Tennessee.
Customer Service Quality
- Thread starter Gryffindorian
- Start date
Tennessee.
Crazy. I've never heard of this attitude anywhere inside the US. Maybe Tennessee changed their minimum wage laws? I make $5/hr at my bartending job, and that's still higher than the legal requirement in Illinois.
Nope. Still less that min. wage. And I don't know how common it is, but the place I worked at the whole "If you don't min. in hour+tips the employer pays the different to get you to min" (which is the law, as I understand it) was more like "we know you're not reporting tips so we're not going to make up the difference"
Not that I work in that particular sector, in the UK it is illegal for employers to use tips to make up wages to minimum levels.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rant-bar-workers-pay-minimum-wage-banned.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_and_Customs_Commissioners_v_Annabel’s_(Berkeley_Square)_Ltd
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rant-bar-workers-pay-minimum-wage-banned.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_and_Customs_Commissioners_v_Annabel’s_(Berkeley_Square)_Ltd
A
Amaris
Guest
To be fair, you live in a country where it's not required for you to max out your credit cards to pay for your Diabetes medication.
ed629
Rear Admiral
Had an instance where I went to ACE Hardware, and was buying a few items that were about $10 combined, then threw in a bag of candy that was at the register that was 59 cents. I don't how she did it, but the total came out to over $70. When I asked her nicely "How is it $70 plus?", she rolled her eyes at me, lets out a huge sigh and starts with "Well, this is one is so much, and this one is this much.... blah blah blah. And this is 59 cents." So I asked her well, shouldn't it be less than $11, she rolls her eyes again and pulls out a calculator and comes up with $10 something. She somehow manage to enter the bag of candy 111 times. She had to get a manager to come over to void it, and blamed me. That was when I mentioned to the manager how she acted, and the customer behind me verified that she did act that way. Oddly the customer behind me had a bigger issue with it than I did.
A couple weeks later, I stopped there again and asked where that particular girl was since I saw her there often, two of the other employees said "Oh, smelly girl she, she got fired." Turns out she was like that with all her customers.
A couple weeks later, I stopped there again and asked where that particular girl was since I saw her there often, two of the other employees said "Oh, smelly girl she, she got fired." Turns out she was like that with all her customers.
A
Amaris
Guest
Oh, I know it's not free, but you're still paying far less via taxes than we are out of pocket or through insurance. Many in the U.S. desperately want and need a national health service.
There's a cashier at the local Food City that constantly wants to talk. She never shuts up and if she's in the middle of a convo with another employee, she'll just ignore the customers--regardless of how long the line is, till she's through telling whatever story she's telling. And when you call her on it and (politely or not) remind her that her job is to be ringing up the customers not chit-chatting about her love life, school, whatever, she just huffs, rolls her eyes, and slams the products through the scanner. She has broke lord only knows how many light bulbs or eggs; she shattered a jar of pickles once that I was buying. She been complained on so much that the manager knows who you're talking about before you even say her name. Why they keep her, I've no clue.
I'm fully aware of that, but the US legislature needs to create one, viewing from this side of the pond every time the subject of some sort of universal health care system is brought up in the US it is almost immediatly shot down. Didn't Obama recently even have difficulty even getting medicare expanded?
The people need to demonstrate to their elected officals that they want one in over wheleming numbers. I.e vote for one or I won't vote for you.
But we are digressing from the topic at hand. I'm sure a thread on diffiering health care systems would fill a thread of it's own.
^You're right employees shouldn't be engaged in conv ersation to other employees whilst serving a customer. I'll stand and wait till their are finished before speaking to one.
Universal health care is not free, yet I would challenge anyone who says that we (at least in Canada) are paying far less. From higher federal income taxes, provincial income taxes, gasoline taxes, alcohol taxes, federal and provincial goods and services taxes (where, incidentally even the taxes are taxed), higher payroll taxes, and all the others I missed - we easily pay for health care. Frankly though, I wouldn't give it up. Dad has had three heart attacks with surgery over that last few years and all it has cost - out of pocket - is 12 bucks, his co-pay for his prescriptions.
I digress as well, my apologies.
Even in California, where food service workers earn minimum wage, tipping is still a very big thing and pretty much expected. So I too am surprised to hear that it is declining in your area.
This made me smile. When I was in college, I went to work on the sales floor of our family furniture store. Keep in mind the place was called Affordable Furniture, we didn't carry junk, but it wasn't high end either. One evening an older, well dressed lady came n. IIRC she was looking for a sofa. After about 20 minutes of her nitpicking the most minor of flaws on just about everything in our inventory, I was beggining to wonder if there was anything I could do or find to make her happy. Being young, I wasn't sure how to handle the situation so I told her I needed to check on something and would be right back. I went behind the counter and told my father what was going on and asked him how I should handle it. He just said watch and learn.
He walked over to the lady, introduced himself as the owner, thanked her for giving us a look, then noted that she appeared to be a woman of good taste and high quality standards. He then informed her that our clientel were primarily middle class families in need of good, but affordable furniture, thus the name. With that, he informed her that we would have nothing here that would interest her, and that a woman such her would only be served by shopping at one of the two high end/high priced stores in town. All the while he was walking her towards the door. He thanked her again for coming in and left her at the door with a somewhat bewildered look on her face.
When he came back to the counter I told him I was confused. Why didn't we try to make a sale? He said something I've never forgotten. He said no matter what you do, how hard you try, how far over the top you are willing to go, there are some people out there that just cannot be pleased. They are only happy when they are making someone else miserable. They live to bitch. He could tell right away that was the type of person that she was and he would much rather watch the sale walk, than have to deal with the headache for months to come. Let her spend three times the money somewhere else and be up their ass.
He then went on to point out that the entire time he spoke with her, it was in a pleasant tone, and he had a smile on his face. While turning down her business, he was never offensive, instead almost complimentary. He told me the point wasn't to piss her off, just to get her to shop somewhere else. I then asked him how he got so good at dealing with nitpicky, bitchy people. He smiled and said, "I've been dealling with your grandmother for over 20 years, haven't I?" I kid you not, true story.
Me too. Heck it's hard enough to get ahold of an actual person on the phone for help with something... you end up having to strong arm them, just to get where you want to go help wise. It's a real pain
.One example of bad customer service:
I was at my local Toys R' Us one day to go and buy a new DS game I wanted and I needed to find someone to open the game case where the game was stored.
The only people I noticed that could help were over in another part of the store bs'ing with a customer...
And I wasn't the only person who needed the help either. There was another customer waiting there patiently as well.
It was downright annoying. I ended waiting until a break in the conversation and got the help, but it took around 10 minutes or so til' that happened.
Glad that I didn't have anywhere important to go that day.
This made me smile. When I was in college, I went to work on the sales floor of our family furniture store. Keep in mind the place was called Affordable Furniture, we didn't carry junk, but it wasn't high end either. One evening an older, well dressed lady came n. IIRC she was looking for a sofa. After about 20 minutes of her nitpicking the most minor of flaws on just about everything in our inventory, I was beggining to wonder if there was anything I could do or find to make her happy. Being young, I wasn't sure how to handle the situation so I told her I needed to check on something and would be right back. I went behind the counter and told my father what was going on and asked him how I should handle it. He just said watch and learn.
He walked over to the lady, introduced himself as the owner, thanked her for giving us a look, then noted that she appeared to be a woman of good taste and high quality standards. He then informed her that our clientel were primarily middle class families in need of good, but affordable furniture, thus the name. With that, he informed her that we would have nothing here that would interest her, and that a woman such her would only be served by shopping at one of the two high end/high priced stores in town. All the while he was walking her towards the door. He thanked her again for coming in and left her at the door with a somewhat bewildered look on her face.
When he came back to the counter I told him I was confused. Why didn't we try to make a sale? He said something I've never forgotten. He said no matter what you do, how hard you try, how far over the top you are willing to go, there are some people out there that just cannot be pleased. They are only happy when they are making someone else miserable. They live to bitch. He could tell right away that was the type of person that she was and he would much rather watch the sale walk, than have to deal with the headache for months to come. Let her spend three times the money somewhere else and be up their ass.
He then went on to point out that the entire time he spoke with her, it was in a pleasant tone, and he had a smile on his face. While turning down her business, he was never offensive, instead almost complimentary. He told me the point wasn't to piss her off, just to get her to shop somewhere else. I then asked him how he got so good at dealing with nitpicky, bitchy people. He smiled and said, "I've been dealling with your grandmother for over 20 years, haven't I?" I kid you not, true story.
Nice story. Thank you for sharing it. Your father sounds like an interesting fellow.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
This made me smile. When I was in college, I went to work on the sales floor of our family furniture store. Keep in mind the place was called Affordable Furniture, we didn't carry junk, but it wasn't high end either. One evening an older, well dressed lady came n. IIRC she was looking for a sofa. After about 20 minutes of her nitpicking the most minor of flaws on just about everything in our inventory, I was beggining to wonder if there was anything I could do or find to make her happy. Being young, I wasn't sure how to handle the situation so I told her I needed to check on something and would be right back. I went behind the counter and told my father what was going on and asked him how I should handle it. He just said watch and learn.
He walked over to the lady, introduced himself as the owner, thanked her for giving us a look, then noted that she appeared to be a woman of good taste and high quality standards. He then informed her that our clientel were primarily middle class families in need of good, but affordable furniture, thus the name. With that, he informed her that we would have nothing here that would interest her, and that a woman such her would only be served by shopping at one of the two high end/high priced stores in town. All the while he was walking her towards the door. He thanked her again for coming in and left her at the door with a somewhat bewildered look on her face.
When he came back to the counter I told him I was confused. Why didn't we try to make a sale? He said something I've never forgotten. He said no matter what you do, how hard you try, how far over the top you are willing to go, there are some people out there that just cannot be pleased. They are only happy when they are making someone else miserable. They live to bitch. He could tell right away that was the type of person that she was and he would much rather watch the sale walk, than have to deal with the headache for months to come. Let her spend three times the money somewhere else and be up their ass.
He then went on to point out that the entire time he spoke with her, it was in a pleasant tone, and he had a smile on his face. While turning down her business, he was never offensive, instead almost complimentary. He told me the point wasn't to piss her off, just to get her to shop somewhere else. I then asked him how he got so good at dealing with nitpicky, bitchy people. He smiled and said, "I've been dealling with your grandmother for over 20 years, haven't I?" I kid you not, true story.
Well played, Alrik's Dad. Well played.
A
Amaris
Guest
This made me smile. When I was in college, I went to work on the sales floor of our family furniture store. Keep in mind the place was called Affordable Furniture, we didn't carry junk, but it wasn't high end either. One evening an older, well dressed lady came n. IIRC she was looking for a sofa. After about 20 minutes of her nitpicking the most minor of flaws on just about everything in our inventory, I was beggining to wonder if there was anything I could do or find to make her happy. Being young, I wasn't sure how to handle the situation so I told her I needed to check on something and would be right back. I went behind the counter and told my father what was going on and asked him how I should handle it. He just said watch and learn.
He walked over to the lady, introduced himself as the owner, thanked her for giving us a look, then noted that she appeared to be a woman of good taste and high quality standards. He then informed her that our clientel were primarily middle class families in need of good, but affordable furniture, thus the name. With that, he informed her that we would have nothing here that would interest her, and that a woman such her would only be served by shopping at one of the two high end/high priced stores in town. All the while he was walking her towards the door. He thanked her again for coming in and left her at the door with a somewhat bewildered look on her face.
When he came back to the counter I told him I was confused. Why didn't we try to make a sale? He said something I've never forgotten. He said no matter what you do, how hard you try, how far over the top you are willing to go, there are some people out there that just cannot be pleased. They are only happy when they are making someone else miserable. They live to bitch. He could tell right away that was the type of person that she was and he would much rather watch the sale walk, than have to deal with the headache for months to come. Let her spend three times the money somewhere else and be up their ass.
He then went on to point out that the entire time he spoke with her, it was in a pleasant tone, and he had a smile on his face. While turning down her business, he was never offensive, instead almost complimentary. He told me the point wasn't to piss her off, just to get her to shop somewhere else. I then asked him how he got so good at dealing with nitpicky, bitchy people. He smiled and said, "I've been dealling with your grandmother for over 20 years, haven't I?" I kid you not, true story.
Your father is so full of win.
so i signed up with direct tv and bundeled my phone and internet service with centurylink. well, I didn't get the bundel discount that I was supposed to. yeah, its only a few bucks but when the main reason you are switching from one company to another is price it kind of makes a big difference. in order to get this adjusted I had to make several phone calls back and forth betwen the two companies because no one could actually help me.
What I find strange is how often these companies try and get you and then once they do, they just don't care to keep you happy. I left time warner after 10 years because of so many increases in price. When I called to get the price adjusted down they would not help me, but as soon as I was calling to cancel they attempted to give me the world. why is this? Why not just try and keep your customers that you already have happy?
What I find strange is how often these companies try and get you and then once they do, they just don't care to keep you happy. I left time warner after 10 years because of so many increases in price. When I called to get the price adjusted down they would not help me, but as soon as I was calling to cancel they attempted to give me the world. why is this? Why not just try and keep your customers that you already have happy?
Well someone's heading for a write up in the morning:
Swung into the Food City to grab something off the deli. One of the clerks (who was standing behind the counter chit-chatting with another clerk when I walked up) asked me what I wanted, I put in a order for a burger and fries to go (nothing fancy, a plain burger and fries). She gets pissed and yells that she was getting ready to go on her break, I just shrug and don't say anything (if she didn't want to serve a customer she should have sent the clerk over). A stocker walks over and asks if she's ready to have lunch with him, she stares daggers at me and says "I can't, "THIS" customer just put in a order, go eat, I'll just throw my food out so I can wait on "HIM"". I ask her about how long she'll think it'll take (they were fairly busy, and usually they give you a estimate on when to stop back by and get your food), she says "how ever long it takes me to put it on the grill and cook it", then storms off into the kitchen area. 30 minutes later I swing by and she sneers at me and says "You need to get someone else, I'm punched out and going home". One the clerks run up and tells her she can't leave yet cause she's locked the register screen and they none them have a code to unlock it. She tells the other clerk to find someone or page the manager cause she's going home; as she's walking off the clerk that stopped her says "Bitch", then apologizes and leaves to find someone that can unlock the register. 15 minutes (and a long line later) they find someone and I pay. As I'm heading out I talk to the CSM who says that they've had complaints from customers and employees alike all day long but the GM was off, so all they could do it leave in a note for the morning; the CSM takes my name and number and adds it one of several pages of names and numbers from complaints from the day.
And this wasn't HS kids (the odd exception aside, the HS kids at this Food City are usually very customer friendly and professional), this was a middle-aged woman acting like a child.
Swung into the Food City to grab something off the deli. One of the clerks (who was standing behind the counter chit-chatting with another clerk when I walked up) asked me what I wanted, I put in a order for a burger and fries to go (nothing fancy, a plain burger and fries). She gets pissed and yells that she was getting ready to go on her break, I just shrug and don't say anything (if she didn't want to serve a customer she should have sent the clerk over). A stocker walks over and asks if she's ready to have lunch with him, she stares daggers at me and says "I can't, "THIS" customer just put in a order, go eat, I'll just throw my food out so I can wait on "HIM"". I ask her about how long she'll think it'll take (they were fairly busy, and usually they give you a estimate on when to stop back by and get your food), she says "how ever long it takes me to put it on the grill and cook it", then storms off into the kitchen area. 30 minutes later I swing by and she sneers at me and says "You need to get someone else, I'm punched out and going home". One the clerks run up and tells her she can't leave yet cause she's locked the register screen and they none them have a code to unlock it. She tells the other clerk to find someone or page the manager cause she's going home; as she's walking off the clerk that stopped her says "Bitch", then apologizes and leaves to find someone that can unlock the register. 15 minutes (and a long line later) they find someone and I pay. As I'm heading out I talk to the CSM who says that they've had complaints from customers and employees alike all day long but the GM was off, so all they could do it leave in a note for the morning; the CSM takes my name and number and adds it one of several pages of names and numbers from complaints from the day.
And this wasn't HS kids (the odd exception aside, the HS kids at this Food City are usually very customer friendly and professional), this was a middle-aged woman acting like a child.
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