Customers who just want to be lied to

[MoonChild2007]

I just LOVE it when idiots don't believe a word you say or do not even give you a a chance to explain it better and ask for somebody else.

My favorite idiotic lines

1. What you say doesn't make sense, can i speak to somebody else?
2. Can you ask somebody else? which means that cause I am an idiot who doesn't understand plain english
3. I want to speak with your manager!

A part of me wants to just transfer them so i wouldn't deal with their stupid asses anymore but there is no WAY that another rep is going to take credit for something that I HAD ALREADY EXPLAINED TO THE CUSTOMER! Shit.

These customers should just grow the hell up and listen to people.

[kiwiwinelover]

But what do you know? You are just a lowly retail worker *runs away*

[Chanlin]

These customers should just grow the hell up and listen to people.

Are you sure?

*runs and hides with kiwiwinelover*

[HawaiianShirts]

I hear you, MoonChild2007.

I regularly have customers ask for things that I'm fairly sure don't exist. Or they tell me they want to make their computer (or printer or whatever technological toy it is) do something that it simply cannot do. I try to explain that what they want is not possible, but they don't want to hear it. The response I get is usually a "Hmm..." followed by a thoughtful stare and a statement of, "I'll keep looking" or something along those lines. Then they'll ask a co-worker the same question, and that co-worker often comes back to ask me, and I never know whether to laugh or to shake my head in pity.

We retail and service employees seem to be expected to know the answer to everything, usually before the question is even asked. But when that answer is not what the customer wants to hear, then we're suddenly idiots who know nothing and it's left up to the almost-all-knowing customer to piece together the "right" answer from tidbits dropped by about a dozen employees.

Someday, I think I'm going to try to write a book on customer psychology. And I'll probably drive myself crazy in the process.

[kiwiwinelover]

We retail and service employees seem to be expect to know the answer to everything, usually before the question is even asked. But when that answer is not what the customer wants to hear, then we're suddenly idiots who know nothing and it's left up to the almost-all-knowing customer to piece together the "right" answer from tidbits dropped by about a dozen employees.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would never have been able to articulate it like you have! Hawaiian Shirts - you are a God!

[BookstoreEscapee]

2. Can you ask somebody else? which means that cause I am an idiot who doesn't understand plain english

Or it means "I don't like your answer even though you seem quite confident in its accuracy and you know that the manager is just going to give me the same answer." For example:

No, we don't have magazine subscription kits. Haven't had them since Christmas (this in mid-summer).

But I got it at the Othertown store.

They sometimes put things in select stores to see how they do, but we do not currently have them in this store. Haven't had them since Christmas.

Can you ask your manager.

*call MOD, ask question, get expected answer* I'm sorry ma'am, we don't have them.

Can you call her up here?

*cannot refrain from rolling my eyes; customer berates me for being rude; manager comes up; I walk away*

Later when I asked if the customer had complained about me, the MOD said "yes" and went back to her dinner that had been interrupted at least twice.

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

Yeah why make the effort to ask an associate when you don't let them finish if you need to speak with someone else?


duh

[HawaiianShirts]

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would never have been able to articulate it like you have! Hawaiian Shirts - you are a God!

I'll take that as a compliment. I don't know about being a god, though. I couldn't even get the verb tense right the first time around on that post and had to edit it. I don't think gods would have to edit things.

Also, I'm not sure it's wise to give out god-like powers to anyone who works in retail or customer service. I have a hard enough time refraining from laughing at (or yelling at or cursing at or strangling) the stupid customers as it is, especially when they insist that my answer isn't good enough and want to talk to someone else, or, worse, "someone higher up." Imagine the carnage if we all suddenly had the ability to smite someone!

Can you ask your manager.
...
Can you call her up here?

Now that's insulting. That's the customer saying that not only does she not believe your answer, she doesn't even believe you're honest/intelligent enough to relay an answer from your manager correctly!

[Difdi]

Of course, the other side of this is when the customer knows more than the CSR. I've frequently dealt with tier 1 (and even tier 2) CSRs who simply have NO clue what they are talking about, describe impossibilities that must be the solution to my problem, follow troubleshooting scripts for products that are not the one I'm having issues with, etc.

Just because they ask for a manager/supervisor, doesn't make them wrong...

[smileyeagle1021]

I hear you, MoonChild2007.

I regularly have customers ask for things that I'm fairly sure don't exist. Or they tell me they want to make their computer (or printer or whatever technological toy it is) do something that it simply cannot do.

oh that reminds me, Hawaiian Shirts, you wouldn't happen to have a universal charger that will work on my enV2, my iPod, my MacBook, and even my Swiffer Vac... also could you tell me how to make me old black and white laserjet print in color

I know, I had to think long and hard to come up with such a stupid example and it's still probably nowhere close to some of the stuff you've dealt with.

[Shards]

Someday, I think I'm going to try to write a book on customer psychology. And I'll probably drive myself crazy in the process.

Not to threadjack, but I once got the immense pleasure of writing a 20 page book on typical customer behavior, and why it is wrong in every sense of the word. I dealt with issues such as 'labor laws' and the backroom that doesn't exist. I then got to hand this out in front of the Weis I once worked for.

The best part, if people bitched, I could honestly say 'Yea, I don't like it either, but I have to do it for a class.'

[HawaiianShirts]

oh that reminds me, Hawaiian Shirts, you wouldn't happen to have a universal charger that will work on my enV2, my iPod, my MacBook, and even my Swiffer Vac... also could you tell me how to make me old black and white laserjet print in color

I know, I had to think long and hard to come up with such a stupid example and it's still probably nowhere close to some of the stuff you've dealt with.

Actually, you're not that far off. I've had that very printer question, and I had a woman get mad at me when I wouldn't sell her an imaginary adapter that would allow her to charge her laptop by connecting to her desktop (no clue why she wanted to do this). And a guy last week asked me for the web address for some imaginary site that would allow him to download a software patch to make his CD-ROM on a WindowsME computer play Blu-Ray discs.

At least those people accepted my answer. Or they at least didn't ask anybody else in my store.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Now that's insulting. That's the customer saying that not only does she not believe your answer, she doesn't even believe you're honest/intelligent enough to relay an answer from your manager correctly!

Exactly. Which is why I couldn't help rolling my eyes, and why I walked away* as soon as the MOD came up. I waited in the break room to see if she was going to say something but she was as pissed off as I was.


*For the record, there was another cashier up there, and the customer had originally asked her the question. She was new and didn't even know what the woman was referring to, which is why I jumped in. I was actually on the floor stocking supplies; my end of the conversation was mostly done from a kneeling position on the floor, including the eye-rolling.

[MoonChild2007]

Of course, the other side of this is when the customer knows more than the CSR. I've frequently dealt with tier 1 (and even tier 2) CSRs who simply have NO clue what they are talking about, describe impossibilities that must be the solution to my problem, follow troubleshooting scripts for products that are not the one I'm having issues with, etc.

Just because they ask for a manager/supervisor, doesn't make them wrong...

Why call then if they know everything? Why go through all the trouble in calling us, making us look stupid if they know more than we do? I might not know everything but that doesn't mean I don't know what i am talking about.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Why call then if they know everything? Why go through all the trouble in calling us, making us look stupid if they know more than we do? I might not know everything but that doesn't mean I don't know what i am talking about.

Just because a person knows more about the problem does not mean he or she knows a solution.