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My $2.00 worth ('cause 2ยข just wasn't enough!)
Quoth Rine View PostOkay, so these weren't my customers. FYI: we close at 9 PM. We begin to make closing announcements at 8:30 PM. Management and security cannot leave until ALL customers are gone.
-=SNIP!=-
The time was 9:50.
Oh my god! What the hell is wrong with people?! I don't even know what took them so long upstairs. They bought a TV. The salesguy seemed a little shellshocked when he came downstairs, so I suppose it wasn't a happy, pretty sale.Quoth Glutton4Punishment View PostI have taken to at times having the "automatic timer" turn off the lights. 1 set about 10 minutes after close the next about 5 minutes later and then the last set about 5 minutes after that. I figure they'll either get the point or shop in the dark. You' would be amazed at he number (ok I forgot the SC mentality we're dealing with for a second, maybe you wouldn't) of people that want to stay a bit longer.
That's the one downside to working a job where you work by yourself at least 90% of the time... no big, strong security guards to come to your aid and throw the customer out! :-(Quoth jrh215 View PostAt five minutes before closing, I flip a switch on our automatic doors that lets the door open for someone leaving but not for someone attempting to come in. Does a great job at keeping those last minute people out.Of course, some ass clown occasionally stands at the door (I tell my employees not to make eye contact with them) saying something to the effect of, "But it's only 9:57!" when of course we close at 10pm and the store has been open for 14 hours. Sorry, my watch says 10--no sympathy from me.I'd like to be able to believe people when they say they only need "one thing," but as usual, it's the assholes who say that then stay inside for 10 or 15 minutes that ruin it for everyone else that genuinely would only need one thing.Quoth JLG View PostThere are a couple of regular customers that walk through the doors at 9:25 whenever they shop. We close at 9:30 Mon-Sat and they KNOW it. They do it on purpose. There is this one lady that usually has a return to do and while you are doing a price check for her return she wanders away to shop some more. We usually can't get her out of the store until 10:00
There is another lady that also has some complex return and asks to use our bathroom before she leaves and that takes her another 5-10 minutes
Everytime we see these ladies walk in the store it ruins our chances of getting out of the store at a decent time. I can't start any closing procedures until all customers are out of the store.Quoth Boozy View PostIts really easy for the CEO to sit in his cushy office chair and write letters, isn't it?Because he's not the one who's standing around waiting for a couple of rude customers to leave. He's not the one who told their kids that they'd be home in time to read them a bedtime story and now can't keep that promise, or the one who has worked 10 hours on their feet and is so exhausted by closing time that they can barely stand up.
I think your head office is right to care about customer service, and if someone can't or won't provide good service during their scheduled hours, they are in the wrong line of work. But where do we draw the line? When did good customer service become the equivalent to "Do whatever the customer wants, no matter how rude or obnoxious, and regardless of obvious safety concerns."Quoth Seshat View PostI think that retail/service establishments need to start doing what I've seen some places that serve food doing. Their closing times are listed as:
Kitchen closes at X:00.
Dining room closes X:30.
-=SNIP=-
It's a lot more realistic, and it also provides head office and management with a built-in allowance for customer dallying for scheduling. Not to mention giving customers a firmer idea of the fact that 'closed' means the cashiers are closed, not just the sales floor.
Management (and head office) need to learn to manage customer expectations, not just to manage their staff. Tell the customers what you expect of THEM: they don't just magically know it.Quoth BookstoreEscapee View PostThere's one grocery store near me that has 2 entrances/exits, one at either end...after a certain time, they lock both doors at one end, near the pharmacy (which is already closed) and they lock the entrance doors at the other end as well. The exit at that end is kept open, so you can only go in through the one exit. (And that is the exit closest to the express registers where there are likely to be more people.) Think they're trying to make a point? :-)
Boozy, I totally agree...corporate should care about customer service, but they should care equally about the well-being of their employees. And routinely being made to stay late because they won't allow you to "inconvenience" the customer by actually enforcing the store hours is not conducive to employee well-being.
Quoth technical.angel View PostThis thread reminded me of one "customer" I had while at Claires.
The gate was closed. Most of the lights were off, the music was off (THANK GODS!!!), and the cash register (very visble from the gate) was covered in paper, with a till peeping out from the mess.
This lady comes rushing up to the gate. I ignored her.
She started shaking the gate.
"I'm sorry, we're closed."
"But, I have a RETURN!!" Like that's going to make a difference.
If I was in a flippant/humorous/happy mood, I'd say something like "Well, I have a hot date tonight! I WIN!!!"Quoth blas87 View PostThis reminds me of the gates we used at the young lady's store at the mall.
When we'd close, we'd shut the gate, but it never failed that someone would try to sneak under or be waiting to be let in or beg to be let in.Ree has a great suggestion. Find out where they work, especially if they are a lawyer or doctor or something, and go bother them at their job, especially on like their lunch break. Muahahahaha!- Work the mandatory overtime and get the job done.
- Be FIRED!
Quoth Rine View PostThese customers in my first post did in fact make a large purchase and I think had tons of questions for the salesguy. I heard they were upset that they couldn't take their TV home with them that day. Since it was 9:30 when the sale was finalized, the pick up guys had already gone home for the day.
The lights were already off. They turn off five minutes after closing.
I suppose the reason I didn't say anything to them was because I was sort of in awe of their rudeness...The security guy and I just stood there and watched them. You would think they would have gotten the idea!Quoth BeckySunshine View PostSCs don't get a clue from anything less subtle than a train wreck. And even then it's iffy.Quoth Boozy View Post"Why is this train not moving? I have a very important meeting and I can't be late! And where's the damn drink cart? I need a drink! This is ridiculous!"Quoth Daphne View PostBecause that would make sense, Katie :-)"Eventually one outgrows the fairy tales of childhood, belief in Santa and the Easter Bunny, and believing that SCs are even capable of imagining themselves in our position."
--StanFlouride
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Quoth BeckySunshine View PostWell, while I see your point, I think that's rude.
As I said above...
Anyhoo. I sincerely hope that I don't ever come to your place of employment. I fear that your customer service "skills" would turn me into an SC.
And no, I'm not trying to start anything. I'm just expressing my opinions. (If it causes too much trouble, I apologize in advance.)The Borg wouldn't know fun if they assimilated an amusement park. -- B'Elanna Torres, Star Trek: Voyager
Math! Math, my dear boy, is but the lesbian sister of Biology. -- Peter Griffin, Family Guy
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Sad, but true...
Here's an awesome installment of the comic strip Retail that fits in perfectly with this discussion:
CLICK HERE!
File that under sad, but true.Last edited by Jack T. Chance; 09-13-2007, 06:29 PM. Reason: Changed hotlinked image to clickable link."Eventually one outgrows the fairy tales of childhood, belief in Santa and the Easter Bunny, and believing that SCs are even capable of imagining themselves in our position."
--StanFlouride
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Quoth Jack T. Chance View PostThat's why you have to engineer the train wreck in such a way that the SCs that are in need of a clue will be amongst the people KILLED in the wreck! Maybe they'll get a clue when they reach the afterlife!Unseen but seeing
oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
3rd shift needs love, too
RIP, mo bhrionglรณid
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Quoth Jack T. Chance View Post... in the furniture industry, the average transaction takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes from start to finish, what with having the customers try the different mattresses (or whatever you're selling), ask their questions, get their answers, talk it over with their spouse... at length, of course... then haggle over the price, then writing the order up... so, 30-60 mins. is the AVERAGE, but that means that some customers take a LOT longer. So, if you ain't in my store by 10-15 mins. before the stated closing time, TOUGH SHIT! 'Cause I lock the door 5-10 mins. before the stated closing time, to keep out those last minute customers!
"Well, you must know exactly what you want. Let's go get that rung up right now." (then leads them directly to the service desk)
He said it was pretty successful. Some people really did know exactly what they wanted because they had been in on another occassion and had finally made up their minds. Others were so flustered by not being allowed to wander around the store for the next hour that they left."Any free samples?"
"Sorry, not today."
Come on people, we're a bank not a bakery.
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Sweet!
Quoth Bank Lady View PostMy dad has worked in furniture for 15 years now. He had a classic response to anyone that came in 5-10 minutes before close.
"Well, you must know exactly what you want. Let's go get that rung up right now." (then leads them directly to the service desk)
He said it was pretty successful. Some people really did know exactly what they wanted because they had been in on another occassion and had finally made up their minds. Others were so flustered by not being allowed to wander around the store for the next hour that they left."Eventually one outgrows the fairy tales of childhood, belief in Santa and the Easter Bunny, and believing that SCs are even capable of imagining themselves in our position."
--StanFlouride
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Quoth Jack T. Chance View PostHere's an awesome installment of the comic strip Retail that fits in perfectly with this discussion:
CLICK HERE!
File that under sad, but true.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/re...?date=20060119
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/re...?date=20060206
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/re...?date=20060604
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/re...?date=20061105I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
My LiveJournal
A page we can all agree with!
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Hah, Home Depot had a great solution (albeit unintentional and mostly on the part of the sales associates)... The sales associates were always scheduled until closing, no later. So we'd take that literally and just leave right at closing. Any stray customers soon found themselves without any help, and were pretty much forced to either leave or find it themselves.
But we'd still have the SCs who would ask management for help. Any poor soul who hadn't punched out already would be forced to stay extra to help said SCs.
Once we closed, I would take off my orange apron and walk around in plain clothes, finishing whatever tasks I had left. Half of the customers would see me as another SC and would just pass on by. But I've had the occasional few who didn't get the hint and still asked for help. After closing, however, I lost my plastered-on fake smile and cheery attitude. I'd treat them - SUBTLY - as a nuisance, as someone in the way, and just point in the general direction of whatever it was they needed.
I remember one time I had thought the store was cleared out, so I was in plain clothes, finishing up something really late. About an hour and 15 minutes after closing, I was on my way out the door...and I saw a family with a carriage, CASUALLY strolling the store...the last few people left. I was in shock, but I just shook my head and continued walking out.
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Quoth XCashier View PostHere's a few more (had to dig back into the archives, but it was worth it):
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/re...?date=20060119
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/re...?date=20060206
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/re...?date=20060604
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/re...?date=20061105
But in the case of the one with the "atomic watch", it would be ME telling the SC that "my watch is accurate to the second!""Eventually one outgrows the fairy tales of childhood, belief in Santa and the Easter Bunny, and believing that SCs are even capable of imagining themselves in our position."
--StanFlouride
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Anyone ever had a retail associate try to keep you late? Just me?
My wife & I were in the furniture store the other day, it was like 90 minutes before closing. We were browsing, and speaking to the sales lady, who wanted us to try this out, and that out, and fill out the credit app, and tell us about this and that, we ended up leaving 15 minutes before close, mainly because I wanted to leave because I hadn't made a decision yet and wasn't going to in the next 15 minutes.
Maybe because it's commission sales they don't mind staying late, but who knows.
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I hate to say it but I've been on the receiving side of this. To be truly fair there are 2 customer issues here and 1 service issue.
Customer issues:
1.) Customers coming late and wanting in after the closing hours
2.) Customers coming inside just before closing hours and taking FOREVER to leave after the store is closed.
Service issues:
1.) Closing the store early.
The customer issues have been well discussed on this thred but the service issue has not been addressed.
Let me tell you the service issues are just as HEINOUS as the customer issues. If you aren't staying open until your closing time then you are being a sucky service person. You are in customer SERVICE, not Dis-SERVICE.
The key to the whole problem is to have a comprehensive way of handling the customer. If the order takes 30 minutes write up you can tell customers coming in that any orders after 8:30pm will be processed and handled the next day. Good communication is KEY to handling the customers. Another is what Bank lady said..
My dad has worked in furniture for 15 years now. He had a classic response to anyone that came in 5-10 minutes before close.
"Well, you must know exactly what you want. Let's go get that rung up right now." (then leads them directly to the service desk)
He said it was pretty successful. Some people really did know exactly what they wanted because they had been in on another occassion and had finally made up their minds. Others were so flustered by not being allowed to wander around the store for the next hour that they left.
Have the department employees "clean" the customers out. If the customer is there a few minutes before closing have the employees ask the customer if they need help and get confirmation that the customer understands that the store is closing in X minutes. Ater closing, approach the customer and tell them the store is now closed and they need to move to the registers and exits now. Make appropriate closing announcements over the paging system in addition to the "cleaning". If need be, have security escort them from the building.
Understand that SERVICE sometimes entails a little (NOT BIG) sacrifice of your precious time once in a while. If the customer is 1 minute late and knows precisely what they need and it will take less than 5minutes to get it... fine. If they are just showing up and saying, "are you closed? I was looking to get some lawn tools" at 10 after... sorry we're closed. or if they need to do something that will take longer than 20 minutes (e.g. "I need to unpack this HUGE moving van to my indoor storage unit" at 5 minutes to closing), no way. But it requires a little probing to determine which customer knows exactly what they need and who doesn't. I know some salesmen that will take a few extra minutes of their time to help someone if it means an extra sale, even if the customer can't get the item until the next day.
so in a short list:
1. Communicate with the Customer.
2. Set their expectation
3. Be direct and specific on what they intend to buy and don't allow loitering or browsing.
4. Have employees "clean" the customers out of their departments.
5. Make little sacrifices every once in a while for the person that is 1-3 minutes late but knows precisely what they need and it will take 5 minutes or less to get it or do it.
6. Don't close early and don't open late.
If you do this the store will close on time and and you won't be open longer than you absolutely have to be. Then you will be providing great service and controlling the effect SCs have on the store's closing times.You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take,and statistically speaking, 99% of the shots you do take.
Pirates Vs. Ninjas. Which would you choose? http://s1.darkpirates.com/c.php?uid=40174
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Quoth Brightglaive View PostIf you do this the store will close on time and and you won't be open longer than you absolutely have to be. Then you will be providing great service and controlling the effect SCs have on the store's closing times.
There have been posts by different people where some managers won't even let the clerks page that the store is closed for fear of offending alleged customers.
^-.-^Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden
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Quoth Brightglaive View Post
1. Communicate with the Customer.
2. Set their expectation
3. Be direct and specific on what they intend to buy and don't allow loitering or browsing.
4. Have employees "clean" the customers out of their departments.
5. Make little sacrifices every once in a while for the person that is 1-3 minutes late but knows precisely what they need and it will take 5 minutes or less to get it or do it.
6. Don't close early and don't open late.
1. Communcation is good, until you get someone who keeps cutting you off saying "I'm fine, thanks. Just looking." Then pointedly ignores you.
2. Customers pretty much always come in with their own set of expectations, and tend to be not happy when they're not met, causing a scene, delaying lots.
3. My managers get more than a little miffed at rushing customers, as they feel that a rushed customer would rather get nothing to save themselves the hassle of being rushed. And it's hard to tell when someone's browsing/loitering vs. contemplating which to buy sometimes.
4. This one I can't see many issues with as long as management's reasonable
5. Are people really going to say "I've no clue what I want and will wander around for an hour looking! Let me in!"? Everyone is going to say they'll just be 5 minutes. So, how are we supposed to choose who's telling the truth?
6. Often a matter of staffing hours, unexpected situations arising, and things like that. If one person's scheduled to open the store, but the closing people didn't get through their duties, then the opener is going to take longer to do things, causing being late. By the same token, closers are often given a set amount of time after close, and some times to get everything done you have to start early. It's a balancing act.
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Plus, in my experience, a lot of the people who arrive just before closing time are the "wanderers"; ie, they don't want to buy squat, just wander around looking at everything before finally pissing off 20 minutes later. -.- There's nothing we can do about those people; they ignore closing announcements, and cuz they're not buying anything, do they really deserve the same consideration as paying customers do? The garden centre had a few of those, and we managed to spike their guns by not letting anyone in at 5 minutes to closing time. Yeah I know, there could be a sale, but you try ending up being over 30 minutes late home and your parents going frantic cuz they think something happened to you. This was in the BM (before mobiles) era, too.
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