Rediculousness at K-Fart

[RammsteinGirl]

I couldn't think of a good title, sorry.

Recently, management (or maybe it's district office, IDK) started making all cashiers fill out a piece of paper at the end of every shift stating how many (so-called) "Smart Plans" (fancy name for extended Kmart warranties) and credit card applications we sold during our shift. If we sold none, we were supposed to call up the manager on duty and tell them why we didn't sell any. Umm, why? Because no one wants a damn 5000% interest Sears Charge card, or the extended warranties (which are a huge ripoff - don't ever buy one). I've been forgetting to turn in my paper and report to the MOD.. so far, haven't heard anything, and I don't give a shit.

What are they gonna do, fire us for not selling anything? If they do that, then they won't have anyone left to work in the store!

I think this is pretty insulting for us, is it not?

[Broomjockey]

I think it's stupidly insulting. I've never understood requireing selling those. They pretty much just annoy customers.

If anything, it should be a bonus for selling them, not a punishment for failing to. Even then, still stupid.

[FuzzyKitten99]

One of the call centers I worked for did something similar when we didn't reach our daily target percentage of 'accepts' for our other products (even if they are remotely interested, we would try to get them transferred to our sales area).

It was stupid, because no matter how we presented some things, you can't force a customer to say yes. And pressuring them (even lightly) can be a big turn-off for future business.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It's absolutely insulting.

What, if you just say the right thing, you will be able to convince me to get one?

I don't care what a store is offering. I won't agree to it. Ever. 0% chance. No exceptions. I don't like being pitched or polled at cash registers; pretty much everyone on these boards who read my posts know that quite well.

So it's extremely unfair to you, the cashier, to force you to do the impossible...which is sell to customers who will NEVER buy and then write you up when you, predictably, fail.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I think I'm going to start calling the managers over when I'm pressured to buy crap like this and chew THEM out. After all, they're the ones putting the pressure on the clerks to put pressure on ME.

Yelling at the clerk is pointless. I'd love to just say to the manager"Listen, you're going to write her up if she fails to sell me this crapola. You will NEVER sell anything to me at a cash register, and setting her up to fail and then busting her when she does SUCKS. Grow some balls and treat your employees, and your customers, with a little respect!"

Hmmm...might try that next time. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Bloodsoul]

I've just stopped bothing to ask when I'm cashing people out; we've got signs up for them to read, and if they're insterested.. goody for them. I'm not, however, going to force this crap on them, especially when they say "no" everytime they shop.

[iradney]

I think I'm going to start calling the managers over when I'm pressured to buy crap like this and chew THEM out. After all, they're the ones putting the pressure on the clerks to put pressure on ME.

Yelling at the clerk is pointless. I'd love to just say to the manager"Listen, you're going to write her up if she fails to sell me this crapola. You will NEVER sell anything to me at a cash register, and setting her up to fail and then busting her when she does SUCKS. Grow some balls and treat your employees, and your customers, with a little respect!"

Hmmm...might try that next time. I'll let you know how it goes.

Could you maybe record it for posterity?? I would def like to see the various reactions to that!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

What are they gonna do, fire us for not selling anything? If they do that, then they won't have anyone left to work in the store!

I wouldn't doubt it. They'll keep coaching you and coaching you and if you don't start bringing in the apps, then you'll be out the door after a while.

Scary thing is, my company is rolling out its own credit card and rewards card (basically like the card at the grocery store you use to save money on certain items), more or less to keep up with the Joneses, and I've yet to hear of a store credit card that didn't turn into a "get x number of applications per shift or else we start the disciplinary process" kind of thing.

[Rapscallion]

I like your idea, RK, apart from one point. The managers are not the ones who come up with these promotions.

Doofus1: Hey, we have all these people walking through the cash registers. Half of them can't read properly, so advertising signs aren't as useful as they could be. Maybe we could make our cashiers pester them to promote items?

Doofus2: Great idea, especially as I won't be doing it. We'll probably have to encourage people to do this by sacking those who don't, but they're easy to replace.

Doofus1: I'll go tell the managers they're sacked unless they can get their minions to pester everyone they see.

That, boys and girls, is how head office works (I use the word 'works' lightly).

Rapscallion

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Yelling at the clerk is pointless. I'd love to just say to the manager"Listen, you're going to write her up if she fails to sell me this crapola. You will NEVER sell anything to me at a cash register, and setting her up to fail and then busting her when she does SUCKS. Grow some balls and treat your employees, and your customers, with a little respect!"

Yelling at the managers is probably pointless too, because all these credit cards and extended warranties are thought up by the corporate suits.

A letter from a customer to the corporate office or 10,000 would probably be more effective than blowing up at a manager who's just doing what he/she was told to do by corporate.

[Catwoman2965]

Making associates try and sell overpriced service plans and inflated-rate credit cards just irks me. I have said Sears mastercard; although i don't use it, but recently activated my new card, just in case of emergency. (going down to one card, not that one, and not using that unless ABSOLUTELY necessary) - so i call the number on the sticker on the card, and of course, after i punch in relevant info, am sent to a live person.

So i activate, and to be polite, i let her read her spiel about credit protection, blah, blah, blah - so at the end, she says "and now i will go ahead and enroll you in the credit protection plan" - to which i POLITELY replied, no thank you, don't want it, she then continued on about how if i have no balance, there is no charge. Sorry, no, and fortunately she said, ok, i will not enroll you.

It's not her fault, but it really pisses me off how companies do that, rather than asking if you want it or not - and I KNOW why they do it, i'm sure many people don't pay attention and just say yest, and get signed up and pay for something they dont'want.

On the other hand, i shop at Target a lot, and while they ask, once, and nicely, do you want to open and account, if you say no, that's the end of it. that doesn't bother me, its when they go on and on and on - i said no, you know NOTHING about my financial situation, etc. so leave me alone!

sorry for the rant, but that is a HUGE pet peeve of mine.

[MadRocketScientist]

Actually Raps, usually managers get bonuses if enough plans are sold, so the pressure is from greed, not a desire to keep their job.

I'm with RK on the approach, although for me if I start feeling the sales pressure at the check out, I stop shopping there. Although, I may try the whole "talk to the manager approach". Sorry RammsteinGirl, I can't come to your store and yell at your managers, Michigan is a bit far for me to drive, despite how much fun it would be :-)

[powerboy]

It is disrespecting. I dislike being asked for objects, after I get to the register. I recall when I had been working at OfficeMax, and we had to try to sell the Store Brand copy paper. The only times, I did not ask, was if they were buying paper.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Actually Raps, usually managers get bonuses if enough plans are sold, so the pressure is from greed, not a desire to keep their job.

)

Not completely correct. Yes the mangers may get bonuses if they hit their numbers, but if they don't hit them corporate will start to threaten their jobs.

For example, my disgusting former pig of a GM manager Harry, before he came to my company, was a manager for a certain electronics store with a big yellow price tag for its logo. He always said being a manager at my store was a piece of cake compared to being manager at the electronics store. If his store didn't reach the goals for sales or extended warranties or other things, corporate would let him hear it in the weekly conference calls:

"Why aren't you making your numbers!? We expected you to sell 10 extended warranties last week and you only sold 6! You need to be getting your employees to reach those numbers or else fire them!"

So it is not correct to say that desire to keep one's job does not enter into the picture here. Yes, the bonuses are offered as a carrot to get the managers to hit their goals, but if they miss them corporate has the stick of threatening their job. And screaming at the managers over things corporate is having them do accomplishes nothing other than making yourself look like an SC.

[Andara Bledin]

so at the end, she says "and now i will go ahead and enroll you in the credit protection plan" - to which i POLITELY replied, no thank you, don't want it, she then continued on about how if i have no balance, there is no charge. Sorry, no, and fortunately she said, ok, i will not enroll you.

BofA actually enrolled Nekojin in one of those once because he failed to return the spam mail announcement saying he didn't want it. He gave them an earful about that little gem. I never got hit with that myself, however.

^-.-^