So I called the phone number on her application. No answer, so I left a message identifying myself and asking her to stop by the store at her earliest convenience to finish off the paperwork. All that day and the next she didn't show up. On the third day my manager told me the matter had to be wrapped up within the next two days, or I would lose my commission on the sale. So I phoned again, left a message again and told my manager they must be out of town (I knew she was married from info on her credit application).
The following morning passed without any contact from the young lady. At lunchtime, I hopped in my car to go grab a burger—taking the paperwork with me. Before pulling out of the CompUSA parking lot, I dialed the customer's number again and got their voicemail again. I left a message saying I was in my car and would swing by their residence with the paperwork for her to sign. So I ate my lunch and drove over to their apartment complex nearby. At the security gate I buzzed their number, but got no reply...so I returned to work.
She didn't call back that afternoon. She didn't call back the next day. Oh well, bye-bye laptop commission.
The following week I was at my desk in the business sales department when my manager came in and asked if I went to the lady's home. I told him I'd called ahead, buzzed from the gate, but got no reply...so no, I hadn't been at her "home." Then he says: "Well, she and her husband are accusing you of being a stalker and they're threatening to sue the company." I just laughed and asked if they'd filed a police report. He replied: "No, but the couple are in my office now demanding that we give them the laptop for free." I laughed again: "Now surely that's a joke." Evidently not. The husband said he was a lawyer. My manager, after calling corporate HQ in Dallas, agreed to their demand and gave them the laptop.
What goes on in people's minds prompting them to do outrageous things is a mystery to me. If the couple was a con-team running a scam on us from the beginning, then they were brilliant...because CompUSA had an encyclopedia of scams.
Of course there was no stalking—the voice messages I left were all business. Mister lawyer had the recordings, and if there were any hint of impropriety, he'd have demanded much more than a Toshiba laptop. I don't know what CompUSA admitted in its "settlement" with the couple. I was never shown any document or asked to sign anything. I wasn't debited for the loss—other than commission—and that was the end of it. But if I were ever to run for political office, I'm sure I would hear from that lady and her attorney.
Oh Wayne, I'm so sorry! Things like this make me sick.
ReplyDeleteI'l never forget the feeling in the pit of my stomach as my manager walked away. I had laughed at the accusation, but I had indeed taken a punch—and a teeny voice in my head asked 'Does he believe you?'.
ReplyDeleteHow do you un-ring a bell?
WOW! That's WAY scary! Anybody can accuse anybody of anything! So, did you get to keep the commission? After all, you were only trying to do what your boss told you to do--"wrap things up."
ReplyDeleteNope, I didn't get the commission—heck, the company had to pay for the whole laptop!
ReplyDeleteThere were no disciplinary actions against me at all. The only thing my manager said was "We're not ever supposed to take credit apps out of the store." Now ya tell me. But not once during the five or six times he reminded me to get the initials did he ever say: "Whatever you do, don't go to their residence." Like it's illegal to knock on somebody's door?