Knock Knock; Who's There; Interrupting Customer...

There are few things in this world that annoy me as much as customers who need constant "help" and attention. What's worse is when they interrupt you while you're with another customer and demand that you help them. Which one of us do you think is the rude one?

This happened to me yesterday. There was a lady who had called earlier in the afternoon looking for newborn sweaters. Olga had talked to her and said she was a real treat to handle. She ended up coming into the store a couple hours later, and she asked Olga for help in finding clearance receiving blankets. She showed her where we had very few left and walked away.

Meanwhile, I was helping a customer who wanted to put some things on layaway. They were inquiring about different things regarding the layaway process and payment options they had. The woman Olga had been helping interrupted us to ask where our clearance receiving blankets were. Knowing Olga had already shown her, I was a little frustrated but tried to point them out anyway. I then continued on with my customers.

They wanted to make sure that they could make payments over the phone (I was 95% sure but wanted to be 100%), so I called customer service. While I was on the phone, the woman from earlier came up to me and started saying something. Ummm...why do you think this phone is attached to my ear? That means, don't talk to me. Wait until I'm done. So I had to tell Lisa (from customer service) to hold on while I figured out what this lady had said.
I asked her to repeat herself, and she said, "I need some help when you're finished."
"I'll be with you in a few minutes," I replied.

When I found out they could make payments over the phone, I got off the line with Lisa, told the woman I'd be with her in a few minutes, and I went back to my customers. She followed me over to them and stood there. Ok...this is a little uncomfortable. I could tell my customers were wondering why she did this, but what could I do?

They showed me what pieces they wanted to put on layaway, and of course, the lady followed us down. I told you I'd be with you in a few minutes. Just go away. One of the items they wanted to put on a layaway needed to be checked to make sure we had it in stock, so I told them I'd check and be right back. The lady wasn't having it:

"I had to work all day. Could you at least point me where your clearance receiving blankets are?!?"
This is my problem how..? I thought we already went over this, anyway...twice. I pointed her to where they were if we had any left (I knew they were scarce), and she snapped back, "No, those are regular blankets! I want receiving blankets!"
I replied, "Well, we really don't have many (or any) on clearance at the moment. They'd all be there."
"Then where are your regular receiving blankets?"
I took her directly to where they are and pointed at them.
"Well?!? Where are they?"
Are you blind? Geez. I pointed again and said, "Right there."
"Oh," was all she could say.

That was the last of her that I had to deal with. Unfortunately, Olga had a little more to contend with. When she was finished shopping, she just stood at the desk while Olga was on the phone. She just stared at her waiting for some magical register to appear, I suppose. Olga had to stop her conversation to tell her to go downstairs to pay. Finally! Gone and out of sight!

I have to keep reminding myself that one day I'll be out of customer service.