Normally, I would give much more positive feedback, the cashiers are generally polite given what must be a rather difficult clientele on occasion. However, tonight I experienced the worst kind of behavior from a manager.
Upon entering the store I noticed that there were no shopping carts - since I come into the shop morning through evening I knew this was not a new problem. I decided to register a formal complaint at the customer service desk. I thought I would be asked to fill in a form; but nothing ever changes if your don't state that there's a problem.
The young girl at the counter offered to find me a cart - which was very kind of her - and said that there was a manger in, and would I like to speak with him? I doubted it would do much good, to be honest, but since I was going through the effort, I may as well.
I chatted with another young girl at the counter about a piece of English currency that she'd received - I'm sure I must still have the Altoids tin of coins I collected through work at that age - until the manager arrived.
This was the night manager Louis. All he had to do was acknowledge the problem, take responsibility for the problem, and assure me that steps were being taken to rectify the problem. However, his attitude was generally one of apathy. He passed the buck saying that the store had been busy and that many of the carts had been stolen, which is certainly true; however, given their location this demonstrates a failure of planning.
I asked a variety of questions regarding the issue and what was being done to resolve it - I believe more in response to his apathy than any other motive.
His entire demeanor was one of conflict, when I asked him for his name he hesitate to give it, then simply said, "Louis". When I asked him for his whole name - which I will not post here - he instead asked me for mine; which I freely gave in full, then offered to shake his hand. He hesitated again, but briefly shook my hand. I then asked him again what his name was, which was when he finally told me.
Since it was obvious I was not going to get anywhere with this gentleman, and that my complaint was likely to be written-off and ignored, I asked him who the main manager of the store was - he said that I could call him tomorrow. I said that I may do that, and could I know the managers name to ask for him. He refused to answer. He just kept repeating that his name was Louis and that I could call in the morning. (It may be worth inserting here that there was no failure of communication, his English was perfect.) When I said that his response was ridiculous - that the manager's name would be readily available online and that either he: 1. Didn't know it, or 2. Was refusing to tell me - which was it. He just once again repeated that I could call the manager in the morning.
This is the point at which I imagine many people would have broken down and started calling him names. I do wonder if that was his intent. In that neighbourhood such a conflict would have given him cause to call in the station security or police, making him feel as though he'd gained the upper hand. Luckily, I'm a high school teacher so I come across this behaviour all the time; that is exactly how this man was behaving, like a teenage boy.
I told him that his behaviour was designed to escalate conflict rather then deflate it - he simply repeated his catch phrase. At which point I shook my head, said, "Good night, Louis." He said, "Good night." and walked away.
That might have been the end of the issue; however, as I was approaching the register I heard another gentleman ask Louis where the carts were - he ignored the question and kept walking. At which point this gentleman asked again - loudly enough to draw the attention of much of the store. At this prompting, Louis called him a "stupid a-hole" and kept walking. The gentleman was demanding to know his name and following him. To avoid an escalation I told him that, "his name is Louis and he is the night manager".
One of the clerks tried to apologize for him by saying that it had been a busy day and that many of their carts get stollen. However, this is entirely inappropriate behaviour in anyone who holds a management position read more