Demanding Non Customers or This Ain't Coinstar (Long)

[Pezzle]

Greeting people as a theft deterrent is not quite as effective as the Polish Cavalry's horses as a defense against the German Panzers.

Actually, I don't know. You could always thrust a shopping basket in their hands (I used to carry one around for this purpose) and say "Would you like me to ring you up for those items you've picked out?" I saw it done in person once, and it seemed to work like a charm. Just like the corporate video O-o hell...freezing over.

[Dips]

Our non-customers fall into several categories, which are all treated differently:

1. Students using our unsupported freeware

These guys are very likely going to be customers if they complete their coursework. So we will give them some general support, depending on how they behave. If they are nice, we go the extra mile while explaining that we don't normally support our freeware. If they are demanding assholes, we don't really care if they become customers later and give them nothing, while staying polite, of course.

2. People who have downloaded the demo version

Again, these are potential customers. So we make sure to mention a few times that the demo introduces random errors into the output. The reaction to that tells us whether they are truly interested in buying something. The freeloaders will try to get us to give them a version to "test" that doesn't have the errors. They get gently stonewalled until they give up.

3. People who haven't bought anything from us

These folks bought a certain kind of hardware from another company and don't know how to use it. They have heard (correctly) that we are very knoweledgable about that kind of hardware and figured they'd call us for help. We thwart them by asking for their [Our company name] serial number. If they don't have one, we tell them we only support [company name] products and give them the number of the hardware manufacturer. As it turns out, half the time they've already called the hardware manufacturer and the hardware manufacturer told them to call us. While it might be true that we know some of these products better than the people who make them, we are under no obligation to share that knowledge for free.

4. People who have pirated our software

Yes. Some of these idiots are actually dumb enough to call us for help and act surprised when they don't get it.

5. People who are using competing freeware

These folks have a special brand of entitlement. Apparently, the fact that they were *forced* by our high prices to go with the freeware product, somehow obligates us to support the freeware product. We have to be firm with them because they actually think that way.

6. People with a "project"

They don't want our product, they just want the output and try to get me to give it to them. I just refer them to our links section. There's a whole list of our customers who use our software to produce output for a living. Far be it from us to undermine our paying customers, right? Another category are students who are doing a project for school. Their emails usually tell me they are doing a project about [subject] and ask for help. No specific questions, no please, no thank you in advance. They also get referred to the links section as "a good a starting point for [their] research." I put as much effort into answering these inquiries as the student puts into composing them.

[digilight]

I have two schools of thought on this. A big part of it has to do with location and the type of business you do.

Our office used to be located in a larger three story office building that was across the street (major busy street but there was a tunnel access from our parking lot to theirs) from the local government center which also had the court house and the county jail. We had the Probation department 2 buildings away from us. And the Drug and Alcohol diversion center (DUI Classes, etc) was a couple of buildings away as well.

Our door was always open since we did walk in business (copy service) so people treated us as the local visiters center, can you make change, where can I score a truck load of columbian flake, etc.

Our new office gets very little walk in traffic, if you come here, you are here for a reason. And if you are not a customer yet, chances are You will be one if the future. At the old location that was not the case.

[BaristaTrav]

When I worked at Starbucks, there was this Bible study group that would come in every Tuesday night. They would all get waters, then push all the tables together (including the handicap accessible one) and proceed to stay there past closing. Sometimes they would bring in food from other restaurants and eat it in our store. Then they would leave all their trash behind for us to clean up. Never once did any of those folks buy a single item from our store, yet we still had to clean up after them and put up with them taking up all our space for at least three hours a week.

I f-n hated that sh*t.. once this group of like 20 obnoxious women just commandeered the whole damn store.. but they gave me an opening when they started taking pictures (I have no clue why, but customers really are not allowed to take pictures in S-bucks) So I went to ask them to stop (and told them they couldn't bring tables and chairs from outside inside the store) and all hell broke loose. Long story short, they went to corporate, got all kinds of free sh#t, and while I didn't get written up, they did come back to taunt me and give me attitude for a few weeks. Bad times..

[simpleyme]

non customers suck they will never by anything from you ever

today alone i have had the following ;
I had one guy come in stand by the door when i inquired about his (kinda scary ) presence he declared he had no money was just killing time

I look in the security camera and see a guy trying to use our outdoor water spigot it has a special valve that requires a key I watch the guy try to figure it out he leaves come back with a wrench that a$$it going to break it or mess up the top so bad it will have to be replaced so I went out and told him to leave" I just needed to use your water" this sucky non customer could have flooded our dang store there is a reason we have it locked

then a sucky fed ex driver non customer comes in demanding to know where an address is ,I look at it and try to help but honestly I just do not know EXACTLY where it is I give him the best general directions to which he replies" well i knew that everyone should know all the addresses around them for 6 blocks ,if they don't they are idiots not that I am calling you an idiot" yes I do believe he was calling me an idiot how sweet

I do not give or make change or buy change for people unless it is during a purchase transaction ,we are not a bank and non customers will never be back to buy anything so if you piss them off and they never come back Thank the lord for it

[Jay 2K Winger]

Ohhh, non-customers, how I hate thee.

Most of the time, the NCs I have to deal with at the wholesale club are just people who want to take a look at our merchandise, to decide whether they want to join. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. No biggie there.

Then you'll get the people who were trying to buy something from our (shitty, constantly broken) vending machines outside, and it won't take their bills. So they come inside to ask for change, and get told we can't make change for them. (If they're nice about it, and I'm in a good mood, I'll direct them to Wallyworld next door, which has vending machines also, and cheaper ones.)

This one time, though...

Okay, the shopping center where the store is located has a rule that says No Soliciting. If we catch you doing it, we'll ask you to leave, and if we catch you still doing it, we WILL call the cops on you. Now, sometimes we'll get people who work for the Verizon kiosk in our club standing outside, shilling whatever deal they're promoting. That's not against the rules, because they work in the shopping center.

This particular day, though, I notice these two guys in suits outside, holding a bunch of pamphlets and apparently pushing some deal on customers as they walked in. I'm busy, however, and don't have the chance to investigate right away. Then Suit Guy #1 walks in.

SG1: "Hey, your vending machine ate my money, man."
J2K: "Yeah, they're known to do that. If you go on down to the Member Services counter, they can refund your money."
SG1: "Right here?" *points to Food Court*
J2K: "No, sir, down there," *points* "to Member Services."
SG1: "She can't give me my money back right here?"
J2K: "No, sir."
SG1: "Can you go and get my money for me?"
J2K: "No, sir, I can't leave the door, sir."
SG1: "How much is the soda at the food court?"
J2K: "93 cents with tax. 32 ounces, too. Better deal than 75 cents for a can of soda."

He seems to like this idea. Then he briefly pitches his sale to me, apparently they're running a deal with the Washington Nationals (the baseball team) to sell tickets to people really cheap. I turn him down (in part because I'm not a big sports fan, in part because I don't have time to go to games, and in part because I'm not that big a Nats fan), and then I realize:

1) This guy is (in my view) a glorified scalper. Granted, he's selling tickets CHEAP instead of charging exorbitant prices, but I still think of him as a scalper.
2) He's soliciting.

So Suit Guy #1 goes on down to the desk to get his refund, comes up to the food court, and purchases his soda, and starts outside. I stop him.

J2K: "Hey, quick question about your deal here."
SG1: "Yeah, man?"
J2K: "Are you doing this through [our store]?"
SG1: "What do you mean?"
J2K: "I mean, did you arrange to do this through us?"
SG1: "No."
J2K: "Then I'm afraid you can't pitch your sales here. This shopping center is No Solicitation."

Suit Guy #1 gives me this bewildered and shocked look, and goes on outside. It gets busy again, and so I can't keep as close an eye on it as I'd like, but after a while, I don't see them, so I figure they left.

Later, however, they come back, with Suit Guy #2 now the one more immediately visible outside the door, but I glimpse Suit Guy #1 farther down the vestibule, where I can't see him from inside. I pop outside at one point (ostensibly to check to see if we have any carts outside for someone), verify that Suit Guy #2 is shilling the same stuff as Suit Guy #1, and go back inside, where I radio for an MOD.

So our manager comes up to the front, and I explain the situation to him. These guys are solicitors, not through our club, and they're still here after I told them they had to leave. Manager nods, goes outside, and talks with the Suit Guys. Suit Guy #2, by this point, was into a lengthy convo with a couple who seemed genuinely interested, so we let him finish his pitch with them (they apparently did buy from him), and then they left.

Sigh, grumble, stupid glorified scalpers.

[nomorecarts]

I work in a very large store, so non customers usually fly under the radar, if someone comes in, uses the restroom, and leaves, there's no one who would notice, unless the greeter knows them. I've seen 2(I know there are WAY more than that, I've been there 15 months), one comes and talks to one of the night greeters for awhile(she doesn't have anything to do anyways, so no harm no foul) but the other is.... well he's not that bad either, he can be entertaining at times

parenthesis are my thoughts

there's this guy that comes in and just rides around the store on an electric cart for hours looking for people he knows/unsuspecting associates to talk to, then, not always, but frequently has a cart pusher help him up out of the electric cart(at least he doesn't take it outside) then one day I was on a secondary register by a door that was about to close and he rolls up next to me talking about coming to *store* is what he does for fun, because there's nothing else to do in this town if you don't drink(which is true, being under 21 here sucks) then sidetracked to how if someone leaves a bar drunk to drive home and the bartender calls the cops they get money(not sure if that's true or not) which is a chickenshit way to catch people(because drunk drivers are a good thing?), and people will do anything for money, which is the "most worthless fucking shit in the world, all you do is buy a bunch of shit you don't need"(yea, especially food) and I'm sure I forgot some of his stupidity, but I highlighted the main points. he doesn't smell or anything, and it's a big store, and I haven't seen him disrupting busy associates, so him being there isn't really a big deal like 20 people cramming into a starbucks, so there's no point in kicking him out


my store allows certain solicitors if they pre arrange it with management(girl scouts, boy scouts, car washes for the local schools, that type of thing, they don't allow people passing out religious pamphlets or anything controversial like that) if someone is not supposed to be there the cart pushers are to alert a manager, who will tell them to leave, and if they don't it's trespassing, which they will call the police for

Jay 2K, you should have suggested stubhub, it's a lot more legal, and they'd have a bigger variety of sports fans to sell to

[aurelemsrealm]

"Quarter whores" is what I've started calling non-customers who want change from the inconvenience store where I work. As a rule, I only give change to non-customers for the air machine or payphone located on our property, but only after they have specifically told me that they want change for our machines. Even then, I only give a dollar or two worth of small change because that's all they'd need.

There is a laundromat/car wash across the street. It's not affiliated with us, so I feel no obligation to make change for their customers. Even though they have multiple change machines on the property, we still have numerous quarter whores who come bother us for change.

In short, I feel no obligation to give change without a purchase, so it's not likely to happen no matter how much anyone wishes to argue with me. Likewise, I'm not inclined to accept big bills for small purchases if I think it's going to break my drawer for what should be obvious reasons.

So, even though I feel no obligation to explain myself, I've come up with my own list of "official" rules why change is not freely given to quarter whores:

1. Specifically for the laundromat/car wash quarter whores, the laundromat/car wash has change machines, so I shouldn't be expected to give out loose change on request. Quarter whores are just wasting their time and energy arguing with me about that. Even if they decide to make that token purchase, I will give the change back as suits me. If it's not good enough, that's just too bad! Their lack of planning is not my emergency. Those who don't like it are free to go to hell or any other destination elsewhere.

2. Company policy does not allow me to keep much money in my drawer, so I'm limited in what I can offer.

3. I can only open the drawer when a cash purchase is being made. (I prefer not to use the no sale button in front of customers.)

4. Change requests depend on what kind of money I have in my drawer. Obviously, if I don't have a certain denomination, I can't give it out in change. I'm not robbing my drawer of what I think I'll need just to appease some thankless jerk off the street. They're asking me for the favor, and beggars don't get to be choosers.

Yes, I can most definitely be a hardass about standing my ground. I have my reasons, and don't feel that non-customers require explanations from me. If they are not there to make a purchase, there is no valid reason for them to be there. No is certainly a good enough answer as it's the only one they will get if they wish to attempt to argue me down. I realize that sounds awful, but I am professional enough to show everyone a respectful attitude so long as they act equally respectful. The disrespectful ones will have the egos crushed and handed back to them. I just don't understand why some people can't grasp that we are a convenience store, and not a bank.

[simpleyme]

i would say that it would seem true that small stores especially independently owned would find non customers more annoying

I just had a non customer (one of many this morning but this lady uggg)

weird looking lady comes in and asks to speak to the owner,I say owners not in would you care to leave a message ?

WL-no its personal,what is the owners name?
me-I am afraid if you want to speak to the owner you will have to leave a message
WL -what is the name of this store?
Me -its on the sign outside
WL -when will the owner be in ?
ME-look if you do not leave a message with me you will not get to speak to the owner that's how it works,I am the gatekeeper
WL -are there any other stores around here?
Me-yes right down the street that way
wl leaves

I must say what legitimate "personal "reason could she have to deal with the owner when she does not even know what store she is dealing with ,or know the owners name?

she undoubtedly wanted some sort of loan or credit to help some dire situation she is in , pleeeze people always try to pull that shit,why come to a small store and steal from individuals? is it because mega stores do not put up with this crap and they have a chance at snookering small businesses

[Dreamstalker]

The game store had a bathroom that was customers only, I would make an exception if someone really looked desperate (beat cops/delivery drivers were always welcome).

There was a bucket at the counter where people would dump their unwanted change; at the end of a few months it was emptied and the results given to a charity (if of a suffici9ent amount, otherwise Cool Night Manager would buy pizza and soda/coffee for the Friday night/weekend folks). Change requests for the parking meters were usually handled out of that (with the bills put in an envelope marked as such; eventually it was mostly going to be changed into bills anyway).