# Customer Service Is Not A Right! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 2, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920 "2006-04-02T05:16:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/41 "2006-04-04T16:00:51Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > The staple puller story is an example of excellent customer service, and I’d certainly remember somewhere that did that for me, but I’d also feel VERY uneasy about taking it, because first of all there’s a high chance someone’s watching and you’re going to get the guy in trouble, and secondly, you don’t want Store Security hassling you either. You’re projecting your employment experience onto other situations. I guarantee you in a comfortable majority of retail establishments (expecially when you get away from the Wal-Marts and K-Marts), doing something along the lines of that **Hilarity** received just isn’t a problem at all for the employee. Any place where it would be has to be considered an abysmal workplace on its face. At places like Office Depot, Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc, doing what is reasonable\* towards customer satisfaction is very much a part of the job. In some ways, those jobs are more like being a waiter, say. - _“reasonable”, BTW, is defined here by a combination of company policy, good faith, and employee discretion … not by customer desires._ ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/42 "2006-04-04T16:05:41Z")
I think many shoppers haven’t really figured out what they want in a store. If you want cheap, go to a store that can afford to lower their prices because they have less floor space (stuff on high shelves=less rent to pay), fewer employees (nobody wandering the floor to help customers=less wages to pay), and less selection (fewer inventory items means higher quantities when purchasing the ones you do stock which means better profit margins). If you want customer service, go to a higher-end place that charges a little bit more so that they can afford to hire employees that actually know something about the products they’re selling. Expecting Nordstrom service at K-Mart (or K-Mart prices at Nordstrom) is just setting yourself up for disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/43 "2006-04-04T16:08:56Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > He _gave_ you an item belonging to his office for free? And that’s what you consider good customer service? I’m sort of offended that the guy did that, because now you’re going to expect that in the future, and now you seem to feel that it’s reasonable to expect a business to give you the equipment in their own offices - for free - if they don’t have an item in stock. You have to wonder what the hell was wrong with the guy who gave you the free staple remover. That guy should be fired for stealing from some office to satisfy a customer wanting a dollar item that didn’t happen to be in stock. Jesus. If you’re serious: 1. What the Office Depot guy did for **Hilarity** is on par with giving a customer a pen or a highlighter or something. 2. I’d wager that **Hilarity** understands that her treatment that day was not the minimum standard for all future customer service anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![serious\_lark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@serious\_lark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/serious_lark)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/44 "2006-04-05T01:53:50Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > Oh, boy; that idea of providing stepladders foir the use of customers must have given erections to all personal-injury lawyers who read it. Hey, customer service may not be a right, but I claim the right to give cheap thrills to bored lawyers at my whim 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/45 "2006-04-07T20:57:25Z")
I think the reason that so many people expect outstanding service is because that’s what the retailer advertises. Take Walmart…sure, the focus is low prices. But I’ve seen them mention great customer service as a feature of shopping there. Ever been to a Walmart? Their version of service is making sure you don’t die before you reach a register. Everything else is gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/46 "2006-04-07T21:27:55Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I went right up to the counter and smiled slightly, saying hi. The clerk looked bored and uninterested but she went ahead and just rang up my purchase. Whew, I thought, no upselling and I can just get in-get out. “You save 30% if you get one of these magazines.” Darn it, spoke too soon. I shake my head no and she continues with ringing me up. I sign the credit card slip and skim front and back of it to make sure I’m not signing anything about the magazines, since from the SDMB I know that people have been stung on that before. As I leave I hear her laughing at me for my bizarre routine. :rolleyes: > > Now, can I expect that someone looks polite when I buy something there? Can I expect that they let me complete my business and that they refrain from laughing behind my back? Keep in mind that this was not the cut-rate place, and the checkers at Walmart where things are cheaper are actually usually more polite than that. I felt like going back and explaining things and calling her out; should a shopping experience really leave me feeling like that? When I have an experience like that, it haunts me. I feel embarassed and ashamed and I feel like some rude person has got the best of me. It will literally ruin my day. Maybe I’m way oversensitive, but it matters to me. Rude people need to know that they may be doing more emotional damage than they can imagine. All over something insignificant. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_O\_Malley\_s\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Mrs\_O\_Malley\_s\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_O_Malley_s_Cow)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/47 "2006-04-07T21:36:38Z")
> [@hazel-rah](#): > > -Customer writes a letter to management specifically praising you… at review time, you get no raise but your manager gets a fat bonus And then you are hated by everyone for the rest of your tenure at said establishment. If they don’t fire you immediately for some trumped up charge. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/48 "2006-04-07T23:28:46Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > But this is what bugs me. I go in, and I will take all the time I need to look for something rather than ask for help. I like to say “just looking” and figure it out for myself. But it seems that the very few times that I drop all that and just ask for where something is, _they don’t know_. Why ask me if you can help me, linger around ready to take my question, if you end up not having a clue. > > It just embarrasses both of us and I will end up searching on my own as I had planned to anyway. Well, that’s not right, either. Instead of just “I don’t know,” I would usually reply, “Hmmm, I’m not sure where that is, but I can help you find someone who does know.” ---
**Author:** ![Jacob\_Silj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Jacob\_Silj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jacob_Silj)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/49 "2006-04-08T00:08:58Z")
I agree with the OP 100%. Take my money, don’t be rude, maybe a hello at the beginning and a thank you at the end. I don’t go to a store to make friends with the staff, and I don’t need a self-esteem boost by having a teenage clerk kiss my ass or call me sir or whatever. I don’t think I am “better than” a store clerk and don’t expect a teenager whose been in school all day to be perky and energetic, especially making minimum wage. Plus I don’t even think stores expect that- if they did, they would pay more. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/50 "2006-04-08T02:43:38Z")
> [@Bongmaster](#): > > Ever been to a Walmart? Amazingly, no. We don’t have them in Australia (Big W, despite their association with Wal-Mart, is just K-Mart with different signs out front). And despite the fact I’ve been the US several times, I’ve never actually set foot in a Big W- and that’s not for any moral or philosophical objections to Wal-Mart, there just weren’t any that I could get at without taking a taxi or getting run over trying to cross a 6 lane road with no footpaths or pedestrian crossings… ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/51 "2006-04-08T07:59:52Z")
I don’t understand why some of you think the Office Depot staple remover guy did something wrong. You’re assuming two things: 1. He just gave it away without accounting for it somehow, and 2. that he had no authority to do so. He probably did it knowing full well that “someone might be watching,” because he knew that he was doing the right thing. For example, in my old retail job, every salesperson had the authority to do something like that. We would just fill out an MOS (marked out of stock) card with an explanation and so the inventory could be manually adjusted. For something like that, I’d just write “customer appeasement” on the MOS card and that would be that. Or if it wasn’t considered “in stock” because we were using it ourselves, I’d just tell the manager what happened, and she’d order a new one. No problem. In any retail establishment, a small amount of shrinkage due to this kind of situation should be expected and included in the overall projected shrinkage figure. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920/52 "2006-04-08T23:27:54Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > If I had a dollar for every time I’d seen, dealt with personally, or had to deal with the fallout from one of the above scenarios… well, no-one would ever have to pay for SDMB membership ever again, put it that way. And I could afford a Secret Volcanic Island with Hollowed Out Volcano Lair in which to put the Nitrogen-Cooled Supercomputers that would be the SDMB’s new servers. > SNIP I bet the servers still wouldn’t be up when I tried to post at noon from my desk at work… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-is-not-a-right/350920.md?page=2)