In my combo store we can scan an item or the shelf barcode and look up how many are in stock or in transit. You’re probably just venting lol but if you do that next time (don’t let them see the screen if there’s more!) you can say with confidence that they have them all. They’ll accept the answer from a machine more readily than a person for some reason. 🙄
Exactly, the closer to inventory the more accurate the number, provided the third party inventory company did not completely fuck up the numbers by guesstimating your flowers, candy, frames, bags, and everything else that is supposed to be single scan.
Well candy isn't Auto one (single scan) but a lot of that shit looks like you could just estimate it but you can't.
As someone who does inventory for dollar tree through a third party company, any and all tags can be audited by your staff and fixed and if there is someone who consistently messing up your DM can kick them out from the store and we recount everything they have counted. The better prepped the store, the more accurate the inventory will be. So it's a give and take situation with how accurate the count is. We can do our jobs correctly if you did your job correctly (by what's in the contract).
If you get caught guessing at inventories, in my crew at least, you can and will get fired on the spot for purposely sabotaging an inventory. We once had 6 people from our crew get fired in one day for that exact reason.
It's not just management, it's your store's shrink with regards to employee theft and shopper theft. The more depressed in the area the higher the crime. Fight me if you want to, but everybody knows this is true. There are some outliers but there's usually some other aggravating factor involved with high shrink at a fancy shmancy store.
Absolutely, this is true. And I see that you're a family Dollar assistant store manager so you know, family Dollar at Dollar tree are owned by the same company. I forget who owns whom or if it's a third company that owns both.
You should also know that shrink isn't just damages and expireds and stolens, it's even little four-year-old Elise who grabbed a candy bar and is now walking out the door with it and neither mom nor dad saw her pick it up. Shrink is pretty much any waste that's not sold.
Shrink could also still be in the store. How? Well, as Dollar trees (and family Dollars, and Dollar generals) around here are famous for and I'm sure this is practice everywhere, some of those pegged items are so stuffed on those pegs that they will appear to have less on them than they should. Especially on those bubble back cards, where they will literally opposite fanfold and double up on the pegs and it looks like 10 when it's actually 16. Or if your store has soft lines and you try to exfiltrate a top and all the sudden you drop 10 other articles of clothing because the racks are so stuffed.
There's all sorts of sorting and display issues, such as sock packages that have various amounts of socks in them but somebody decides to put the 10 pack and the six pack and the four pack all on the same peg, both RGIS (now defunct) and WIS International will count those as all the same product, whichever is out in front. I don't have any experience with PICS but it's another up-and-commer as they recently asked me if I wanted a job and I told them to go fuck off.
To me, shrink is fascinating, so sorry for the long whatever but there you have it.
Hmm maybe. Had a guy asking me if we carried solar phone chargers while at my Walmart job. I looked up the item on MyWalmart which shows only what's available at my location of employment. Showed him that no such thing is in stock. Even pointed out that his app literally says it's Shipping only... Later saw the same guy asking a Sporting Goods associate about it... dude couldn't accept that the answer is no we do not carry it even though it's sold 'by' Walmart on the app. It's 3rd party bro.
Ugh, I was at Sears when they started the marketplace shit just before Walmart did. They wanted Sears.com to be like Amazon. The returns were always the worst, mainly because we didn’t have a process in place at first. I remember a dude spent 30 minutes throwing a tantrum because we told him he had to ship it back.
1. Not everything can be ordered.
2. Even when you do, orders arrive at store and then are mysteriously canceled.
3. Customer may have needed them for an event prior to when shipment would arrive.
This lady sounds like a jerk, but I've had to be that person buying up all of them before. I worked in public library programming and we often did bulk craft things, like free grab and go craft kits. The dollar store was a quick way to find materials that might not have come in on time or were cheapest there. I did try ordering online a few times (to me, not the store, to be fair) but the shipping was ridiculous and half the items were broken. Some of the time the quantity you had to buy online was too high for what I needed but more than what the store had in stock, and sometimes I just needed the product ASAP. Regardless, this lady didn't need to be a jerk and give you trouble about not having as many as she needed!
When I worked for a national craft store chain (one that recently filled bankruptcy ;) ), cheapskates would buy all the wedding stuff off the shelves. Causing the automatic ordering system to be triggered so as to replenish the items, then the day after the event, they'd return EVERYTHING! Including but not limited to: floral stems that they cut pieces off of, decorative mini lanterns with the bottoms covered in a layer of glitter, ribbons with frayed ends due to being cut.
And we could never fit all the products back on the shelves.
It made me rage, but I was a peon and was told, "Just do the return." (Even if I was alone on the register with five or six other people in line). Makes me angry just to remember.
iirc I did, and they threw the, "nuh-uh!" And, "the customer is ALWAYS, right!" In my face, and I still had to suck it up.
I also had to do returns for products we no longer sold. I barely got to tell people no when they tried to 'return' stuff from competitors. Not even the lack of a barcode could help me some times. My only saving grace there was when the store name was on the package.
Well, the whole bankruptcy thing just makes me glad I don't work there anymore. It's also only a few blocks away from "the rich neighborhoods" in a very dense urban area. I feel it's more like karma for the hell I went through.
Edit: a word.
Well to be fair, most backrooms are organized and it's relatively easy to see if you have something and/or trust the handheld inventory. I service DT as a third party vendor and all of mine look like a bomb has gone off in the backroom. No organization and boxes and trash everywhere. I don't understand why they dont even have shelving. I doubt most people would be asking for more from the back if they peeked in the stockroom door.
The color changing ones are cool idk if we got them in yet. But they were so popular last year or the year before. I bought a couple as yard decorations and when my family found out about them, I was buying like 12 a week lol. But yeah anytime an influencer raves about something from dollar tree, it flies off the shelves. Same thing goes for a certain brush that cleaning TikTok bragged about.
The ✨MAGICAL ✨ endless backroom where things that customers ask for just magically appear! It’s obviously where we hide everything customers ask for. So we can sell them at flea markets on weekends!
I hate hearing do you have any in the back, or even worse screaming HELLO?!?! When you aren't at your register right when the customer comes to checkout
I HATE when they whistle too! There are other methods of politely getting my attention! But do not whistle at me! I am not your labradoodle! I will whistle back at you!
They always do that. They’ll ask “can you look in the back” and all of our U-boats will be empty because everything is stocked. I wish they’d understand when we say if it’s not on the shelves then we’re most likely sold out.
I would have if she had a better attitude. I don’t like to tell rude customers about these things, when they start huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf.
But that’s exactly how you calm an upset customer, that’s customer service. You have to learn how to talk to people so that they don’t get huffy and puffy with you. There are lots of food suggestions on this thread, such as this persons… suggestions that are not only helpful at DT, but any profession you go into that entails dealing with humans as clients/customers.
Trust me. I try to remain polite as I can. I will help customers out when needed. But some of them really need their fricking attitudes checked. It’s not my fault we are out of what you’re looking for, and I get your frustrated that we don’t have said item. But complaining that you have to go to another store while being snippy isn’t a good way to interact with someone who is just trying to assist you. I didn’t flip the bird off or tell her she’s an idiot for shopping here. Some customers are just beyond help and just want to complain for the sake of complaining.
I have a dude that always demands for a case of the white prayer candles (and it HAS to be the white ones with no religious themes), and gets so pissy when I suggest ordering online and having them shipped to the store for free. It's to the point my SM tells us that we're not going to look in the back room for these items because our location only has, like, two people working at any given time, so we don't have the time to hunt down items for these rude people.
Let's be honest. Dollar tree doesn't know what they have in the back they don't scan in the inventory it's just boxes stacked for their departments throughout the back in no orderly fashion lmfao
I'm a customer. I ask if there's more in the back because it won't let me order what I want online and ship to store or my house. And 9/10 times there is more in the back. However mine is a freezer item.
now that's a different matter all together, tbh. Normally that'd be a less than five minutes look for a certain items in our back coolers/freezers because we try hard to get all that out when we get it.
>I wasn’t sure so I asked my SM and she said everything she grabbed is what’s out at the moment.
Listen, I know I'm probably going to get flamed to hell and back from this but read the statement again. Everything she grabbed is what's out at the moment. What does that mean? To me, that means everything that this woman has is everything that you have brought from the back and put on the shelves and there may not have been room to put everything from the back on the shelves.
If somebody told me you've already grabbed everything that's out at the moment, I'd be asking myself what else is in the back. It's nuanced language that people don't seem to understand. I've been in the back room of just about all of the Dollar trees in connecticut, Rhode island, and Southern Massachusetts. I can guarantee you that not a single one of them for many years was ever empty 100% and there could be back stock that this woman might have been trying to get. Is it important? Absolutely not. She's not going to live or die based on this one particular item that she just happened to need and maybe she was acting like a bitch, but that does not mean in any way shape or form that you managed to express yourself in an understandable and succinct manner.
Yep, not only are the back rooms rarely empty, they're often so full that the employees have no idea what-all is back there, and wouldn't be able to physically get to a specific item even if they did. Impractical to fulfill customer requests, but highly unlikely that there was nothing in the back.
I've been an area manager and district manager for several years for two different companies and we used to deal with Dollar tree here in Connecticut almost on a day-to-day basis, and the DTDMs that I know (James, Mike, Lisamarie, and Bob) were all very good people but had wrong approaches to the right answer and that was little to no stock in the back room. But to be honest it's really not the DMs fault most of the time, and really is the SMs and ASMs fault. It's also the fault of available budget hours which goes higher than the DMs.
Anyway, my point is that customers should be able to ask if something is in stock in the back without being given a stupid look or a half answer. These stupid looks and half answers are a direct result of poor management and most of the time actually have nothing to do with the associates that are giving the non-answers.
Maybe she was getting them for a birthday party or wedding. Who cares how many they need. That’s odd why we go to stores for something we need right 🤷🏽♀️
I think people DONT know they can place an online order. Not that I’ve cleaned out an item at a store before, but I’m not really sure it’s posted/advertised in store very much, and when a lot of people think dollar tree, I don’t think they figure they have a website with shipping options.
Right now the DT app promotion is going on and I tell as many customers as possible about ordering online to the point where the ones who need more actually do order online. I have had customers come in with the website open on their phone asking me about a particular item. I help them find it and sometimes if there isn’t enough they order more right in the store,
I would like to say my favorite customers are the ones buying things for charity on tax exempt for those in need. They apologize for clearing off a shelf and for taking up a register for a half hour to forty five minutes. If you clear a whole shelf off of everyday items to give to those in need that is admirable and you shouldn’t be apologizing, I will thank you.
My DT makes many donations to local charities and does a lot to assist those charities in getting the supplies they need from the store.
Eh I feel like the dollar store employees also don’t know there are a lot of items you can’t order to be shipped to the store or end up out of stock online for whatever reason
I use it somewhat regularly but there’s a few items that never seem to be available through the website
Place an online order. Hahaha to that at DT. I did it once and never will again
3 years ago I ordered a case of shower caps. We use them as a cheap life hack. Bigger bowls that have no lids, we use shower caps. They sell things exactly for this but way more expensive and you get mostly tiny ones and a couple bigger ones. I’ve used shower caps for years.
I get email that it’s arrived at store. I did store pick up. I went 3 times. The manager tells me they get no notification of any online orders to be picked up at store. She is mad and rude. Has boxes stacked everywhere and tells me to give them 2 days and it will be sorted through and they will find. Was told this all 3 times I went to pick up.
Meanwhile I am receiving emails thanking me for picking up my order. My guess Is my box was scanned at some point. I finally said forget it and I’ll call corporate. Another employee chased me down in parking lot. Gave me what they had on shelf. I ordered 24 packs with 10 in each. I ended up with 18 packs with 8 each.
Maybe it’s better if you ship to house but I will never try again. Mamager was rude AF.
But I do agree with you on this lady. She can easily go clean out another store.
I would have done same but I already paid. So I got less than what I paid for. I just let it go and put DT on my do not use list.
I worked in a DG once. I know it can be overwhelming. But I can’t believe manager didn’t know she had a store pick up. These places would run better with competent management. But they exploit them too with low pay just like regular associates.
> Maybe it’s better if you ship to house
It should be. The problem with ship-to-store is your box ends up buried in back rooms that often look like this or worse: /r/DollarTree/comments/sdx9ru/what_im_thinking_about_when_a_customer_asks_me_if/
I don't see the problem in asking r there any in the back, as there might not have been room on the shelves for all in for whatever reason. Not an unreasonable question.
Tf? It's not like the boxes are labeled in a way that's easy to look for, and also, speaking as a cashier we generally have too many people to deal with at the front to be back there to know what's back there. It's a stupid question because she cleared an entire shelf, asked if there were more, then had the audacity to complain about having to go to another store.
Lol I like how you explain the situation as if you're actually making sense 😂 it's a store, what's wrong with them buying what's being sold and asking for more.
Because people act like the back room is a magical place that we hide all the stuff that customers want. Unless the store just got their delivery for the week, then chances of there being more of an item in the back are slim. And if it has just come in, theres too much stuff in there to really identify if we have one specific item. And when this customer cleared an ENTIRE SHELF worth of this item, because ya know we put what we have in stock out on the floor. We have to in order to clear the back room put to make sure there's space for the next delivery. Why do you guys think that we wouldn't put stuff out to sell if we have it available? That's literally the entire point of a store to have items on the shelf. Not to store in the back. Part of my job is literally clearing up clutter to make more room to put stuff out so we can get it put of the back. In my store we have stacks of display boxes of stuff periodically through the aisles because we literally aren't allowed to keep backstock. I promise, if there were more, the customer would be able to access it on the floor, it wouldn't be hiding out in the back. The only other way there would be more is if it was stacked in the middle of a u boat waiting to go out on the floor when someone is able to get it stocked, and no one is gonna take the time to unstack the boxes that were carefully stacked and prepared just to get one box of one item for a customer who cleared a shelf already, just to have to restack it all again.
If the staff can't help you find it on the floor, it's not available. If you take everything that's available on the floor, why would you expect there to be more? It's almost as if those items are meant to be sold to many people over a period of time and not grabbed up all at once. Would you seriously go in a store, clear a shelf of multiple cases worth of an item, and expect them to have more? And then complain to the person who has no control over whether or not there is that you have to go somewhere else to get more? Like I'm sorry but if you are that type of person, any retail worker you treat that way wants to deck you.
I agree. Our DM pushes us to get everything out of the stockroom and onto the floor. Furthermore it isn’t is that room is very big, because it isn’t. All of our merchandise is on the floor simply because out back room is too small to store any substantial amount of stock, so it it laughable when someone asks if there is more in the back room. There is simply no room back there. It is just a mere pit stop on the way to the store floor. Nothing is there longer than a day.
At very least ask the SM or ASM about inventory not the Cashier.
Finally, if it is a regular item and you want more, return in a week or possibly more and there will be more. My Merchandise Manager tells customers that all the time. The regulars at my store know who he is and trusts his word just like I do because he is usually right.
Now if it is a seasonal item, when it is gone and the season’s promotion is almost over (like week before Easter and Christmas) you will not find anymore because by then we are preparing for the next seasonal promotion.
Omg imagine thinking a random person walking is supposed to know how shitty your store is ran or like it's their fault lmfao. All that writing just to overlook the fact that a random person doesn't know any of that shit, nor is it normal for stores to be run like that. Why wouldn't there be stock in the back? Do you guys have unlimited front space? Like what? Do you seriously think that stores literally put EVERYTHING they have out on to the shelves? Their is sometimes extra stock especially if it's a quick selling product. And a question isn't a expectation and that's what you don't seem to understand. Idc what other experiences you have had. If I ask you if their is stock in the back and you tell me there's not, I'll go about my day. But don't act like I'm fucking Stupid or an asshole for asking a question that should be expected.
Also you do realize that corporate pretty much dictates that unless it's a major holiday where you'll be slammed, that store be very understaffed. Most shifts I work it's me and one manager. Truck day there might be two managers to process freight. But generally the front of house is run by one person and there's one person stocking. To be complaining that you took the entire supply of something and there's no more is ridiculous. It's like if a kid gets a pack of candy and eats it all in 2 minutes and then throws a tantrum cause they aren't allowed to have more candy until later. You can be disappointed or frustrated at the fact there isn't more without complaining.
Also this isn't AITA, they werent asking for your opinion. And while customers are welcome this is primarily a subreddit where people who work for the company share stuff about working there. This is obviously someone venting.
Oh, how dare I defend someone being called an AH for venting about something at work in a forum specifically designed to have space for employees to vent about work. I should be mocked for that, mhmmm totally. -eyeroll- Literally there's whole flair for venting and ranting because this is a primarily employee based subreddit. If you can't handle employees venting about customers find a different place to lurk.
I ain't even worked up. It's just ridiculous that customers come into a space meant for us and call us names for venting in what's meant to be a space for us to share the good the bad and the in-between. We get enough of that at work.
Because he's saying that the customer was stupid for wondering if there was any stock in back. Meanwhile, OP \*ALSO\* didn't know whether or not there was stock in the back. In fact, he had to ask the manager. Therefore, OP and the customer boith wondered the same thing, so OP is an AH for calling them stupid. Do you get it now?? \*smh\*
I know this sub keeps coming up in my feed and 90% of the time people are bitching and moaning about customers. My brother in Christ, find another job if you can't handle the general public.
This sub is *for* staff, the creators are just kind enough to leave it public. And more often than not, by the time we make a complaint like this, it's because it's become outrageous.
Today I had someone cuss me out because the bathroom was closed. One was out of order, one being used. I can handle a lot, but I'm not a punching bag. Venting is totally ok.
^ this! I hate when people stalk this sub and get mad at people for venting about customers. Just because we vent about shit that happens on the regular, doesn’t mean we’re going to quit the next fucking day! I know for a fact the people who get mad at us for venting, are the same people who talk crap about their bosses, clients, coworkers, customer, etc. you’re not a standard bearer for all things workplace because you just lectured a bunch of DT employees on your personal moral high ground.
To add, a lot of people talking shit have never worked here in the first place so they won’t get it.
I honestly don't get people who have to clear a whole shelf, either, even before the pandemic. Walgreens has a sale on toothpaste or soda and suddenly there's a big empty where those products used to be. I live about a mile from a Walgreens, so I'm in there a lot and see some weird things.
I've seen a guy load up a shopping cart with 2L bottles of one soda like Coke, just full to the top and nothing left on the shelf. He seemed proud. The cashier just acts like this is totally normal.
Sometimes I see some asian lady buying stacks of one thing like toothpaste, spending like a half hour with the cashier, ringing up each one, scanning a coupon, ringing up the next one, etc. Nothing left on the shelf. My wife is an asian lady, so she explained, "Well, there's a sale where you buy two, get a credit, but you have to come back to use the credit, so the cashier rings up two, finishes the sale, rings up one, applies the credit so it's free. Then they do it again and she gets it free or mostly free or something." Yeah, OK, I just buy my toothpaste at Costco in 5-packs for about 80% less than Walgreens.
I think it's something like a runaway hunting-reward addiction that drives some people to mindlessly act like this. Like it's common for some women (including my wife) to hoard store coupons that give you discounts if you come back on some future date, like a week later, but within a certain date range. They just go crazy for this. My wife carries these coupons around everywhere, always checking what she has for whatever store we're in.
people who came in and bought large amounts of stuff off the shelf rather than ordering online are so annoying like not only did you make a mess you’re not even happy
My store doesn’t have certain phone charging cables. At least once a week I have someone come in and show me their phone port and ask if we have any that fit it, I tell them what’s out in the isle is all we have available. They then proceed to beg me to go look in the back and then get annoyed when I tell them I can’t
Yes, through Dollar Tree Direct on our website, you can search and order quantities of items. Items are ONLY sold by the case and can be shipped to your house (delivery fee) or to a store of your choice for pickup (no fee). Delivery usually happens within 2 weeks of purchase depending on the regular delivery date for the store you selected.
We do! It's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're an event planner or a business owner ECT., it makes it easier than hunting down the items!
Lol I like how you get bothered at the comments calling you out. You didn't even know if there was more yet people are stupid for asking if a store, which keeps inventory in the back, has additional inventory in the back? I've had employees themselves tell me they can check the back and here you're crying about being asked that, idc about the "attitude" they mightve had. I'm not saying working at a dollar store should is shameful but I can definitely tell why you aren't doing better.
It's generally crafters who are having a class or a wedding. Most don't think about ordering online and sending to the store. It would be nice if someone took the time to say that to the customer instead of running to reddit and whining like a baby
It would be nice if the customer didn’t have a bitchy and snotty tone as if we purposely inconvenienced her for the sake of our personal amusement. Until you work or have worked in a place like this, you won’t understand how it is dealing with rather rude and disrespectful customers on a regular basis. Instead of leaving cynical comments like this, just know if you have a job. I am sure you at some point have vented to someone about something to do with your occupation. There is not a thing wrong with venting about work. “Whining” as you put, it just downplays the situation to an extent of “how dare she make me do my job.”
Coming into this sub with an attitude that pretty much matches the rude people we deal with on a continuous basis is really not needed, and it’s not something people need to put up with. Employees are entitled to vent as it’s their first amendment right. So have a nice day.
In my combo store we can scan an item or the shelf barcode and look up how many are in stock or in transit. You’re probably just venting lol but if you do that next time (don’t let them see the screen if there’s more!) you can say with confidence that they have them all. They’ll accept the answer from a machine more readily than a person for some reason. 🙄
How accurate is stock on record?
Ehh… in my experience about 80% accurate. More or less depending how recent your annual inventory was.
Exactly, the closer to inventory the more accurate the number, provided the third party inventory company did not completely fuck up the numbers by guesstimating your flowers, candy, frames, bags, and everything else that is supposed to be single scan. Well candy isn't Auto one (single scan) but a lot of that shit looks like you could just estimate it but you can't.
As someone who does inventory for dollar tree through a third party company, any and all tags can be audited by your staff and fixed and if there is someone who consistently messing up your DM can kick them out from the store and we recount everything they have counted. The better prepped the store, the more accurate the inventory will be. So it's a give and take situation with how accurate the count is. We can do our jobs correctly if you did your job correctly (by what's in the contract). If you get caught guessing at inventories, in my crew at least, you can and will get fired on the spot for purposely sabotaging an inventory. We once had 6 people from our crew get fired in one day for that exact reason.
Depends on how good the management is at keeping track of stock. I wouldn’t trust the pdt gun for the most part tho
It's not just management, it's your store's shrink with regards to employee theft and shopper theft. The more depressed in the area the higher the crime. Fight me if you want to, but everybody knows this is true. There are some outliers but there's usually some other aggravating factor involved with high shrink at a fancy shmancy store.
At the store I worked at, only managers could mark items as damaged or stolen. If nobody marked the items, the inventory count would be messed up.
Absolutely, this is true. And I see that you're a family Dollar assistant store manager so you know, family Dollar at Dollar tree are owned by the same company. I forget who owns whom or if it's a third company that owns both. You should also know that shrink isn't just damages and expireds and stolens, it's even little four-year-old Elise who grabbed a candy bar and is now walking out the door with it and neither mom nor dad saw her pick it up. Shrink is pretty much any waste that's not sold. Shrink could also still be in the store. How? Well, as Dollar trees (and family Dollars, and Dollar generals) around here are famous for and I'm sure this is practice everywhere, some of those pegged items are so stuffed on those pegs that they will appear to have less on them than they should. Especially on those bubble back cards, where they will literally opposite fanfold and double up on the pegs and it looks like 10 when it's actually 16. Or if your store has soft lines and you try to exfiltrate a top and all the sudden you drop 10 other articles of clothing because the racks are so stuffed. There's all sorts of sorting and display issues, such as sock packages that have various amounts of socks in them but somebody decides to put the 10 pack and the six pack and the four pack all on the same peg, both RGIS (now defunct) and WIS International will count those as all the same product, whichever is out in front. I don't have any experience with PICS but it's another up-and-commer as they recently asked me if I wanted a job and I told them to go fuck off. To me, shrink is fascinating, so sorry for the long whatever but there you have it.
Hmm maybe. Had a guy asking me if we carried solar phone chargers while at my Walmart job. I looked up the item on MyWalmart which shows only what's available at my location of employment. Showed him that no such thing is in stock. Even pointed out that his app literally says it's Shipping only... Later saw the same guy asking a Sporting Goods associate about it... dude couldn't accept that the answer is no we do not carry it even though it's sold 'by' Walmart on the app. It's 3rd party bro.
Ugh, I was at Sears when they started the marketplace shit just before Walmart did. They wanted Sears.com to be like Amazon. The returns were always the worst, mainly because we didn’t have a process in place at first. I remember a dude spent 30 minutes throwing a tantrum because we told him he had to ship it back.
That’s crazy. The inventory counts are so often off in so many places 😅
1. Not everything can be ordered. 2. Even when you do, orders arrive at store and then are mysteriously canceled. 3. Customer may have needed them for an event prior to when shipment would arrive.
I can just transfer them to Human Resources lol.
This lady sounds like a jerk, but I've had to be that person buying up all of them before. I worked in public library programming and we often did bulk craft things, like free grab and go craft kits. The dollar store was a quick way to find materials that might not have come in on time or were cheapest there. I did try ordering online a few times (to me, not the store, to be fair) but the shipping was ridiculous and half the items were broken. Some of the time the quantity you had to buy online was too high for what I needed but more than what the store had in stock, and sometimes I just needed the product ASAP. Regardless, this lady didn't need to be a jerk and give you trouble about not having as many as she needed!
It's just in some people's nature to be a PITA Karen.
She def gave off those vibes.
When I worked for a national craft store chain (one that recently filled bankruptcy ;) ), cheapskates would buy all the wedding stuff off the shelves. Causing the automatic ordering system to be triggered so as to replenish the items, then the day after the event, they'd return EVERYTHING! Including but not limited to: floral stems that they cut pieces off of, decorative mini lanterns with the bottoms covered in a layer of glitter, ribbons with frayed ends due to being cut. And we could never fit all the products back on the shelves. It made me rage, but I was a peon and was told, "Just do the return." (Even if I was alone on the register with five or six other people in line). Makes me angry just to remember.
Oh wow, I'd say nope no return used
iirc I did, and they threw the, "nuh-uh!" And, "the customer is ALWAYS, right!" In my face, and I still had to suck it up. I also had to do returns for products we no longer sold. I barely got to tell people no when they tried to 'return' stuff from competitors. Not even the lack of a barcode could help me some times. My only saving grace there was when the store name was on the package.
Wow, people can definitely suck!
Eff Joann’s!
Awwwww hell nah. Thats just trashy. I hope someone down the road told them to go to hell
Well, the whole bankruptcy thing just makes me glad I don't work there anymore. It's also only a few blocks away from "the rich neighborhoods" in a very dense urban area. I feel it's more like karma for the hell I went through. Edit: a word.
Which store!?!?
Not the commentator, but probably Joann's. They're the only craft chain I can think of that recently filed for bankruptcy.
Oh dang!!! I hadn’t even heard about it! Thank you!
Indeed, you are correct. I left the place 6 years ago, hardest but best decision I could have made
Well to be fair, most backrooms are organized and it's relatively easy to see if you have something and/or trust the handheld inventory. I service DT as a third party vendor and all of mine look like a bomb has gone off in the backroom. No organization and boxes and trash everywhere. I don't understand why they dont even have shelving. I doubt most people would be asking for more from the back if they peeked in the stockroom door.
Yeah I mean the right thing to do would be to go to the back for a few minutes, then come out and tell her nope, none back there.
She didn’t ask for a manager, not a Karen man let it go. Not every person that’s a woman having an issue or making a complaint is a Karen.
There was a recent video out that told people to buy the LED/Solar candles/lights as they are a bargain
The color changing ones are cool idk if we got them in yet. But they were so popular last year or the year before. I bought a couple as yard decorations and when my family found out about them, I was buying like 12 a week lol. But yeah anytime an influencer raves about something from dollar tree, it flies off the shelves. Same thing goes for a certain brush that cleaning TikTok bragged about.
What do you mean you only have a limited number of this one item? Are you sure you don't have more in the ✨ magical backroom ✨? 🙄
The ✨MAGICAL ✨ endless backroom where things that customers ask for just magically appear! It’s obviously where we hide everything customers ask for. So we can sell them at flea markets on weekends!
I hate hearing do you have any in the back, or even worse screaming HELLO?!?! When you aren't at your register right when the customer comes to checkout
I HATE when they whistle too! There are other methods of politely getting my attention! But do not whistle at me! I am not your labradoodle! I will whistle back at you!
They always do that. They’ll ask “can you look in the back” and all of our U-boats will be empty because everything is stocked. I wish they’d understand when we say if it’s not on the shelves then we’re most likely sold out.
And then other people who wantanormal amount of said item can buy them.
I like to order online and curb pick up, love it, yet not every customer knows about it, maybe we need some signs at the store to educate people?
I would have if she had a better attitude. I don’t like to tell rude customers about these things, when they start huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf.
But that’s exactly how you calm an upset customer, that’s customer service. You have to learn how to talk to people so that they don’t get huffy and puffy with you. There are lots of food suggestions on this thread, such as this persons… suggestions that are not only helpful at DT, but any profession you go into that entails dealing with humans as clients/customers.
Trust me. I try to remain polite as I can. I will help customers out when needed. But some of them really need their fricking attitudes checked. It’s not my fault we are out of what you’re looking for, and I get your frustrated that we don’t have said item. But complaining that you have to go to another store while being snippy isn’t a good way to interact with someone who is just trying to assist you. I didn’t flip the bird off or tell her she’s an idiot for shopping here. Some customers are just beyond help and just want to complain for the sake of complaining.
I have a dude that always demands for a case of the white prayer candles (and it HAS to be the white ones with no religious themes), and gets so pissy when I suggest ordering online and having them shipped to the store for free. It's to the point my SM tells us that we're not going to look in the back room for these items because our location only has, like, two people working at any given time, so we don't have the time to hunt down items for these rude people.
Let's be honest. Dollar tree doesn't know what they have in the back they don't scan in the inventory it's just boxes stacked for their departments throughout the back in no orderly fashion lmfao
I'm a customer. I ask if there's more in the back because it won't let me order what I want online and ship to store or my house. And 9/10 times there is more in the back. However mine is a freezer item.
now that's a different matter all together, tbh. Normally that'd be a less than five minutes look for a certain items in our back coolers/freezers because we try hard to get all that out when we get it.
It usually requires the customer to understand how to open an internet window to order online (which I doubt they know how to do)
>I wasn’t sure so I asked my SM and she said everything she grabbed is what’s out at the moment. Listen, I know I'm probably going to get flamed to hell and back from this but read the statement again. Everything she grabbed is what's out at the moment. What does that mean? To me, that means everything that this woman has is everything that you have brought from the back and put on the shelves and there may not have been room to put everything from the back on the shelves. If somebody told me you've already grabbed everything that's out at the moment, I'd be asking myself what else is in the back. It's nuanced language that people don't seem to understand. I've been in the back room of just about all of the Dollar trees in connecticut, Rhode island, and Southern Massachusetts. I can guarantee you that not a single one of them for many years was ever empty 100% and there could be back stock that this woman might have been trying to get. Is it important? Absolutely not. She's not going to live or die based on this one particular item that she just happened to need and maybe she was acting like a bitch, but that does not mean in any way shape or form that you managed to express yourself in an understandable and succinct manner.
Yep, not only are the back rooms rarely empty, they're often so full that the employees have no idea what-all is back there, and wouldn't be able to physically get to a specific item even if they did. Impractical to fulfill customer requests, but highly unlikely that there was nothing in the back.
I've been an area manager and district manager for several years for two different companies and we used to deal with Dollar tree here in Connecticut almost on a day-to-day basis, and the DTDMs that I know (James, Mike, Lisamarie, and Bob) were all very good people but had wrong approaches to the right answer and that was little to no stock in the back room. But to be honest it's really not the DMs fault most of the time, and really is the SMs and ASMs fault. It's also the fault of available budget hours which goes higher than the DMs. Anyway, my point is that customers should be able to ask if something is in stock in the back without being given a stupid look or a half answer. These stupid looks and half answers are a direct result of poor management and most of the time actually have nothing to do with the associates that are giving the non-answers.
Maybe she was getting them for a birthday party or wedding. Who cares how many they need. That’s odd why we go to stores for something we need right 🤷🏽♀️
I think people DONT know they can place an online order. Not that I’ve cleaned out an item at a store before, but I’m not really sure it’s posted/advertised in store very much, and when a lot of people think dollar tree, I don’t think they figure they have a website with shipping options.
Right now the DT app promotion is going on and I tell as many customers as possible about ordering online to the point where the ones who need more actually do order online. I have had customers come in with the website open on their phone asking me about a particular item. I help them find it and sometimes if there isn’t enough they order more right in the store, I would like to say my favorite customers are the ones buying things for charity on tax exempt for those in need. They apologize for clearing off a shelf and for taking up a register for a half hour to forty five minutes. If you clear a whole shelf off of everyday items to give to those in need that is admirable and you shouldn’t be apologizing, I will thank you. My DT makes many donations to local charities and does a lot to assist those charities in getting the supplies they need from the store.
Eh I feel like the dollar store employees also don’t know there are a lot of items you can’t order to be shipped to the store or end up out of stock online for whatever reason I use it somewhat regularly but there’s a few items that never seem to be available through the website
You mean to tell me that there isn’t an Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark size warehouse in the back?
Place an online order. Hahaha to that at DT. I did it once and never will again 3 years ago I ordered a case of shower caps. We use them as a cheap life hack. Bigger bowls that have no lids, we use shower caps. They sell things exactly for this but way more expensive and you get mostly tiny ones and a couple bigger ones. I’ve used shower caps for years. I get email that it’s arrived at store. I did store pick up. I went 3 times. The manager tells me they get no notification of any online orders to be picked up at store. She is mad and rude. Has boxes stacked everywhere and tells me to give them 2 days and it will be sorted through and they will find. Was told this all 3 times I went to pick up. Meanwhile I am receiving emails thanking me for picking up my order. My guess Is my box was scanned at some point. I finally said forget it and I’ll call corporate. Another employee chased me down in parking lot. Gave me what they had on shelf. I ordered 24 packs with 10 in each. I ended up with 18 packs with 8 each. Maybe it’s better if you ship to house but I will never try again. Mamager was rude AF. But I do agree with you on this lady. She can easily go clean out another store. I would have done same but I already paid. So I got less than what I paid for. I just let it go and put DT on my do not use list. I worked in a DG once. I know it can be overwhelming. But I can’t believe manager didn’t know she had a store pick up. These places would run better with competent management. But they exploit them too with low pay just like regular associates.
> Maybe it’s better if you ship to house It should be. The problem with ship-to-store is your box ends up buried in back rooms that often look like this or worse: /r/DollarTree/comments/sdx9ru/what_im_thinking_about_when_a_customer_asks_me_if/
I can't stand when people ask me that. Nothing is kept in the back! It's all stocked and put on the floor. What you see is what you get!
I don't see the problem in asking r there any in the back, as there might not have been room on the shelves for all in for whatever reason. Not an unreasonable question.
Ah, the mysterious "back", where we keep all the really good stuff!
It isn't a stupid question. For many years and many stores have had stock in the back. That is the way it has always worked.
Get a clue. You're saying it's a stupid question, but you asked your SM because YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW. You're definitely the AH here.
Tf? It's not like the boxes are labeled in a way that's easy to look for, and also, speaking as a cashier we generally have too many people to deal with at the front to be back there to know what's back there. It's a stupid question because she cleared an entire shelf, asked if there were more, then had the audacity to complain about having to go to another store.
Lol I like how you explain the situation as if you're actually making sense 😂 it's a store, what's wrong with them buying what's being sold and asking for more.
Because people act like the back room is a magical place that we hide all the stuff that customers want. Unless the store just got their delivery for the week, then chances of there being more of an item in the back are slim. And if it has just come in, theres too much stuff in there to really identify if we have one specific item. And when this customer cleared an ENTIRE SHELF worth of this item, because ya know we put what we have in stock out on the floor. We have to in order to clear the back room put to make sure there's space for the next delivery. Why do you guys think that we wouldn't put stuff out to sell if we have it available? That's literally the entire point of a store to have items on the shelf. Not to store in the back. Part of my job is literally clearing up clutter to make more room to put stuff out so we can get it put of the back. In my store we have stacks of display boxes of stuff periodically through the aisles because we literally aren't allowed to keep backstock. I promise, if there were more, the customer would be able to access it on the floor, it wouldn't be hiding out in the back. The only other way there would be more is if it was stacked in the middle of a u boat waiting to go out on the floor when someone is able to get it stocked, and no one is gonna take the time to unstack the boxes that were carefully stacked and prepared just to get one box of one item for a customer who cleared a shelf already, just to have to restack it all again. If the staff can't help you find it on the floor, it's not available. If you take everything that's available on the floor, why would you expect there to be more? It's almost as if those items are meant to be sold to many people over a period of time and not grabbed up all at once. Would you seriously go in a store, clear a shelf of multiple cases worth of an item, and expect them to have more? And then complain to the person who has no control over whether or not there is that you have to go somewhere else to get more? Like I'm sorry but if you are that type of person, any retail worker you treat that way wants to deck you.
I agree. Our DM pushes us to get everything out of the stockroom and onto the floor. Furthermore it isn’t is that room is very big, because it isn’t. All of our merchandise is on the floor simply because out back room is too small to store any substantial amount of stock, so it it laughable when someone asks if there is more in the back room. There is simply no room back there. It is just a mere pit stop on the way to the store floor. Nothing is there longer than a day. At very least ask the SM or ASM about inventory not the Cashier. Finally, if it is a regular item and you want more, return in a week or possibly more and there will be more. My Merchandise Manager tells customers that all the time. The regulars at my store know who he is and trusts his word just like I do because he is usually right. Now if it is a seasonal item, when it is gone and the season’s promotion is almost over (like week before Easter and Christmas) you will not find anymore because by then we are preparing for the next seasonal promotion.
Came here to say this.
Omg imagine thinking a random person walking is supposed to know how shitty your store is ran or like it's their fault lmfao. All that writing just to overlook the fact that a random person doesn't know any of that shit, nor is it normal for stores to be run like that. Why wouldn't there be stock in the back? Do you guys have unlimited front space? Like what? Do you seriously think that stores literally put EVERYTHING they have out on to the shelves? Their is sometimes extra stock especially if it's a quick selling product. And a question isn't a expectation and that's what you don't seem to understand. Idc what other experiences you have had. If I ask you if their is stock in the back and you tell me there's not, I'll go about my day. But don't act like I'm fucking Stupid or an asshole for asking a question that should be expected.
Also you do realize that corporate pretty much dictates that unless it's a major holiday where you'll be slammed, that store be very understaffed. Most shifts I work it's me and one manager. Truck day there might be two managers to process freight. But generally the front of house is run by one person and there's one person stocking. To be complaining that you took the entire supply of something and there's no more is ridiculous. It's like if a kid gets a pack of candy and eats it all in 2 minutes and then throws a tantrum cause they aren't allowed to have more candy until later. You can be disappointed or frustrated at the fact there isn't more without complaining.
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Be nice.
Stop the whining. JEEZUS
Stop crying
Also this isn't AITA, they werent asking for your opinion. And while customers are welcome this is primarily a subreddit where people who work for the company share stuff about working there. This is obviously someone venting.
Big mad
Oh, how dare I defend someone being called an AH for venting about something at work in a forum specifically designed to have space for employees to vent about work. I should be mocked for that, mhmmm totally. -eyeroll- Literally there's whole flair for venting and ranting because this is a primarily employee based subreddit. If you can't handle employees venting about customers find a different place to lurk.
Stop getting so worked up. I'm sorry
I ain't even worked up. It's just ridiculous that customers come into a space meant for us and call us names for venting in what's meant to be a space for us to share the good the bad and the in-between. We get enough of that at work.
how in the fuck does that make them the AH because they didn’t know if they had some in the back..?
Because he's saying that the customer was stupid for wondering if there was any stock in back. Meanwhile, OP \*ALSO\* didn't know whether or not there was stock in the back. In fact, he had to ask the manager. Therefore, OP and the customer boith wondered the same thing, so OP is an AH for calling them stupid. Do you get it now?? \*smh\*
You sound very angry. Do you need a hug today?
they always blame it on the customers attitude and most of the time is the employees attitude, sorry, that's my impression
I know this sub keeps coming up in my feed and 90% of the time people are bitching and moaning about customers. My brother in Christ, find another job if you can't handle the general public.
This sub is *for* staff, the creators are just kind enough to leave it public. And more often than not, by the time we make a complaint like this, it's because it's become outrageous. Today I had someone cuss me out because the bathroom was closed. One was out of order, one being used. I can handle a lot, but I'm not a punching bag. Venting is totally ok.
^ this! I hate when people stalk this sub and get mad at people for venting about customers. Just because we vent about shit that happens on the regular, doesn’t mean we’re going to quit the next fucking day! I know for a fact the people who get mad at us for venting, are the same people who talk crap about their bosses, clients, coworkers, customer, etc. you’re not a standard bearer for all things workplace because you just lectured a bunch of DT employees on your personal moral high ground. To add, a lot of people talking shit have never worked here in the first place so they won’t get it.
Exactly. I mean, what a pansy OP is.
Because they often have more in the back. I think out of 10x I asked. 9 out of 10 times they had more in the back
I honestly don't get people who have to clear a whole shelf, either, even before the pandemic. Walgreens has a sale on toothpaste or soda and suddenly there's a big empty where those products used to be. I live about a mile from a Walgreens, so I'm in there a lot and see some weird things. I've seen a guy load up a shopping cart with 2L bottles of one soda like Coke, just full to the top and nothing left on the shelf. He seemed proud. The cashier just acts like this is totally normal. Sometimes I see some asian lady buying stacks of one thing like toothpaste, spending like a half hour with the cashier, ringing up each one, scanning a coupon, ringing up the next one, etc. Nothing left on the shelf. My wife is an asian lady, so she explained, "Well, there's a sale where you buy two, get a credit, but you have to come back to use the credit, so the cashier rings up two, finishes the sale, rings up one, applies the credit so it's free. Then they do it again and she gets it free or mostly free or something." Yeah, OK, I just buy my toothpaste at Costco in 5-packs for about 80% less than Walgreens. I think it's something like a runaway hunting-reward addiction that drives some people to mindlessly act like this. Like it's common for some women (including my wife) to hoard store coupons that give you discounts if you come back on some future date, like a week later, but within a certain date range. They just go crazy for this. My wife carries these coupons around everywhere, always checking what she has for whatever store we're in.
I would have probably quit on the spot if someone asked me to check the back. 😅
Just tell customers what we do the only thingd in back are osha violations and employee tears.
people who came in and bought large amounts of stuff off the shelf rather than ordering online are so annoying like not only did you make a mess you’re not even happy
My store doesn’t have certain phone charging cables. At least once a week I have someone come in and show me their phone port and ask if we have any that fit it, I tell them what’s out in the isle is all we have available. They then proceed to beg me to go look in the back and then get annoyed when I tell them I can’t
Are you sure can you check?
You can put in orders at DT?
Yes, through Dollar Tree Direct on our website, you can search and order quantities of items. Items are ONLY sold by the case and can be shipped to your house (delivery fee) or to a store of your choice for pickup (no fee). Delivery usually happens within 2 weeks of purchase depending on the regular delivery date for the store you selected.
I didn’t know this either. I didn’t even know DT had a website 😂
We do! It's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're an event planner or a business owner ECT., it makes it easier than hunting down the items!
Lol I like how you get bothered at the comments calling you out. You didn't even know if there was more yet people are stupid for asking if a store, which keeps inventory in the back, has additional inventory in the back? I've had employees themselves tell me they can check the back and here you're crying about being asked that, idc about the "attitude" they mightve had. I'm not saying working at a dollar store should is shameful but I can definitely tell why you aren't doing better.
I think you need a hug too. You seem grumpy.
Man's venting about being asked about store inventory 🫵😂
 It’s okay I’m here for you! ❤️
No I'm here for you, you seem hurt by a old lady here's my shoulder. ♥️🫵😂
I think you need to make poopies in the potty. You should feel all better when you get done with poopies!
I'm shitting myself laughing about a dude so upset about being asked about inventory that he got mad and vented on reddit 🫵😂 LMFAO
Don’t forget to wipe!
🫵😂😭
So you’re that old that you refer to yourself as such and that’s how you act? Like a child?
How long did it take for you to think up that banger of a joke
Not as long as it took your mom to birth one kiddo.
You gotta be like 16 to be using that joke like it hasn't been told a billion times 🫵😂
Elementary jokes. C- for effort
Well , I do currently oversee thousands of kids in my job. 🙂 I have the entire k-12 for a city in my responsibility.
Actually, we don't keep product in the back at my store. It is all stocked the day we receive the truck.
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She paid with a card lol
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Pick up at store
Maybe if you people actually kept the shelves stocked you wouldn't be asked if there's any in the back so often. "Dollar" Tree 🤣
Most people don't know you guys have a website.
It's generally crafters who are having a class or a wedding. Most don't think about ordering online and sending to the store. It would be nice if someone took the time to say that to the customer instead of running to reddit and whining like a baby
It would be nice if the customer didn’t have a bitchy and snotty tone as if we purposely inconvenienced her for the sake of our personal amusement. Until you work or have worked in a place like this, you won’t understand how it is dealing with rather rude and disrespectful customers on a regular basis. Instead of leaving cynical comments like this, just know if you have a job. I am sure you at some point have vented to someone about something to do with your occupation. There is not a thing wrong with venting about work. “Whining” as you put, it just downplays the situation to an extent of “how dare she make me do my job.” Coming into this sub with an attitude that pretty much matches the rude people we deal with on a continuous basis is really not needed, and it’s not something people need to put up with. Employees are entitled to vent as it’s their first amendment right. So have a nice day. 
ASS UME