Completely enraged!!!

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This is kind of long, but somewhat-kinda entertaining.

I start my first quarter of nursing school on Monday. The last thing I needed to check off my list of school to-do's was to buy scrubs from the school bookstore. I am required to buy two sets from my school's bookstore per the program's instructions and nowhere else (they are sent to the school with the nursing student patches already on them).

Now, I have spent a few years working retail/customer service and have done a damn good job of it, so I get really offended when I'm the customer who is treated like crap from those in similar positions.

I enter the bookstore. I ask a lady where the scrubs were, which she showed me. The tops and pants are each individually wrapped. I look to my left and see just a few tops and pants hanging labeled as "samples." I quickly gathered that "Oh, they have samples here, this obviously means that I try these on to find my size." However, I wanted to see if they had some sort of fitting room or what have you, so I find a guy and ask about trying them on. He says, "Oh, you can't try those on. You can only hold them up to your body to see if they fit."

...okay. I get closer to the sample scrubs and quickly realize that that doesn't make much sense as they're dirty and appeared to have been tried on by God knows how many people. There is makeup all over the v-neck necklines. This kind off grosses me out and seems unsanitary to me (they could at least clean them regularly). I then ask a different guy, "Do you guys have some sort of sizing chart related to these scrubs I can look at?" He says, "Ummm...I don't think - well, I don't know. Let me ask."

He goes to ask who I recognized by her voice to be the lady that first showed me where the scrubs were. All of a sudden, I hear her from accross the store in the snottiest tone, "Um, that's why they're ON THE RACK." I hear her walk with him to find me. It is getting closer to closing time for them (2 PM on Saturdays) and I'm getting frustrated because I could have been over and done with the situation by now if things were handled better...

Her: They're on the rack, right in front of you.

Me: I know where they are. What I asked was if there was some sort of sizing chart.

Her: *laughs slightly* Uh, again, they're on the rack...we don't have a sizing chart.

Me: Well the first guy I talked to said I couldn't try them on, that I could only hold them up to me.

Her: *calls loudly to the guy somewhere in the store so he could hear* Did you hear that? She can try them on, either over her clothes or in the restroom so long as we hold her wallet. *looks back to me, talking in a snotty tone again* Except, we're closed. In fact, it's a little after closing, and we would all like to go home now, you know.

Then, the lady, both guys that helped me and another guy all looked at me together CHUCKLING before they just walk away from me. Like I have two ******* heads and am completely incompetent with no active brain waves. It just wasn't appropriate. It should not take an act of congress to find the right size scrubs!!! This is how they treat students? I'm new to this school. Nothing says "Welcome!" than this behavior. I just left empty handed. It was a wasted trip anyway. From just eyeballing it, it seems like the only size that will fit me is an extra small. Even the small appears huge. But of course, they don't have those sizes in and they have them on order...

I felt embarassed and humiliated. No customer should ever feel that way.

I'm really crossing my fingers and hoping that this is not a bad omen/a reflection if what is to come of my nursing program...

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Specializes in Going to Peds!.

Buy the small.

Sent from my HTC One X using allnurses.com

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Wow, if that gets you "completely enraged," you may be in for a long, long haul.

I found nursing school to be disorganized and needlessly regimented and inflexible... and with little or no consideration of us as 'customers.'

It's not right but it is what it is.

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Buy the small. Sent from my HTC One X using allnurses.com
I agree. It's better for it to be a little big than too tight. As for the rest of your story, you are going to have people everywhere you go who mock you and belittle you. Including nurses and doctors. You need to figure out NOW how you are going to handle it because flying off the handle in a fit of rage like you have done here isn't the answer.
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She didn't fly off the handle...I would be ticked too. Sometimes this site is helpful and other times its a joke. People are sooo rude!

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She didn't fly off the handle- she handled it well. What else could she have done? She went online to vent, a perfectly appropriate thing to do. However, I hate to tell you that nursing school (especially at a community college) is pretty frustrating. You are going to have great moments, and you are going to have horrible ones. You are going to have nurses and instructors treat you like gold and be supportive, and some are going to treat you like dirt and take out their frustrations on you. It sounds like the staff at the bookstore are unprofessional and hate their jobs. I would write a complaint to the college, explaining what happened very factually, and just put it behind you. What I will tell you is even with the frustrations, if nursing is really what you want to do, it's so worth it. Good luck!

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I agree with ArtermisRN!! that was so rude and professional and I'm sorry you had to go through with that. Just remember, its going to be so worth it when we are done with school!! I would definitely let your instructors know. Good luck in school :)

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As for the rest of your story you are going to have people everywhere you go who mock you and belittle you. Including nurses and doctors. You need to figure out NOW how you are going to handle it because flying off the handle in a fit of rage like you have done here isn't the answer.[/quote']

Wow if that gets you "completely enraged," you may be in for a long, long haul.[/quote']

It is a bookstore. You go there to buy books and pens. It is a retail environment. If you can't find something, staff is there for the purpose of helping you with your purchase. They were completely out of line. I would expect belittlement from medical staff because that sometimes is the nature of the field (no, I don't have unrealistic expectations of it being rainbows and butterflies). I do not expect it from bookstore staff trying to sell me a product. I'm surprised that I even have to explain the difference here in situations. And you've never been ****** at how someone in the retail or the food industry has treated you at any point in your life? I doubt that. I'm sure there have been times you didn't tip much to a waiter/waitress, or complained to the manager.

Nah, we shouldn't do any of that. Because, you know, we work in the medical field where we are frequently barked at and we should just suck it up and shut up as per usual when we're mistreated in a retail environment too. Sounds silly if you ask me.

I think people try way too hard on here to go out of their way to compare any frustrations you feel from practically anything to nursing school, being a nurse, etc. "Oh that's how you feel? Well, with that attitude, you're going to have a long road ahead of you!"

I resent the fact that because I vent about something unrelated to medicine that all of a sudden I'm marked as someone that will struggle in school, or that will struggle as I work with doctors and other staff. Excuse you, but you do not know my capabilities in medicine, so do not act like because I get frustrated in a bookstore that I can't handle the work environment or will lack competence. The bookstore staff treated me less than stellar and I wanted to share, the end.

If you want retailers to walk all over you where you are the one helping to keep their business thriving, be my guest. I'd rather not, thanks. I assure you that other doctors and nurses have been frustrated by some sort of poor retail treatment and had plenty to say about it.

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That would have made me angry too! However, it says more about those people than it does you and you handled it well! They acted like jerks!

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It is a bookstore. You go there to buy books and pens. It is a retail environment. If you can't find something, staff is there for the purpose of helping you with your purchase. They were completely out of line. I would expect belittlement from medical staff because that sometimes is the nature of the field (no, I don't have unrealistic expectations of it being rainbows and butterflies). I do not expect it from bookstore staff trying to sell me a product. I'm surprised that I even have to explain the difference here in situations. And you've never been ****** at how someone in the retail or the food industry has treated you at any point in your life? I doubt that. I'm sure there have been times you didn't tip much to a waiter/waitress, or complained to the manager.

Nah, we shouldn't do any of that. Because, you know, we work in the medical field where we are frequently barked at and we should just suck it up and shut up as per usual when we're mistreated in a retail environment too. Sounds silly if you ask me.

I think people try way too hard on here to go out of their way to compare any frustrations you feel from practically anything to nursing school, being a nurse, etc. "Oh that's how you feel? Well, with that attitude, you're going to have a long road ahead of you!"

I resent the fact that because I vent about something unrelated to medicine that all of a sudden I'm marked as someone that will struggle in school, or that will struggle as I work with doctors and other staff. Excuse you, but you do not know my capabilities in medicine, so do not act like because I get frustrated in a bookstore that I can't handle the work environment or will lack competence. The bookstore staff treated me less than stellar and I wanted to share, the end.

If you want retailers to walk all over you where you are the one helping to keep their business thriving, be my guest. I'd rather not, thanks. I assure you that other doctors and nurses have been frustrated by some sort of poor retail treatment and had plenty to say about it.

This is funny because I actually posted something similar to this in the pre-nursing section. Different senarios, but about rude workers. Being unprofessional. Apparently here on AN only nurses are allowed to vent because anytime a student vents about something all hell breaks loose. Anytime we want to vent about something that is inappropriate in the workplace people feel like we wont make it as a nurse.. what? That's insane. Anyways, I understand. It's sad that people are like that but they are EVERYWHERE.

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They were probably disgruntled students that DIDNT get accepted into the nursing program :)

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You may nt have flown off the handle at the stood but you came here and were "enraged". My point is that there are people everywhere that will treat you like that. You did what you needed to do and left. My point is you can't get that upset every time something like this happens.

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