Retail Musings: The Angry Laptop Man, P2
In an earlier post, I recalled an experience with a man who grew quite grumpy, because we could not magically get his laptop repaired quicker than he would like. He was annoying, but he pales in comparison to this next ‘man’.
I actually call into question whether or not this person was a man, or a child. His behaviour certainly was not grown up! He effectively threw a temper tantrum, and here’s why.
One of the things we would sometimes do at Staples is sell off display laptops, if that model was discontinued. Display models would be discounted by 10 percent, and we would reset them back to factory settings. In our warehouse we kept the packaging, so we would reset the machine, give it a little clean, box it up and give it to the customer. Straight-forward, right? Well, in this case, the customer had come in one evening, the deal was struck, and one of my colleagues set up the factory reset, intending that it would run overnight. Unfortunately, the store’s power went off overnight, meaning the reset had to be restarted in the morning. No big deal right? Factory resets do not usually take too long, so went everyone arrived to work the following morning, the reset was restarted, and we left the laptop to do its thing.
Whilst this was going on, the customer came in. He was advised by a colleague that it would be a few minutes, and at this news, he blew up. He went off on a tirade, verballing abusing my colleague, myself, and the company at large. I wasn’t even angry that he was stomping his feet like a toddler, I was merely staggered that a grown man could behave in such a manner, in the middle of store, surrounded by strangers.
I offered to give him his money back, and since he carried with his furious tirade, I then advised him he could seek a refund via head office, as I was not prepared to deal with him whilst he was in such an irrational state. He left in a huff, though he would return later on, after I had gone home, along with his wife, would proved the more reasonable of the duo. He eventually collected his laptop and was on his way.
Was there ever a cause to scream and shout, over a slight delay with receiving a laptop? Is there ever generally a good reason to stamp one’s feet and abuse store staff? I would argue that this is never appropriate, and I am not inclined to assist people who behave in such a manner.
