The perceptively UNperceptive DUMB customer

[PharmacyManiac]

A study in their foolish attemps to reverse, reverse psychology.....


This is a small Pharmacy with a single til by the door for customers to purchase items quickly (when we have the staff to sit there..) and a Healthcare Pharmacy counter near the Dispensary.

It was one of those days, only 5 members in, most of which are upstairs arranging stock.

A arrogant woman stomps up to me and thrusts her basket in front of my Pharmacy advise table and declares "IS there no-one serving over there?!!". it then flashes through my mind that for her to have made that little declaration she must have walked over there, MADE the observation, made her way over to me to fruitlessly ask.....

Now, I had no idea if she was being stupid or just plain rude, why state the OBVIOUS???

its just like when people ask "is there no staff?" in a accusative tone, or when they like to stand in the queue and bitch "ohhh theres only ONE serving" while they raise their voice hoping to send the other customers into rants domino style.

LOOK, we've ALL been there! but when I go into a store I look at the queues and MAKE the conscious decision to queue or not!!

Another of their favourite phrases is "no-wonder this place is going downhil..everytime I come in here its worse" - well, if you REALLY think the service is THAT bad....why the HECK do you keep coming back to haunt ME?!!

Everyday they get ruder and ruder, I have a 1,000 tales to tell now.....

[customersruinmylife]

Everyday they get ruder and ruder, I have a 1,000 tales to tell now.....

I've noticed that customers seem to be getting worse and worse. When I started work, there were only rare incidents involving SC's, but now they are all the time! And all for stupid things like "only wanted one ice cube in drink, recieved four" or "took too long serving another customer" or "did not know every single table number off the top of his head"

[Sandman]

Just remember the famous words of one of my co-workers:

"You can lead a customer to water... but you can't make them think!"

[HappyCthulhu]

"You can lead a customer to water... but you can't make them think drown them!"
It's illegal no matter how bad you really want to.
But, if you do, hide the body well.

[Spiffy McMoron]

I've noticed that customers seem to be getting worse and worse.

Yes, that's true, but around here, service is getting worse and worse as well. Because of all of the oilsands activity here, people are leaving the service industry to work in the oilfield, which is where the big money is. This (mostly) leaves the dumb, the lazy, and the incompetent to work in the service industry. The whole problem (on both sides) in a nutshell:

A co-worker is looking to buy a camera, but is waiting until the price drops below $300. Staples had it on sale for $299.99, so he goes to buy it on the first day of the sale. When he gets to the Staples, it takes fifteen minutes to get ahold of anybody. When he does, they tell him that they don't have any, and direct him to another store that had one left.

He goes to the other store (without phoning ahead of time) and tries to get the camera there. However, they said that the camera was supposed to be shipped elsewhere, and would he like a raincheck?

Pissed, he said he didn’t want a raincheck, that they should have more than one camera in stock, and said that no Staples would ever get a hold on his money ever again.

After all this happened, he told this to me. He then mentioned that it was impossible to get good service around here, and that the entire job of a retail worker was to serve a customer.

Feeling like I could convert him to the side of the retail worker (and a little surprised that he would say this, considering he used to work in a video store) I carefully explained to him that, no, retail workers aren’t there to serve customers. Yes, service around here sucks—I agree wholeheartedly. But retail workers have a list of 101 things to do in any given night, and helping customers is right at about number 82. Restocking shelves, tagging items, putting away stock, creating displays, and putting out the sale were always more important than helping the average customer.

“But that’s not the way it’s should to be!”

Yes, I know that. Trying a different angle, I said that retail workers are just like everyone else—they don’t want to get into trouble. So they’ll do the work that the managers can see—the jobs I mentioned before. I’ve gotten into trouble plenty of times for not putting away enough stock, but never once have I been yelled at for not helping enough people.

“Yeah, but that’s not the way it’s should to be!”



Lather, rince repeat for the next ten minutes, with neither side changing their argument. I still like to think that I won though. Moral victories count, right?

[Broomjockey]

more-alls?

Mo-rales?

Mow-rails?

Huh?
Is that when you tell the customer what they want to hear, knowing that the next person they deal with will be that co-worker you hate?

[Spiffy McMoron]

Is that when you tell the customer what they want to hear, knowing that the next person they deal with will be that co-worker you hate?

It's what you tell yourself after getting into an argument with the aforementioned co-worker. You'll argue with the guy, and he won't let it go!

[nhollywood]

Why is it that customers think that we "can" do what they are asking for but simply "won't"? If I "can" do what they want then it's easier, faster and less hassle for me to do it. Sorry for the rant but I get tired of IWA's (Idiot's with Attitude).

[Rubystars]

Why is it that customers think that we "can" do what they are asking for but simply "won't"? If I "can" do what they want then it's easier, faster and less hassle for me to do it. Sorry for the rant but I get tired of IWA's (Idiot's with Attitude).

I think I know the answer to this one. All too often they have learned that if they can get a manager over, the manager will cave into them and break policy for them.

It ends up making you look like a Jack(donkey) because then they think that you could have done it for them all along, you just were being mean to them.

[Imogene]

Why is it that customers think that we "can" do what they are asking for but simply "won't"? If I "can" do what they want then it's easier, faster and less hassle for me to do it. Sorry for the rant but I get tired of IWA's (Idiot's with Attitude).

Oooh! Oooh! I know this one too!
*ahem*
Customers think that retail workers are constantly trying to screw them out of money/free stuff/service/whatever you think should go here. Their (customers') haggling switch is constantly set to "Try to get it cheaper, I deserve to be treated like royalty."

[powerboy]

I hate the ones, that will come into the store a few times, and bitch, because we only have about 1-2 people at any given time working. Hell we are a little shop.

Once, I had this guy try to haggle a little comic, that my buddies niece, had drawn. It was a nice one. She brought it in, and wanted me to put it out for sale for $1.00. That one guy, wanted it for 10 cents, kept telling him no, because of a little girl was the one that drew the comic, but he would not have any of it. I finally got tired of it, because

1. I was already suppose to be at lunch
2. It had been about 20 minutes

So I told him, that if he was not going to buy anything, that he should leave. Just then, the main owner came in, that guy talked to him, and he got it for free. That pissed me off, because he got his way, and that the owner caved in, and that my buddies niece, was not going to get anything from it, since the owner, said not to tell her, it was sold.

[Crosshair]

This is what I love about selling guns. I can legaly deny the sale for any reason and the manager cannot legaly override me. If they do it is a federal felony. I have not had to use this power, but I have come close.

"I'm sorry sir, you are being verbaly abusive and from my observation I have reason to believe that you are mentaly unstable. I will be unable tocomplete the sale."

On another note, there are the customers who joke about shooting their friend in the butt with a .22 while looking at the guns. Sorry, but if they wanted to buy the gun that day I would have had to deny the sale. Why do people do that? It's like getting pulled over by the police for speeding and while the cop is writing the ticket you are joking to your friend about the cocaine in the trunk of the car.

Most of my customers are good to me though.

[Fraggle]

Why is it that customers think that we "can" do what they are asking for but simply "won't"? If I "can" do what they want then it's easier, faster and less hassle for me to do it. Sorry for the rant but I get tired of IWA's (Idiot's with Attitude).

I was wondering about that too. I found that alot of my bad customers tend to have an attidude when they call in. For some reason they seem to think us reps are there just to screw them over and to not help.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I was wondering about that too. I found that alot of my bad customers tend to have an attidude when they call in. For some reason they seem to think us reps are there just to screw them over and to not help.

That's a result of that industrial-grade Stupid that gets dumped into the water supply every so often.

All CSR's and cops are terrists out to get da MAN (according to the world authority Manda anyways.)

[Noelegy]

"You can lead a customer to water... but you can't make them think drown them!"
It's illegal no matter how bad you really want to.
But, if you do, hide the body well.

And don't dump the corpse in a different body of water than the one you used to drown them.

Everything I need to know, I learned from "CSI."