I don't know if wal-mart carries it

[pssorens]

I've been trying to be good and not let customers get to me, Honest. Recently however, something that customers ask me constantly has been driving me crazy. They ask me where to shop for items that we don't carry. I spent a good deal of time and effort becoming knowledgeable about the location of the products that we do carry. I don't feel that it's my job to know about wal-mart, shop-ko, or k-marts product lines. customers at my store seem to think that it's my job to know if store x carries product y. I don't work for the other stores.

[BethB]

I get that ALLLLLL the time. Small town + obscure electronic accessories= not here. My question is....Why do they try to look for battery replacements for the camera/camcorder they've had for, oh, the last 10+ yrs. Time for an upgrade!

[Mike Taylor]

Sadly, it happens all too often with cordless telephones, too. Batteries are somewhat manageable, but replacing handsets is where trouble starts, especially with older customers.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I expect many customers to assume we are familiar with the product offerings of our direct competition, but there are limits.

Asking me if competitor X carries a certain item? Fine. If I know for sure I'll tell you.
Asking me if competitor X has a certain item in stock at THIS VERY MOMENT? Sorry, not my job to track other stores inventory.

Bonus points of suck if you get pissy at me because I don't know.

[powerboy]

We had that a few times. And no, I am not sure what the other units are available at other storage's.

[TonyDonuts]

Asking me if competitor X has a certain item in stock at THIS VERY MOMENT?

"But ain't you got that on yer com-poo-tur?"

Some customers have a mystical faith in what technology can deliver.

And others think that all big retail companies are just one BIG retail company, so OF COURSE you MUST know what Shop-K-Wal-co has in stock and how much it is.

[malmalthekiller]

"But ain't you got that on yer com-poo-tur?"

ARG. I HATE that. I've been getting so many calls asking if we have anything in stock, or "in the back". There's nothing "in the back", it's CHRISTMAS, it's all OUT. We aren't hiding anything, trust me.

[KellyHabersham]

I would get that question every so often at Macy's, but it never bothered me that much as I was usually able to refer them to another store in the mall which did (or might) have whatever they were looking for.

[Getoutofmylobby]

At hotels people ask similar stuff.. "So what is the pool at the Best Western like?" "Does the Doubletree offer any discounts during Valentines Day?" "How many Hampton Inns are in Minnesota?" "Are Residence Inns better than Extended Stay America?" "Who owns the Holiday Inn on X street?" "What would happen if i swallowed this live scorpion?" "If i use both hands would it be possible to find my own ass?"

The laziness of some people is appalling.

[earl colby pottinger]

Maybe

They think that "Miracle on 34th Street" is a real life story?

PS. Just incase you did not realize it was a movie.

http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/db/1972/db721225.gif

[Nashida]

I expect many customers to assume we are familiar with the product offerings of our direct competition, but there are limits.

Asking me if competitor X carries a certain item? Fine. If I know for sure I'll tell you.
Asking me if competitor X has a certain item in stock at THIS VERY MOMENT? Sorry, not my job to track other stores inventory.

Bonus points of suck if you get pissy at me because I don't know.

I got that all too often at the pool store qhen we didn't have replacement parts for filters. I knew of only one other pool store in the area, and yet they still got pissy because I didn't have their store list in front of me.

Now, if they ask me if competitor X has some certain item in stock as this very second, I rub my temples, shut my eyes, and go "I see.....I see....*kzzrt* Uh...I'm sorry, I charge a fee for this."

[MannersMakethMan]

There's nothing "in the back", it's CHRISTMAS, it's all OUT. We aren't hiding anything, trust me.

Believe it or not, we actually find things sell better on the shop floor. What's that? Ruined? SCORE!

[simplyanother]

I would get that question every so often at Macy's, but it never bothered me that much as I was usually able to refer them to another store in the mall which did (or might) have whatever they were looking for.

Someone already mentioned Miracle on 34th Street...and I was all prepared to ask if you sent them to Gimbles.

Dang it.

Our most common thing is "Where's your fabric?"
We don't carry fabric....
Which leads to them just being...oh confused as hell. "Where is there a fabric store??"

The answer, is "hell if I know". If I bothered to pay attention, I'd tell them, but I don't, so I tell them to go to someone who is likely to know.

I had a customer then ask me why we stopped carrying it. And she was absolutely certain she'd bought yards and yards of fabric at our store before.

We've never had fabric.

We're not Joanns. We're not Hancock Fabric. We're Michael's Arts and Crafts. We have...Art crap, and craft crap.


I know that people in other stores tell customers "Michael's MIGHT have it", but all customers hear is "Michaels has it!" and then get here and insist... "BUT THEY SAID YOU HAD IT AT HOME DEPOT". Pointing out that they work at Home Depot and not Michael's is likely to end with a phone call to coroporate.

Had a guy come in today looking for fabric...then asked me where the name of some store was..that I'd never heard of. "I looked in the phone book!!!"

Now, I'm supposed to memorize the fucking phone book?

You know what? You know how I know the address of the store? Other than it being on the outside of the building? It's at the top of every receipt. So is the phone number. That's the only address and phone number of a store I know.


I swear, our customers alternate between being pissed off because we haven't got any fabric and being pissed off because they don't know how to read a coupon.

Gah.

Christmas is almost here!

Thank freaking goodness. I don't know how much more of these assholes I can take.


Someone else mentioned the folks who get pissy if you happen to not know immedately if Walmart is carrying item X, or if Sears has item Y in stock. They ask us to call for them. Uh. No. I'll call our other locations, but you get to call Sears.

[PepperElf]

battery replacements? eh... i'd prolly send them to www.batteryjunction.com ... tho i dont know if they carry ancient rechargeable ones

[spork_the_cat]

I hate it when people ask that too. I also get people asking me what the phone number to others stores near mine are. ’Cause since they are near where I work I should have there numbers memorized. I don’t know how about you look in the phone book and find out for yourselves.