I may actually needing training, but why do you think corporate would offer it???

[Ann_Marie]

So, I've worked at a Fabric (and crafts) store for a little over a year. A few weeks ago a woman called in, talked to a new coworker, and coworker asked me if we sold printable fabric.

Now, silly me, I'm thinking of a bolt of fabric, and I was wrong. Mea culpa. So I said no, I'd never heard of it.

Bout ten minutes later, the woman from the call came in the store, went straight to the quilting section, and found the printable fabric SHEETS right where they've always been. She then proceeded to huffily check out (with phone coworker) while I was unpacking boxes nearby. She complained that the employees should know where stuff is (read: where EVERYTHING is) and that we all need training, before leaving - in a huff, of course.

Me, silently: BYE, Felicia!

First off, if she knew we had what was she was looking for, why did she ask??? Was she just wanting to know if we had any in stock?
Second, yes, I misunderstood. That happens sometimes when you play telephone...with someone who is on the phone with someone else.
Thirdly, even if corporate would spring for training us employees in where stuff is, it would take forever and we wouldn't remember most of it. Y'know, like history class in high school.
Finally, I've worked here longer than all but about four people. Retail has high turnover and the holiday season has a bunch of new employees who can only tell you where the restroom is. If you call asking about a product you know we have and are told we don't carry it...why didn't you ask to speak to someone else?

I don't know, this just really bothered me. By asking about 'training', it's like she's implying we aren't doing our jobs correctly and just...argh.

[emax4]

Ask her if she knows what all she has in her pantry and how much of everything she has in her pantry, And when she replies "no", tell her, "but it's YOUR pantry and you SHOULD KNOW!"

[notalwaysright]

Retail has high turnover and the holiday season has a bunch of new employees who can only tell you where the restroom is.

First, hi! There are a couple of us here who worked in fabric stores... I remember when I started Old Manager did actually have us do a sort of training to get us familiarized with the products, like we had a list of items and we had to go all around and find where they were in the store. But, obviously there are thousands of products, some random and obscure. And in any case they don't do that anymore.

Things totally slid downhill in my store towards the end of my employment there. Some employees didn't know where the yarn was. It was like the whole back quarter of the store. I can understand a customer being a little frustrated when an employee doesn't know something as basic as "where are is the thread." But like you said, holiday hires aren't going to know anything, and there's no call to get snarky about it. Corporate offers nothing. Please complain about this situation to the people who are causing it... CORPORATE.

Oh, and that original customer? If she'd asked me I could have given lots of info, probably too much. We had printable fabric in two places. Quilting and the t-shirt/embellishment aisle. But did she mean printable in an inkjet printer? Because technically you can do screen printing on many different fabrics. Next time be specific!

[Ann_Marie]

First, hi! There are a couple of us here who worked in fabric stores... I remember when I started Old Manager did actually have us do a sort of training to get us familiarized with the products, like we had a list of items and we had to go all around and find where they were in the store. But, obviously there are thousands of products, some random and obscure. And in any case they don't do that anymore.

They most definitely don't! I wasn't aware that they ever did, though. This is actually the second craft store I've worked in, the first one was about ten years ago and was the chain without fabric.

[Kittykat]

Don't you know being human and making mistakes is NEVER allowed in an SC's world?