8,970

I'm cranky.
And i'm seriously tired of answering this question... thus, a post (vent) about it. But a little background first:

According to wikipedia, in 2011 there were 8,970 stores for the company that i work for. That's a LOT of stores, RIIIIIIIIIIGHT?

Every day, i have customers that come in and want to purchase contacts. I go through a list of questions to get them ordered, paid for, and out the door. First of which is "what's your name?" (if they're someone that comes in frequently i say "remind me of your name" to show that i know they come in a lot, i've just momentarily forgotten their name. it happens.)

Now, if i'm having trouble finding them in the system (maybe i spelled their name wrong or sometimes i have no idea what they're saying as their name -- which leads me to an entirely different post of venting, but i'll try to stay on track...) then i'll ask their date of birth. this will eliminate any possibilities of mispellings and help me narrow down what they were actually trying to say. (brittany martinez? Huh. i couldve sworn you said BETHANY..)

There's also the beloved person who comes in and says their name is "Danny Smith". "hmm... I'm not finding anyone under that name. I'll just type in 'D Smith' and see who comes up. HMMMM... no danny, dan or daniel. Let me get your date of birth."

***?*** Do you go by ROGER smith by chance?
"Yes." (as if i shoudlve KNOWN that already. And not like, oh crap... this was MY fault. i shouldve told them my full name. somehow it's still the employees fault. "i am a customer here. you should know all of my aliases.") "Yes. My name is Daniel Roger Smith."

***eye roll****

But that's not even why i'm here venting!

Gah!

The best is when i do a name search, NOTHING. ask if they have any other names they go by, NOTHING. do the final search with their date of birth, NOTHING. My next question is "did you have your exam here, at THIS store?"

I am surprised at how many "no's" we get. "No. I got it done in Missouri. But aren't you all connected? My information should be in your system."

**blink**

There are almost nine THOUSAND stores of the company i work for. NINE. THOUSAND. Granted... not ALL of them have vision centers. i'm not sure how many do, but let's... just say three thousand do. Now each vision center has THOUSANDS of files, and THOUSANDS of patients that go to just one walmart. Not to mention that people have eye exams YEARLY, so multiply that into the equation. Conclusion? It's just a LOT of info for one system. The company does try to keep up on technology, but... Holy smokes! We do have a way of contacting the store you had your exam at.... but it's not all just IN THERE.

My favorite is when people can't remember the store they wen't to. I'm like, "HA. Well... there's nothing i can do for you until you remember..." Talk about searching for a needle in a haystack! I'm just baffled when people are upset at me over it. Like i'm just being rude and don't WANT to help them.

All i can do is blink.

I just want the whole interweb world to know, that no. your personal information is not available at EVERY retail store in america, just because you shopped at ONE.