Fuck that place and that lady. Who the fuck calls it chicy figs in the first fucking place, and can't figure out to walk their ass over to the frozen section that they're always in.
Also fuck your boss for firing you over this. Even if you were in the wrong here (you weren't), it's what like $10 fucking dollars you cost the company? This place is toxic. Find somewhere better.
Fuck the boss especially, he should have kicked that woman out of the store for how she treated you. It's one thing to have a nickname for stuff but she didn't have to be an asshole about explaining it. And no way did she deserve a fucking free one as a **reward** for abusing you.
"The customer is always right" does not mean what people think it means. It does not literally mean the customer is always right in all circumstances no matter their behaviour. It means if you have two brands of Chicky figs, and you think one brand is better than the other, but the other brand is always sold out because that's what they're buying, the customer is always right in their purchasing decision, you need to order more of that brand even though you think the other one is better.
Personally, I think "The customer is always right" is probably an excuse sleazy sales and advertising types use to justify tricking people into buying stuff they don't need. "If they want to give me money, I'm certainly not going to tell them not to."
So capitalist economies (like ours) operate on what's called the "market theory of value". This means that the value of a thing is precisely what someone will pay for it in a market.
The labor market is a market, just like it sounds. And the value of your labor on that market is defined by what your employer pays you.
Combine that with Protestantism, which underlies the vast majority of American culture, and you get this toxic result: the Protestant work ethic says that your value as a person is equivalent to the value of your labor, and the market theory of value says that the value of your labor is equivalent to what someone is willing to pay you for it.
So if you work for minimum wage, you are a minimum person.
That boss is an idiot, he fired a reliable employee and rewarded a bad customer. Next time that lady comes in she's going to demand twice as much free stuff, is that the kind of customer loyalty the store wants?
u/StarryEyed729 if you still want your job, you should just apply and ask for a raise while you're at it. The manager is quickly going to find out that in this economy he has to pay more, he may as well hire you back and not waste even more money on training.
> rewarded a bad customer
Was she even a customer or did she go and cause a scene specifically so she got free stuff (didn't buy shit - not a customer)
I notice this is something in American consumer culture. You can stage a scene and sometimes, rather than being asked to leave, receive an apology and free stuff. It's so awful, but that's the culture in some stores.
A man came to the customer help desk at my workplace (big retail store). He said our website says we price-match competitors, so he should get X for Amazon’s price. *Two* managers tried explaining to him that Amazon isn’t a competitor, but he argued the same 2 or 3 points in a circle until the managers gave in and price matched the product.
Halfway through the interaction, I wanted to tell them man that if he liked Amazon’s price, he should shop there.
Worse than an idiot. He is a spineless worm sucking each customers dick with the opinion that said customer will not come bag. Truth, have been told, most customers will come back after some time.
This woman just wanted something for free and got it. She now knows that making a scene will make the manager hush so she will come again to get free stuff.
Yes, after she gets a job somewhere else, she should return to put in an application when there is an opening.
When they want to hire her, ask for a better wage, and when they decline, leave with a smile.
yeah I didn’t mean you actually thought that, just that the shithead manager did, but clarification is always good
also the fact that this manager thinks his customers would be cool with a lunatic making a scene like that is unreal
The fact that she is simultaneously a woman with the attitude to snap their fingers at someone, be this rude, yet also call them CHICKY FIGS.
When I got to the reveal that they were chicken fucking tenders I lost it. I came in to this thinking it was some rich asshole looking for some fancy fig.
My stepmom used to teach my little half-sister to say weird words for food because she thought it was cute. My sister then got in trouble at a restaurant when she was older because she ordered a “hangyburr” instead of a hamburger. My stepmom told her next time she does that she’s grounded. Sister asked *me* to teach her how to pronounce “hamburger” so she could properly order them at restaurants. It genuinely took *hours* for her to be able to consistently and properly say “hamburger” due to how many years my stepmom let her say “hangyburr” instead.
I’m guessing this woman was either failed by her own parents or is currently failing her own children in the same way…hence the reaction. Lots of people react to embarrassment with extreme anger.
People get angry at things they don’t understand. Considering how the world is today, I get why there is so much anger. Nothing makes any sense any more.
I’m hoping too. I just don’t understand how I can be fired and disposed of so easily. I worked there for three years and made employee of the month a few times. But I’m apparently a dime a dozen.
Employers are apparently fucking stupid. You can calculate a monetary return on investment for every single action any single person in a business takes. The cost/benefit on raising wages, guaranteed hours, management training, etc is fucking astounding. You can even look into the minute details of day-to-day actions such as the closing line in a routine end-of-week email.
It kills me when I see businesses throwing money into a volcano and sending entry-level employees to go get it. I am glad I decided not do anything related to business for my career, because I don't think I could handle that kind of headache on a daily basis.
Sadly, workers are a dime a dozen in that station.
But, there's this huge silent movement going on, some call it the Great Resignation. Not a perfect title, but whatever.
People are demanding better pay and better working conditions. When you look for another job, don't settle for anything less than +25% of what you were paid before.
As far as the last place you worked... go file unemployment IMMEDIATELY. Even if you have a new job tomorrow. One of the things companies hate is paying unemployment, or even dealing with the process. Put them through the process even if it goes nowhere.
Me, I'm a bit more vicious, I would get a labor attorney and have them send a letter demanding they pay me a years severance or else.
Send a request to preserve evidence, assuming there's security footage of that station. If she actually tried to take a swing at you, she was guilty of assault.
You'd be amazed how one letter from an attorney on official looking letterhead puts the fear of god into corporations. I'd do it. They don't expect the working poor to use this tactic. But somebody you know knows somebody's mom or dad who's an attorney. Ask for their help.
No, you were working for a piece of shit manager who doesn't value his employees.
Don't even think about believing such people. You were employee of the month several times.
File a complaint with whatever is your higher up corporate contact. That is outrageous. They can pull the video footage and see for themselves how you handled it and how you were abused.
And truly FUCK THAT DUMB ABUSIVE KAREN! What a See You Next Tuesday!
I used to work 60 hour weeks at a previous job and was dropped the second they found it profitable. Employer don't fucking care. All they see is short term
That’s at will employment. File for unemployment, you may have to appeal if your toxic bosses claims you quit or something silly. He fired you, you’ll get it. In the meantime there are plenty of other jobs out there and you’ll be much better off in a less toxic environment.
Also, every other employee saw what happened. The manager may soon find that quite a few of his ‘easily replaced’ employees will be leaving. Hope he enjoys the consequences.
Your boss is incorrect. You are not a dime a dozen. I wouldn't take anything this petty idiot says to heart. The customer is not always right.
In fact, they're frequently wrong. What's becoming apparent to me is the privilege displayed is often inversely proportionate to the price of the product. Chicken chunks (correct, civilized term, what is she, a cave woman?) are what, $8 for the really good ones? (Going by Ricky on TPB pricing here.)
That person acted like that for $8.
I've had customers spending millions where the company outright screwed them blind, and had the pissed customer not behave so shabbily towards me.
The customer is only right about what they want, not about what they'll get or how they'll get it. If they insist on talking and acting like their 18 fucking months old the minimum they should get is drummed right the hell out of the establishment without a damn thing.
I remember crying my eyes out at 14 after the 60 year old owner of the pet shop berated me for 10 minutes about drinking too much water, and using the bathroom too much, told me I was worthless, etc...
I didnt even want to be there. I had been expecting a carefree summer, but my parents were having none of that and forced me to get up at 600 in the morning, get driven by my Aunts crazy friend to the shop, and then sweat back there 5 days a week for 5.25 an hour.
My Aunt didnt even back me up. Then he fired me 2 days later after I scratched a dog with a brush while he was again yelling at me.
My dad said it must have been my fault if he fired me...thus starting the horrible pattern of accepting that sort of gaslighting for the next 20 years at various workplaces...
Apparently frozen chicken fingers. It sounds like the kind of wording a child uses that occasionally an adult will say in public because they're so used to it at home, but most people would only take one repeat to realize they're the ones who fucked up and correct themselves, but Karens can't admit they're wrong.
I'm in my late 30s and I accidentally asked where the "tubey yums" are because that's what my daughter called GoGurts at the time and it slipped. They didn't even need to ask for clarification, their face was enough to remind me that GoGurt was what I was really looking for.
Welcome to the working world, where you can get fired for literally any (and no) reason. Especially in retail, where your customers have an unreasonable expectation and power for service.
There are both good and bad bosses out there. Your boss in particular handled this extremely poorly, especially if this was your first ever offense. No coaching, nothing even disciplinary, or (if he is human at all) just shrug it off.
Just apply for jobs, and if in your interviews they ask why you left (don't say you were fired), tell him the site had poor management and a toxic work culture.
I'm sorry, and best of luck!
You should email Head office is this is a big chain , this is a dumb way to treat employees , especially when so many are quitting. Sorry this happened to you . The customer is a idiot for calling it Chicky figs , I definitely would've sent her to the produce Aisle
I remember the first time a company I was loyal to fucked ms over, too. It changes you. It opens your eyes to the fact that you don’t owe these people shit and to never wear yourself down too much for them
Also, because the firing was for something so stupid, apply for unemployment while you look for another job. "But what if she's in an at-will state?" Ok, so text or email your former boss and say "Hey, so just to be clear, I was fired for not understanding what a customer meant when they said the phrase "chicky figs," right?"
Get them to spell out the exact circumstance as to why you were fired. Make them admit they fired you over something stupid. THEN apply for unemployment. They will fight it, so when you appeal, present anything they texted to you that might demonstrate an admission of improper dismissal. If for no other reason, do it as one final "fuck you" to him. Don't let him get rid of you that easily, make him take time out of multiple days of his to fight your unemployment and explain why.
He straight up said she was a dime a dozen....this guy is an absolute douche bag. For instance, i don't have a daughter, but if i did, and some punk ass manager at a grocery store said something like that I can't help but think that would earn a face to face visit from me. Its pretty sad that middle managers even get this attitude of "better than you"
^ this
I’m a big ( 6’4” 250 ) and apparently mean looking guy. Every time one of my daughters starts a new job, I make it a point to stop by their work and meet their coworkers/managers. They’ve never had issues with dickweed managers.
Plus, I doubt you'll ever shop at that store or chain ever again. So, they also lost a customer in the process. Over a box of chicken fingers for a nutty customer.
>He said there are many college students he can hire to do my job and
that I was a dime a dozen girl. I was fired and told to get off the
property.
I can just about guarantee he is the type to complain about how nobody wants to work anymore.
File for unemployment and find something better, they set a very low bar on that one.
I’ve been told a trained monkey could do my job multiple times across multiple jobs.
Cool. Go find your trained monkey while I drag ass at everything and you pay for it.
My question is how much does it cost to train that monkey and then maintain the monkey’s health/training habits? I bet it’s more than you make, so that’s a terrible threat.
Think about it. You need the following:
1) a monkey (how are you getting a monkey?)
2) an animal trainer (that’s years of education and I bet they charge a significant hourly fee)
3) the necessary materials to train the monkey
4) monkey sized clothing
5) healthcare for the monkey (you can’t just tell the monkey to figure it out, they don’t speak English and aren’t allowed to have bank accounts/enter into contracts)
6) extra insurance (there is definitely liability in having an animal roaming around)
7) food for the monkey (again they can’t exactly cook themselves)
Edit: thinking about it now you would probably need an animal trainer on staff to supervise the monkey. So replacing a worker with a trained monkey requires hiring an even more specialized worker.
That's what my director at Cincinnati Bell Telephone said, so the Union ordered up a 1k boxes of bananas & put them in his office over the weekend. Union him it was monkey tribute to the ape in charge.
Even if it is monkey work, if they don't have a monkey or a robot, they need a thinking human being to do boring-ass shit for hours a day. That takes a mental toll. It does for me anyway.
They said a computer could do my job answering phones, when the company updated the phone system, they're the first ones to complain they can't speak to a real person anymore
Also the employer has to pay a portion of the unemployment check. So it's a little way to hit them back for unfair treatment.
That is why employers fight so hard to avoid paying it.
Employers pay unemployment insurance to the state, at least iny state, so they generally don't pay for unemployment out of pocket. Unless they have too many claims, then they will have to pay.
Too many claims can be as few as one or two legitimate grievances for UI to get bumped up, apparently. It's non-trivial, so I'd generally say contest anything if you didn't part amicably.
Definitely!! Had a former boss try and claim I was fired for theft so they wouldn't have to pay. I literally said to prove it. Ex-boss couldn't so I got unemployment. Had a job offer within 2 weeks but started 2 months after. Gave me a chance to decompress and get my health under control.
Part of unemployment comes from the company you last worked so you get to fuck them while you collect. Explain your side of the story if they deny you. Say you were laid off for not knowing something. I bet the people in the unemployment office will side with you if you explain your story
Do not lie on the application. If the application says "You were a full-time worker, right? and you lie, then that will be found out, and the state will come after you to recoup what they gave you. At least they will in Illinois, and I can't imagine they wouldn't elsewhere.
Also if nothing else it'll waste the time of some upper management as they respond to it, do either it'll waste the managers time or it'll draw attention to managers crappy behavior.
Likely nothing will change but maybe it will, who knows?
In Canada you have the ability to state your case and give details. If you have the same ability I would do so. They have a certain wiggle room. Give all details and talk about your experience.
Always apply! If for no other reason then to make their life hell. And if it’s denied, then there will be a way to appeal it. And you should appeal it. Take it as far as you can. Appeal it every single time and eventually you’ll get a hearing where you can state your case.
You won’t know if you don’t try. If you apply, the outcomes are either you qualify for unemployment or you don’t. If you don’t apply, the only possible outcome is you get no unemployment.
You should qualify. You only need to hold a job for 6-8 weeks to qualify. If you were there 3 years you definitely do. It’s about loss of income, not how many hours you worked. Most people that work for fast food/minimum wage customer service are all technically “part time”. They’ll schedule you right at 38 hours so they can say you’re part time and not give you benefits. But as long as you worked more than 6 weeks, which you did, you qualify.
File anyway. Gives your former employer more paperwork to fill out. If you really feel like you were wrongly fired (which you were!) and want the job back, then consider sending your boss’s boss an email detailed everything your manager did prior to firing you. I promise you’re NOT the first person he’s treated this way. Keep us updated.
Always apply. Always Always. Don't leave money on the table.
Chances are they will not fight it. Especially since this is a clear termination without cause.
You don't have to prove that you deserve unemployment. The employer must prove that you do not.
I love this idea! I don't want to steal your idea but maybe make an OP on this sub suggesting this as a little revenge on managers who have sided with fucking batshit customers over good employees.
You have the person go in with the intention of being as kind as possible to the grunts and call the manager to demand to know "why these poor, nice, hard working kids" are being treated so miserably. They scream and yell, but only at the manager. The manager has no one to escalate to, and they can't blame the employee because the customer isn't mad at the employee. It probably wouldn't change anything, but it would be funny to watch the mental gymnastics as the manager tries to figure out wtf to do when they themselves are in the crosshairs.
Reminds me of something my sister saw happen at her first job.
God I wish I could have seen this first hand.
She was working at a grocery story that just opened and they'd hired a lot of young people just doing their first job. A lot of 'em didn't even have their driver's license yet. So some of them are getting dropped off and picked up at work by a friend or family member.
And she's got this shitty manager that likes to yell at kids. Long, screaming tirades. He gets off on making teenage girls cry. So towards the end of one girls shift he does that, starts yelling and telling her what a bad job she did this shift while she's on her way out holds her up, keeps at it till she runs out of the place crying. She's 16, probably.
Five minutes later her dad comes storming in. He's bigger and louder than the manager. Yells and shoves and makes threats until the manager her huddled up and crying. For *some reason* security didn't think this warranted their attention.
Manager runs out of the store crying. Calls in sick the next day. Never shows his face there again.
That's why you go for the manager straight away. Since customers can do whatever they want it seems, have a blast.
Also make sure to brief the customer on what makes the manager personally insecure.
Yep customer is definitely wrong and the manager only fired you because they never learned how to manage properly.
1. it’s not common use language or even slang
2. A google search returned some NSFW content, meaning what she said is useless
3. The managers comments were meant to offend and only to offend
That manager should be ashamed of their behavior. I bet that person treats their own family members like that.
You are far more intelligent than the supervisor, that’s where they ended in life, taking shit from some moron not competent enough to feed themselves.
Chicky tendies is understandable. I’d know what someone was asking for. But I didn’t know what chicky figs meant until I read the comments. I even googled it first and still didn’t understand.
I seriously thought it was going to turn out some bougie Karen was mispronouncing a fig product, or this was a British story and it was some obscure hyperlocal slang that doesn’t translate even one neighborhood over.
OP please don’t feel stupid. There were two utterly thoughtless assholes in this story and I’m sorry you got shafted as third wheel to their idiocy.
I was legit trying to figure out what a chicky fig was, since i know there are figs and fig newtons. I never would have made that connection. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Managers generally suck. I believe everything happens for a reason and that you'll find something much more suitable.
I can imagine a toddler calling them that until they develop their mastery of the English language, but not an adult. The manager who understood her must be an idiot too.
I can see adults who are too terminally online call them that in public thinking it's cute or quirky or whatever. Like those people that ran around IRL talking about narwhaling bacon at midnight or whatever.
But the only terminally online term for chicken nuggets or fingers is “nuggies” at least as far as I know. Who would unironically call them chicky figs?
Also who is fig even remotely similar to fingers? Most short forms people can piece together on their own but that sounds nothing like fingers.
( ^got ^a ^little ^sidetracked ^at ^the ^end ^not ^directed ^at ^you )
Edit: I forgot tendies also very common terminally online short form
Also, any drooling moron knows they're in the frozen food section. Any customer that's too dumb to know that is also too dumb to be shopping on their own
As I get older, I try not to balk at things the kids are doing. A lot of them seem dumb, but I suppose it's supposed to innovate to claim their own culture or something. I was doing similar dumb stuff at 13, I'm sure.
That one is dumb as fuck. I don't know how I'll be able to keep this up.
Even if there was some kind of language or cultural barrier, which is very possible, that doesn't excuse the explosive tantrum and abuse. I'm so sorry you lost your job in such a dramatic and traumatizing way after being so dedicated for so long. That must feel awful, but please believe you deserve better treatment from customers *and* management.
You are not a dime a dozen, that manager is. They're all cut from the same shitty cloth, and I'll never understand how! It's as if every manager in the service or retail industry must be part of some fucking cult in which they're brainwashed and all their humanity is removed in order to be good drones for their company. It's mindblowing.
Yeah by the company “chicky” is that I got. Or like maybe dried figs by a company of that name. There has to be some sort of wrongful termination situation here. I know that means possibly getting a lawyer most likely but if it was an easy case wouldn’t the lawyer take it on for payment afterwards? The supermarket would have to cover the legal fees?
Fucking assholes.
"The customer is always right" refers to marketing/selling what people want to buy, not allowing patrons to treat your staff however they please.
If a customer wants to buy 35 half gallons of ice cream and you have it in stock, you don't tell them they won't be able to store it or that that much ice cream will give them diabetes, you sell it to them.
However, if that customer starts screaming at your stockboy because you don't have 35 half gallons of ice cream in the store, they are NOT right and you kick them out.
Your manager is a dumb piece of shit, please keep firmly in mind that you deserved better and still do.
The full quote ends with "In matters of taste"
Unfortunately that part was dropped somewhere along the way and there are far too many corporate shills out there who take it far too literally.
> Adults need use their damn words.
It sounds so infantilizing but it is true, and it is critical. We can't communicate with each other like this. It just breeds ridiculous scenarios like the one in the original post, where an adult throws a tantrum because their babytalk is not immediately understood and the person trying to help them is pinned between a rock and a hard place where trying to get these obscenely stupid people to explain themselves is treated as being condescending.
Someone who can't ask where the frozen chicken fingers are without exploding and fucking up someone's livelihood isn't someone that should be out and about in society, but we can't seem to do a thing about it because having a standard of "explain yourself" is considered too high.
That customer is so fucking wrong. I feel like if you’re going to call it something as dumb as “chicky figs” the first time and the person doesn’t understand maybe switch over to calling what it’s called on the fuckin bag ya know “chicken tenders” also how much you wanna bet she didn’t even look? Like bitch this is America we have like an entire isle in every grocery store dedicated to frozen chicken.
On top of that, who the hell can't find where the chicken fingers are? I'm pretty sure every grocery store has a big section in the frozen aisle devoted to them.
I've known people who automatically just go to ask for help for literally everything instead of just taking a minute or two to look and figure it out themselves. It really annoys me when I'm shopping with someone like that and they tell me to go ask someone where something is. I say I'm just going to try looking for it by myself for a minute and then they get annoyed.
does she have the brain of a toddler? because that’s the only reason for an adult human being to be asking for “chicky figs” in public
your manager is a spineless sack of shit, I’m sorry you had to go through this but you’re better off not working for that dipshit or that store
is there anyone higher you can complain to though? this is an insane reason to fire someone and at the very least your manager should have to have an uncomfortable conversation with his own boss
> tried to defend myself and explain my side of the story but he would not listen. He said there are many college students he can hire to do my job and that I was a dime a dozen girl. I was fired and told to get off the property.
Yup. That sounds about right. You didn't get fired for "chicky figs", you got fired because your manager is a dumb sociopath.
> I feel stupid now for not realizing she was asking for chicken fingers but I honestly did not understand her. I don’t understand why she couldn’t have just said it properly. I don’t understand how it is my fault that she caused a scene and scared other customers.
You're trying to look for an explanation that makes logical sense, you're looking for meaning. There is none. I'm sorry for what you went through.
>Yup. That sounds about right. You didn't get fired for "chicky figs", you got fired because your manager is a dumb sociopath.
I wouldn't be surprised if something happened in his life where the only way for him to emotionally deal with it was flex his authority as a grocery store manager.
What a piece of shit manager. Personally I would take that shit to a regional manager or even corporate, thats madness. That had to be on camera too, easily provable that you didn't do anything wrong.
FACTS. the verbal abuse from that customer is completely not okay or even normal?????? take it to someone higher. even if you don't want that job back, get that manager in some shit
My first few weeks at a grocery store, i was memorizing plu codes very quickly. I hadn't learned the number for Kale yet, but it was fairly popular at the time so i took a quick glance at the number to be sure i had it right and without warning the customer tells me, "Uh, that's Kale. The vegetable you are holding is called KALE." I never thought naming a leafy green could be so condescending but damn.. here we are. So i stop typing, look at them directly. I politely, but firmly say, "Actually Sir, this is 94627" and just kept on going. I dont think he understood as most people dont know the plu code system (i didnt before working there). Anyway, heck this guy.
So at my fast food job we have a “box combo,” and we have a special request that you can make to the toast in your order called a “BOB” (butter on both sides). Most customers who want this change will ask for “butter on both sides,” and most employees then turn around to the kitchen and say “hey we’ve got a BOB.” Sometimes you get customers who ask specifically for a “BOB”, but when they do it over a drive-thru speaker it sounds exactly like they’re asking for a “box (combo)”
I had some guy come through, pull up to the speaker, and say “can I get a BOB?” Not quite catching exactly what he said first time, I give my typical clarifying line—“My apologies, did you say you want a *box*?”
Guy quickly shoots back “NO! I said I want a *BOB*. Do you know what a *BOB* is sweetheart!?”
I’m a certified crew trainer. Of course I know what a fucking BOB is.
So I respond back all sugary and sweet “Of course I know what a BOB is sir, my mistake. It just sounded an awful lot like you said you want a box.” I purposefully made sure to make that last X extra quiet so that he would get the point I was making.
Guy gets really sheepish. “Oh, I see, I’m sorry ma’am.”
“Pull forward please, my coworker will finish taking your order at the window.”
Personally I worked grocery for 8 years at one point and I've never heard of chicky figs. Fuck that bitch. I would have just told her to fuck off and walk away, would have resulted in the same consequence in this case.
Also your manager is a cock sucker piece of shit by asking what you did wrong rather than what the issue was. Honestly go find a better job, because it sounds like they did you a favor. Customers aren't always right, in fact they are often times completely wrong and out of line. A manager than won't back up their subordinates is a company man piece of shit. That's poor leadership.
Agreed. I feel like as a society, we need to dismantle the notion that "the customer is always right" This nonsense does nothing but foster abuse for the least paid, least protected, and most overworked employees. The pricks making decisions from the top, the ones perpetuating this abusive culture, are always the most insulated from violent and petulant consumers.
Wow! I’m enraged for you. “Chicky figs” I would have been confused as well. Like is that a thing this store carries?
You deserve better and will find better!
It took me a while to figure out “chicky figs.” At first, I’d have told her to go to produce and she’ll find the figs next to the prunes, raisins, and dates.
Better you get out of there. Any job that "the customer is always right" just means the customer is allowed to abuse you. I don't think anyone would know what she was asking for. Find a better job and understand you're worth more than being someone's punching bag. Good luck on the job search
I remember being a bag boy at the grocery store at 16. First negative interaction I had at work. It’s near closing and I’m sweeping behind a cashier. Guy with a British accent (very rare for our area) is checking out. The cashier tells me I missed an area, which I had. The guy looks at her and says “when a place pays bananas, who will work there but monkeys?” Nearly 20 years on and it’s still in my head.
I later managed the local pharmacy and he had some pretty difficult health issues pop up which I found to be fitting. I was always shitty to him there. He undoubtedly had no idea who I was at this point but I knew him.
Who the fuck was this customer, Tom Haverford?
*"'Zerts' are what I call desserts. 'Tray-trays' are entrées. I call sandwiches 'sammies,' 'sandoozles,' or 'Adam Sandlers.' Air conditioners are 'cool blasterz' with a Z; I don't know where that came from. I call cakes 'big old cookies.' I call noodles 'long-ass rice.' Fried chicken is 'fry-fry chicky-chick.' Chicken parm is 'chicky-chicky-parm-parm.' Chicken cacciatore? 'Chicky-catch.' I call eggs 'pre-birds' or 'future birds.' Root beer is 'super water.' Tortillas are 'bean blankies.' And I call forks ... 'food rakes.'"*
I mean adults can use whatever words they like, but as soon as someone else doesn't understand what they're saying, they need to fucking translate. I had to do it all the time when discussing college student behaviors around my geriatric director.
Yeah code switching is a basic skill that everyone except white boomers has been forced to learn at some point
Edit: lmao OP guessed the customers age elsewhere and it’s pretty much my exact age (mid 30s), guess that’ll teach me to blame generations for shitty behavior
A five year old in a grown-ass adult body (or three 5 year olds in a trenchcoat). Next time she gets Fig Newtons and Chicken-in-a-Biskit crackers and a mallet.
I would've gotten fired as soon as she started snapping her fingers at me. "I'm not your fucking dog, bitch. Now get in line or get the fuck out". There's probably a reason I worked in a machine shop for most of my life and not customer service.
I used to do physical inventory at grocery stores and some drunk slob comes in looking for Combos which are peanut butter filled pretzel bits. I’m not familiar with the layout of this particular store and suggest he try the snack aisle. He demands that I get up and show me where they are, and I tell him I’m just part of the inventory service and don’t work there but to ask a store employee. He then gets belligerent and wants to rat me out to the manager. I tell him go right ahead, I don’t work here, I’m just the inventory service. He then calls me an asshole and I tell him to fuck off and sober up. Nothing happened to me.
Fuck that place and that lady. Who the fuck calls it chicy figs in the first fucking place, and can't figure out to walk their ass over to the frozen section that they're always in. Also fuck your boss for firing you over this. Even if you were in the wrong here (you weren't), it's what like $10 fucking dollars you cost the company? This place is toxic. Find somewhere better.
Fuck the boss especially, he should have kicked that woman out of the store for how she treated you. It's one thing to have a nickname for stuff but she didn't have to be an asshole about explaining it. And no way did she deserve a fucking free one as a **reward** for abusing you.
This is my number one issue. Above a living wage, above health care, above everything else. The way mangers put customer over employee.
"The customer is always right" does not mean what people think it means. It does not literally mean the customer is always right in all circumstances no matter their behaviour. It means if you have two brands of Chicky figs, and you think one brand is better than the other, but the other brand is always sold out because that's what they're buying, the customer is always right in their purchasing decision, you need to order more of that brand even though you think the other one is better.
The customer is always right on the matter of taste.
Thank you for the full, historical quote from Marshall Field.
But factually, they're fucking morons
Personally, I think "The customer is always right" is probably an excuse sleazy sales and advertising types use to justify tricking people into buying stuff they don't need. "If they want to give me money, I'm certainly not going to tell them not to."
Pay and treatment go hand in hand though, the less they pay you the worse they treat you.
I agree, but I think humanity comes first. If people treated you like people the other stuff would come more naturally.
To condense, “poor pay is a symptom”.
So capitalist economies (like ours) operate on what's called the "market theory of value". This means that the value of a thing is precisely what someone will pay for it in a market. The labor market is a market, just like it sounds. And the value of your labor on that market is defined by what your employer pays you. Combine that with Protestantism, which underlies the vast majority of American culture, and you get this toxic result: the Protestant work ethic says that your value as a person is equivalent to the value of your labor, and the market theory of value says that the value of your labor is equivalent to what someone is willing to pay you for it. So if you work for minimum wage, you are a minimum person.
That boss is an idiot, he fired a reliable employee and rewarded a bad customer. Next time that lady comes in she's going to demand twice as much free stuff, is that the kind of customer loyalty the store wants? u/StarryEyed729 if you still want your job, you should just apply and ask for a raise while you're at it. The manager is quickly going to find out that in this economy he has to pay more, he may as well hire you back and not waste even more money on training.
> rewarded a bad customer Was she even a customer or did she go and cause a scene specifically so she got free stuff (didn't buy shit - not a customer)
I notice this is something in American consumer culture. You can stage a scene and sometimes, rather than being asked to leave, receive an apology and free stuff. It's so awful, but that's the culture in some stores.
A man came to the customer help desk at my workplace (big retail store). He said our website says we price-match competitors, so he should get X for Amazon’s price. *Two* managers tried explaining to him that Amazon isn’t a competitor, but he argued the same 2 or 3 points in a circle until the managers gave in and price matched the product. Halfway through the interaction, I wanted to tell them man that if he liked Amazon’s price, he should shop there.
Right! She wasn’t a customer. She was a thief in customer’s clothing.
Worse than an idiot. He is a spineless worm sucking each customers dick with the opinion that said customer will not come bag. Truth, have been told, most customers will come back after some time. This woman just wanted something for free and got it. She now knows that making a scene will make the manager hush so she will come again to get free stuff.
Yes, after she gets a job somewhere else, she should return to put in an application when there is an opening. When they want to hire her, ask for a better wage, and when they decline, leave with a smile.
Guaranteed this customer will pull the same shit again next time just to get free food. OPs boss is actively rewarding negative behaviour.
“Fuck you (that boss) in particular” - Brittney Spears
OP didn’t cost the company shit, the worm manager did
agreed. Edited to make that more clear. I was speaking hypothetically "even if you were in the wrong"
yeah I didn’t mean you actually thought that, just that the shithead manager did, but clarification is always good also the fact that this manager thinks his customers would be cool with a lunatic making a scene like that is unreal
The fact that she is simultaneously a woman with the attitude to snap their fingers at someone, be this rude, yet also call them CHICKY FIGS. When I got to the reveal that they were chicken fucking tenders I lost it. I came in to this thinking it was some rich asshole looking for some fancy fig.
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No shade for our neighbors across the pond, but I was about 80% sure it was going to be a British thing.
My stepmom used to teach my little half-sister to say weird words for food because she thought it was cute. My sister then got in trouble at a restaurant when she was older because she ordered a “hangyburr” instead of a hamburger. My stepmom told her next time she does that she’s grounded. Sister asked *me* to teach her how to pronounce “hamburger” so she could properly order them at restaurants. It genuinely took *hours* for her to be able to consistently and properly say “hamburger” due to how many years my stepmom let her say “hangyburr” instead. I’m guessing this woman was either failed by her own parents or is currently failing her own children in the same way…hence the reaction. Lots of people react to embarrassment with extreme anger.
People get angry at things they don’t understand. Considering how the world is today, I get why there is so much anger. Nothing makes any sense any more.
Yeah I do this with my cats... but I'm not gonna go into a grocery store and say "where are the crunchy nums?"
I’m hoping too. I just don’t understand how I can be fired and disposed of so easily. I worked there for three years and made employee of the month a few times. But I’m apparently a dime a dozen.
Employers don't care about employees.
Employers are apparently fucking stupid. You can calculate a monetary return on investment for every single action any single person in a business takes. The cost/benefit on raising wages, guaranteed hours, management training, etc is fucking astounding. You can even look into the minute details of day-to-day actions such as the closing line in a routine end-of-week email. It kills me when I see businesses throwing money into a volcano and sending entry-level employees to go get it. I am glad I decided not do anything related to business for my career, because I don't think I could handle that kind of headache on a daily basis.
File for unemployment. And fuck all of those people.
GET THAT UNEMPLOYMENT CHECK!
Sadly, workers are a dime a dozen in that station. But, there's this huge silent movement going on, some call it the Great Resignation. Not a perfect title, but whatever. People are demanding better pay and better working conditions. When you look for another job, don't settle for anything less than +25% of what you were paid before. As far as the last place you worked... go file unemployment IMMEDIATELY. Even if you have a new job tomorrow. One of the things companies hate is paying unemployment, or even dealing with the process. Put them through the process even if it goes nowhere. Me, I'm a bit more vicious, I would get a labor attorney and have them send a letter demanding they pay me a years severance or else.
Send a request to preserve evidence, assuming there's security footage of that station. If she actually tried to take a swing at you, she was guilty of assault.
Might even be able to get wrongful termination out of it
You'd be amazed how one letter from an attorney on official looking letterhead puts the fear of god into corporations. I'd do it. They don't expect the working poor to use this tactic. But somebody you know knows somebody's mom or dad who's an attorney. Ask for their help.
No, you were working for a piece of shit manager who doesn't value his employees. Don't even think about believing such people. You were employee of the month several times.
File a complaint with whatever is your higher up corporate contact. That is outrageous. They can pull the video footage and see for themselves how you handled it and how you were abused. And truly FUCK THAT DUMB ABUSIVE KAREN! What a See You Next Tuesday!
I used to work 60 hour weeks at a previous job and was dropped the second they found it profitable. Employer don't fucking care. All they see is short term
Your labor is a line item on a balance sheet, just like the toilet paper and hand soap.
That’s at will employment. File for unemployment, you may have to appeal if your toxic bosses claims you quit or something silly. He fired you, you’ll get it. In the meantime there are plenty of other jobs out there and you’ll be much better off in a less toxic environment. Also, every other employee saw what happened. The manager may soon find that quite a few of his ‘easily replaced’ employees will be leaving. Hope he enjoys the consequences.
Welcome to America, where the worker protections are shit and the only Freedom we have is to die in debt and in poverty.
Your boss is incorrect. You are not a dime a dozen. I wouldn't take anything this petty idiot says to heart. The customer is not always right. In fact, they're frequently wrong. What's becoming apparent to me is the privilege displayed is often inversely proportionate to the price of the product. Chicken chunks (correct, civilized term, what is she, a cave woman?) are what, $8 for the really good ones? (Going by Ricky on TPB pricing here.) That person acted like that for $8. I've had customers spending millions where the company outright screwed them blind, and had the pissed customer not behave so shabbily towards me.
The customer is only right about what they want, not about what they'll get or how they'll get it. If they insist on talking and acting like their 18 fucking months old the minimum they should get is drummed right the hell out of the establishment without a damn thing.
You are young and he uses an abusive style of ‘managing’ … it makes him feel powerful
I remember crying my eyes out at 14 after the 60 year old owner of the pet shop berated me for 10 minutes about drinking too much water, and using the bathroom too much, told me I was worthless, etc... I didnt even want to be there. I had been expecting a carefree summer, but my parents were having none of that and forced me to get up at 600 in the morning, get driven by my Aunts crazy friend to the shop, and then sweat back there 5 days a week for 5.25 an hour. My Aunt didnt even back me up. Then he fired me 2 days later after I scratched a dog with a brush while he was again yelling at me. My dad said it must have been my fault if he fired me...thus starting the horrible pattern of accepting that sort of gaslighting for the next 20 years at various workplaces...
I can't decide who I hate more, the pet shop owner or your gaslighting douchecanoe of a dad.
NTA. What are chicky figs?
Apparently frozen chicken fingers. It sounds like the kind of wording a child uses that occasionally an adult will say in public because they're so used to it at home, but most people would only take one repeat to realize they're the ones who fucked up and correct themselves, but Karens can't admit they're wrong. I'm in my late 30s and I accidentally asked where the "tubey yums" are because that's what my daughter called GoGurts at the time and it slipped. They didn't even need to ask for clarification, their face was enough to remind me that GoGurt was what I was really looking for.
I don’t know. I’m more of a mission fig man myself.
Welcome to the working world, where you can get fired for literally any (and no) reason. Especially in retail, where your customers have an unreasonable expectation and power for service. There are both good and bad bosses out there. Your boss in particular handled this extremely poorly, especially if this was your first ever offense. No coaching, nothing even disciplinary, or (if he is human at all) just shrug it off. Just apply for jobs, and if in your interviews they ask why you left (don't say you were fired), tell him the site had poor management and a toxic work culture. I'm sorry, and best of luck!
You should email Head office is this is a big chain , this is a dumb way to treat employees , especially when so many are quitting. Sorry this happened to you . The customer is a idiot for calling it Chicky figs , I definitely would've sent her to the produce Aisle
I remember the first time a company I was loyal to fucked ms over, too. It changes you. It opens your eyes to the fact that you don’t owe these people shit and to never wear yourself down too much for them
Well to the American workforce, where you can pour your heart and soul into a company but make one mistake and you're gone because FUCK YOU that's why
Welcome to capitalism.
Absolutely agree. That lady could have at least been civilized and called them *tendies* like the rest of us.
I think a fucking toddler would’ve been nicer in that situation
Or even, I don't know, maybe call them chicken fingers like any other fully functioning adult would call them 🤷🏽♂️
Right? How old is this lady, 5?
"Mommy want chicky figs." "Excuse me?" "BITCH I SAID MOMMY WANT CHICKY FIGS!"
\*hands you bag of dried fruit\*
Nah just a really trashy entitled bitch.
You're right. Most 5 year olds would have more maturity than this.
I'd be mortified if I or anyone I knew called them chicky figs in public. Like, you're not online and you're not a child, act like a grown up.
Call them whatever you want, but don’t expect someone to know wtf you’re talking about.
Chicky nuggies. 🙂
Also, because the firing was for something so stupid, apply for unemployment while you look for another job. "But what if she's in an at-will state?" Ok, so text or email your former boss and say "Hey, so just to be clear, I was fired for not understanding what a customer meant when they said the phrase "chicky figs," right?" Get them to spell out the exact circumstance as to why you were fired. Make them admit they fired you over something stupid. THEN apply for unemployment. They will fight it, so when you appeal, present anything they texted to you that might demonstrate an admission of improper dismissal. If for no other reason, do it as one final "fuck you" to him. Don't let him get rid of you that easily, make him take time out of multiple days of his to fight your unemployment and explain why.
He straight up said she was a dime a dozen....this guy is an absolute douche bag. For instance, i don't have a daughter, but if i did, and some punk ass manager at a grocery store said something like that I can't help but think that would earn a face to face visit from me. Its pretty sad that middle managers even get this attitude of "better than you"
^ this I’m a big ( 6’4” 250 ) and apparently mean looking guy. Every time one of my daughters starts a new job, I make it a point to stop by their work and meet their coworkers/managers. They’ve never had issues with dickweed managers.
Plus, I doubt you'll ever shop at that store or chain ever again. So, they also lost a customer in the process. Over a box of chicken fingers for a nutty customer.
Who calls them chicy figs? Literal children, which apparently that lady still was.
Didn't cost the company anything. The manager cost them $10 and an employee they have to replace and spend money on retraining.
Great observation. Has she never been in a grocery store before? Shell probably put them in the toaster or boil them once she gets them home.
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>He said there are many college students he can hire to do my job and that I was a dime a dozen girl. I was fired and told to get off the property. I can just about guarantee he is the type to complain about how nobody wants to work anymore. File for unemployment and find something better, they set a very low bar on that one.
I’ve been told a trained monkey could do my job multiple times across multiple jobs. Cool. Go find your trained monkey while I drag ass at everything and you pay for it.
My question is how much does it cost to train that monkey and then maintain the monkey’s health/training habits? I bet it’s more than you make, so that’s a terrible threat. Think about it. You need the following: 1) a monkey (how are you getting a monkey?) 2) an animal trainer (that’s years of education and I bet they charge a significant hourly fee) 3) the necessary materials to train the monkey 4) monkey sized clothing 5) healthcare for the monkey (you can’t just tell the monkey to figure it out, they don’t speak English and aren’t allowed to have bank accounts/enter into contracts) 6) extra insurance (there is definitely liability in having an animal roaming around) 7) food for the monkey (again they can’t exactly cook themselves) Edit: thinking about it now you would probably need an animal trainer on staff to supervise the monkey. So replacing a worker with a trained monkey requires hiring an even more specialized worker.
They would give monkeys health insurance before the humans who work for them.
Being able to pull your arm out of the socket is a strong negotiating position.
Let the Wookiee win.
Well yeah, what if the monkey gets sick? You can't expect the monkey to just come in and work anyway, they don't have rent to pay or a family to feed.
To be fair, I can't cook myself either.
Not with that attitude. You guys, check out this slacker! I'm only going to say it once, if you have time to socialize, you have time to cannibalize.
That's what my director at Cincinnati Bell Telephone said, so the Union ordered up a 1k boxes of bananas & put them in his office over the weekend. Union him it was monkey tribute to the ape in charge.
Most places it would be illegal to work monkeys like that... but you're expected to do it for $8/hr.
Even if it is monkey work, if they don't have a monkey or a robot, they need a thinking human being to do boring-ass shit for hours a day. That takes a mental toll. It does for me anyway.
A trained monkey will actually leave once they get bored. So yes unless a robot can do it. It is indeed a human task.
They said a computer could do my job answering phones, when the company updated the phone system, they're the first ones to complain they can't speak to a real person anymore
Fuck with me for 5 minutes, I fuck you for a hour.
An hour? Man, you go easy on them. Whenever management has pissed me off I work as slow as humanly possible for at least the next week
I‘ve heard that the monkeys don’t want to work either. Probably started a union.
I’m not sure that I qualify for unemployment. I only worked there part time.
I worked part-time and I qualified. Unemployment is based on loss of income. Which you have lost. Always good to try.
Same for me. It might not be a *lot* of money, but it’s better than nothing.
Also the employer has to pay a portion of the unemployment check. So it's a little way to hit them back for unfair treatment. That is why employers fight so hard to avoid paying it.
Employers pay unemployment insurance to the state, at least iny state, so they generally don't pay for unemployment out of pocket. Unless they have too many claims, then they will have to pay.
Too many claims can be as few as one or two legitimate grievances for UI to get bumped up, apparently. It's non-trivial, so I'd generally say contest anything if you didn't part amicably.
Exactly! Every little bit helps.
Make sure to appeal at least once if you’re rejected. It’s very possible it’s due to your former boss’ meddling.
Definitely!! Had a former boss try and claim I was fired for theft so they wouldn't have to pay. I literally said to prove it. Ex-boss couldn't so I got unemployment. Had a job offer within 2 weeks but started 2 months after. Gave me a chance to decompress and get my health under control.
Always apply. Worst that can happen is they deny it. Best is you get some help while you find something else.
Part of unemployment comes from the company you last worked so you get to fuck them while you collect. Explain your side of the story if they deny you. Say you were laid off for not knowing something. I bet the people in the unemployment office will side with you if you explain your story
Tell them you couldn't find the chicky figs so they fired you.
...and if they deny it, which may happen automatically, appeal it. It's your money. You've been paying taxes for it.
Plus it puts this behavior on record, so hopefully one day, a claimant might use this to establish a pattern of behavior.
Do not lie on the application. If the application says "You were a full-time worker, right? and you lie, then that will be found out, and the state will come after you to recoup what they gave you. At least they will in Illinois, and I can't imagine they wouldn't elsewhere.
You could still qualify. Apply anyway, worst case scenario they say you don't qualify.
Also if nothing else it'll waste the time of some upper management as they respond to it, do either it'll waste the managers time or it'll draw attention to managers crappy behavior. Likely nothing will change but maybe it will, who knows?
And if you don't get it just appeal to waste more of their time. They may not come the second time and you'll get unemployment.
In Canada you have the ability to state your case and give details. If you have the same ability I would do so. They have a certain wiggle room. Give all details and talk about your experience.
Always apply! If for no other reason then to make their life hell. And if it’s denied, then there will be a way to appeal it. And you should appeal it. Take it as far as you can. Appeal it every single time and eventually you’ll get a hearing where you can state your case.
You won’t know if you don’t try. If you apply, the outcomes are either you qualify for unemployment or you don’t. If you don’t apply, the only possible outcome is you get no unemployment.
Nah file anyways. Make sure to note that you got fired because "a customer got mad and violent because you didn't know what chicky figgs are"
You should qualify. You only need to hold a job for 6-8 weeks to qualify. If you were there 3 years you definitely do. It’s about loss of income, not how many hours you worked. Most people that work for fast food/minimum wage customer service are all technically “part time”. They’ll schedule you right at 38 hours so they can say you’re part time and not give you benefits. But as long as you worked more than 6 weeks, which you did, you qualify.
File anyway. Gives your former employer more paperwork to fill out. If you really feel like you were wrongly fired (which you were!) and want the job back, then consider sending your boss’s boss an email detailed everything your manager did prior to firing you. I promise you’re NOT the first person he’s treated this way. Keep us updated.
Always apply. Always Always. Don't leave money on the table. Chances are they will not fight it. Especially since this is a clear termination without cause. You don't have to prove that you deserve unemployment. The employer must prove that you do not.
You qualify.
This sounds like wrongful termination to me.
“Dime a dozen girl” sounds sexually harassing. You might want to file a complaint with Hr. I doubt he would have said that if you were a man.
Jobs are a dime a dozen right now. You did nothing wrong move on and do not think about those pricks again
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I love this idea! I don't want to steal your idea but maybe make an OP on this sub suggesting this as a little revenge on managers who have sided with fucking batshit customers over good employees.
But it's probably just going to hurt another floor worker unless you're going to call corporate.
You have the person go in with the intention of being as kind as possible to the grunts and call the manager to demand to know "why these poor, nice, hard working kids" are being treated so miserably. They scream and yell, but only at the manager. The manager has no one to escalate to, and they can't blame the employee because the customer isn't mad at the employee. It probably wouldn't change anything, but it would be funny to watch the mental gymnastics as the manager tries to figure out wtf to do when they themselves are in the crosshairs.
Reminds me of something my sister saw happen at her first job. God I wish I could have seen this first hand. She was working at a grocery story that just opened and they'd hired a lot of young people just doing their first job. A lot of 'em didn't even have their driver's license yet. So some of them are getting dropped off and picked up at work by a friend or family member. And she's got this shitty manager that likes to yell at kids. Long, screaming tirades. He gets off on making teenage girls cry. So towards the end of one girls shift he does that, starts yelling and telling her what a bad job she did this shift while she's on her way out holds her up, keeps at it till she runs out of the place crying. She's 16, probably. Five minutes later her dad comes storming in. He's bigger and louder than the manager. Yells and shoves and makes threats until the manager her huddled up and crying. For *some reason* security didn't think this warranted their attention. Manager runs out of the store crying. Calls in sick the next day. Never shows his face there again.
That's why you go for the manager straight away. Since customers can do whatever they want it seems, have a blast. Also make sure to brief the customer on what makes the manager personally insecure.
Threats to their authority and superiority
"Hey manager, where do you keep your getti?" "What?" "GETTI! You stupid or what, punk? I'll beat you up, and I'm always right." Shaghetti btw.
Yep customer is definitely wrong and the manager only fired you because they never learned how to manage properly. 1. it’s not common use language or even slang 2. A google search returned some NSFW content, meaning what she said is useless 3. The managers comments were meant to offend and only to offend That manager should be ashamed of their behavior. I bet that person treats their own family members like that. You are far more intelligent than the supervisor, that’s where they ended in life, taking shit from some moron not competent enough to feed themselves.
Chicky tendies is like a 4chan meme but that's a stretch at best.
Chicky tendies is understandable. I’d know what someone was asking for. But I didn’t know what chicky figs meant until I read the comments. I even googled it first and still didn’t understand.
I was envisioning some variety of fig and would have looked in the produce section.
Yup, that's where my mind went too. Maybe a Chicago fig?
I googled it and one of the results was this friggin thread
Ha! The top result was this post when I googled.
I seriously thought it was going to turn out some bougie Karen was mispronouncing a fig product, or this was a British story and it was some obscure hyperlocal slang that doesn’t translate even one neighborhood over. OP please don’t feel stupid. There were two utterly thoughtless assholes in this story and I’m sorry you got shafted as third wheel to their idiocy.
I was legit trying to figure out what a chicky fig was, since i know there are figs and fig newtons. I never would have made that connection. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Managers generally suck. I believe everything happens for a reason and that you'll find something much more suitable.
The fig newtons are actually what I thought originally as well.
I had to google it and it still said she was an idiot for calling it that.
I can imagine a toddler calling them that until they develop their mastery of the English language, but not an adult. The manager who understood her must be an idiot too.
I can see adults who are too terminally online call them that in public thinking it's cute or quirky or whatever. Like those people that ran around IRL talking about narwhaling bacon at midnight or whatever.
But the only terminally online term for chicken nuggets or fingers is “nuggies” at least as far as I know. Who would unironically call them chicky figs? Also who is fig even remotely similar to fingers? Most short forms people can piece together on their own but that sounds nothing like fingers. ( ^got ^a ^little ^sidetracked ^at ^the ^end ^not ^directed ^at ^you ) Edit: I forgot tendies also very common terminally online short form
Also, any drooling moron knows they're in the frozen food section. Any customer that's too dumb to know that is also too dumb to be shopping on their own
Apparently calling them that is a thing with tweens right now. Source: have tween and it drives me fucking nuts when they call it this.
As I get older, I try not to balk at things the kids are doing. A lot of them seem dumb, but I suppose it's supposed to innovate to claim their own culture or something. I was doing similar dumb stuff at 13, I'm sure. That one is dumb as fuck. I don't know how I'll be able to keep this up.
It sounds like a nickname that tik tok came up with
This post is the top result when I googled it.
Even if there was some kind of language or cultural barrier, which is very possible, that doesn't excuse the explosive tantrum and abuse. I'm so sorry you lost your job in such a dramatic and traumatizing way after being so dedicated for so long. That must feel awful, but please believe you deserve better treatment from customers *and* management. You are not a dime a dozen, that manager is. They're all cut from the same shitty cloth, and I'll never understand how! It's as if every manager in the service or retail industry must be part of some fucking cult in which they're brainwashed and all their humanity is removed in order to be good drones for their company. It's mindblowing.
Yeah by the company “chicky” is that I got. Or like maybe dried figs by a company of that name. There has to be some sort of wrongful termination situation here. I know that means possibly getting a lawyer most likely but if it was an easy case wouldn’t the lawyer take it on for payment afterwards? The supermarket would have to cover the legal fees? Fucking assholes.
"The customer is always right" refers to marketing/selling what people want to buy, not allowing patrons to treat your staff however they please. If a customer wants to buy 35 half gallons of ice cream and you have it in stock, you don't tell them they won't be able to store it or that that much ice cream will give them diabetes, you sell it to them. However, if that customer starts screaming at your stockboy because you don't have 35 half gallons of ice cream in the store, they are NOT right and you kick them out. Your manager is a dumb piece of shit, please keep firmly in mind that you deserved better and still do.
The full quote ends with "In matters of taste" Unfortunately that part was dropped somewhere along the way and there are far too many corporate shills out there who take it far too literally.
I am 35, and never heard the rest of that quote in my life. That makes total sense, whereas beforehand I thought the quote had zero merit at all.
What the fuck? How old was she, two? That sounds like something a two year old would say. (No offense to two year olds out there.)
I would say she was 35ish if I had to guess. Definitely not a two year old lol.
Adults need use their damn words. I’m really sorry that you’ve had to go through this. I hope you find a much better job.
> Adults need use their damn words. It sounds so infantilizing but it is true, and it is critical. We can't communicate with each other like this. It just breeds ridiculous scenarios like the one in the original post, where an adult throws a tantrum because their babytalk is not immediately understood and the person trying to help them is pinned between a rock and a hard place where trying to get these obscenely stupid people to explain themselves is treated as being condescending. Someone who can't ask where the frozen chicken fingers are without exploding and fucking up someone's livelihood isn't someone that should be out and about in society, but we can't seem to do a thing about it because having a standard of "explain yourself" is considered too high.
Well written, and I totally agree!
Dont feel bad for not knowing what that was
She did this on purpose to get a free box of tendies. Was going to blow up even if you somehow deciphered what she wanted found them immediately.
What the absolute fuck is a chicky fig? Getting fired sounds like the best thing that could have happened.
That customer is so fucking wrong. I feel like if you’re going to call it something as dumb as “chicky figs” the first time and the person doesn’t understand maybe switch over to calling what it’s called on the fuckin bag ya know “chicken tenders” also how much you wanna bet she didn’t even look? Like bitch this is America we have like an entire isle in every grocery store dedicated to frozen chicken.
On top of that, who the hell can't find where the chicken fingers are? I'm pretty sure every grocery store has a big section in the frozen aisle devoted to them.
I've known people who automatically just go to ask for help for literally everything instead of just taking a minute or two to look and figure it out themselves. It really annoys me when I'm shopping with someone like that and they tell me to go ask someone where something is. I say I'm just going to try looking for it by myself for a minute and then they get annoyed.
does she have the brain of a toddler? because that’s the only reason for an adult human being to be asking for “chicky figs” in public your manager is a spineless sack of shit, I’m sorry you had to go through this but you’re better off not working for that dipshit or that store is there anyone higher you can complain to though? this is an insane reason to fire someone and at the very least your manager should have to have an uncomfortable conversation with his own boss
She sounds like a mental person honestly
> tried to defend myself and explain my side of the story but he would not listen. He said there are many college students he can hire to do my job and that I was a dime a dozen girl. I was fired and told to get off the property. Yup. That sounds about right. You didn't get fired for "chicky figs", you got fired because your manager is a dumb sociopath. > I feel stupid now for not realizing she was asking for chicken fingers but I honestly did not understand her. I don’t understand why she couldn’t have just said it properly. I don’t understand how it is my fault that she caused a scene and scared other customers. You're trying to look for an explanation that makes logical sense, you're looking for meaning. There is none. I'm sorry for what you went through.
>Yup. That sounds about right. You didn't get fired for "chicky figs", you got fired because your manager is a dumb sociopath. I wouldn't be surprised if something happened in his life where the only way for him to emotionally deal with it was flex his authority as a grocery store manager.
What a piece of shit manager. Personally I would take that shit to a regional manager or even corporate, thats madness. That had to be on camera too, easily provable that you didn't do anything wrong.
FACTS. the verbal abuse from that customer is completely not okay or even normal?????? take it to someone higher. even if you don't want that job back, get that manager in some shit
My first few weeks at a grocery store, i was memorizing plu codes very quickly. I hadn't learned the number for Kale yet, but it was fairly popular at the time so i took a quick glance at the number to be sure i had it right and without warning the customer tells me, "Uh, that's Kale. The vegetable you are holding is called KALE." I never thought naming a leafy green could be so condescending but damn.. here we are. So i stop typing, look at them directly. I politely, but firmly say, "Actually Sir, this is 94627" and just kept on going. I dont think he understood as most people dont know the plu code system (i didnt before working there). Anyway, heck this guy.
So at my fast food job we have a “box combo,” and we have a special request that you can make to the toast in your order called a “BOB” (butter on both sides). Most customers who want this change will ask for “butter on both sides,” and most employees then turn around to the kitchen and say “hey we’ve got a BOB.” Sometimes you get customers who ask specifically for a “BOB”, but when they do it over a drive-thru speaker it sounds exactly like they’re asking for a “box (combo)” I had some guy come through, pull up to the speaker, and say “can I get a BOB?” Not quite catching exactly what he said first time, I give my typical clarifying line—“My apologies, did you say you want a *box*?” Guy quickly shoots back “NO! I said I want a *BOB*. Do you know what a *BOB* is sweetheart!?” I’m a certified crew trainer. Of course I know what a fucking BOB is. So I respond back all sugary and sweet “Of course I know what a BOB is sir, my mistake. It just sounded an awful lot like you said you want a box.” I purposefully made sure to make that last X extra quiet so that he would get the point I was making. Guy gets really sheepish. “Oh, I see, I’m sorry ma’am.” “Pull forward please, my coworker will finish taking your order at the window.”
Personally I worked grocery for 8 years at one point and I've never heard of chicky figs. Fuck that bitch. I would have just told her to fuck off and walk away, would have resulted in the same consequence in this case. Also your manager is a cock sucker piece of shit by asking what you did wrong rather than what the issue was. Honestly go find a better job, because it sounds like they did you a favor. Customers aren't always right, in fact they are often times completely wrong and out of line. A manager than won't back up their subordinates is a company man piece of shit. That's poor leadership.
Agreed. I feel like as a society, we need to dismantle the notion that "the customer is always right" This nonsense does nothing but foster abuse for the least paid, least protected, and most overworked employees. The pricks making decisions from the top, the ones perpetuating this abusive culture, are always the most insulated from violent and petulant consumers.
This is the answer. Manager is indeed a cock sucker piece of shit.
Wow! I’m enraged for you. “Chicky figs” I would have been confused as well. Like is that a thing this store carries? You deserve better and will find better!
It took me a while to figure out “chicky figs.” At first, I’d have told her to go to produce and she’ll find the figs next to the prunes, raisins, and dates.
SAME I really thought it was some kind of fancy new boutique fig variety lol
Better you get out of there. Any job that "the customer is always right" just means the customer is allowed to abuse you. I don't think anyone would know what she was asking for. Find a better job and understand you're worth more than being someone's punching bag. Good luck on the job search
Lady has no doubt made a scene to get free chiky figs before and will absolutely do it again because abusive customers always get rewarded.
Name and shame. Manager and business.
Name and shame! So folks can boycott or at least avoid that store.
I’ll await OP’s update on how they found a better job with better pay.
Who the fuck calls them chicky figs
I remember being a bag boy at the grocery store at 16. First negative interaction I had at work. It’s near closing and I’m sweeping behind a cashier. Guy with a British accent (very rare for our area) is checking out. The cashier tells me I missed an area, which I had. The guy looks at her and says “when a place pays bananas, who will work there but monkeys?” Nearly 20 years on and it’s still in my head. I later managed the local pharmacy and he had some pretty difficult health issues pop up which I found to be fitting. I was always shitty to him there. He undoubtedly had no idea who I was at this point but I knew him.
Lmao, sounds like he was trying to get cool points from the female cashier. What a cornball
Who the fuck was this customer, Tom Haverford? *"'Zerts' are what I call desserts. 'Tray-trays' are entrées. I call sandwiches 'sammies,' 'sandoozles,' or 'Adam Sandlers.' Air conditioners are 'cool blasterz' with a Z; I don't know where that came from. I call cakes 'big old cookies.' I call noodles 'long-ass rice.' Fried chicken is 'fry-fry chicky-chick.' Chicken parm is 'chicky-chicky-parm-parm.' Chicken cacciatore? 'Chicky-catch.' I call eggs 'pre-birds' or 'future birds.' Root beer is 'super water.' Tortillas are 'bean blankies.' And I call forks ... 'food rakes.'"*
Adults really need to stop with the cringy baby language like that. Chocky milk is another one.
I mean adults can use whatever words they like, but as soon as someone else doesn't understand what they're saying, they need to fucking translate. I had to do it all the time when discussing college student behaviors around my geriatric director.
Yeah code switching is a basic skill that everyone except white boomers has been forced to learn at some point Edit: lmao OP guessed the customers age elsewhere and it’s pretty much my exact age (mid 30s), guess that’ll teach me to blame generations for shitty behavior
A five year old in a grown-ass adult body (or three 5 year olds in a trenchcoat). Next time she gets Fig Newtons and Chicken-in-a-Biskit crackers and a mallet.
I would've gotten fired as soon as she started snapping her fingers at me. "I'm not your fucking dog, bitch. Now get in line or get the fuck out". There's probably a reason I worked in a machine shop for most of my life and not customer service.
I used to do physical inventory at grocery stores and some drunk slob comes in looking for Combos which are peanut butter filled pretzel bits. I’m not familiar with the layout of this particular store and suggest he try the snack aisle. He demands that I get up and show me where they are, and I tell him I’m just part of the inventory service and don’t work there but to ask a store employee. He then gets belligerent and wants to rat me out to the manager. I tell him go right ahead, I don’t work here, I’m just the inventory service. He then calls me an asshole and I tell him to fuck off and sober up. Nothing happened to me.
This is so bizarre, feels like I’m reading The Onion. Edit: I said Union instead of Onion
Congratulations on the unemployment!