Oh yeah, one thing I forgot about lowe's- why is it when I need cut-to-length hose, nobody is to be found within a 50 foot radius, but when I don't need help with anything, 5 people ask me if I need help.

Murphy's Law of Retail I guess.

 

At restaurants and the sign says open till 10 it also means they WILL CLOSE AT 10. ( turn off grill.put things away and clean up) If you want soap in your food run in 5 minutes before they are to start and clean and make them cook instead..The cooks HATE IT.Ive heard its common practice to give the food a little shot of soap on purpose as punishment for coming in that late like a jerk... As far as the big box stores The HD is 1 mile away and I know the store pretty well. I dont need any help 99% of the time and when I do I like to have the OLD PART if I can and then I hand it to them and let them dig for it. Brass and steel pipe connectors and fittings and stuff for odd ball plumming and electrical repairs are sometimes work to gather up . Thats about all the help I need from them.

 

The number of times over the years that ive had to deal with obnoxious, rude customers,or dealt with sales/customer service people who couldnt be bothered,far outweighs the very few times when i have snapped at a customer,and i dont recall ever being out of line with sales or service personnel.
Like everyone else,i have had bad days and crises in my life,but that doesnt allow me to take it out on either a customer of mine,or on a store clerk who is waiting on me.
The term "the customer is always right" was never meant to excuse an unnecessarily rude,even abusive customer,it was meant to give the customer the benefit of the doubt,and provide him with prompt courteous service. Certain potential customers cause more grief than the profits derived from there business are worth,and these are often the same customers who really dont buy anything of consequence.
When a customer cant be bothered to actually look at the person who has greeted them,and possibly asked them if they needed assistance,these are frequently the customers who will cause a store clerk grief,since they often dont feel that the employee is worthy of there acknowledgement.
On the other side of the fence,the store personnel who dont know or care about whether they have the product that your looking for,are rather aggravating as well.
In my experience in customer service, i can usually tell most customers that "im not sure,i will check,or ask another employee if they know" and by doing something as simple as letting them know that you are trying to assist them,the majority of them are happy.
What infuriates many customers is the employee who says "we dont sell that",or "I dont know anything about that" or, worst of all " thats not my Department"/"thats not my job" ,which is telling the customer that you really dont give a rats **** about them.
The customer got 3 seconds of this employees time,had the employee taken the time to follow those quotes mentioned above with an extra 5 or 10 seconds,with "im sorry we dont carry that" or, " let me check on that" or even "ask for Joe,he's in such and such dept,he may have what you need"........and in reality,thats all it takes frequently,5 or 10 additional seconds to give the customer the sense that you are trying to help them.

 

I've worked at a steak house chain for awhile when I was in high school and they are not putting soap in it. You are eating bodily fluids.

 

Amen. Now try to convince corporate management of that, as they want us to spend all our time to satisfy these customers (the 2-3% I mentioned) that simply can't EVER be satisfied, no matter what you may try to do.

I agree, but there are days when it just becomes so difficult for even the best of us to remember this. I'm busy all the time, partly because business is good and partly because of the inefficiencies that come with working in a big-box store. I'm helping one customer, then I'm called to put out a fire at the return desk, then the service desk needs me, and in between going to all three I'm asked by 4 customers for help in 2 departments I really know very little about. We specifically train people in certain departments so that they're the most knowledgeable in a certain area, as opposed to having a limited general knowledge throughout the store. We try to get that across in our advertising, but I'm sure there are times when the customer doesn't understand why I can't tell them which plumbing part they need to fix their leaky water heater.

 

I guess she wasn't a hottie senorita then. Certainly not in hoosier's class! Ship Boy, you should have taken one of your 20 rounds of ammo and blown her a$$ away!!

 

Would that be some of that ammo marked "for target use only"?

 

Years ago: when I temporarily, as previously mentioned worked retail, I was in the staff room having a coffee with the store manager. Another of the department managers came in a few minutes later. He mentioned how he had a stupid customer to deal with; but had finally proved him wrong.

The store manager looked at him and said, "That's fine I guess; if you're getting paid to win arguments with the customers!" I've never forgotten that (20 years ago) and try to keep a proper perspective when dealing with my customers.

 

It does seem like though that more businesses are saying if you get abusive with the employee that they will tell you to leave. They aren't getting paid to be yelled at. If you have a problem go to the manager and explain your problem calmly and you have a better chance of getting results. There are always the bad employees and bad customers, but you can probably get the managers attention better if you talk to him about the employee being rude or their knowledge level or lack of.

 

Of course! I destroyed everything that isn't approved by Osama/Reid/Pelosi/Holder/Janet Reno!

 

If he would have hired an illegal to do the paint job in the first place...he wouldn't have had the problem.

 

Lets get to the basic problem. I dont take "orders" from ANY alien that speaks spanish.For one thing their language offends me to even hear it or the dialect. If you are a mexican or something that looks like a mexican you need a gun and a BADGE with police officer written on it to give me any stinkin orders....I have been a customer for many years at this store long before 90%or more of these aliens even came here AND I DIDNT NEED THEM THEN AND I DONT NEED THEM NOW.THEY NEED TO KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT TO ME.PERIOD Dont call me a racist call me an AMERICAN who lives in america and not in mexico or spain or equador etc etc.

 

Well...there goes the neighborhood.

 

Wow,shipboy,that was quite informative........Disturbing,but informative!

 

Hey ShipBoy,if i ever get down to your neck of the woods in North Carolina,can you suggest a good place for a Margarita and some enchiladas? Got any favorites?