recommended by the service dog agency back around Thanksgiving, but the toy was only given a couple of days ago and the dog has already DESTROYED it despite it being recommended as a good brand for chewing dogs. 

-The brand she mentioned wasn't the brand the brand she said she was getting. Like Playology is a much different brand than the KONG brand you said you were wanting. But whatever. 

In any case, I knew as soon as she mentioned that the toy was broken that she would be wanting to return it and was seeing if she still could but this lady kept talking and talking and talking and TALKING and like LADY SHUT UP so I can TELL YOU THE ANSWER.

Because she was like "And I know it's only a 30 day return policy"

and I had to be like "No, we have a 60 day return policy. You still have time to return the toy to us."

Which ANY worker in the store could have told you that.

And I didn't need to know the whole background. Just be like "Hey I bought this toy around Thanksgiving and it broke. Can I return it?" 

YES.

YES.

You have 60 days. Bring it in and we'll exchange it out or get you or money back.

*exhales*

Customers are weird.

Especially when it comes to managers.

Like...I get if it were a call center or something, you wouldn't expect the manager to be answering the phone. But like...it's a RETAIL store. Most of the time the managers are working just as hard as the main associates and are OUT ON THE FLOOR doing things instead of sitting in a back office waiting for Karens to demand their attention.

*shakes head*

I don't get people some days.

"Managers don't answer the phones." Ha. HA. WRONGO.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi