Why Are Expectations So Much Higher at Home Improvement Centers? (furniture, last minute)

[SteelCityRising]

As a 21-year-old, mildly-seasoned retail warrior, I must say that this career path is really starting to test my patience and has begun to sour my outlook on mankind in general. I began my career at age sixteen working at the local grocery store as a stock clerk. When I turned eighteen I sought employment at Lowe's Home Improvement, where I still work today. I have had experienced various "ups" and "downs" while working over the past several years, but something I've noticed is that the expectations of clientèle change dramatically when you go from one type of mass retailer to another.

For example, as a customer I have shopped at big-box electronics retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City), department stores (Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl's), and home centers (Lowe's, Home Depot), alike. From my vantage point in eavesdropping in on interactions between customers and employees at these other establishments, I have come to the definite conclusion that people are satisfied with what I consider to be very poor customer service at Wal-Mart and Circuit City but those very same people demand only top-notch professionalism from Lowe's. Why? What makes the college student wearing the blue button-down shirt at Best Buy different from the college student wearing the red apron at Lowe's?

I suppose I'm an anomaly in the big-box retail industry in that I will routinely greet customers with a pleasant smile, take them directly to the product they need, answer their questions directly or promptly phone an employee from that department who is better-equipped to answer it, etc., but even though I try my best to meet our customers' expectations, I often find that we still wind up falling short, even though the service many of my co-workers and I provide is far superior to that of other mass retailers.

Take today for example. I work in inside seasonal, which is a very massive department ranging from grass seed to patio furniture to grills to tractors to axes and everything in between. Today I was scheduled 7:30 AM-4 PM, and two others were scheduled to work the closing shift at 12 PM, permitting me to take my lunch hour. Not only did my one co-worker call off, but the other left shortly after arriving for having a "panic attack." This left me alone all day on a very busy Sunday to cover nine aisles of customers requiring assistance. Needless to say at around 3:40 PM, just before the end of my shift, I was handling a sudden influx of customers that included two couples that required assistance with string trimmers, one that needed help with mower parts, one that needed help with patio furniture, one that needed help with air conditioners, one that needed help with grills, and one that wanted assistance with bat repellent (which we don't even sell), simultaneously. In a situation like this I always abide by the general rule of thumb that you should assist customers in the order that they approached you for help. The bat repellent guy happened to be second-to-last, as I was only notified that he needed help via my department phone after already being approached by others in person. After waiting impatiently for about ten minutes, the customer seeking help with the chemical returned to the customer service desk asking them to page someone to come to the aisle. I received another phone call urging me to meet the customer near the grill displays. Since I could sense the guy was becoming irritable, I got a brief break and hurried over there. After spending about three minutes there greeting everyone nearby and asking them if they needed assistance, I left to help other customers, assuming that the man had already been helped by someone else. After another five minutes I received another phone call from the front-end, saying that the man was screaming at them and demanded help "now" or he would get a manager. I finally found him sitting on a pallet near the bat repellent, nowhere near where he initially told the others he would be waiting for me, and before I could even finish my first sentence he lambasted me with profanity, a raised voice, and a demand to see a manager. I brought the manager to him, and the guy kept on pointing at me and the front-end associates, making disparaging remarks about us. I argued back, claiming that when the department is busy and you are alone, you need to assist customers in the order that they sought help. Nobody is more important than anyone else. He then went on to argue that he just spent $40,000 at the store and was very displeased. To diffuse the situation the manager gave the guy a gift card.

America, what more do you want out of a place like Lowe's? You always complain that you can't find any help, and then when you do you take out your beef with the store's intentional under staffing on the floor associates who have no control over this administrative decision. 90% of the questions I field could actually be answered by the customers themselves if they would actually pick up a box and read the label. If they took this responsibility upon themselves, then maybe, just MAYBE I could actually help the 10% who legitimately are lost and need immediate guidance?

Help me out here. If you were me and were alone with a ringing phone, strict inventory replenishment orders from management, multiple customers who require help simultaneously, pages to help load items (our store "can't afford" loaders either), pages to retrieve shopping carts, instruction to clean the restrooms, etc., then what would YOU do first? We only have two hands you know, and contrary to popular belief some of us ARE human beings!

[harry chickpea]

I was a manager and district manager of theatres for many years, and this is pretty easy to analyze. There are a few issues involved here, but most revert to store management.

You had two co-workers who didn't uphold their assignments. When I started in management, I ran across this all the time. I stopped it cold in the job interviews my first year, when I explained to each potential employee that such behavior wouldn't be tolerated. The little speech went something like "We work as a team here. When you are on schedule, you will show up and work your shift. I'll expect every other person to do the same so that you don't get hit with having to do their jobs. If you want a day off, write it down, I'll try to accomodate it if at all possible. If you need to take time off at the last minute, after the schedule is made, YOU have to find your replacement and have it approved by me. If you don't show up for work and there is no replacement, don't bother coming back. If you leave mid-shift because of illness, I'll expect to see a note from a doctor, and better yet, I'll be happy to call and set your appointment." The speech went on, but you get the drift. I followed through and fired the unreliable employees, no matter how long they had been working. I'll bet your store management has been lax on that type of attitude.

Secondly, some customers are a--holes, and rewarding them for a--hole behavior is a common shortcoming of corporate weenies. The customer is NOT always correct. They deserve to be treated correctly, and the employees deserve that courtesy as well. Whenever the first word of profanity is used, for whatever reason, I STOP the conversation completely, walking away if I must, calling the police if I must. When profanity is being used, people are in an emotional and non-thinking state. That doesn't solve problems, and with some people the flooding that occurs when they build on their outrage can become uncontrollable. WALK AWAY FROM PROFANITY. NEVER tolerate it - EVER.

Thirdly, you said something that doesn't make sense. You "don't sell bat repellent" and then you say "I finally found him sitting on a pallet near the bat repellent, nowhere near where he initially told the others he would be..." Something is batty there. You lost your own grounding in relating the story. Watch out for doing that when under pressure.

Fourth, you aren't thinking out of the box. When you have a crowd of customers all wanting your attention at the same time, you can treat them as a group. Get them together, explain that the co-worker had to leave and you want to help them all, but can only do so as one person. Then suggest that in order to give them the best possible service, you would like anyone who has a question that can be answered in one minute or less to do so now, but that you'll only be able to give a one minute per person. That'll remove the load of folks that might get most irritated. Then go for the three minute folks. After that, ask the customers to work with you on who gets helped next. Suggest that the person who goes last will get your attention for as long as is needed. If you think having a dozen customers wanting different things is challenging, try to imagine a few hundred customers all wanting immediate attention. Rules change as needed to serve the most the fastest.

Fifth, it might get you reprimanded, but sometimes you have to ignore the department phone for a minute or two. Tell the courtesy desk or manager that sometimes life s-cks, and to deal with it. The person in front of you is more important than the phone. I saw a company go into bankruptcy, in part because of the attitude (I kid you not) that the information line phone had to always be answered within three rings, and this was a greater priority than the lines of people wanting to buy tickets being served. During the busiest movies, the lines were longest, and the phones rang the most often. <dOH!> The reality is that phone rules are inevitably made by some high-ego corporate loser who doesn't want to have to wait and waste time to get an underling to respond. With few exceptions, this is a stupid policy.

Sixth, complain up the chain when any abusive customer is rewarded. Explain in clear concise and non-emotional language why this is counter-productive and ultimately can result in physical abuse of employees. Remind the upper management that a small percentage of customers are inevitably convicted felons, con-men, and mentally unstable, and cannot be safely rewarded for aberrant behavior.

Seventh, always remember that the jerk customer has to go home and live with himself 24/7. You can go home and put your feet up and relax.

[Cecilia_Rose]

Harry makes some very good points. Im guilty of asking the clerks cause Im lazy but if I see theyre all jammed up I go look for it myself. Also Im a very patient person but that phone thing can seriously tick me off. People who are there in the flesh should come first. Reminds me of call waiting.

Id also like to add that If the manager can come back there for a nasty customer then he can come back there for a nice one too. Its part of his job to make sure things run smoothly but he cant if you dont speak up. If youre doing three peoples work I dont think he would think any less of you for asking him to assist with the customers. If I was a maaager Id rather deal with nice customers than come back there after things have went South.

[sean98125]

The customer in front of you is more likely to buy something than the person calling on the phone. They are already in the store and have more time and money invested in making the shopping trip successful. They will often decide to purchase a similar product even if the one that they want isn't in stock. The person calling on the phone is usually looking for a precise item and hasn't invested enough time or energy to consider the other similar products that the store sells. Always focus on the people in front of you, first.

The biggest problem I have in stores is a lack of acknowledgment from the floor staff. If you want to keep people from getting frustrated, it usually takes nothing more than "Hi, I've got three people ahead of you to help, but I'll be with you as soon as I am done with them. I'll be with you as soon as I can. " Even better if you can get their name, so when you come back you can say, "Sorry about the wait, Mr. Jones. What can I do for you?"

If a call comes in, just answer it and tell the caller the same thing. "I've got three people ahead of you that I am helping, but if you'll hold on for a few minutes I can help you then."

People just want to be acknowledged and not treated as an impediment or disruption.

Oh, as you are helping the other customers around those who are waiting to be helped, the more competent and confident you look the longer those other customers will be willing to wait.