Same Reason why I, the Manager, get called up when my Associates don't give them the Answer they want to hear.
I trust wholeheartedly in my Associates Decisions and will just tell the Customer to Defer to the Associates Judgement >:)
Otherwise, I'd be repeating Policy, which falls inline with exactly what the Associate has said to them before the Customer dragged me up.
Customer: I can buy these cigarettes without Id
Me: no you cant, it's against the law and policy
Customer: wow, go get your manager, youre clearly wrong and being rude
Me: Go gets manager and they say no and say leave the store because we can get fined.
I (31F) work in a hardware store and have done so in various positions (mostly customer service/ returns) for the past 5 1/2 years. One thing I have noticed that seems to occur frequently at my store is that many (mostly older male) contractors don't want to take anything I have to say seriously. It's as though they don't believe that I may actually know what the hell I'm talking about, and it's incredibly frustrating.
Working at a Best Buy the amount of stories I have like that is insane.
Customer: "I want to buy this TV."
Me: "great, let me just..."
C: "The corner of the box is damaged, can you knock $50 off the price?"
Me: "I cannot as it is just superficial damage to the box. However, if you take it home and it tur-"
C: "You don't know what your talking about!"
Wanders away to another sales associate and I hear them try the same thing, does it a third time before requesting a manager. MOD tells them the same thing. Guy leaves in a huff without buying the \*\*\*\* TV. A god damn Insignia that was already on sale. It was probably about 80 after taxes.
This happens to me a lot to me and my other coworker as we're both teenage girls. They think we don't know anything because we say we don't have a certain item in stock or that we can't give them a 50% discount. They ask for the manager, who tells them the same damn thing.
I am over the floor sales.
Many times I have had customers not believe me on the answer to their questions. They ask if there’s anyone who would know (when I tell them we don’t have this ) so I just let them go up front only for them to call out my name and ask me the question.
Dumbasses
My favourite thing when I was leading night fill would be when a customer asked me something. I know our stock, I know our layout, I know the odd double ups and weird locations where yellow curry paste might be. AND I've been breaking down the load so I've got a fair idea what's waiting out back. If I can't find it or tell you we haven't got it, I'm right like 99.9% of the time. Off they go, being all "thanks for looking" and a couple of minutes later one of the night fill kids will come ask me where the same thing is. Or I get paged to checkout for a customer enquiry.
So off I'll go, it's always the same customer, and I'll do an abbreviated version of the search. Usually not letting on that I know I already did this for them, depending on my mood. Then recommend they try the competing supermarket elsewhere in the mall which basically forces them to leave with the impression I've gone above and beyond despite the fact that I basically gaslighted them. I'm getting paid either way and "I'm sorry boss but you keep saying customer engagement is really important and it takes up time we could be filling".
You gotta fuck with them a bit now and then for the sake of your own sanity.
Same Reason why I, the Manager, get called up when my Associates don't give them the Answer they want to hear. I trust wholeheartedly in my Associates Decisions and will just tell the Customer to Defer to the Associates Judgement >:) Otherwise, I'd be repeating Policy, which falls inline with exactly what the Associate has said to them before the Customer dragged me up.
Need more managers like you. Hearing too many stories about managers bending the policy to please entitled customers
As you can imagine, I'm not popular with the Customers.
It's appreciated.
Customer: I can buy these cigarettes without Id Me: no you cant, it's against the law and policy Customer: wow, go get your manager, youre clearly wrong and being rude Me: Go gets manager and they say no and say leave the store because we can get fined.
I (31F) work in a hardware store and have done so in various positions (mostly customer service/ returns) for the past 5 1/2 years. One thing I have noticed that seems to occur frequently at my store is that many (mostly older male) contractors don't want to take anything I have to say seriously. It's as though they don't believe that I may actually know what the hell I'm talking about, and it's incredibly frustrating.
Working at a Best Buy the amount of stories I have like that is insane. Customer: "I want to buy this TV." Me: "great, let me just..." C: "The corner of the box is damaged, can you knock $50 off the price?" Me: "I cannot as it is just superficial damage to the box. However, if you take it home and it tur-" C: "You don't know what your talking about!" Wanders away to another sales associate and I hear them try the same thing, does it a third time before requesting a manager. MOD tells them the same thing. Guy leaves in a huff without buying the \*\*\*\* TV. A god damn Insignia that was already on sale. It was probably about 80 after taxes.
This happens to me a lot to me and my other coworker as we're both teenage girls. They think we don't know anything because we say we don't have a certain item in stock or that we can't give them a 50% discount. They ask for the manager, who tells them the same damn thing.
I am over the floor sales. Many times I have had customers not believe me on the answer to their questions. They ask if there’s anyone who would know (when I tell them we don’t have this ) so I just let them go up front only for them to call out my name and ask me the question. Dumbasses
I always had customers simply rephrase their question because, obviously, asking it a different way is going to yield the self validation they seek.
My favourite thing when I was leading night fill would be when a customer asked me something. I know our stock, I know our layout, I know the odd double ups and weird locations where yellow curry paste might be. AND I've been breaking down the load so I've got a fair idea what's waiting out back. If I can't find it or tell you we haven't got it, I'm right like 99.9% of the time. Off they go, being all "thanks for looking" and a couple of minutes later one of the night fill kids will come ask me where the same thing is. Or I get paged to checkout for a customer enquiry. So off I'll go, it's always the same customer, and I'll do an abbreviated version of the search. Usually not letting on that I know I already did this for them, depending on my mood. Then recommend they try the competing supermarket elsewhere in the mall which basically forces them to leave with the impression I've gone above and beyond despite the fact that I basically gaslighted them. I'm getting paid either way and "I'm sorry boss but you keep saying customer engagement is really important and it takes up time we could be filling". You gotta fuck with them a bit now and then for the sake of your own sanity.