Do retailers know anything about customer service

Wertz

I don't know what you do for a living snyper (construction isn't it?) but don't tell me you haven't worked long hours and still had to put on a nice face for the client/customer; I know I have.

No-one's asking for a wee chat and a nice cup of tea...they just want to be treated like human beings, not looked at as if we're getting in the way of them leaving for the pub...manners cost nothing, a smile uses less face muscles than a frown etc.
If staff can be that arsed to keep up a convo between them whilst they scan your sh*t, is it really that much to ask them to interact in a manner that even approaches being pleasant?

Abi

thelordofcheese wrote: »

But as long as you feel better about yourself, that's cool.

Feel better for having complained about shyte service?




You bet.

thelordofcheese

Abigayle wrote: »

Feel better for having complained about shyte service?




You bet.

Well, as long as you're not deluded into think you achieved anything.

Abi

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Well, as long as you're not deluded into think you achieved anything.

I did this little "Stayin' alive" strut on the way out actually. Have you ever been complained about, per chance?

chocgirl

I couldn't care less whether the shop assistant speaks to me or not but it's nice if they at least acknowledge your presence by looking at you. The girl in our local shop regularly drops the change all over the counter if you don't have your hand out to catch it in time. She's either yapping to somebody beside her or has her head buried in a magazine.

AckwelFoley

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Well, as long as you're not deluded into think you achieved anything.

Jaysus cheese.. Some shoite into your cornflakes this morning?

Morzadec

Does anyone notice a trend that all these complaints are against places like Tesco and Dunnes, and people who speak in working-class accents?

I work in retail and I'm friendly to everyone, will always say thankyou and please etc.. even if I'm in a **** mood and really don't want to be spending my day putting numbers into a computer, cleaning up after unruly brats, listening to unruly brats scream etc...

But still I agree, if you work in retail you should at least feign politeness even if you're having a crap day. But from my personal experience of retail, there are a lot more rude customers than rude staff members.

Any argument between customer/retail worker that I have seen has been the customers own rudeness, and sense of superiority over the retail worker, who most likely dosn't enjoy their job and dosn't want to be there.

OP you have had a bad experience with retail workers, and I agree that they should make an effort to engage.

But 'the customer is always right' is a completely fucking joke of a phrase because sometimes they're rude, selp-important, angry cunts just looking to belittle you.

From my experience there are more problems with rude customers than rude retailers in this country, but that's just my experience.

TheZohanS

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Well, as long as you're not deluded into think you achieved anything.

She did achieve something. She didn't accept poor service from a shop and took her money elsewhere.

To top it all off she informed the manager, it's very simple really.

Maybe you need to read over her posts again, I don't think you get it.

thelordofcheese

Abigayle wrote: »

I did this little "Stayin' alive" strut on the way out actually. Have you ever been complained about, per chance?

I've had more than my fair share of members of the public throw all kinds of strops, swear never to come back and to tell all their friends how horrible i was. I've been accused of every kind of -ism in the book and of being part of a grand conspiracy to defraud the elderly. twice.

Ahh, the joys of working returns.

but i digress, because everytime someone did something like that, they were humoured until they stormed off and then everyone went back to not caring.

Customers are like petulant children, their bull**** is tolerated to soothe their massive egos, nobody is going to be out of a job because you complain to a manager.

snyper wrote: »

Jaysus cheese.. Some shoite into your cornflakes this morning?

Porridge, and i thought they were raisins.....

K4t

Morzadec wrote: »

From my experience there are more problems with rude customers than rude retailers in this country, but that's just my experience.

That would make sense considering there are a lot more customers than retailers.

Wertz

Morzadec wrote: »

Does anyone notice a trend that all these complaints are against places like Tesco and Dunnes, and people who speak in working-class accents?

Well of course they are...it's strange but I've never been ignored like this in the german retailers by either their non-national or Irish staff. Go down to the supermarkets in the North to see how customers should be treated.
BTW I have what people might term a working class accent...this isn't a class issue as far as I'm concerned...

sdanseo

Can we add a rule into the charter along the lines of "no ranting and raving permitted if realistically, you could have done something about whatever you want to rant about and didn't"? :P

More seriously - I will agree though that there a lot of people working in supermarkets etc who are ungrateful, rude, arrogant idiots who can't dress themseles. I worked in retail, I'm doing it again now, and somehow *shock horror* I manage to keep myself polite and presentable and not smelly either. Why others can't manage that is simply beyond me.

Tony255

myself and the OH were in tesco's doing our BIG SHOP last week and we were after putting all our stuff on the belt must have been about 150-200, the assistant watched us do it and then when it came to our turn just said "i'm closed, you will have to go to another till". Asked her if she was for real watching us put everything up before telling us and she just shrugged her shoulders, we left everything on the belt and just walked out got a bit of satisfaction knowing that she would probably have to put it all back. Will never shop there again because of that, completely drove me mental mentioned to the manager also on the way out and might aswell have been staring at a blank wall.

I completely agree with the OP as a customer I always say please and thank you and am amazed at the attitude of the people working in some stores, its like they feel like they are doing you a favor. I think the bad customer services is not just limited to retail stores only I look at places like pixmania and see the massive bad press that they seem to get here on boards (I personally had any dealing with them so cannot speak from experience).

As a retailer myself even though it is only started and completely based online I still think customer services is the most important thing. The rule of thumb it is much harder to make a new customer than it is to keep an existing customer.

There is only one way we can break this habit and that is to complain, for some reason the Irish seem to be embarassed to complain and that is why we have the customer services that we have. It drives me crazy in restaurants, etc... and I always make a point of letting them know what I think. I work hard for my money and do not expected to be treated like I am a hindrance to them.

Dont get me wrong here Ireland has some great retailers, restaurants, etc... and I do think it is getting better and these are the ones that will continue to get repeat customers.

Novella

I work in a shop and sometimes stand around having a chat. I don't actually give a fcuk about my job, it's just a part time thing until I finish college! A lot of people in retail are like this, college students just looking to make a bit of cash who couldn't give a sh!t about making polite conversation about the weather or whatever! That's prob why the service can be a crap!

In all fairness though, if a customer did talk to me, I would always talk back and be friendly I always say hello and how are you too, so I guess you were unlucky!

littletiger

Novella wrote: »

I work in a shop and sometimes stand around having a chat. I don't actually give a fcuk about my job, it's just a part time thing until I finish college! A lot of people in retail are like this, college students just looking to make a bit of cash who couldn't give a sh!t about making polite conversation about the weather or whatever! That's prob why the service can be a crap!

In all fairness though, if a customer did talk to me, I would always talk back and be friendly I always say hello and how are you too, so I guess you were unlucky!

You poor poor sod

Morzadec

littletiger wrote: »

You poor poor sod

What do you mean by that? I would agree with most of what Novella says. I'm always polite but ultimately I only work for money, don't really enjoy it all that much. Only time I do have a bit of craic is when another worker around my age is in and I can talk to them about stuff we have in common, for the most part. If a customer engages with me I will always respond but it's mostly small-talk/playing a part, i.e. terrible weather isn't blah blah etc...

Also Novella, hate to say it but you might be happy hanging onto your crappy retail job once you finish college the way things are at the minute I'm afraid

Abi

thelordofcheese wrote: »

I've had more than my fair share of members of the public throw all kinds of strops, swear never to come back and to tell all their friends how horrible i was. I've been accused of every kind of -ism in the book and of being part of a grand conspiracy to defraud the elderly. twice.

Im sure some customers do go off the deep-end, but its unfair to tar every one of them with the same brush.

Maybe I need to explain myself a little better. I don't want a conversation about the damn weather, or chat of any sort. I don't know the assistant, and they do not know me. What I do expect however, is to be acknowledged by the assistant and for him / her to say 'that will be €**.**please' before I hand over my money. Putting the change in my hand would be nice, after all I put my money in their hand.


Is that really too much to ask?

Dudess

I work in customer service and my policy is to have an extremely high standard. If people are being ***** I'll stand up for myself without resorting to rudeness, but being rude to any customer at all - even nice ones: I don't get the need for it.

Morzadec

Dudess wrote: »

I work in customer service and my policy is to have an extremely high standard. If people are being ***** I'll stand up for myself without resorting to rudeness, but being rude to any customer at all - even nice ones: I don't get the need for it.

And to be honest the best strategy to deal with rude customers is to turn up the politeness even more. Makes them look like even more of a cock, and annoys them that they didn't get a rise out of you.

But yes agree with you, if you work in retail you need to acknowledge the customer, you need to say please when you tell them how much it is, you need to say thankyou when you give change and you have to place the change in their hands. These are all very basic requirments.

I just sometimes wish that retail workers could have the same sense of righteous indignation when they are treated rudely by a customer, as a customer has when treated rudely by a retail worker.

But alas no, you generally have to smile and take their shit.

Wertz

Abigayle wrote: »

Maybe I need to explain myself a little better. I don't want a conversation about the damn weather, or chat of any sort. I don't know the assistant, and they do not know me. What I do expect however, is to be acknowledged by the assistant and for him / her to say 'that will be €**.**please' before I hand over my money. Putting the change in my hand would be nice, after all I put my money in their hand.

Ditto.

A very simple request that is being obfuscated by arguments from retail staff posting in this thread about not liking their job etc...newsflash about 0.1% of people actually get to do a job they like, and I imagine that 0.001% of those people work in retail.

I don't particulalrly like my job either, but it's what I must do in order to earn money to spend in your store...a little civility in the course of me spending that hard earned is all I realistically expect...

irish_bob

Morzadec wrote: »

Does anyone notice a trend that all these complaints are against places like Tesco and Dunnes, and people who speak in working-class accents?

I work in retail and I'm friendly to everyone, will always say thankyou and please etc.. even if I'm in a **** mood and really don't want to be spending my day putting numbers into a computer, cleaning up after unruly brats, listening to unruly brats scream etc...

But still I agree, if you work in retail you should at least feign politeness even if you're having a crap day. But from my personal experience of retail, there are a lot more rude customers than rude staff members.

Any argument between customer/retail worker that I have seen has been the customers own rudeness, and sense of superiority over the retail worker, who most likely dosn't enjoy their job and dosn't want to be there.

OP you have had a bad experience with retail workers, and I agree that they should make an effort to engage.

But 'the customer is always right' is a completely fucking joke of a phrase because sometimes they're rude, selp-important, angry cunts just looking to belittle you.

From my experience there are more problems with rude customers than rude retailers in this country, but that's just my experience.

the retailer needs the customer more than the customer needs the retailers , the onus is on the retailer to go the extra mile , knowing who your bread and butter is and all that

Wertz

Morzadec wrote: »

And to be honest the best strategy to deal with rude customers is to turn up the politeness even more. Makes them look like even more of a cock, and annoys them that they didn't get a rise out of you.

That's the exact same strategy I use to deal with ignorant shop staff, but it's wearing a little thin lately.
When I'm f*cked off with that, I usually finish with something along the lines of "Would it kill you to say thanks?" or something similar...I simply can't walk away from a till after having been mannerly and still be treated like an inconvenience...

Morzadec

irish_bob wrote: »

the retailer needs the customer more than the customer needs the retailers , the onus is on the retailer to go the extra mile , knowing who your bread and butter is and all that

True true but at the end of the day we're all human beings and deserve to be treated and acknowledged as such, regardless of status or wealth or profession.

And in fairness I've had rude, unreasonable customers say lines like 'I'll never come back here again', and to that I would just have to say 'thank god'. I'm not going to lose my job over one or two pompous arrogant customers not spending their money in my shop, the shop isn't going to go out of business, it's not going to make a massive difference in the great scheme of things.

So I really don't 'need' these type of people at all, I'm not getting any of their money it's going straight to the owners who have far more money than anyone could possibly need anyway.

Abi

Wertz wrote: »

a little civility in the course of me spending that hard earned is all I realistically expect...

It seems to me that some posters that do work in retail have had some bad experiences with some customers, but most of us only need a little civility. But these bad experiences have caused some to lose sight of an important fact; they are the front line of any business. It is not a good reflection on any company to have a sales assistant that is unhelpful, unattentive or impolite. If you've just had an arsehole of a customer, you need to have the ability to take the next one with a fresh face and maintain the standard that is expected of you.


I'll put it another way. If as a sales assistant you react differently towards a customer while your boss is standing beside you, compared to how you would normally serve them without the boss present - then you should know that there is room for improvement.

Morzadec

Abigayle wrote: »

It seems to me that some posters that do work in retail have had some bad experiences with some customers, but most of us only need a little civility. But these bad experiences have caused some to lose sight of an important fact; they are the front line of any business. It is not a good reflection on any company to have a sales assistant that is unhelpful, unattentive or impolite. If you've just had an arsehole of a customer, you need to have the ability to take the next one with a fresh face and maintain the standard that is expected of you.


I'll put it another way. If as a sales assistant you react differently towards a customer while your boss is standing beside you, compared to how you would normally serve them without the boss present - then you should know that there is room for improvement.

Yeh to be honest I completely agree with you and I don't want to be seen to be arguing with you because to be honest if you came into my store we would probably get on great and we'd both be happy not to have had to have met another rude retail worker/customer respectively.

I'm not defending bad retail workers, and I'm not one. I just kind of took offence to the thread title as I felt we were being slightly tarred by the same brush and for me, pretty much any clash between worker and customer in my shop has not been the workers fault as my colleagues are all good friendly people.

And I would never be rude to a customer based on my experiences with another customer. My experience in general is that a third of customers are really nice, half are grand enough, 10% or so are fairly indifferent and then a very small minority are just horrible people who may have some sort of personality disorder or just basically don't believe in basic human dignity and respect. This is a very rough generalisation and obviously it's hard to seperate customers into these categories but just trying to give you an idea!

I serve my customers exactly the same whether my boss is around or not as well, this makes no difference. She knows I'm a good worker and good with customers.

Abi

Morzadec wrote: »

Yeh to be honest I completely agree with you and I don't want to be seen to be arguing with you because to be honest if you came into my store we would probably get on great and we'd both be happy not to have had to have met another rude retail worker/customer respectively.

Well this is it. I'm actually very polite when I'm being served, once Im given my total I'll hand the cash over with a smile and a 'there you go'. I live by the theory that if you are nice to somebody, it is difficult for them to be offiside with you.

Earlier in the thread I mentioned that I'd handed the clothes I was going to purchase to a manager, I wasnt in any way snotty with him, I just made sure that he knew why after walking up to the counter with some clothes I wanted to buy - was talking out empty handed. I don't go about picking for something to complain about in a shop, and I'm glad to say that it doesnt happen a lot to me. But I was so annoyed at how I wasn't acknowleded whatsoever. I actually wanted to ask her a question about one of the things I was buying, and I couldnt get a word in edgeways with their gabbing, and her laughing her head off. I actually stood there for a few seconds just looking at her, before I just took the clothes off the counter and walked away.

Im not an impatient person, by any means. But it was a combination of things about that made me want to make my point to her superior. She was just so rude and unattentive.

Wertz

Damn it, stop making so much sense...you're lowering the tone of AH.

Dman001

Customer satisfaction should be a priority for all retailers, especially in these times. Even if the retailers have to train staff, they should ensure staff are polite and helpful and ensure 100% customer satisfaction. Retailers almost beg you to come into their shops so there should be a good standard in customer service.

But the retailers aren't the only ones to blame. Alot of people have the attitude to do the least amount of work for the most amount of pay and that will only get you so far.

P.C.

Novella wrote: »

I work in a shop and sometimes stand around having a chat. I don't actually give a fcuk about my job, it's just a part time thing until I finish college! A lot of people in retail are like this, college students just looking to make a bit of cash who couldn't give a sh!t about making polite conversation about the weather or whatever! That's prob why the service can be a crap!

In all fairness though, if a customer did talk to me, I would always talk back and be friendly I always say hello and how are you too, so I guess you were unlucky!

Morzadec wrote: »

What do you mean by that? I would agree with most of what Novella says. I'm always polite but ultimately I only work for money, don't really enjoy it all that much. Only time I do have a bit of craic is when another worker around my age is in and I can talk to them about stuff we have in common, for the most part. If a customer engages with me I will always respond but it's mostly small-talk/playing a part, i.e. terrible weather isn't blah blah etc...

Also Novella, hate to say it but you might be happy hanging onto your crappy retail job once you finish college the way things are at the minute I'm afraid

If you don't want to do the work required - quit!

I am sure that your boss would be happy to hire someone who is willing to do the job.

I hate it when people are not willing to do the work that they are supposed to do (and paid to do).
I see it so often, and not just in retail.

Oh, and people are paid to give good customer service, and not just in retail.

1071823928

ive worked in retail for the past 5 years and i have to say that the rudeness of some customers is absolutely unbelievable. i dont know how many times i have been reduced to tears in work from a customer screaming their head off at me over a problem that is by no means my fault.

that said i have met many more lovely customers who have said please and thank you and really appreciated help i have given them.

however when you are in work, sitting at a till for whatever length of time, scanning trolleys full of shopping and customers do not acknowledge you at all or say please and thank you, it really starts to get your goat. it is easy to just not bother with the customers, as it is easy for customers to not bother with the person who just packed their 10 bags of shopping into their trolley.

my first ever job was in superquinn, home of super dooper customer service. i worked on the till, i said hello to every customer, made small talk, asked them for their club card, packed their bags and bid them good day. why?? because i was expected to.

i have never been expected to that in my previous job or in my current job, because the managers dont care. if the girl was chatting to her friend its because she knew she could and she wasnt gona get in trouble over it!!!

wow what a ramble...!!!