This is without a shadow of a doubt, the most pain in the ass time of the year to deal with customers. However, as a twisted consolation prize, we can spot the real troublemakers and embrace for their threats of reporting to our managers, hide in the back, or grab a mop in case they decide to run off in a tantrum and use the bathroom on aisle 5 in a tactful attempt of reaping vengeance. What are some things you looks for?
One particular trait I’ve seen in a lot of people…
An excess of skepticism: This is probably justified, as Christmas has a habit of turning everyday well meaning people into ruthless viking savages. Just today I saw a van holding up traffic in a parking lot because he was waiting for someone parked close to the store to pull out. It’s enough to make anyone paranoid. Serving these guys as a employee is a real trip though. They prod every deal with questions and their eyes dart to every sign to read the fine print. They never take your word for anything, and have a rolled up ad in their back pocket which they study to the point of becoming bargain hunting radicals. The Ads are their new bible; scouring the lands for deals their religion. And you’re the heretic. Nothing gets by these guys, not even sanity. They usualy look like they have something that ‘aint quite right’ on their mind.
Nothing else comes to mind at the moment. People with permanent grimaces are a little too obvious, and year round if esspecialy common this time of year.
Anyone familiar with any other traits of troublesome customers?
What about the kind who literally believe the customer is **always ** right and that you should bow and scrape before them because, after all, without them you wouldn’t have a job at all? You should sell them that George Foreman grill for $3.95 because they say so. If you dare question the price, they’ll fly into a fit of rage and demand to see your manager.
If they return something that is obviously worn and stained and that they bought six months ago, you are expected to meekly hand over the cash, regardless of store rules and the fact that they have no reciept. You are a bad and rude employee if you refuse to make the exchange. They will fly into a fit of rage and demand to see your manager.
If they find you are out of something they want, they will expect you to get it out of the magical “back room.” When you explain to them that if you had any more left, they’d be out on the floor and the next delivery of the item won’t be until Thursday, they will call you a bad and rude employee, fly into a fit of rage and demand to see your manager.
There’s no pleasing a person who believes the customer is always right. They should be forced to work in retail until they’ve had more than just a taste of their own medicine.
JoeSki, come visit us over at Customers Suck We know your pain.
Generally, it’s people who look like this (Sachiyo Nomura, the Leona Helmsley of Japan). The ones who were born sneering and whose only remaining pleasure in life is reminding you that you, no matter what you do, are below them.
In their world, not only is the customer always right, but you are so wrong you should apologize just for having the temerity to exist. They will insult you gratuitously, and reject your work without even looking at it simply on principle. And if you are unfortunate enough to be working under a spineless wimp who caves into every customer demand (since he doesn’t have to actually do any of them), they will exploit the situation to the fullest, let you know directly that they are doing so, and never miss a chance to tell you how much you should be thankful for the fact that they are doing so.
I don’t know if this will be consoling or depressing for those of you in retail, but you encounter them at every level of business. At least in a shop they go away after a while. In an office situation, you can end up having one of these miserable sods as your sole client for weeks.
I don’t work in a customer service role (at least not a public-facing one), but I’ve stood behind many a difficult customer at a returns desk or ticket sales booth etc; I’ve noticed there’s a particularly obnoxious sing-song style of speech that often indicates the customer is an ass and is about to start making a scene; hard to describe, but maybe you know what I’m talking about.
What about people who have no apparent ability to read the hours posted on the door when they come in? These happen year-round, but increase towards the holidays, when the clueless blithely go around looking for the 38 people on their list while the rest of the customers make their final purchases and the staff seethes behind their backs. I know Christmas will be ruined if little Timmy doesn’t get the perfect shirt, but some of us have, you know, lives and families and things we need to tend to.
I’ve come to absolutely hate people who remove the tags from merchandise they give as gifts. If it’s clothing, the missing tag makes it a bitch to return and restock, and if it’s a CD, the label is never pulled off cleanly, which leaves us with a messed-up product. After four years of retail, I scratch out the price of gifts but leave on the tags and even hand over the receipt when I can to make returning easier. I accept that my giftees might want to take it back. Unless you’re in the habit of giving gifts to Martians, they’re going to know roughly what you spent on the gift, and if they don’t, they’ll find out when they return it.
It usually starts out like: “LISten, I DON’T want to MAKE any TROUble, but…”
My gripe is the ones who equate “Bad customer service” with “Not getting something for free.” When I worked at a movie theater some woman tried to weasel in by saying that it cost the same to run the movie whether she paid or not, so I should just let her in free; then she complained about the bad customer service when I explained to her it was a “for-profit” business, not a charity.
What’s wrong about asking if there’s extra something in the back room? Several places I’ve worked had a back room where there was extra stock and I never had a problem getting it for people.
I have a friend who runs a business dealing with many customers daily. He has made quite a success of this, and has never had a “customer is always right” approach.
His view (based on much experience) is that some small percentage of customers are unreasonable and obnoxious jerks, and he’s far better off without their custom. As he puts it: “Why would I want my employees wearing themselves to a frazzle dealing with these jerks who’ll never be satisfied, when the alternative is to send them away to harass my competitors?”
I second this question. I ask this all the time (mostly in Book, Game, or Movie type stores).
I asked this just the other day. My sister really wants the game S.W.A.T. I was in the Game Stop and didn’t see it so while I was buying the other games I needed I asked the girl if she had it. She checked the drawer of new and used games behind the counter and a box that had not been unpacked yet. She didn’t seem to mind checking for me. (They didn’t have it :(). I didn’t seem to me that I was being a difficult customer. (A few notes: there were three employees and only two customers in the store. I was the only one at the register. I asked politely and then thanked her for looking). – do these make a difference or does anyone asking about stock bother you?
Asking if you have anymore in stock is not a problem. It’s those customers that demand you conjure up an item from your magically replenishing stockroom. When you tell that customer that there are no more to be had the customer does not believe you; the customer demands that you check a second, third, forth time; the customer *demands * that you call any and every store in a fifty mile radius to track down the item. It doesn’t matter that your store isn’t a franchise with multiple locations - they insist that you know of a mysterious place to purchase the item. You just won’t tell them where because you are a bad employee.
If she’s anything like I was in retail, what you asked for was not a problem.
It’s the people to whom you’ve just said, “No, I’m sorry; it’s a hugely popular item and every third person who has come in has asked for it, but we’ve been out of stock of it for four days now. Check with us on Tuesday, or I can write you a rain check.”
And they reply with, “Could you please just check in the back? Maybe you missed one?”
The only times such customers made me put on more than a grim smile and say, “I’m sorry. No. I’ve checked multiple times. We’ve torn apart the back room in hopes of finding one more in saleable condition.” were the times that going to the back room to escape the holiday crowds for a few minutes was a well needed respite. In which case, I’d go to the back room, rest a bit, and then come back out to deliver the news that, no, none magically appeared, just like they didn’t magically appear for any of the other fifty people that asked.
As for the OP- and relating to this- it’s the customers who think they’re entitled that suck the most. The ones who obviously think they deserve a better price/fawning treatment/you to magically produce product that no one else can get simply because they’re them. And certainly not because they actually treat you any nicer.
Oh, OK. Thanks. I see the difference. I thought I was (unintentionally) being an annoying customer. (Having been a customer service rep in a call center at one time I try hard not to be one of those customers).
I have worked retail and I know the people you are talking about. Those who scream the loudest, get their way (although never with me - I would make their lives even more miserable if they threw some hissy fit with me.) And yes, they would try to scam me with returns of products we never sold at that store, or products that were so old they didn’t make them anymore.
However, on the other side of the coin, I have run into sales staff who haven’t a clue. Sales staff who give wrong info (“Yes sir, you can play DVD’s on the CD player in your computer”) or sales people who tell you they don’t have the product (i.e. stereos) and you walk six feet and see 134 different stereos on sale.
And pundits wonder why more and more people are opting out of going to stores and buying things directly off the internet.
When I used to deliver pizza I could almost tell the moment someone opened the door if the delivery was going to be a problem. It could have been that they didn’t order it (actually ordered it but now don’t want it) or it’s going to be cold or they want a discount - whatever. The expression on their faces always seemed to me to be getting ready to fight. I learned to recognize it quickly.
I’ve also been on the other side. My daughter criticises me because I never ask for things in stores. She thinks it’s a guy thing but I swear I get a wrong answer or an " I dunno" 80% of the time.
We were buying a boom box once and I asked the store guy which ones played MP3’s. He said they all do. I had to convince my daughter that no, they don’t all play MP3’s. It turned out that about three of the twenty units played MP3’s but because of idiot store guy I had to waste time convincing my daughter I was right. (Why do kids trust idiot store people over their own parents?)
I always like the “Let’s Make a Deal” type. The only time I worked retail was at a tropical fish store. I always got…“If I buy three of these, can I get them at a discount” (always 3 for some reason).
Probably the reason was that if a certain species did best in groups of three or more, we would usually discount. But the price would be right there on the tank, if there wasn’t a discount on the tank, there wasn’t a discount. People didn’t seem to get that.
I don’t these folks are bad unless they’re being obnoxious. In a lot of places dickering is common and you can’t blame them for giving it a shot. I always try it at flea markets.
I don’t think these folks are bad unless they’re being obnoxious. In a lot of places dickering is common and you can’t blame them for giving it a shot. I always try it at flea markets.
I worked at a beach-rental stand. I was not the owner, but the tourists didn’t know that. Although if I owned a beach-rental business, I’d sure have better things to do than sit on the beach all day watching girls go by in their skimpy… What was I talking about?
Oh yeah. The “Let’s Make a Deal” guys always came up early in the day. “Hey, how much is a chair and an umbrella?”
“Well, it’s $10 for the umbrella for the whole day; $5 for the chair. $15 total.”
“Yeah, but what can you do for me?”
“I can carry it out to where you’d like to sit, put the umbrella in the sand, put the chair under the umbrella, and when the day is done, I can take it all back. You never have to lift a finger.”
“Yeah, but what can you do on price?”
“Oh, I’m not the owner. He sets the prices.”
“You guys don’t offer a deal?”
“Oh, the all-day price is our deal. You’d pay almost twice that if I charged you by the hour.”
“Yeah, but I can go down there (points to the other stand two blocks away) and get a better deal.”
“I don’t think you can – I know the owner of that stand, and he actually charges a little more. Plus the owner paid for this block’s concession, so you wouldn’t be able to sit on this stretch of beach; you’d have to sit way down there, and come all the way back here at the end of the day.”
“Huh. So your daily rate’s better than hourly, and cheaper than theirs?”
“Sure is.”
[long pause]
“Wow, that’s a pretty good deal. I’ll take an umbrella and two chairs please.”
“Certainly, sir. Twenty dollars please.”
I must have had this exact same conversation, verbatim, with one or two people each week (the hotel I sat near rotated weekly, so it was a new crowd each week). When you convince them that they’re getting a deal (or that some poor schmuck who isn’t them is getting screwed) they’re placated immediately.
I also got people who just wanted a set-up for the day, but wanted the weekly rate. I had to explain to them that if they wanted a weekly, they had to pay cash in advance up front, and if they later decided they didn’t want the weekly, I’d refund them everything except the price for a full day’s rental – not 6/7 of their money.
