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To the OP
keep in mind that it is NEVER ok for customers to verbally or physically assault you in any way. If it even appears that the situation is headed in that direction call your manager immediately. Let the customer know that "A manager will be here in just a moment and they will be better able to help you sir/madame", then step back and do not engage with that customer any further.
First thing you need to remember, is you are new to the store, and really don't know where everything is, and cannot answer all questions accurately. As the new person, you do not have a regular station, and are being used to fill in needs wherever you are needed. You are not near as knowledgeable as you will be in 6 months. So you are unable to answer all questions.
What you need to quickly do, is gather information for your own use. Learn where the different departments such as flowers is located, to you can send a customer to where they can get answers. Learn who you can call in the different departments when you are stumped.
If you are able to call for an answer, or to send your customer to the correct location for the department, you will solve most of your problems you have.
Just saying I Don't Know, is not an acceptable answer and angers customers. But when you can pass them on to the one that knows the answer, you solve most of those problems you are having.
When I managed stores years ago, this is what I taught them, and we had a lot less problems than they had before I took over.
Thank you guys for your response. Let me clarify something.
1. My duty is to check out the customers at the cash register. This is what i am doing every day. I don't have to know anything about the flowers, building materials and other merchandise that we have in the store. I wasn't trained for that at all. I also have no idea about current sales at the store or the availability of the particular merchandise in the store. Why? Because nobody inform me about that on time. So, taking that in account i still believe that my mistake was only that i didn't offer her to call somebody immediately and instead of that was honest with her and told her the truth. Why? Because i was assuming that i am talking with a normal person. In the country where i am from (Russia) people tend to be more honest and straight to the point. There is no shame to do not know something, there is the shame to do not want to help a customer. I was ready to help her. Yes, i did it not professional. This is my fault, i admit that. But there is absolutely no reason and no excuse for her reaction. Now i understand, that in US i have to be like a freaking robot and just lie to people and answer on their question with the same prepared phrases. And always smile, right? Ok. To be honest i don't believe that. Why? Because i am working there every day. Almost all of my colleges were born in the US. So they are Americans. And i see that they acting like absolutely normal, real and alive people. Not like robots. And the vast majority of the customers are the same - just normal people. I don't have any problems with them, and i think they don't have any problems with me, except their strange habits to joke for any reason (yes, i don't understand American humor yet, so i just smiling) and call me and everyone with words like "mate", "buddy", "what's up" and other familiarity jestures. This is strange for me, but this is OK, i realize that this is another country and i have to accept all these customs. So it is OK.
2. Some of you wrote something like i have a job because of the customers and like they paying my checks. I am sorry but this is ridiculous. I get paid from my employer for my time. Not from the customers. I don't make any extra money just because i helped the customer and made him or her happy. So it is the absolutely wrong position that i owe something to them and i have to tolerate all kinds of bad manners just because they are customers. This is wrong. If you guys consider the store associates as the expendable material just because "they are here to satisfy the customer needs", then why you do not consider the customers as the expendable income source as well? If you intentionally put the customer rights above the people who are working for your company and let you make the money - then very soon you will face the staff turnover.
If that situation would happen in Moscow, for example, i guarantee you, that other customers would tell this lady to shut up and call her a b*tch and many other words. And other cashiers too, by the way. Why? Because when the customer responses with inadequate reaction, he or she crosses the line. Customer doesn't mean a God. Customer has right to obtain good service. If the service is bad, you go to the department that called "customer service" (surprise) or ask to call manager. And after that you tell them what you don't like. This is how civilized people do. If you respond with rudeness and disturbing actions, the store associates have right to kick you out by calling security guys. This is how it work in Moscow. At least in the vast majority of the stores.
Fortunately for her, it happened a few minutes before the store was closed, and there were only a couple customers who came up to me a little bit later so they didn't know the whole story and what exactly happened. They tried to joke about that by telling me something like "You cannot make everyone happy, do you know that?", but at that moment i was very upset so it didn't helped me a lot. But anyway even the others customers seemed to be on my side. On the next day i spoke with some of my colleges, who are working there many years. All of them, and management too, told me, that there were no my fault and that this lady just was looking for somebody to release her negative emotions. I was shoked, because i never seen that woman can scream so loud and with so much hate in her voice. In Russia the women are much more quite than here. I would understand if some drunk guy would act like that. But not the lady. The lady, who didn't look as homeless or mentally sick person. This lady looked as normal average woman, she was well dressed (for the American ladies). You guys just didn't hear HOW loud she was. She was screaming so loud like i just murdered her family in front of her. She was screaming so loud like nuclear war just started. Ok, i think you got my point.
I didn't talk back to her when she started all this craziness. The reason of that is because first of all if you want to have verbal confrontation or arguing with somebody, you have to be VERY fluent in that language. I saw a lot of foreigners in Moscow, who were trying to have verbal confrontation with Russians in some reason, and in all cases they looked pathetic, even if they were right. So i didn't want to repeat their mistakes. She is American, i am immigrant. So i realized my disadvantage here and that is why i didn't talk back. Second reason - i am not a person, who feels himself confident enough in such situations. I know myself, i am very sensitive and i stutter. So it would be even worse. This is a second reason. And finally, i just didn't see any reason to explain her something, because it was absolutely obvious for me, that this person is unreasonable.
Anyway, thanks all of you guys. I will try to improve my answers and i will be more professional next time. We will see =)
You do know that the customer pays your paycheck, right? So they are more important since they are bringing IN money and you are TAKING AWAY money - in the form of a pay check.
I cannot STAND when I ask a question and someone says "I don't know" and stands there. Burns me up. ... I was tired and hungry and felt like screaming.
Poor customer service is inexcusable. It will cost the company money. Learn how to do your job better.
Well, just get all burned up, Honey. Did you curb you temper and act like a professional, even if you were tired and hungry? Welcome to the era of cutbacks and part time jobs that don't pay people enough to live on. Low-paid employees will not stay at a job that demands too much work for the pay. They will move on until they find one that they feel is fair compensation for the work being demanded. Since there are no benefits and no career path, there is no real incentive to excel or be committed to the job.
Referring to the OP's post: As someone who is *not* a career retail employee but has worked as a part-time and seasonal employee, I think you idiot customers have an unreasonable expectation that EVERY employee you encounter should be a seasoned veteran AND should know absolutely EVERYTHING, everywhere in the store. Those days are done, dolts. Go over to Indeed.com and read what working at retail chains stores is like nowadays. I am going to assume that the OP is at a Lowes or Home Depot. Stores are understaffed. Employees are multitasked and overtasked. Regular employees are pulled off the sales floor to unload trucks on a Sunday afternoon, with the store full of customers, leaving only one clerk to cover all of plumbing or all of electrical. Decisions were made to NOT hire as many seasonal workers for nursery and outdoors. Additionally, there are fewer fulltime positions, and there are more part-time positions. Commissions have been eliminated. Many of the sales people working there are working for (ballpark) $10 per hour. It's getting so that no skilled adults are going to make a fulltime career out of retail, and at only $10/hr part time, you idiot customers are not going to (on average) encounter the experienced pros that you want.
IF the OP is a CASHIER at a Home Depot or a Lowes, a CASHIER runs the register. A CASHIER should not be expected to know where the H to find any given plant in the nursery. Or how to care for your plants. Or what tree to buy that "will only grow *this* big." Or when the rose bushes will arrive. Or what aisle to find garage door openers. Or the answer to any one of literally hundreds of inappropriate questions that stupid customers ask. (Where are all the shopping carts? They are out in the parking lot, because there are not enough employees to be in the store serving you and outside hauling in the carts. So, if you need, say, a flatbed cart, MAYBE THINK AHEAD AND BRING ONE IN WITH YOU!)
It was suggested that the OP call somebody? Good luck with that. Only one mobile phone per department. Maybe the one person who has the one mobile phone is already tied up with (gasp!) another customer or is running an order picker and can't answer that phone in a split second. I imagine the customer MIGHT STILL HAVE TO WAIT. God forbid! Fact is, UNTIL you kick Corporate in the posterior, nothing will be done about "poor customer service," because corporations are not allocating enough resources toward it. They have low-caliber help because they won't pay enough to retain good employees. It's all about cost-cutting lowering the compensation for sales employees, and cashiers, and making money for the corporation. The retail employers want experts, but they are only paying McDonald's wages.
And who do you take this issue up with, you rude and stupid blithering idiots? Certainly NOT the cashiers or the clerks. Yes, you should be talking and writing directly to store management and corporate management, NOT screaming and ranting at clerks who are only paid $10/hr and no benefits. $10 is unskilled labor, so if you get better than unskilled labor, be glad.
Get your s. together, you stupid customers. Sales associates are given no training. They are vastly overworked and underpaid. Stores are understaffed. Cashiers run registers. Do your own research, use your smart phone and your computer. If it's a big box store, it's designed to be self-service and the store will never have enough experts and personal shoppers to be able to dedicate one to every shopper. If your order requires someone to use a piece of equipment to pull your big heavy item off a shelf in a working warehouse, be advised that 1)NOT every employee in the store is trained and licensed to use that equipment, 2) it may take the employee you are talking to possibly 15-20 minutes to find the licensed machine-operator, may need the machine-operator to move other items to get at what you want, and 3) due to the staffing cuts and the fact that employees do get to take lunch/dinner breaks of an hour, you might have just hit the store at the wrong combo time of dinner break + lack of proper staffing, and you will have to wait. Ranting that you will just go the competitors store doesn't matter much. All that matters at the end of the day is the numbers. You are just another number, forgotten in the blur of yet another overworked and underpaid day.
It's okay if you don't like my attitude. I don't have or ever want a fulltime job in retail or nursing or any field that requires me to be a servant to the generally stupid general public.
Nope. Not gonna chill out. Gonna go spend my money elsewhere. My field is customer service oriented. I know my stuff. OP needs to learn her stuff instead of asking more people to care about her instead of the customers. Assimilate baby! You're being paid to do a job.
Okay. Do that. Walk and spend your money elsewhere, Drama Queen. But looking at the money side of it, this dissatisfaction must happen on a very large scale in order to make any significant difference in the bottom line of a large store. People get PO'd at one business and they go shop elsewhere. It happens all the time. But they take their personality problems with them wherever they go, and before long, they are not getting enough kissing-up-to from the competitor(s) either.
Anyone who has worked in sales has seen customers come and customers go. The savvy sales people do competitive analysis and know where to draw the line on price and service so that they are not giving away the store or expending too much effort to please "customers" who are playing games. There is always a certain percent who can't ever be pleased. Ideally, you identify those losers and give them the brushoff and you concentrate on the true buyers, not the jerks who always want something for nothing.
Thank you guys for your response. Let me clarify something.
1. My duty is to check out the customers at the cash register. This is what i am doing every day. I don't have to know anything about the flowers, building materials and other merchandise that we have in the store. I wasn't trained for that at all. I also have no idea about current sales at the store or the availability of the particular merchandise in the store. Why? Because nobody inform me about that on time. So, taking that in account i still believe that my mistake was only that i didn't offer her to call somebody immediately and instead of that was honest with her and told her the truth. Why? Because i was assuming that i am talking with a normal person. In the country where i am from (Russia) people tend to be more honest and straight to the point. There is no shame to do not know something, there is the shame to do not want to help a customer. I was ready to help her. Yes, i did it not professional. This is my fault, i admit that. But there is absolutely no reason and no excuse for her reaction. Now i understand, that in US i have to be like a freaking robot and just lie to people and answer on their question with the same prepared phrases. And always smile, right? Ok. To be honest i don't believe that. Why? Because i am working there every day. Almost all of my colleges were born in the US. So they are Americans. And i see that they acting like absolutely normal, real and alive people. Not like robots. And the vast majority of the customers are the same - just normal people. I don't have any problems with them, and i think they don't have any problems with me, except their strange habits to joke for any reason (yes, i don't understand American humor yet, so i just smiling) and call me and everyone with words like "mate", "buddy", "what's up" and other familiarity jestures. This is strange for me, but this is OK, i realize that this is another country and i have to accept all these customs. So it is OK.
2. Some of you wrote something like i have a job because of the customers and like they paying my checks. I am sorry but this is ridiculous. I get paid from my employer for my time. Not from the customers. I don't make any extra money just because i helped the customer and made him or her happy. So it is the absolutely wrong position that i owe something to them and i have to tolerate all kinds of bad manners just because they are customers. This is wrong. If you guys consider the store associates as the expendable material just because "they are here to satisfy the customer needs", then why you do not consider the customers as the expendable income source as well? If you intentionally put the customer rights above the people who are working for your company and let you make the money - then very soon you will face the staff turnover.
If that situation would happen in Moscow, for example, i guarantee you, that other customers would tell this lady to shut up and call her a b*tch and many other words. And other cashiers too, by the way. Why? Because when the customer responses with inadequate reaction, he or she crosses the line. Customer doesn't mean a God. Customer has right to obtain good service. If the service is bad, you go to the department that called "customer service" (surprise) or ask to call manager. And after that you tell them what you don't like. This is how civilized people do. If you respond with rudeness and disturbing actions, the store associates have right to kick you out by calling security guys. This is how it work in Moscow. At least in the vast majority of the stores.
Fortunately for her, it happened a few minutes before the store was closed, and there were only a couple customers who came up to me a little bit later so they didn't know the whole story and what exactly happened. They tried to joke about that by telling me something like "You cannot make everyone happy, do you know that?", but at that moment i was very upset so it didn't helped me a lot. But anyway even the others customers seemed to be on my side. On the next day i spoke with some of my colleges, who are working there many years. All of them, and management too, told me, that there were no my fault and that this lady just was looking for somebody to release her negative emotions. I was shoked, because i never seen that woman can scream so loud and with so much hate in her voice. In Russia the women are much more quite than here. I would understand if some drunk guy would act like that. But not the lady. The lady, who didn't look as homeless or mentally sick person. This lady looked as normal average woman, she was well dressed (for the American ladies). You guys just didn't hear HOW loud she was. She was screaming so loud like i just murdered her family in front of her. She was screaming so loud like nuclear war just started. Ok, i think you got my point.
I didn't talk back to her when she started all this craziness. The reason of that is because first of all if you want to have verbal confrontation or arguing with somebody, you have to be VERY fluent in that language. I saw a lot of foreigners in Moscow, who were trying to have verbal confrontation with Russians in some reason, and in all cases they looked pathetic, even if they were right. So i didn't want to repeat their mistakes. She is American, i am immigrant. So i realized my disadvantage here and that is why i didn't talk back. Second reason - i am not a person, who feels himself confident enough in such situations. I know myself, i am very sensitive and i stutter. So it would be even worse. This is a second reason. And finally, i just didn't see any reason to explain her something, because it was absolutely obvious for me, that this person is unreasonable.
Anyway, thanks all of you guys. I will try to improve my answers and i will be more professional next time. We will see =)
For your number two, I think the point some people were trying to make is that your employer makes money because people are coming into their stores and spending it. You're right though. You initially saying that you did not know, and then following up with asking if she wanted you to get somebody in no way justifies her screaming at you. Most people won't do a job where they can come to work and get screamed at all day long, without being able to do anything about it, unless they have no choice. As a result of that, they are taken advantage of in many different ways. This is why the turnover rate in retail is high relative to other industries.
I've done years in retail, as a regular employee and from a managerial perspective. Really, the customer is always right is only correct in the whole idea that, as an employee, you need to try your best to allow them to think that they are, in order to keep their business. The customer is wrong very often, and here is one of those times.
The only place I want to correct you here is about why you didn't talk back. NEVER talk back. The customer can talk back, and go home, and come back whenever they want to. If you talk back, odds are that you're going to get fired. Think about what I said regarding allowing the customer to think they're right. Just go with it. Stand there with a smile. They're the ones that are making fools out of themselves, and this is why people came up to you afterwards to let you know that this lady was wrong.
Only thing you could have done better is following up quicker with asking if she wanted you to get somebody. Though, there are a lot of nasty people who still would've snapped at you for this. You're new, and you said the right thing. Don't worry about it.
My husband works at a DIY store, and it has been a eye opening experience. From the stories he tells, I know that some customers are just irrational jerks, who expect something for nothing, or get angry because the store doesn't have an item they want. Even though the company policy is the customer comes first, any good supervisor will support the employee who acts professionally.
As long as you are always polite, and have a willingness to help to the best of your ability, that is all you can do. You will find that MOST people are kind, and the ones who are not, don't take it personally.
OP, seriously consider a ESL class. I think they're free and it would help you a lot. I would have guessed Russia!
You did very well by not talking back. The customer does sound heartless but there are lots of them out there. Most of them are frustrated for some reason. It is usually possible to defuse those situations. And you continued being upset and telling other customers about the situation? Not good. And you think it's okay for other customers to call her a b--ch? Wow. Making them no better than she?
Home Depot - notorious for bad customer service HOWEVER I've been in a couple that are good-ish.
Sometimes I think people are hired because they say they can do the job. So do the job. Ask management about how to handle rude customers or take criticism constructively.
This is the USA. Not Russia. Of course you know that but comparing the two is like apples and oranges. I've given nearly 3 decades of my life defending your right to complain and her right to be a biotch. Heck, you don't even have to be fluent and you have a job!
If you can perfect the art of treating customers as if they're always right even when they're not, and turning a negative experience into a positive one, it will be noticed. "People skills" are an asset that transfer to any position, anywhere.
And I hope you took note of where the flowers are.
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Fact is, UNTIL you kick Corporate in the posterior, nothing will be done about "poor customer service," because corporations are not allocating enough resources toward it. They have low-caliber help because they won't pay enough to retain good employees. It's all about cost-cutting lowering the compensation for sales employees, and cashiers, and making money for the corporation. The retail employers want experts, but they are only paying McDonald's wages.
