Obnoxious customer service "greeters" (CostCo, cell phone, prices, Home Depot)
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The only place I've seen it done is Walmart and I've always assumed it was because Walmart is considered to be the sort of store that would attract low life shoplifters along with the normal people.
I don't mind it at all in Walmart because I think I understand the reason for it.
However, I would hate it if I walked into a bank and a teller hollered hello from across the room. Banks are for private business and the atmosphere is more dignified than in a Walmart. There is no need to monitor people for potential shoplifting and no need to let people know that help is available. They already know that.
I can also see being annoyed if someone is helping you and keeps interrupting the conversation to say hello to other people. That's rude.
I'm never unhappy when in the bank or a store, the person waiting on me greets me with a smile and a hello. I'm about to enter into a transaction with the person and it seems pleasant that they would focus on me and say something nice in the way of a greeting. It makes it more personal and friendly.
However it would be INpersonal and almost embarrassing at times to have someone say hi from a long distance just because I walked in the door. (How about a great big HELLO when you enter Rite Aid to buy a diarrhea product or to go to the prescription counter when you're sick?) Sometimes you want your privacy and you expect it in some types of stores and definitely in a place like a bank.
Much less annoying because no one else hears it is the Have a nice day--if anyone even says that anymore--at the drivethru. It sort of devolved into nice day, and then s'day and now I hope it's really gone. The problem was the insincerity.
Last edited by in_newengland; 03-19-2011 at 12:51 PM..
There are 2 specific reasons for the greeting. 1 to acknowledge you are there and that the employees are aware of you, and 2 to let a possible shoplifter know they are being watched.
Wal-Mart figured out years ago that if they put a greeter at the door and they made eye contact with the person entering it cut down shoplifting by 30%.
The only place I've seen it does is Walmart and I've always assumed it was because Walmart is considered to be the sort of store that would attract low life shoplifters along with the normal people.
I don't mind it at all in Walmart because I think I understand the reason for it.
However, I would hate it if I walked into a bank and a teller hollered hello from across the room. Banks are for private business and the atmosphere is more dignified than in a Walmart. There is no need to monitor people for potential shoplifting and no need to let people know that help is available. They already know that.
I can also see being annoyed if someone is helping you and keeps interrupting the conversation to say hello to other people. That's rude.
Just because these people don't have a lot of money doesn't make them low life shoplifters.
In fact a lot of shoplifters have money, they just like to shoplift.
...Banks are for private business and the atmosphere is more dignified than in a Walmart.
Here's an even better example of bad customer service at Chase bank here in Michigan: I walk into the branch and head for the small seating area to wait for a personal banker. A "bank greeter" walks over to me and says "can I help you?" I politely said I had business with a personal banker and was happy to wait. Then, she says, in a loud voice in front of several other people also sitting in the waiting area, and in line at the teller window, "if you tell me your issue, I can probably help you." I said I had some issues with my accounts, and preferred to wait for a personal banker.
And she didn't let it go! She then said while standing there in the waiting area, "what is your account number?" I was losing patience, but remained courteous and said, "I am not going to have a personal conversation about my accounts here in the waiting area. I prefer to sit down with a personal banker." At that point she backed off in a huff. I was rather shocked at her insistence and the expectation I would give her an account number in front of several other people. Banks should be a place with some privacy and dignity, but it's getting harder to find.
Take your children with you, tell them to notice that these front line, low paid, retail workers are required to do, all for the lack of a good education and working hard in school.
Same with the people that work in fast food with their " could I interest you in our super delux over priced extra foamy yadda yadda yadda......" It's just a requirement to keep their crappy job.
To be annoyed is selfish, empathy for these poor $6/hr - $7/hr workers would be a more appropriate response.
Wal-Mart figured out years ago that if they put a greeter at the door and they made eye contact with the person entering it cut down shoplifting by 30%.
busta
Hmmm... wonder how that's worked out for them these days? Some greeters are great, but more often than not the greeters are not even around to make eye contact. Most of our Walmart stores around here are way overcrowded and that might have something to do with it, but the greeters seem to be busy with shopping carts, checking items in the bottom of shopping carts against receipts, walking around, etc.
Has anyone else been verbally yelled at walking into stores and banks? What's up with these sales people that literally "yell" hello from a long distance away from the door, "Welcome to Kinkos, or Rite Aid or Target or Office Max or Lenscrafters or whatever store" when someone walks in. It's obnoxious. Worse yet are the sales people helping you at the counter, and mid-sentence, they yell "hello" to someone else coming in the door.
I don't even know where this "hello" from across the room is coming from! And the last thing I want to do is say hello to someone I can't see when I virtually just enter the store! The bank is bad too. I'm barely in the door and someone yells "hello, welcome to Chase" from behind the counter with a line of customers in front of me. How dumb is that!
I don't see anything wrong with these guys. They welcome you and then I can quickly ask them where the item I am looking for is. They point to the right part of the store and I'm in and out in a flash.
Better than wandering around looking for someone to ask or just aimlessly ambling through the store.
The branch of the bank I do my banking at is pretty small and intimate, so everyone says hi when you come in. They know who you are. I like that. It's friendly.
What's up with these sales people that literally "yell" hello from a long distance away from the door, "Welcome to Kinkos, or Rite Aid or Target or Office Max or Lenscrafters or whatever store" when someone walks in. It's obnoxious. Worse yet are the sales people helping you at the counter, and mid-sentence, they yell "hello" to someone else coming in the door.
The bank is bad too. I'm barely in the door and someone yells "hello, welcome to Chase" from behind the counter with a line of customers in front of me. How dumb is that!
LOL!
The greeting is a marketing ploy used to engage customers so that the greeter can "get to know" you and build a connection. This connection-building has proven very effective in increasing sales, so more and more companies are using it. (So from their perspective, it's not dumb at all. The fake friendliness pays off.)
Be assured that the greeters are being carefully monitored by their supervisors. That's why they can sometimes be so over the top. They want to be seen as doing everything they can to drum up more sales.
I understand where the OP is coming from. It is one thing when I walk in and someone near the door says, "hello welcome to......" But if 10 employees are screaming across a lobby, yeah, that's annoying.
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