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Excuse me, Sir? *Sir*? SIR...!!!!

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  • #1

    Excuse me, Sir? *Sir*? SIR...!!!!

    Anyone else have this pet peeve that, when you're trying to get the attention of a rapidly-departing customer for some reason (they didn't sign something, they didn't press the right button, they left items behind, ect.), it'll take you repeating the cry of "Excuse, me, sir/ma'am...?" at least three or four times before they turn around with an "Oh, are you talking to me?" expression on their face? Now, I realize that grocery stores tend to be somewhat loud, but wouldn't your natural inclination be to turn your head if you hear the phrase "Excuse me, sir/ma'am?" being repeated in an increasingly loud voice several times? Every single time I'm out in the parking lot collecting carts, and I try frantically to get the attention of a customer pushing one of their carts away from me as rapidly as possible, it's like these people are selectively deaf...at least until they turn around and see that I've been walking behind them for half the length of the freaking lot. It *has* to be deliberate, or else I live in the most hard-of-hearing town in the world.
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  • #2
    They are not used to being addressed politely. Or maybe, they still think that "Sir!" means their daddy.

    I have learned over the years to project pretty well. Without much effort, I can blast. The only was to get them to stop is for me to make enough noise to get everyone within a five block radius to stop and look in my direction. Otherwise, they just keep on walking.
    To seek it with thimbles, to seek it with care;
    To pursue it with forks and hope;
    To threaten its life with a railway share;
    To charm it with forks and hope!

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    • #3
      I'm good at projecting my voice, as well -- all those years of singing in Chorus helped ^_^ Back in HS, I was known as "that big tall Bass you can hear from the back of the cathedral -- without a microphone"

      Need help learning how to do this? Ask a singer
      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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      • #4
        Well, as a deaf person - yeah. I miss people calling after me all the time. The other thing is that when you're outside, sound doesn't carry as well as it does indoors. Wind, earmuffs in winter, earbuds if you're listening to music, bluetooth phone in your ear... etc etc. And when you're in the zone and not expecting people to speak to you, you don't really 'hear' other things I guess.

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        • #5
          I get this all the time to at the deli.I also project well but we will call a number 3 times, the person is right in front of us and ignores us. Only to figure out about 6 numbers later that somehow they got "skipped" and freak out. Nope, not skipped, you ignored us, if you can't bother to pay attention until 20 minutes later that's all on you man, not me.

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          • #6
            Quoth Mondestrucken View Post
            They are not used to being addressed politely. Or maybe, they still think that "Sir!" means their daddy.

            I have learned over the years to project pretty well. Without much effort, I can blast. The only was to get them to stop is for me to make enough noise to get everyone within a five block radius to stop and look in my direction. Otherwise, they just keep on walking.
            Same here. I call this my "three times" rule.

            Pretty much like this: first two times in normal tone. If they still insist on ignoring me, I break out my inner drill sergeant voice and bark like I'm R. Lee Ermy.

            That gets their attention every time. As well as all heads on the front end looking at me.

            I think on at least one occasion I made a store manager jump so high he almost hit his head by doing that (but for Naitch, it was a short jump.)
            Last edited by DGoddessChardonnay; 11-08-2013, 01:14 AM.
            Human Resources - the adult version of "I'm telling Mom." - Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (NCIS)

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            • #7
              I'll admit to being one of those who doesn't always respond if someone is calling after me, but.......much of that's because when someone refers to me as "ma'am", they're usually either wanting to sell me something or ask for change.

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              • #8
                Quoth EricKei View Post
                Need help learning how to do this? Ask a singer
                Or a DJ.

                I am doubly blessed. Not only can I project my voice very well, I also have a very deep and booming voice, and have made myself heard to customers who have gotten half a block away, having forgotten something at the bar or, more rarely, forgotten to pay.

                Let's just say there are many times in my life where I prove that I really don't need a microphone.

                "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is                 Still A Customer."

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                • #9
                  A mother who lets her kids play outside. My kids always met me at our meeting spot in the store on time. because I can yell loud enough to be clearly heard in the opposite kitty-corner of a huge superwalmart. Esp if you are a teen, you don't want your first and middle name called across a store because you didn't feel like meeting up on time. Only takes once...

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                  • #10
                    I'm the usual soft spoken typical quiet girl. When I was working if I had to chase after a customer because they forgot something...and they weren't responding to my "Excuse me ma'am/sir" as they're walking away from my register, I got loud. I'm unable to physically scream but I can project my voice very well. The customer usually ended up looking around and then staring at me in shock as I'm walking up to them and explaining in a normal tone of voice that they left something behind.

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                    • #11
                      Former teacher here. I can make myself heard above 300 screaming middle school students. Without the aid of an amplification device.

                      But I have to admit to being one of those people who fail to hear somebody calling after them. I sort of get lost in my own little world and simply don't hear it. Somebody using my actual name can sometimes break through, but I have a very common first name, so even that's not always a guarantee.
                      At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth Teskeria View Post
                        ... I can yell loud enough...your first and middle name...
                        Mothers have a voice that can de-calcify your spine...
                        [/Cos]
                        I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                        Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                        Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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                        • #13
                          When I was a kid, my best friend's mother would do that, use his first, middle, and last name to summon him from down the block or yell at him when he was in trouble. As someone who's always hated my middle name, I am so glad that my mother didn't do that. She'd simply yell my first name if she was trying to summon me. And if I was in trouble, she'd simply use a different tone when using my first name, a much sharper tone, to which I usually responded...quickly.

                          "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is                           Still A Customer."

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                          • #14
                            I'm usually the one people ask to yell when volume is needed, and it's only gotten worse/better as my kids get older. I think the best example has to be at the pool hall I ran tournaments for. Idiot was sitting on a pool table about 3/4 of the way back in the hall, I was up at the bar, and the thursday night karaoke was in full swing. Bartender used the PA to yell at the idiot, to no avail, I don't even think anyone heard her at the bar, let alone the hall. She made as to hand the mic to me, but I just turned around and bellowed "hey dumbass, don't sit on the pool tables." Everybody heard me, the place went quiet for a moment, all you could hear were pool balls and the karaoke music(no lyrics, I scared the singer quiet, oops)

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Thana View Post
                              I'm the usual soft spoken typical quiet girl. ... they weren't responding to my "Excuse me ma'am/sir" ... I got loud. I'm unable to physically scream but I can project my voice very well. The customer usually ended up looking around and then staring at me in shock as I'm walking up to them and explaining in a normal tone of voice that they left something behind.
                              Reminds me of Hooks from the Police Academy movies.

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