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Whenever you have a customer who is upset about a company policy, call for a manager. Let the manager sort it out. The reason managers have to favor their customers is because that's who pays the bills. If they made all their customers angry they'd eventually lose revenue for the business. Especially these days, where it's so easy for customers to write negative online reviews about a business. However, if the manager makes an employee angry and the employee quits, that's no huge loss. It's pretty easy to find people to do retail work.
I've been working with the public for 50 years. I expect I do know when I should and shouldn't call a manager to put out a fire. I've been a manager and am pretty good at putting them out myself and don't believe in passing the buck if I don't have to. I've pretty much seen and heard it all over the years.
No huge loss you say. Thanks. I know that a LOT of people think that just because people work retail they are just too dumb and untrained to do anything else. That isn't necessarily true. It CAN be a huge loss if said employee is a good, responsible, dependable person who does their job as instructed. Managers do not have the right to make them look stupid in front of customers. And customers are so full of entitlement they'll laugh all the way out the door because they got some poor employee, just trying to do their job, in a pickle.
I've read enough of your posts around CD to know that you don't much care for retail workers. Have you ever done it? If not maybe you should try it for about six months or so, do a good job and give it all you've got, then come tell me it's "no huge loss" if you get fired or quit because managers don't have YOUR back.
Knock it off. In one breath you talk about about how hard it is to find a decent employee who treats customers right and then you say how easy they are to replace. You have a really big chip on your shoulder concerning retail workers.
The point is that the companies have policies in place that are supposed to be followed by all employees. When a manager decides to override the policy and make the cashier look like they are in the wrong for doing what the COMPANY say is right is frustrating for the cashier and is not good management. You always back your employee up for following proper procedure, it doesn't mean you can't make a disgruntled customer happy, but not by making the employee look stupid in the process.
Tried to rep you but have to "spread it around" so, THANK YOU!!!
If the boss is telling employees to enforce rules, then not enforcing those rules themselves--in front of those employees!--then the employee sees themselves in a no-win situation. Also, the people who want special treatment are usually the ones who are the least grateful when they get it, the ones who keep pushing the envelope further and further until someone is forced to push back. On balance I think there are more problematic customers in stores than there are employees creating problems, because so many people think that "gaming the system" is their right as a customer.
This doesn't surprise me.
It's the corporate culture I mentioned in a previous post, of short-staffing and expecting people to work harder for the same low pay.
My only comment is that I too have worked very low pay jobs with really crappy customers and yet I ALWAYS at least managed to be friendly to every customer, greet them with a smile and thank them when they paid me and probably even said "Have a nice day!" unless they were a real jerk.
To me, no matter how much I might be paying an employee, I would train them to do the minimum as outlined in the above paragraph and if I found workers not treating customers that way I'd give them a couple warnings then fire them.
I totally understand that people are underpaid and worked too hard and expected too much from. But at the same time if one wants to keep one's job one should at the very LEAST be friendly to customers and helpful when they have time to be.
Nowhere in my post did I ever mention that I hated customers or that I was ever unpleasant or unfriendly to them. I am a people pleaser by nature and have won constant awards for being employee of the month and acknowledged for 100's of positive comments about me on customer surveys bringing my store's customer service ratings up. I recently quit that job after 6 years of service and I can attest that I had a permanently frozen smile on my face and a demeanor as sweet as honey, lol.
I just wanted to give customers a heads up on why customer service is failing and what goes on behind the scenes in order to give them a better understanding of why they are being inconvenienced by a lack of staff not being able to assist them in a timely manner or why it takes so long to go in and out and simply getting rung up quickly and effectively.
Well it depends on where you work. Home Depot is never like that. They have great customer service and plenty of employees. Why don't you look for another job.
Home Depot is smart. They keep a sizable staff and hire a lot of military veterans who are disciplined and are hard workers. I just quit after 6 years of working at my retail store. I saw the writing on the wall. Brick and Mortar stores are slowly descending into hell and online is the new king. Customer's also hate habitually short staffed stores with long lines and no help. Bottom line is brick and mortar retailers are cutting costs to stay afloat and killing off their business model at the same time.
They are simply hemorrhaging money and can no longer compete with 'much lower"online prices unless they sell a unique one of a kind item. My store's website sold the same products for 40% cheaper than in store. When we had to do a customer price match, we did not break even and lost money. Online stores get the products directly from the manufacturers direct shipments which saves a lot of $$$ and cuts out trucking companies delivering the product to our physical stores.
Not to mention, online retailers get better deals for buying in bulk and don't have to pay huge rents and staff salaries to stock limited merchandise. A lot of retailers are now moving to sell physical services that online stores cannot offer. If they don't do this, there are going to be a lot of retail workers out of jobs.
Nowhere in my post did I ever mention that I hated customers or that I was ever unpleasant or unfriendly to them. I am a people pleaser by nature and have won constant awards for being employee of the month and acknowledged for 100's of positive comments about me on customer surveys bringing my store's customer service ratings up. I recently quit that job after 6 years of service and I can attest that I had a permanently frozen smile on my face and a demeanor as sweet as honey, lol.
I just wanted to give customers a heads up on why customer service is failing and what goes on behind the scenes in order to give them a better understanding of why they are being inconvenienced by a lack of staff not being able to assist them in a timely manner or why it takes so long to go in and out and simply getting rung up quickly and effectively.
I just quit my job of 8 years. I didn't really want to and thought it over for a few months before pulling the plug. However, my physical and mental health have improved 100% so I can't regret it. I miss the money and benefits. Won't find those with any other employer around here.
I hear you about the smile and demeanor. That is something that's demanded of you, right? And you have to display that while some customer yells at you, cusses you, berates you, throws things at you or just plain stands there telling you how much they hate your store/company. It takes a thick skin and a sense of humor to survive in retail and even with those it's stressful and demanding enough some people "break". After you've dealt with 100+ customers all day long it's hard to keep it up, but you do.
I got lots of kudos from my customers too. They made it worthwhile but my physical health was getting in the way of my job so.... I see them when I do my own shopping and never fail to get hugs from some of them and they all say they miss me. Makes me feel good.
I've been working with the public for 50 years. I expect I do know when I should and shouldn't call a manager to put out a fire. I've been a manager and am pretty good at putting them out myself and don't believe in passing the buck if I don't have to. I've pretty much seen and heard it all over the years.
No huge loss you say. Thanks. I know that a LOT of people think that just because people work retail they are just too dumb and untrained to do anything else. That isn't necessarily true. It CAN be a huge loss if said employee is a good, responsible, dependable person who does their job as instructed. Managers do not have the right to make them look stupid in front of customers. And customers are so full of entitlement they'll laugh all the way out the door because they got some poor employee, just trying to do their job, in a pickle. .
What a horrible environment you've been in for 50 years, with all those scamming and entitled customers.
He may, but that was still rude, what he said to you. I mean, geez, how does he know you even bought them in his store???? Way to ASSume! If I ever said that to a customer my butt would be out of a job! And I don't even work in sales for my employer!
I didn't buy them in his store. I bought them in another city, at least a year earlier. He was just being an ass.
I just quit my job of 8 years. I didn't really want to and thought it over for a few months before pulling the plug. However, my physical and mental health have improved 100% so I can't regret it. I miss the money and benefits. Won't find those with any other employer around here.
I hear you about the smile and demeanor. That is something that's demanded of you, right? And you have to display that while some customer yells at you, cusses you, berates you, throws things at you or just plain stands there telling you how much they hate your store/company. It takes a thick skin and a sense of humor to survive in retail and even with those it's stressful and demanding enough some people "break". After you've dealt with 100+ customers all day long it's hard to keep it up, but you do.
I got lots of kudos from my customers too. They made it worthwhile but my physical health was getting in the way of my job so.... I see them when I do my own shopping and never fail to get hugs from some of them and they all say they miss me. Makes me feel good.
Hi,
To be honest the problem I had was with corporate and the never ending ball breaking demands and policy changes. Believe it or not, the people I will miss the most are my customers and co-workers who for the most part were absolute darlings. I met the nicest bunch of people and made so many friends. I had customers who would only come shopping on the nights I was working and showered me with presents, such as boxes of chocolates and flowers on a regular basis which made me feel so appreciated and thankful. It was an honor to serve them. When a few of them got out of control I learned how to handle them well and even turned some of the nastiest people into friends. Once in a while I had a few that made me want to cry my eyes out, but I always kept it together grew thick skin and eventually became unbreakable.
With all the pressure and rule changes that were coming from corporate on a regular basis, I would have panic attacks and feelings of gloom and doom every day. I was always racked with anxiety on my way into work and would get migraines and upset stomachs. I knew it was not worth it anymore after I fantasized about getting into car accidents while on my way to work so I didn't have to go in, lol. After quitting it feels as if a 500 ton weight was lifted off of me and my anxiety has almost all gone away.
After I quit, a bunch of my co-workers called me a few days later to tell me hordes of people complained to the store manager and told her they would no longer be shopping there because I was no longer there. That meant the world to me.
Corporate was so out of touch and the latest GM was so rigid and mean it became a nightmare to work there. We were screamed at daily, forced to stay 2-3 hours past our shifts were over and threatened to be fired or written up if we didn't meet our daily sales and rewards card quotas. Every other manager I ever worked with in the past 6 years were real gems except for Broom Hilda who we all officially nicknamed "Miss Piggy", lol.
When I quit my job, I checked my Facebook page and saw messages from co-workers, assistant managers and even customers telling me how much I was going to missed and how sad they were to lose me. That made me bawl my eyes out.
What a horrible environment you've been in for 50 years, with all those scamming and entitled customers.
LOL...yes, but I survived!!
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