Nicknames

Face it, if you work retail, you're bound to have repeat customers (especially in a supermarket.) Now, not all these repeat customers are bad. But it's the ones that are that we remember most. They all seem to have personality traits that [most] every employee in the store picks up on. It's those customers that earn nicknames, that when mentioned, people will know exactly who is being talked about. They're good to warn your fellow associates to be on the look out. Since I deal with more customers at the supermarket, I will only refer to those customers. Some customers have different nick-names, depending on who you're talking to. I will try and list those that I can think of.

Tissue Guy: Tissue guy comes into the store at least 4 times a week. Each time he does, he buys multiple packages of multi-pack tissues. My thought is that he sells them at his own place (assuming he has a store of his own), that or his allergies are constantly in hyper-drive, in which case he should consider seeing a doctor. He always goes through the self-scan registers. He will then proceed to the service desk and complain about prices not coming off. But he'll purposely forget to use his savings card. He also likes to do Western Union. He uses a license that expired 5 years ago. No sense trying to talk to him. NOTE: I did not make these names for the customers. I learned them, and now use them.

Googly-Eyes (a.k.a. The Chameleon): This woman likes to come into the store and take stuff off the shelf. Then she tries returning it. Obviously she has no receipt. (We have a no hassle return policy). Well, her eyes are never looking at you. They're always all over the place. Sketchy. She'll come into the store again later to try and return something else if she gets denied the first time. Always has a drunken look to her too.

Two-Tooth: I don't really have a problem with this customer. But she has 2 teeth, and she's always trying to scam the lottery saying tickets that are actually losers are supposed to be winners. She's about 4'4" and always has on a winter hat.

Dear Lady: This woman is really a sweet-heart. But she spends at least 3 hours at a time in the store playing scratch tickets. She calls everyone "Dear". I don't know why people avoid her. I've gotten into the habit of calling her "Dea". (Granted it's more for the amusement of my co-workers, but she doesn't need to know) I guess I could call her "darling" or something. She's almost always wearing a heavy coat. Even in hot weather.

Ok, so that's only four, but it's all I can think of for now. When creating nicknames it' about capturing a certain personality trait or feature. Something that sets the customer apart. Yes, it is an ass-hole thing to do, but we need to keep entertained some how.