peachykeen
bootie shaker
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2002
- Posts
- 9,194
(this might be kinda long)
Ok, this is something that happened Monday, and I've been turning it over in my head for a couple of days, but I'm still at a bit of a loss. Let me explain:
There's a young woman (25ish) that comes into the my shop fairly often, I'd say 3 times a week or so. Once, about a month and a half ago (before the holidays, anyway), she came in and ordered a coffee drink made with soy milk.
Now, because non-dairy milk is more expensive to us, we have to charge 15p more for a drink made with soy than we would regular cow's milk. So I charged her the higher price, and she questioned why I was charging her more than the price on our sign. I explained and pointed out to her the line at the bottom of the sign that says 'A 15p surchage is added to hot drinks made with non-dairy milks.'
She said she had had drinks made at this shop before and had never been charged the surcharge. I can't remember the exact words I used, but I told her something to the effect of, "I'm sorry if there's been any confusion but you should have been charged all along; look at it this way, up to now you've been getting a bit of a bargain."
(Mind you, there was nothing unusual about this exchange; I have a nearly identical conversation with a customer at least two or three times a week.)
Well I could tell she wasn't thrilled at paying the higher price, but hey, that IS the price, it always was, you know? I didn't think it was any big deal.
And, I wasn't under the impression there were any bad feelings between her and me; there certainly wasn't on my part, and as I said seh continued to come in frequently, and since that dya I have waited on her many times, we have exchanged the usual "how are you today" pleasantries, and so on.
So monday morning, she came into the store and asked to see the general manager; he wasn't available then so she made and appointment to come back later in the day. I saw here there in the afternoon, smiled, said "Hi how are you," all that, not suspecting anything amiss.
Well after she speaks to my manager, he pullled me aside and told me that the reason she came to see him that she feels that ever since the day of that "incident" (which did not even register with me as being significant enough to be an "incident", or I would have notified him when it happened, you know?), I have been cold to her and treated her unfairly (she cited as an example of this a time when, apparently, I 'made her' pay for her drink before I prepared it) and she believes - do not ask me why - that this is all somehow related to the fact that she is black.
My manager is a great guy, he and I ave a very good working relationship, and he told her that although he appreciated her concerns and would treat her complaint with seriousness, he did not believe that if in fact I was treating her poorly, it would not be based on the color of her skin.
I was absolutely shocked when he told me all this. I had NO IDEA there was any problem!
I asked him if he wanted me to speak to her. I mean, if I have said or done anything that has made her feel uncomfortable, even unintentionally, I really am sorry for that. He said no, when she comes in from now on, just keep treating her just like any other regular customer, as he is sure I always have.
But the more I think about it, the harder that is going to be for me to do. (She hasn't been in, to my knowledge, since then.) I mean, how do I do that? Under other circumstances, with a different boss, I could have gotten fired, or at least had some disciplinary action, you know? Because she thinks that I am thinking something I'm not and therefore am doing something I'm not. WTF?
Ok, this is something that happened Monday, and I've been turning it over in my head for a couple of days, but I'm still at a bit of a loss. Let me explain:
There's a young woman (25ish) that comes into the my shop fairly often, I'd say 3 times a week or so. Once, about a month and a half ago (before the holidays, anyway), she came in and ordered a coffee drink made with soy milk.
Now, because non-dairy milk is more expensive to us, we have to charge 15p more for a drink made with soy than we would regular cow's milk. So I charged her the higher price, and she questioned why I was charging her more than the price on our sign. I explained and pointed out to her the line at the bottom of the sign that says 'A 15p surchage is added to hot drinks made with non-dairy milks.'
She said she had had drinks made at this shop before and had never been charged the surcharge. I can't remember the exact words I used, but I told her something to the effect of, "I'm sorry if there's been any confusion but you should have been charged all along; look at it this way, up to now you've been getting a bit of a bargain."
(Mind you, there was nothing unusual about this exchange; I have a nearly identical conversation with a customer at least two or three times a week.)
Well I could tell she wasn't thrilled at paying the higher price, but hey, that IS the price, it always was, you know? I didn't think it was any big deal.
And, I wasn't under the impression there were any bad feelings between her and me; there certainly wasn't on my part, and as I said seh continued to come in frequently, and since that dya I have waited on her many times, we have exchanged the usual "how are you today" pleasantries, and so on.
So monday morning, she came into the store and asked to see the general manager; he wasn't available then so she made and appointment to come back later in the day. I saw here there in the afternoon, smiled, said "Hi how are you," all that, not suspecting anything amiss.
Well after she speaks to my manager, he pullled me aside and told me that the reason she came to see him that she feels that ever since the day of that "incident" (which did not even register with me as being significant enough to be an "incident", or I would have notified him when it happened, you know?), I have been cold to her and treated her unfairly (she cited as an example of this a time when, apparently, I 'made her' pay for her drink before I prepared it) and she believes - do not ask me why - that this is all somehow related to the fact that she is black.
My manager is a great guy, he and I ave a very good working relationship, and he told her that although he appreciated her concerns and would treat her complaint with seriousness, he did not believe that if in fact I was treating her poorly, it would not be based on the color of her skin.
I was absolutely shocked when he told me all this. I had NO IDEA there was any problem!
I asked him if he wanted me to speak to her. I mean, if I have said or done anything that has made her feel uncomfortable, even unintentionally, I really am sorry for that. He said no, when she comes in from now on, just keep treating her just like any other regular customer, as he is sure I always have.
But the more I think about it, the harder that is going to be for me to do. (She hasn't been in, to my knowledge, since then.) I mean, how do I do that? Under other circumstances, with a different boss, I could have gotten fired, or at least had some disciplinary action, you know? Because she thinks that I am thinking something I'm not and therefore am doing something I'm not. WTF?
you, peachy.
