In general, restaurants in the Raleigh area are excellent and know how to treat customers. One pet peeve of ours, up with we will not put, is walking in and not being greeted, esp. when they aren’t really busy. I’ve noticed that it sometimes takes a new restaurant crew and management a little time to realize that those folks who walked in, stood next to the ‘please wait to be seated’ sign for a few minutes and left? They could have been customers.
Many times, a restaurant will not have a separate host or hostess, but combines the cashier and host/ess function. I think it a mistake. Bills should be presented at the table with payment and cards handled there, rather than at the busy front desk. While 3 or 4 parties are being checked out, new customers are, naturally, put off and even ignored. The terminals just off the service area for handling cards work very well.
AT our local Lowes and Home Depot, my observation is that there are surplus ‘greeters’ and cashiers telling you ‘hello’, ‘how you doing today’, etc. and too few actual experts in the aisles. But, I’m surprised that for the most part, many employees in whatever department know pretty much what aisle to send you to for the other stuff you need for your project. I think some of the surplus folks are used to pull orders for contractors to pick up later, and get familiar with the whole inventory that way.
Also, if you stop by for a test drive? Expect at least 5 followup calls, maybe more.
Most Joann’s stores are the worst places a man can spend a hour, but if you get in line for your wife while she is shopping, it saves time in the long run. They use way too many coupons and discounts. Waste of time, just lower prices a bit, smile more and have more than enough folks at the cutting table.
It was misleading of me to mention the work of a Nobel laureate immediately after a statement about “pop culture”, even it wasn’t one of the more celebrated works. I wonder if I can find the section …
You were ignored at a CAR DEALERSHIP? Good God, man, you should start designing your superhero costume right now, because you officially have invisibility powers.
I’ve walked out of a few businesses because I was ignored, but they were all small, mom-and-pop type operations where you couldn’t do anything on your own (example: a shoe store). I’ve never had a problem with service at any corporate-owned chain, but I’m the sort of person who wants to be left alone while shopping and I ask for help only if I need it.
As a middle aged woman I find the phenomenon most common in electronics stores and car dealerships.
In car dealerships I’ve been ignored, asked “What color are you looking for?” as an opening question, and asked if I wasn’t sure I didn’t want to run my decision by my husband first. (I didn’t buy from those dealerships.)
At an electronics store I was ignored (by four different male sales people) for over 20 minutes while leaning on/looking into a case of $700 and up SLR cameras. I eventually had to grab a manager to get help. (I did buy the camera, but I made sure the sales credit didn’t go to one of the guys who ignored me.)
When I’ve gone into a car dealership with my husband, it takes several repetitions of him saying, “Ask her; it’s her car,” before they will address me directly.
That doesn’t happen to us anymore. I don’t know why.
Oh, wait, I do. We leave. Life is good in a crowded market.
Really, that’s not the whole story, is it?
In our case, the male distracts the wily salesperson with his bright plumage of sports talk and engine size, while the female stealthily stalks the sticker price, fuel economy, and air bags. In her natural habitat, the female shopper is fearsome.
She may buy shoes she cannot walk in because they are cute, but she will comparison shop on the psi of an air bag.