Customers...

[Timewalker]

CD players? How quaint.

I never did get into the downloading thing. If I want to listen to music, I have records, cassettes, and CDs. Or I'll hop over to YouTube and listen (but I don't download any videos).

Otherwise, I'll just endure my cats' dirty looks and sing it myself (I'm not much of a singer, which they never fail to let me know).

 

[jamestyler]

I don't mind if an employee can't remember every item the store carries - but don't tell the customer "we never carried that" or "go somewhere else" as a first response. Clerks should be taught that if they don't know the answer, an appropriate response to the customer would be "I'm not sure, but I'll try to find out for you."

This is one that really bugs me. In my (limited, admittedly) experience with retail, if I didn't know what something was, I'd make an effort to find it. Not all the stores in our chain had the same stock - and some stock was advertised on the website but not available in stores for reasons that were never rectified, but I'd always pull up the website or check for codes to find what they wanted and if we could either order it in, or direct them to another store within walking distance (after phoning to check their stock, of course).

We were lucky that we had that system, but (at the risk of becoming an old man ranting at a cloud) the younger generation couldn't be arsed with it, nor would they read the morning updates we'd get on stock. Doesn't take much effort to work with the customer instead of disregarding them.

 

[Timewalker]

Not all the stores in our chain had the same stock

This drives me nuts when it comes to my grocery orders. I've stayed with the same co-operative that my grandparents joined nearly 60 years ago (still have their original membership number, which earned me odd looks when I'd go into the store - "You're too young to have a number that low!") because they really do try to work with the customer. The manager and assistant manager are the ones who do the deliveries, and all I need to do is phone the order in (getting it written down and picked correctly is something else, though; there have been some horrendous mistakes on occasion).

Sometimes they'll tell me, "We don't have that, it's at the other store" (the one in the new subdivision where they get some of the newer products). The one time this was an emergency (I was literally out of light bulbs and therefore had no light in my living room), the manager said he'd go to the other store and grab a package for me.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

This is one that really bugs me. In my (limited, admittedly) experience with retail, if I didn't know what something was, I'd make an effort to find it. Not all the stores in our chain had the same stock - and some stock was advertised on the website but not available in stores for reasons that were never rectified, but I'd always pull up the website or check for codes to find what they wanted and if we could either order it in, or direct them to another store within walking distance (after phoning to check their stock, of course).

We were lucky that we had that system, but (at the risk of becoming an old man ranting at a cloud) the younger generation couldn't be arsed with it, nor would they read the morning updates we'd get on stock. Doesn't take much effort to work with the customer instead of disregarding them.

Does a 34-year old (and 15-year veteran of retail) count as the "younger generation"? Because IMO while older staff can be pretty good about helping customers find stuff that is available in store their interest in going outside that initial 'box' is often limited (especially if they can foist the job off on someone else), even some management (tho not my current manager I'll admit).

 

[Timewalker]

Does a 34-year old (and 15-year veteran of retail) count as the "younger generation"? Because IMO while older staff can be pretty good about helping customers find stuff that is available in store their interest in going outside that initial 'box' is often limited (especially if they can foist the job off on someone else), even some management (tho not my current manager I'll admit).

It depends on the generation of the customer, I should think. To me a 34-year-old is a generation younger. The aggravating employees I've encountered, however, have tended to be in their 20s.

 

[MacLeod]

My point was that the specific examples I gave were not valid. None of those incidents happened anywhere close to any holiday where things would have been rearranged.

BTW, those CD players I mentioned? They're still available in stores; I saw them advertised just last week. So no pawn shops are required.

I work in retail and range changes happen fairly often and whilst the core range doesn't really change much, lines are auto-removed at the next range event if they are cuasing the store too much waste. We might add lines we think will sell and if they don't sell as well as anticpacted remove them and try something else next time around which might only be a few weeks later.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

It depends on the generation of the customer, I should think. To me a 34-year-old is a generation younger. The aggravating employees I've encountered, however, have tended to be in their 20s.

They can be a problem (from my end to) I'll admit.

 

[JoeZhang]

This is why I won't buy electronic or digital items at stores that don't do onsite repairs. Staples lost my business for computers the moment they uttered the words "send it away."

I don't buy anything like that in person - the UK has really strong return laws if you buy online so I buy everything online because then I have an unqualified right of return.

 

[Spot261]

Many years ago I worked in a call centre for a major catalogue in the UK. I found myself pitying the poor dellivery guys who actually had to encounter the (admittedly mostly rather nice) people who phoned in trying to give delivery addresses such as "You, know, Brenda's house, the one near mine with the green door", or the lady who wanted to order a wedding dress, two hours prior to the wedding because she'd forgotten that little detail. We didn't actually do wedding dresses you understand, or clothes for that matter.

My personal favourite, however, was one call from a barely coherent man who claimed his client in a murder case had just gone to jail because he'd been late due to him waiting in for his daughter's tennis racket to be delivered. He then informed me in perfectish sounding legal jargon that should it be appealed the catalogue would be liable for legal costs and compensating him. Ironically, when I checked, the racket was due to be delivered the following day.

Nowadays my "customers" are offenders with psychiatric issues and their families, who generally really are much more rational than the playstation/sit up bench/household appliance consuming lot I had back then.

 

[Timewalker]

I work in retail and range changes happen fairly often and whilst the core range doesn't really change much, lines are auto-removed at the next range event if they are cuasing the store too much waste. We might add lines we think will sell and if they don't sell as well as anticpacted remove them and try something else next time around which might only be a few weeks later.

There's a considerable difference between "we moved those out a couple of months ago" and "those haven't been made for 20 years. You have to go to a pawn shop."