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All I can say is, be glad you don't live in the 3rd world, where customer service is sometimes just non-existent!
You go in a mattress store and ask what kind of springs or foam they use and they look at you like you're from another planet!
You go into a foam store and ask if they have latex foam and they look at you like you're speaking Greek.
You ask a supermarket clerk if they can order a case of wine they used to have all the time and they say "No, we can't do that."
... On and on...
In the USA at least most people have some idea about the products they sell, and can usually place an order for you if you want something.
Also usually in the USA you can return an item within 30 days and expect an exchange or refund that day. In the 3rd world they tell you that they'll have to get approval to make the return under warranty and that can take 30 days! (with a kitchen faucet, for example...Kind of a problem!)
My pet peeve re customer service in the USA is the phone menu hell and then getting someone with such a thick Indian or Filipino, etc. accent that you can barely understand them. Ask for someone you can understand - a native English speaker - and they say "Well yes we can do that but you might have to wait 15-30 minutes..."
As to supermarkets there is a fine line between being friendly and spending too much time talking to the customer.
I've had checkout clerks who spend maybe an extra 2 min. talking to someone they "know" while I'm 4th back in line and that annoys me. On the other hand, I used to go to the same clerk almost all the time at the local supermarket and she never would even smile or say hello, she acted as if she'd never seen us before. I found that kind of disturbing, as if she and I were robots.
I think due to the low standard of living people at a lot of stores have to live due to low wages, they are bitter and just don't give a s___. I think that's the main problem. Used to be if you got a job somewhere, no matter if it were minimum wage or not, you'd be trained to do the job right and the "customer is king". Now, no one, not the clerk, not the assistant manager, and not the manager give a dang because they're working for such little money as compared to the work they have to do.
Part of this is the trend starting maybe 10 years or more ago, of paying workers the same money for more work.
My wife was working in a discount store and they basically told them they had to do so much work before lunch and so the workers would have to (illegally) work through part or all of their lunch or get yelled at. Even in higher end jobs, like in the communications industry, the trend has been to hire fewer people and make them do more work.
It's an atmosphere that does not lend itself to happy friendly employees.
I really think a lot of the young ones really are clueless regarding customer service. I think no one teaches people anymore. I do know it used to be much better, I think the demands on workers and stupid corporate rules ( someone told me Target employees are only allowed to go to the bathroom at a couple of designated times. At 56 I’d get fired fast lol. It’s treating people like they aren’t human, then they act in ways that reflect that. The pace of many low wage jobs today leads to burnout.
When my supermarket chain was bought out, older workers who had been there the entire 18 years I lived there either retired or weren’t brought over by the new company in favor of lower cost kids. But I ended up stopping going there. The difference was night and day Before, they’d look for things for me, call the dairy manager, ho up the aisles with me. After Id be in Dairy and ask a young worker where the Laughing Cow cheese is (It was in the dairy aisle before the new chain took
Over),
He obviously has never heard of laughing cow, he looks about 17. He says “I don’t think we have that” I explain I’m pretty sure they do and explain what it is. then he says “Well it might be in aisle 16, or aisle 22. Or you can go ask customer service. This makes me mad, because the correct answer IMO is “I’m not sure, let me find out for you”. I shouldn’t have to go on a scavenger hunt.
If I complained and he got reprimanded, he’d have been honestly surprised he did anything wrong in that exchange. And I fear this is the new notmal,
Some companies are stepping into the gap and emphasizing customer drrbice. I felt like a head of cattle at Urgent Care everytime i went, and several times left mad I paid to be treated like that, Since then though patient first has opened. I have been there twice they treat you so much better than any other urgent care I’ve ever been to it is obviously customer service oriented, they emphasize that in their training? and it definitely shows. I will go out of my way if I can to go to them due to that.
I also don't care what that poster said about fat bank accounts. Older people with fat bank accounts are not mopping floors at Popeye's, they just are not.
And again, yes, some of them do, I could give you names and locations but I doubt those people would appreciate that. No it's not half the employees you see, but I'm simply pointing out that assuming EVERY older adult you see working some minimum wage job is there because they need to be, or that they are there because they're losers, is really shortsighted. Don't assume. Some of the people in the stores I've worked are there simply as something to do, period, they do not need the money.
I don’t mind curt or silent people who just go about their jobs. I think many people today expect retail employees to kiss their ass.
I don't mind curt or silent people in customer service, either, but the ones that I've seen lately have anti-customer attitudes. Seem to act like the customer is an interruption of their work day, when the customer is actually the foundation of how they're getting their paycheck.
It's not my fault if that worker is having a bad day. I can't plan my trips to the store around the moods of the people who work there. I can't walk out of line if the cashier seems to be getting frustrated or seems tired. I may need to get that milk I'm buying, home to my kids. And it's not my fault they aren't getting paid $15 an hour.
someone told me Target employees are only allowed to go to the bathroom at a couple of designated times.
That's not true. They can't walk away in the middle of a transaction, but as long as no one is waiting in line, they're free to turn off their light and take a quick bathroom break.
I have an occasional foul up with a retail clerk or check out person, but overall, my experience in the PNW is that people are quite friendly and helpful. The medical offices here are also relaxed and pleasant, IMO. I feel for clerks who deal with the public every day, being on their feet, and having to handle constant requests, complaints and other stuff. I have worked with the public, and I know how tiring it can be.
IMO when a clerk cannot handle a problem it is likely because he or she has not been trained and/or given the authority to handle the problem directly. It is maddening to have a problem, and not be able to find someone to address it. But, someone who has just been hired or promoted, might not have the knowledge to handle it.
Stores do not train well, I think.
I also think that paying minimum wage will get you minimum workers. I know others will not like to hear this, but the person who is working a minimum wage job is likely working two jobs in order to survive. I suspect that energy levels are low in this situation, as would be motivation.
However, I do expect civility from people with whom I deal. But mostly, I am treated civilly if not cheerfully. If the workers are sullen or difficult in one place, then I think you should take your business elsewhere if you can.
I am treated well at Costco, and Walgreens, for two examples. I am treated less cheerfully at the Target/CVS Pharmacy. The Whole Foods team treat me great. The Winco checkout people are efficient and sometimes chatty, but mostly all business with little foul up. Home Depot is fine. Macy's is OK. The clerks in the Lands End dept. at Sears are really great, but sometimes not available due to low staffing. People at the car dealerships and repair places have been business like and dependable. I really can't think of any place I hate going to because the employees are surly, sullen or uncooperative.
There has to be a component of company culture in this. What do the look for in hiring and what to they train? What level service do they expect their employees to work at? My experience is employees will work up or down to what level the company expects.
Example. Same town. Same population to hire from. Chick Filet is tops in service. Clean, fast, constant lines of people. Bojangles just down the street. Slow service, sullen, more of a "what do you want" vs "my pleasure." We ate at Chick Filet tonight. Bojangles went out of business.
Ok I'm going to chime in here. The reason customer service is declining is not because the employees hate you or don't care. We are simply overwhelmed. Most corporate big box stores have cut back on staff and leave us nothing but a skeleton crew. A cashier is no longer just ringing up people all day. A cashier is told to promote products and we have quotas to meet. If those quotas are not met, there is hell to pay. We are told to harass every customer that sets one foot in the door within seconds, not only with a smile, but a what can I help you find today question right away. This is regardless if we are already ringing up somebody else while at the same time the phone is ringing and we are not allowed to let it ring more that 3 times before picking it up and are sadly forced to ignore the paying customer who is standing physically right in front of our face which I feel is rude to that person.
Since we are perpetually short on staff all the time, the manager on duty will come over and hand us multiple projects to work on in between each customer. We are always needing to dash off an aisle or two away from our register trying to get these never ending tasks done as quickly as we can before being interupted to ring up the next customer that rolls by us to be checked out. We have to constantly keep our eyes on the register so we can dash as quickly as we can to get behind the counter before the next customer with a shopping cart rolls up to the counter or calls for assistance on the floor.
Then we need to sell services to raise profits on top of the physical add on products to raise our out of reach sales goal for the day, while the poor customer wants to get the hell out of the store as fast as possible without hearing a barrage of never ending, cheesy used car salesman pitches fumes. Then we are told to get our rewards cards sign-ups in the 95 percentile or we will get written up, while a few cranky people who don't want to be bothered tell us no and then our quota is shot for the day and we will be getting chewed out by the manager on duty later and possibly written up.
While ringing up the next person while spying out of the corner of my eye a lady yapping on her cell phone with her 5 out of control, unruly kids are swinging like Tarzan across the store knocking products all over the place and trashing my displays. Next, I see someone spill their Starbucks on the floor without a care while I am scrambling to rush off to get a mop and a bucket while the next customer in queue is screaming "Yoo Hoo" is there anyone here to ring me up"?
Then the store is trashed and this means I will have to stay 2 hours later after my shift ends to pick up after everyone as the manager yells "look at all the boxes of stock that needs to be put out on the shelf". The next customer walks up and slams his or her items onto the counter to be rung up and is in a bad mood and tosses their credit card at me. The next customer then proceeds to hold up my line with 50 items that all need to be individually price-matched from our website as 4 people behind them on line start sighing and loudly displaying their disgust at the long wait on line as I nervously shout over the intercom for back up in vain as we are so short-staffed nobody comes.
By this point, my nerves are frazzled and I feel less than chipper because I tried my best to make everyone happy that day and failed miserably. Maybe this could be why customer service has not been the best when you came in that day. And at this point, I look like I have resting b$%#@ face. Customer service is failing because big corp. is way too cheap to hire enough staff to truly make you satisfied because most of you have had enough of dealing with this stupidity in physical stores and mostly order online now.
Customer service is so bad that pretty much all brick and mortar stores have lost my business. There are just too many terrible retail workers that seem disinterested in what they're doing and I feel like I'm inconveniencing them.
When I do find a company that actually trains their workers and has some consistency it stands out. Urban Mattress seems like one of those companies. Also, local stores like McGuckin's Hardware in Boulder, Co have incredible service.
You can find it at family owned companies, but there are still are some national franchises with good management that invests in training their staff. Voting with your dollars is the only weapon against bad customer service.
Ok I'm going to chime in here. The reason customer service is declining is not because the employees hate you or don't care. We are simply overwhelmed. Most corporate big box stores have cut back on staff and leave us nothing but a skeleton crew.
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.
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