Why do check-out clerks always ask this question? If you’re the type to ask for help, wouldn’t you have already found an employee on the sales floor to help you find something? And if you’re the type to complain about poor organization or stocking issues, wouldn’t you complain to a manager?
So presumably, if you’re already at the counter ready to pay, you’re always going to answer “Yes” because you either did find everything you were looking for, the store doesn’t carry the item that you’re looking for, you’ve decided to get the item elsewhere, or you are no longer interested in getting whatever it is you couldn’t find.
Has anyone here actually answered “No” to this question? If so, why? And did it actually help you in any way?
(This is specifically in regards to being asked this question while the cashier is ringing you up. Not approaching a cashier because you can’t find anyone else to help you.)
A few weeks ago I was walking out of Home Depot (empty handed) and was asked this question. I replied “No, I didn’t” and she said “Have a nice day”. I have to assume it was force of habit as she probably wasn’t expecting that answer.
But yes, I have done that before. Sometimes it’s because I couldn’t find anyone to help me earlier or there was something I needed that just slipped my mind until then.
There’s a certain food product that is at one location but not another of the same store.
Once I said that I couldn’t find it at the one store. The cashier found out they didn’t stock it at the smaller store but said they could get some just for me so I didn’t have to drive to the other store.
Because sometimes the answer is no and the clerk will make an effort to find an appropriate alternative or let you know where you can find what you were looking for. At least that is the case in my experience.
I have answered “Yes, but if I can 't find what I’m looking for without help, then you don’t need to sell it to me.” The clerks don’t really know how to respond to that one.
Usually if I mention something I couldn’t find something the clerk reminds me that I should ask for a rain check.
One time when the clerk asked that and I said no, she asked what it was; it was something that was on sale and she said something like “we should have that in stock” and called for assistance. One of the stockers came over and she told him what I needed, he confirmed that they should have more in the back, asked me how many I wanted, and went to get it. He was back before she had finished ringing up my order and apologized to me for the inconvenience.
I probably should have asked someone about it when I saw the empty shelf, but it wasn’t anything vital so I’d just shrugged it off.
However there are more and less annoying ways for us retail wageslaves to ask customers if they were satisfied with their shopping experience. I’m someone who hates to be hassled by intrusively helpful employees, so while I work for a company that pushes to engage and help customers constantly I refuse to be aggressive about it and bother every person in the store. I just try to keep an eye on every customer in my vicinity, and IF they look lost, confused, or are searching intently without an apparent payoff I simply ask them ‘can I help you?’ or ‘are you looking for something?’ and clear out quickly if they answer is no. I don’t have to check customers out, thankfully, but at my store the script is a friendly greeting rather than a random question. I really don’t think anyone goes to check out when they are still looking for something. :smack:
There are many more customers who highly appreciate employees engaging them with offers to be of service, than there are shoppers who simply want to be left alone, like me.
Yep. As a cashier I was told to ask if they found everything. A surprising number of people say no, and are then flabbergasted when I ask if they’d like me to check if we have it, and send someone else running to get it. But a fair number are no longer interested by the time they make it to the checkout line or have already been helped and just want to move along.
I don’t mind when the cashiers ask but it seems pretty inefficient because if someone does say no then the line gets held up while everyone scuttles around the store looking for meatless bacon bits. I prefer it when employees on the sales floor ask if I’m finding everything, or even better if they’re just available and approachable-looking so when I can’t find something I can ask.
You’re one of the few. My experience is almost always the same as Joey P’s, at least in the larger stores. Either a glazed, confused look or a half-hearted “oh, I’m sorry”.
is there a reason you can’t stop at “yes” ? the clerks don’t know how to respond because they don’t understand why someone is being rude to them over a harmless question. no one’s impressed by your wit. just say yes and move on.
I’ve said “No” plenty of times before. They’ll ask me what I couldn’t find and, if they don’t have it, they’ll let me know. If they do have it, they’ll tell me where it is or send someone to get it. I’ve even had one that helped me to design an alternative out of products that they did have.
I’ve found that most store clerks (and waiters, cashiers, bartenders, etc.) are far more helpful when you treat them like humans rather than a robot.
The grocery store nearest my house recently added a pharmacy and rearranged a lot of their merchandise. When I went to check out, the cashier asked if I found everything OK, and my response was, “Eventually.” Both the cashier and the bagger cracked up laughing.
The trouble with threads like this is that the people concerned read this complaint and for reasons known only to themselves deliberately start using it to the annoyance of their customers.
Once on these boards was a complaint about shop assistants “saying there you go”, because they felt that they were demeaning themselves by saying thank you.
It seemed almost overnight that shop assistants in the area where I live in England started using this saying en mass.
It surprised me; as I didn’t think that there that many Dopers in my area, though of course it could be just one (maybe a lurker ?) to start it and then its passed on by word of mouth.