This is not exactly an encounter you witness every day, but we had an elderly man come into our store who smelt of pee. But before the story, let me explain a little about the pre-encounter. We had just got to the store that day, and just before opening, we had gotten a call from an ATT rep he had told us not to upsell and just get him what he wanted—nothing more, nothing less. We obliged and told him we would only sell the phone, nothing else, and we happened to have one of the phones he wanted in stock (TCL Flip). The moment the sales rep who took the call got off the phone, he went outside, and we got an email to return the TCL Flip. It is an old model, so we had assumed it was being returned due to a new model being released. As we were ringing this TCL Flip-up for the return process, the sales rep walked in and, unbeknownst to us then, said someone wanted that phone, and he had already told the ATT rep we had the phone in stock. We told him we needed to return it per corporate request and tell the customer that the phone had just been sold.
Now that we have the story in perspective, I will explain what we had to deal with on his arrival at the store.
At this point, we were probably an hour or so into our shift. The ATT Rep had told us he would probably be in within an hour, so we had expected him at this point. We hear our buzzer go off, indicating someone is entering the store; as we walk into the front room, we do not see anyone appear. It probably takes him a minute or two to get through the first door and into the second, as we have a fairly long entrance with two sets of doors before entry. As he walks through the second door into the store at this point, we see him, and he sees us, but just before we can get a word off, we smell this piercing smell of pee coming from his direction, and we see his hat stating he was a Vietnam veteran. The other sales rep and I look at each other, and both decide to help this guy; as we get closer, the smell gets much worse; if you have cats, it smelt like a catbox after not cleaning it for a while. It was very strong and potent. I felt really bad for him, as the older you get, the harder it is to hold in bodily fluids, so I tried my best to act like I did not smell anything, and so was the other sales rep helping out at the time.
At this point, we were already in his account and explaining the situation to him; we had already told him that the phone was not in stock and that we got unlucky and had to return it due to a newer model coming in; however, we were more than happy to send one to his address, which would be overnight shipping. Thankfully, he was very understanding and said that it was fine and to send it to his friend's house, so we ended up doing that. We got through the process and set the phone up to be sent to his friend's house. He seemed happy and left the store, but this is when we saw that his jeans were soaked from his waist down to his knees. As he was sitting on a chair when he got up, we noticed the chair was now soaked in pee, and we went straight to sanitizing the chair and making sure it was clear for the next customer who happened to sit down on it.
Overall, it was an easy transaction, and he was a very nice individual; I felt bad for the guy. I felt bad that whoever cared for him, as I assumed someone would have to, as he couldn't really walk nor get out of his chair, would allow him to go in public in such a fashion. The situation did not smell pleasant, but the individual was extremely nice and understanding of the circumstances about his phone, so we did not have anything to complain about. The other sales rep and I, including the manager, discussed the situation afterward and felt the same way. After all, it is our job to handle each customer with the utmost respect and provide the best customer service we can possibly offer. The situation might not have smelled great, but the interaction went super smoothly overall.
Now that we have the story in perspective, I will explain what we had to deal with on his arrival at the store.
At this point, we were probably an hour or so into our shift. The ATT Rep had told us he would probably be in within an hour, so we had expected him at this point. We hear our buzzer go off, indicating someone is entering the store; as we walk into the front room, we do not see anyone appear. It probably takes him a minute or two to get through the first door and into the second, as we have a fairly long entrance with two sets of doors before entry. As he walks through the second door into the store at this point, we see him, and he sees us, but just before we can get a word off, we smell this piercing smell of pee coming from his direction, and we see his hat stating he was a Vietnam veteran. The other sales rep and I look at each other, and both decide to help this guy; as we get closer, the smell gets much worse; if you have cats, it smelt like a catbox after not cleaning it for a while. It was very strong and potent. I felt really bad for him, as the older you get, the harder it is to hold in bodily fluids, so I tried my best to act like I did not smell anything, and so was the other sales rep helping out at the time.
At this point, we were already in his account and explaining the situation to him; we had already told him that the phone was not in stock and that we got unlucky and had to return it due to a newer model coming in; however, we were more than happy to send one to his address, which would be overnight shipping. Thankfully, he was very understanding and said that it was fine and to send it to his friend's house, so we ended up doing that. We got through the process and set the phone up to be sent to his friend's house. He seemed happy and left the store, but this is when we saw that his jeans were soaked from his waist down to his knees. As he was sitting on a chair when he got up, we noticed the chair was now soaked in pee, and we went straight to sanitizing the chair and making sure it was clear for the next customer who happened to sit down on it.
Overall, it was an easy transaction, and he was a very nice individual; I felt bad for the guy. I felt bad that whoever cared for him, as I assumed someone would have to, as he couldn't really walk nor get out of his chair, would allow him to go in public in such a fashion. The situation did not smell pleasant, but the individual was extremely nice and understanding of the circumstances about his phone, so we did not have anything to complain about. The other sales rep and I, including the manager, discussed the situation afterward and felt the same way. After all, it is our job to handle each customer with the utmost respect and provide the best customer service we can possibly offer. The situation might not have smelled great, but the interaction went super smoothly overall.
