Hello everyone again. I am going to do this thing in earnest now. I am hoping out of this chaos I will be able to publish a book based on my experiences. Whatever retail job I have worked at, I have had co-workers tell me that they should do a soap opera based on the workplace. Well they are right. Every retail job I have had would make a good daytime soap. Even a prime time drama also along with some comedy.
But anyways, back to the point of this blog. Consumers have taken too many liberties with the way they treat a working stiff. I don't think they realize how they treat a cashier can affect that person's state of mind for the rest of the shift and how that creates a chain reaction for the day. Just remember when you are at a store you can change the whole lookout of the day if you take a second and smile at the cashier. You wouldn't believe the crap we hear or have to listen to all day long.
Now mind you I know that your days can be pretty crappy and sometimes the workers in retail places don't help your day by being rude. Turn the tables on them once in awhile and say hey, I hope your day gets better and add a smile and hopefully they will get the hint. I know I have had that happen once to me when I was being offputting to a customer and she said that to me and I was like wow, am I that obvious. I felt pretty crappy after that and made an effort to be more polite and cheery to the rest of the customers and I take that stand everytime I go to work now. No matter what is going on in my day even with bad customers I take a deep breath and remind myself not to take it personally.
Some days are harder than others and customers don't help it by being complete jerks for no reason. The worst is when they are screaming at you over something trivial and beyond your control and they know it but they are going to unleash their fury on you anyways. If they understood how little we get paid to put up with this they may take another look at themselves before they have mouth diarrhea. My phrase and I am going to coin it by the way. That is when people begin to spew crap out of their mouth and it fouls up your day.
Anyways, just a note to remember that service goes both ways when shopping. Be a courteous shopper and you will most likely have a courteous cashier. Hello, thank you and have a good day are phrases that can go a long way in our world.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Hello, how are you today?
So after 20 years working in customer service and retail jobs, I have seen the attitude of the customers in general change and not for the better. I understand the state of affairs is much changed also but the basic job of a customer service representative is to provide a pleasant shopping experience for the consumer. This is to provide the company that you work for a front so that the company looks like a caring, accepting and accommodating institute for the consumer.
Well, many times I see customer complaints about attitude, rudeness, inability to satisfy the consumer needs. To make it clear, yes there are very valid complaints and the consumer has a right to be upset. But from someone who works in retail, there are more unprovoked complaints that require time and money from the company to satisfy this customer who feels entitled. I have come to realize that many consumers have too much of a sense of entitlement.
When you are shopping and you feel there is a certain level of customer service you expect, then give it in return. When the cashier says hello, say hello back. We are flesh and blood with feelings. If we greet you, take that split second to return the greeting. I can't tell you how many times I have said hello to someone who is within two feet of me, getting ready to checkout at my register and they literally look at me and ignore me. Seriously? Or they ignore you and ask you a question. For example, I work at a nationwide pharmacy store that has a popular keycard program with rewards. With this program, if you do not have your card physically with you we have the ability to look your account up with your telephone number that is registered to the card. Instead of responding to my "Hello, how are you today?" I get "715-555-5555", their telephone number. No return hello whatsoever. Not even a chance to get to the right computer screen to input their telephone number or a warning that they do not have their card and would like to use their number. In this case I have to make them repeat their number because they didn't give me a chance to get to that screen. They then get huffy and start doing what we like to call around our house, "beatboxxing". This is where they start making noises that are a beat for an 80's rap song.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not looking for your life story, but just say hello. If you are having a bad day, think of it as a way to connect with someone who doesn't know that crap you are going through and would just like to give you a smile and hello. No judgements or prejudices, just a warm friendly smile. And another thing to consider, as a cashier, we have to interact with hundreds of people a day, while you only have to interact with a couple cashiers a day if even that. So imagine if everyone treated us like a robot behind the cash register, and you see us at the end of our shift and we are straining to get that smile out or not even smile at all, you wonder how the previous customers treated us.
Well, many times I see customer complaints about attitude, rudeness, inability to satisfy the consumer needs. To make it clear, yes there are very valid complaints and the consumer has a right to be upset. But from someone who works in retail, there are more unprovoked complaints that require time and money from the company to satisfy this customer who feels entitled. I have come to realize that many consumers have too much of a sense of entitlement.
When you are shopping and you feel there is a certain level of customer service you expect, then give it in return. When the cashier says hello, say hello back. We are flesh and blood with feelings. If we greet you, take that split second to return the greeting. I can't tell you how many times I have said hello to someone who is within two feet of me, getting ready to checkout at my register and they literally look at me and ignore me. Seriously? Or they ignore you and ask you a question. For example, I work at a nationwide pharmacy store that has a popular keycard program with rewards. With this program, if you do not have your card physically with you we have the ability to look your account up with your telephone number that is registered to the card. Instead of responding to my "Hello, how are you today?" I get "715-555-5555", their telephone number. No return hello whatsoever. Not even a chance to get to the right computer screen to input their telephone number or a warning that they do not have their card and would like to use their number. In this case I have to make them repeat their number because they didn't give me a chance to get to that screen. They then get huffy and start doing what we like to call around our house, "beatboxxing". This is where they start making noises that are a beat for an 80's rap song.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not looking for your life story, but just say hello. If you are having a bad day, think of it as a way to connect with someone who doesn't know that crap you are going through and would just like to give you a smile and hello. No judgements or prejudices, just a warm friendly smile. And another thing to consider, as a cashier, we have to interact with hundreds of people a day, while you only have to interact with a couple cashiers a day if even that. So imagine if everyone treated us like a robot behind the cash register, and you see us at the end of our shift and we are straining to get that smile out or not even smile at all, you wonder how the previous customers treated us.
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