What is it you really want?

[FrancisWyvern]

Ok this was back a few months after I switched to my current position in fragrances. I was still learning the ropes but think I was doing a good job. I do enjoy my job but then this customer just made that day so frustrating.

In she comes up to me and I ask how I can help her, she is carrying a gift set for Calvin Klein eternity (important)
Not sure if she was confused or what. I am paraphrasing as this was at least in january.

Me: yours truly
CW: confused woman

CW: Yes this isn't the right fragrance
Me: I can exchange it for you for the one you want, what is the fragrance you want
CW: Yes I want eternity
Me: Well that is eternity
CW: No I want Elizibeth Taylor's Eternity
Me: Um I don't think she makes an Eternity...We have White diamonds
CW: No I want eternity, this is mens.
(the gift set was for the womens eternity, taller bottles than the mens)
Me: Um that is the womens
CW: No my friend said Calvin Klein is mens
Me: Calvin Klein makes both womens and mens we do have both
CW: I want Elisibeth Taylor's Eternity this is not womens Eternity.
Me: I don't think elisibeth taylor makes an eternity but all we have here is White diamonds, I can exchange this for a gift set of that if you would like.
CW: No I want Eternity
Me: That is eternity and the only one we have here.. here is the mens and womens, you have the womens there (showing her the bottles and spraying the blotter cards so she can smell them.)
CW: it's not the same
(gotta say ehre that she was not yelling this so need to admire her for that, why i say she was just confused)
Me: I'll show you, if you say it's alright, I will still return your item and exchange it but I will just give a little spray of yours on the card.

(Trying to show her, I do enjoy my job and want to make people happy with their purchase. She agrees and I give one spray of the bottle in her gift set. Same fragrance as the teser we have on the counter)

CW: This is not the same..I want eternity
Me: Well this is the same and elizibeth taylor to my knowledge does not make an eternity..I can still return your item and you can get the credit to get what you would like.
CW: No I want Elizibeth Taylor's Eternity..My friend says Calvin Klein is mens
Me: He makes both
CW: No I want Eternity, Calvin Klein took it, it's not the same..

(Luckly my coworker who has worked there much longer than me came and took her for a few so I can relax a little, hearing her explain the same things to her and still not getting through, she doesn't want to return..but insists she wants to exchange for the womens Eternity. My coworker even outright says her friend is wrong, repeating what I have been telling her the whole time. I meanwhile, am searching about and remembering a little gift bag, tiny little change purse with a travel size that we somehow lost the travel size for, but still having the bag. I get that out and offer it to the woman apoligizing that we don't have what we are looking for. She takes the gift looking happy and wanders off, leaving us to finally relax.)

This is long winded but it truly was this frustrating to try and explain it to her and took up at least 30 minutes where I could have been helping others. At least she was happy when she left and we haven't seen her since.

[Snowbird]

Owwww, that made my brain hurt.

Trust the word of the sales associate who works with the product?

Trust the word of a friend who knows jack?

I don't know why it's so hard to make that choice.



And, welcome!

[Marmalady]

Trust the word of the sales associate who works with the product?

Trust the word of a friend who knows jack?

Some day I swear I am going to hunt down and destroy the whole caboodle of these all-knowing 'friends'.

[Sheldonrs]

No wonder she wants Eternity. She already has Obsession.

[Mr Hero]

Tell me what you want what you really really want.

[Sheldonrs]

Tell me what you want what you really really want.

I'll tell you what i want, what i really, really want!

[AyreBiskits]

Eternity would be the time it will take for the information to penetrate that thick skull of hers.

[Catwoman2965]

I can't stand that; when customers are SURE that what they are looking for exists, or we have it in our store, and it either doesn't or we don't. My store carries items in some colors; and others are available ONLY online or through the catalog.

So a couple of weeks ago I had a customer come in, and she was looking at a pair of pants, which we had in blue. Fine, but then she insisted that she had seen the very same pants in pink, in OUR store. Sometimes other stores may get stuff we don't have, so I thought ok, maybe she saw them in another one of our stores, one of the larger ones. Nope, she was absolutely certain she had seen them in pink in OUR store. I knew she was wrong, but said, ok, let me do a search (which will show not only which stores its in, but also if its a catalog-only item).

sure enough, it showed ONLY in the catalog, no stores. She still didn't believe me though - - even when I printed out the search results!

Better still are the ones who come in looking for a blue striped shirt, and when we go around and around the store, and they finally say "Yes, THAT'S it" - it turns out to be a purple paisley, or something completely different!

[MoonCat]

I have a friend like that. Everything his know-it-all neighbor tells him, he believes. And the neighbor is one of those self-appointed experts on everything, the kind who also knows everybody else's business in the neighborhood. The guy is nosy as hell, but he's not always right.

[Sheldonrs]

This just reminded me of something from last year. A lady called to complain because her receipt for her donation gave her the title of "Ms." instead of "Mrs.".
I told her it's what we default to if the donor did not specify it when they made the donation. She was pissed because her sister told her that "Ms." means a woman who has been divorced. I tried to explain to her that it just means the woman does not want their marital status known, for whatever reason.

Nope, she would not listen. Her sister knows what she's talking about!

[Marmalady]

She was pissed because her sister told her that "Ms." means a woman who has been divorced. I tried to explain to her that it just means the woman does not want their marital status known, for whatever reason.

To be honest this is a bit of a dilemma that I'm having at the moment.

I'm not keen on 'Ms', but once my decree absolute comes through I can't see that I can really call myself 'Mrs' any more, because I'll no longer be a married woman. But I will have been married, so calling myself 'Miss' isn't an option either.

Any suggestions?

[Mr Hero]

This just reminded me of something from last year. A lady called to complain because her receipt for her donation gave her the title of "Ms." instead of "Mrs.".
I told her it's what we default to if the donor did not specify it when they made the donation. She was pissed because her sister told her that "Ms." means a woman who has been divorced. I tried to explain to her that it just means the woman does not want their marital status known, for whatever reason.

Nope, she would not listen. Her sister knows what she's talking about!

Was she Ms. Informed?

[Rhania506]

Was she Ms. Informed?

insert waawaa music here.

[XCashier]

CW: No I want Elizibeth Taylor's Eternity
Me: Um I don't think she makes an Eternity...We have White diamonds

I looked it up. Elizabeth Taylor does not have an Eternity fragrance, but she does have one called Forever Elizabeth. The only Eternity fragrances I can find are all Calvin Klein, and for both genders as you said.

I can sympathize; it is so frustrating to deal with a customer who insists that you're wrong, even if you're an expert at what you are doing, and who absolutely will not listen to you.

[Kristev]

Try Madame instead of Ms.