'A cashier bursts into the room, panicked... lines are getting backed up': IT employee tries to avoid shutting down retail registers, oblivious manager refuses

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 23, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

These retail shoppers had an especially memorable shopping experience thanks to one store manager who couldn't be bothered to do her job.

When you're shopping, waiting in line can be irritating. If there aren't enough cashiers, you might have to wait there for quite some time. Some stores manage to bring in enough cashiers to make the line move quickly. Others have shifted to the self-checkout method, which can be a real drag if you have tons of items to scan all by yourself.

However, these shoppers encountered a particular problem while they were shopping one day. As u/DistrictEquivalent79 explains, they were always moving between different stores doing IT jobs. On this fateful day, this employee was called to replace a server at a retail store. They knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing… but a manager decided to be as impolite as possible, insisting that she needed to eat her lunch before she could manage the situation. She paid the price for this, as you can check out in the story below. 

Up next, check out these utterly baffling home design choices, like one person who "spent $15,000 on this kitchen…It's been on the market for 415 days." 

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    via Getty Images on Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    You want to talk to MY manager? OK... This happened about 13 years ago. I was a field service engineer for a national retail chain. Basically, I was the IT guy who drove around in a company vehicle, servicing the computer networks in the stores. The way the company was organized, there were "corporate" employees and then there were "retail" employees. Being a "corporate" employee, I received corporate stock as a small part of my salary. And my starting pay was three times the rate of any store m
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
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    (This was truly ironic, as I actually did own a very small piece of the corporation, whereas the average store manager did not.) One day, I got orders to replace a server in a store not too far from my house (I worked out of my house, but kept parts in the truck...and also the back room of another store nearby). So I show up to the store where the server needed to be replaced. It was my 2nd stop of three scheduled that day. I walk in the store wearing my
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
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    very obvious corporate uniform and name tag with logo. The store owner (errrr...retail manager) instantly DEMANDS to know W FI am doing in "her" store. I get this all the time, nothing new. I calmly explain that my boss wants me to upgrade one of the store servers (hardware replacement) and I even show her where it is that I will be working. I explain that it will take about an hour, and that the (POS) registers might go offline for about 5 minutes.
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    She isn't happy, but she reluctantly allows me into the room where the server is and I start working. When I'm just about done, the (POS) registers go down as I am switching them to the new server, which is not fully hooked up yet. It was at this point where I realize I have forgotten to bring in a couple of cables that I need to finish hooking the new server into the store network. So I RUN out to the truck to get the required cables. I'm gone about 2 minutes.
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
  • 06
    When I get back the store manager is sitting at the table in front of the server, and she's got food spread out all over the table. The server is under the table. I tell the store manager I need to finish hooking up the server (gesturing under the table). The store manager tells me I'll have to come back in an hour, after her lunch break. I'm shocked into total silence. Then a cashier bursts into the room, panicked that the registers aren't working... and the checkout lines are getting backed up
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
  • 07
    I explain to the manager that I have to fix the server now, or the registers will not work. The manager tells me I should have thought of THAT before I started working in her lunch break area...
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
  • 08
    I calmly tell the store manager that she'll have to take a break later, or find somewhere else to eat her lunch. She tells me I'm r de and incompetent and DEMANDS to speak to MY MANAGER, immediately. Hokey Dokey...
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  • 09
    I call up my manager using my corporate-issue iPhone, and quickly explain the situation, and then walk into the server room to hand the iPhone to the store manager. While she's on the phone with my manager, I head out to the front of the store to explain (and apologize) that the registers are going to be down for a few more minutes. I can't hear exactly what the store manager is telling to my manager, but I can tell that it's a heated conversation and I clearly
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
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    hear the word "fired" mentioned a few times. It's clear that the store owner (errrr, retail manager) wants me to be fired for daring to try to interrupt her lunch break. Unfortunately for her, my direct supervisor was about 5-6 levels above the retail district manager. So the store manager was complaining loudly about *interrupting my work* to the manager of her manager's manager's manager's manager's manager's manager.
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
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    A few minutes later the store manager walks out of the room awkwardly balancing bits and pieces of her lunch spread. I immediately go back to work getting the new server up and running and re-booting the POS registers so that they will sync on the new server and cashiers can get back to work! Everyone is happy now except the store "owner", because her lunch break was ruined.
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
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    The main part of my task is done now, but it takes me about another 15 minutes to clean up my mess and re-organize my truck to get ready for my next stop which will be about a one-hour drive from my current location. As I'm doing this, I see the retail district manager (I've met her before) going into the store. She walks back out of the store with the former store manager, who is carrying a box of her personal items.
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
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    SmallSmooth Rock I've learned that if a company trusts someone with their servers, they are much farther up the ladder than me or at the very least, much less replaceable
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    Ok_Entertainment4959. So let me get this straight... the store manager actually prioritised her lunch over getting the cash register online? No wonder she got the sack
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    EdgeMiserable4381 I am very fond of my lunch breaks. But I definitely would not use it to peevishly keep someone else from getting a job done while scr wing over my staff and customers. I bet you grinned the rest of the day. Haha
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    tophat212. There's an important question that hasn't been answered... did someone go 'wa wa waaaa' on a trumpet while she was carrying her personal items?
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  • 17
    DistrictEquivalent79 OP I was inwardly laughing as I watched the walk of shame. Hey, she insisted on talking to MY manager. Maybe she should have asked who exactly my manager was first? (!!!!) To be fair, I got "attitude" from many retail employees. They seemed to be entirely ignorant of the fact that I was there under orders of someone WAY high up in their chain of command.
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
  • 18
    RJack151 Wow, imagine how much I would have hit the fan if you actually left while POS was down so she could finish her lunch. And not to mention if anything spilled off the table and onto the server.
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    DistrictEquivalent 79 OP Oh, I can guess how that would have turned out. She says come back in an hour. I come back in an hour, and my manager fires me while simultaneously finishing the work he'd sent me there to do. And when I say the retail manager wouldn't let me work, she'd just have a blank expression on her face...
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79
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    canadianstringer Only way this story could have been better is if you very sweetly offered to help carry the box to her car. Love this mate.
    via u/DistrictEquivalent79

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cash register malicious compliance retail shopping retail worker coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit working cashier workplace malicious compliance reddit shoppers
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