What bugs you most about shopping? What bugs me most about any store is not high prices or poor selection, it’s the snarly, uncaring, unengaged staff. You know who I mean—the sullen teen who seems so overburdened by having a job that it’s almost beneath him to raise his eyes and say hello to me. Or the one who is yakking on her cell phone the whole time and completely ignoring me. Or the one whose eye rolling is so pronounced I’m afraid his eyes are going to pop out of his head and roll down the conveyor belt and drop into my shopping bag.
Now I do remember what it’s like to work at a grocery store at that age. It’s annoying to have to, like WORK for like MONEY, and SO like uncool to be seen by like your friends and all, but I also remember meeting nice people sometimes and actually enjoying it. I even met a celebrity once! (OK, so she was a minor celebrity… Arlene Dahl. But she was a star!)
I thought my frustration was just me getting old and crotchety, but it’s not! A lot of people feel the same way! The National Retail Federation’s magazine, Stores, did a great cover story on customer service.The survey by Prosper Technologies, a firm that specializes in customer research, showed that rude employees were at the top of the list of thigs customers hate most. Employees that don’t seem to care or don’t know about the products they’re selling was the next biggest gripe.
I asked Susan Reda, executive editor of Stores magazine and the article’s author, if she was at all surprised by the results of the survey. “I was not surprised by the results; sadly, I’ve been on the receiving end of some less than stellar service.”
Michael Perkins from Prosper Technologies puts it well: "More often than most merchants realize, it’s the one-to-one interaction between a customer and an associate that determines whether shoppers happily return—or vow never to set foot in a store again. One customer service meltdown can sabotage years of customer-centric good will.”
So true!
But of course, what about being a bad customer? Reda agrees. “I think that while there is clear room for improvement and better training before (clerks) hit the salesfloor, I think the world in general has become more rude. I’ve witnessed plenty of times when someone was trying to ask a customer a question and they were shushed by a customer who was rudely engaged in a phone conversation rather than paying attention to what the clerk was asking. The pendulum swings both ways.”
She’s absolutely right, of course. Have you had any experiences in a store that made you want to scream?
arlene mansfield
10:28:30 AM on Fri Jun 15 2012
I'm so tired of the loyalty programs several stores are using.
1. So many cards to carry with you.
2. Confusing rules.
3. Clerks seldom are aware of the rules.
4. Checking out is slow when the customer feels they did not receive the discount.
This is not making me loyal...I have switched to stores that just give everyone a fair price and keep it simple.
tiffany
11:29:41 AM on Fri Jun 15 2012
I am a clerk in a large retail pharmacy. The rudeness definitely goes both ways. I am amazed by how often a member will ask a question. Just as you are answering, their phone will ring. They will actually hold up their finger to silence you while taking the call. Excuse me, I did not approach you, you asked and I'm trying to answer.
Patsy
05:50:50 PM on Fri Jun 15 2012
I think it is very rude when you are checking out and the checker and the grocery sacker are jabbering on about their personal lives. They don't seem to be paying attention to their jobs or to the customer. My mother and I have reported such people to the management, hoping that they will make these young people aware of their primary purpose
Renee
07:45:16 PM on Wed Jun 20 2012
Shopping—the whole thing is out of hand. The clerks are rude. Last night we were in Bass Pro and the kid did not even put everything in bag, turned around and started talking to another employee and then said want your receipt?
Cell phones SHOULD NOT BE ANSWERED IN THE CHECKOUT LINE!!!!!
The kids don't even know how to count back change! When I was working in retail—many years ago—there was no digital register to tell you how much to give back!
It is just sad all the way around.
monica jardine
09:01:02 PM on Sun Jun 24 2012
Getting double billed is the worse. The clerks are not paying attention and double charge you, (charge you twice in a row for the same product). In order to get your money back, you have to go to CS with your receipt. Prove you only brought one of such item. Then they give you your money back on the item that was double charged. Not double your money. They claim they did not charge you the incorrect price, they just charged you twice. In other words it is OK to steal as long as they charge you the correct price. I discovered this by accident when they double charged me for coffee. I only brought a few things so the $5 extra stood out. Since then I have been checking each and ever time. It happens about 25 percent of the time, in all stores including Target and Walmart. I believe that they should have some kind of fine. I am a snow bird in Florida. It has never happened there. I believe because they are slower in checking out the items.
The thing I love the best is how unhappy the checkers are when you bring your own bags. Talk about rolling eyes!
Helen Stewart
09:30:55 AM on Sat Sep 22 2012
I am a cashier. In many stores, cashiers are not properly trained. I constantly use training I received when working as a bank teller to ensure my register balances daily. Clerks may not know anything about the items sold because we have never seen them before. We have no way of knowing what is on the store shelves because we are tightly scheduled; if we want to shop, we either come in early, shop on our lunch 30 minutes, or stay late. Managers use cashiers to defuse unruly customers, often suggesting cashiers give erroreous information. If the customer complains, the cashier is fired. I have been "counseled" on certain things I "was hired" to do. I explain to management the various legal ramifications involved, they back down every time.
In every case, management is the problem, from uninformed clerks/cashiers, dirty stores, filthy bathrooms, children running wild, etc. Contact the corporate office, NOT the store manager; it will be looked into, and PLEASE, KEEP IT UP! Beleive me, the cashiers/clerks hate it too!
Robin Melen
02:29:43 PM on Mon Sep 24 2012
Thanks for your very important perspective, Helen! We need to hear both sides!
-robin