That’s pretty much the point. Friendly informed staff cost money - surly ignoramuses less so. If you keep going to the former type of store for information, but actually buying from the latter type because they cost 10$ less, Darwin’s theory of retail sales outlets states that all stores will eventually be staffed by surly ignoramuses.
First of all, salespeople don’t just “provide information”: they’re actively trying to sell you a product. It’s impossible usually to separate the “information” from the sales pitch. You know and I know that their bottom line is selling you something, regardless of whether you need it or not (in fact, if they’re not trying to sell you something, then they deserve to be fired, because that’s their job!). How many used car salesmen say “you know what? I can see now after talking to you that you really can’t afford this Mercedes…let me give you the number of my friend at the Saturn dealership down the street”? This sort of thing happened in Miracle on 34th St., but in the real world, people don’t operate like this. Chances are, they’ll try to convince you that you can afford the Mercedes (if you make a few sacrifices), or you simply need it and therefore should not even worry about whether or not you can afford it. That’s pretty much the whole point of sales: to generate a need in the customer that may or may not actually exist, and not to respond to the needs that the customer brings with him into the store. So let’s not act as if these salespeople are doing a public service, like your local librarian. I don’t see why this should be such a controversial point: do you believe everything that salesmen tell you? Or act as if they’re doing you a big favor by carefully explaining to you how great that car (or that computer, or that stereo) is?
When I go to the car dealership, I’m in the process of making a decision…I don’t know what I want, because I don’t know what’s there, and I don’t know if there might be something better down the street. So I go to Store #1 and ask questions, then Store #2, then Store #3, etc. And I make a decision based on what I’ve seen. This is not being a pain-in-the-ass customer…this is simply acting like a rational person! And I don’t really see what the alternative is…just buying whatever the salesperson thinks is right for me, the guy who has given me the most “information”? Is this how you operate? If it is, then I’d like to introduce you to some friends of mine in sales…
Like I said at the end of my last post, I won’t defend rude behavior of any kind. But I think salesmen might be creating conflict for themselves if they invite people into their stores, try to sell them something, and then consider it a big betrayal if the customers decide not to buy what they’re being sold. I’m not a deadbeat simply because I’ve talked to you about your wares and decided that I don’t want them, after taking in the “information” you’ve provided to me. I’ll just stop here and wait for a “Cranky Customers Sound Off” thread, because maybe this is not the place to argue this point. I do sympathize with all y’all in retail after reading your stories…and I promise that I won’t be a prick when I go to your store…
Oh God, not the “my time is valuable” customer. Of all the different annoying types of customer - the “I want your help but I won’t tell you what the problem is” customer, the “I’m angry at you for something that is not only not under your control but not under the control of any sentient being save the Lord” customer, the “I didn’t do anything the instructions told me to do and it still doesn’t work” customer and all the others - this is one of the most annoying, because there is absolutely no sensible response to him. You just want to shout “For Christ’s sake, get over yourself”.
I work tech support. Yeah, I know, you’ve heard all the stories already. They’re true, too. But I can handle the stupidity and the ignorance. It’s all in a day’s work. What I can’t handle is the people like this one guy who had trouble printing from our website (a really bizarre error too; he somehow managed to print each frame on a separate page no matter what we did) and got extremely agitated when I suggested he copy the text (that’s all it was, plain text) into Notepad and print from there. Why? Because…
“My time is free to you, but it’s not free to me! This costs me money!”
I cannot imagine what it must be like, living in his world. If this happened to me (which it wouldn’t; I’m still convinced he did something wrong even if I can’t work out what it was) I would murmur “that’s odd”, copy the text into Notepad, print, and be on my merry way. Calling tech support wouldn’t even occur to me. This guy not only calls, but complains about the extra five seconds of his time the obvious solution would take. I don’t know. I guess I’m just not cut out for customer service.
Yes. I am utterly convinced that during my time at McDonald’s I waited on at least three people who came into the restaurant with no intention of getting anything to eat. I think they were having a bad day, saw a fast-food restaurant, and just stopped by to shit on a person who wasn’t likely to fight back.
They were wrong in one case, however…we had one unpleasant little man stop by for coffee. The black guy who took his order gave him two creamers instead of three, and the man told him he was a stupid nigger. That black guy was over the counter in no time flat! Somehow the little man avoided death until two managers could grab the black guy. The managers told the man not to ever set foot in our store again, and he agreed, but he “wanted that stupid nigger’s job!” That didn’t happen, but the black guy did transfer to another store soon afterward. I’m sure the customers were no better there.
Now that’s damned funny! And it reminds me of another story…
A while ago, a buddy of mine and I were road-tripping from the Twin Cities to Mount Rushmore, and we stopped at Jewel Cave National Monument. We took what was then called the “historic” tour, where instead of taking the elevator down from the visitor’s center, we trekked to the original, first-discovered entrance to the cave, and explored along unpaved paths and rickety wooden ladders. The only light we had was from candle lanterns we carried with us. (It’s now called the Lantern Tour.)
When you get as far in to the cave as the tour goes, the guide has everyone blow out the candles and sit in complete darkness for a few minutes. Our guide explained how they were required to carry many back-up sources of light, from matches to lighters to flashlights. She then told a story of another guide who was leading a group of rambunctious boy scouts through the historic tour. Of course, once the candles were out, they started whooping and hollering, and naturally they missed the lecture on backup sources of light.
So, frustrated, the guide shouted, “NOBODY MOVE! I’VE DROPPED THE MATCHES!”
Silence.
After a moment: “uh…what do we do if you don’t find the matches?”
“Well, it’s not safe to go back without light, so we’ll wait here until the next tour comes through. I’m pretty sure there’s another one scheduled for today, but it won’t be for a few hours…”
He relented after a few minutes. The group was remarkably well behaved on the way out.
I agree with you. I’m glad to answer questions for people who stop in and are just browsing with no real intention to buy. A friendly helpful attitude might bring them back in when they are ready. Some customers take more time than others. Thats just the way it is and keeping good humor with diiferent personnality types is part of the job. I’ve seen the type of salespeople you describe being my coworkers or the salesman waiting on me. I don’t like it either.
I’m talking about customers who intentionally want you to spend a bunch of time explaining how things work and giving them demos and they have no intention of buying it from you or your company. They will search online to save a few dollars. Sometimes its a serious amount and I understand. If you just want to look and ask a couple of questions while shopping around then no problem. It’s part of my job to create a friendly pleasent atmosphere for people to shop in. I never think a cistomer owes me something because I answered a couople of questions. I’ve had so called customers ask for technical support on products they didn’t even buy from us and get pissy when I say “I’m sorry I’m not going to be able to help you with that” It’s a balancing act I suppose and I know there’s two sides to the story. It was reading the horrible customer service thread that prompted this one. I just wanted to present the other side.
Some people hate commission salespeople and I get that. The store I work at now has a team bonus plan so we all get paid for helping the customer and each other. It’s a good thing. There are some dishonest salespeople but the best ones realize that giving great service and being sincerely helpful without being pushy will keep customers coming back. Someone suggested in the customer service thread that in order to get great customer service develop a relationship with a store and it’s staff. I think thats good advice. We go the extra mile for our repeat customers and it makes it much more pleasent for all concerned.
The decline in customer service that you hear people complaining about relates directly to customers sending the message that price is the prime concern.
Wow! What an asshole. Over coffee. Which reminds.
In a fast food joint an older lady was really going overboard about her burger not being exactly right. Really making a huge issue ober a burger. Finally the exasperated clerk said. “Lady they don’t pay me enough to stand here and listen to this bullshit from you over a burger” and turned and walked away.
In a circuit city a asshole redneck didn’t want the black salesman who was available to wait on him. He wanted the white salesman who was busy with a customer. When white salesman said "I can’t help you I’m already helping someone but that salesman {the black guy} will be glad to help you. "I don’t want him to help me, go get the dam manager to wait on me. " OKay sir. White salesguy trots off and comes back a moment later.
“I’ve told the manager sir and he’ll be in a moment”
“Well he’d better make it quick”
“As a matter of fact sir thats the manager behind you now”
Redneck asshole turns to look into the chest of a very large ex football player black manager. He turns and leaves without saying a word.
In my short period of working retail, I never witnessed anything like these doozies, but I was able to be there for the dumbest and most pointless scam in history. The guy in front of me at the supermarket comes up with a bottle of water, Dasani, I think and says:
“Can I have a discount? This water’s expired.”
“What?” The clerk says.
“Right here, this water is expired,” as he points to the bottling date, with a cat that caught the canary grin. I’m thinking, “You must be new at this.”
“Do you want a different bottle?” asks the clerk, not buying it, and trying to get this guy out of the way.
“No, I just want a discount on this bottle.”
“We don’t sell expired products, but I’m happy to get you a new one.” A brilliant answer, and he gives up and leaves.
First off: expired water? Now I know that technically bottled water does have an expiry date but that bottle would have had to have been sitting on the shelf for years to be expired. Secondly, it’s a bottle of freaking water. What, were you going to save a dime? Buy the stupid water and get out or stop making us wait behind you in line!
This is not so much a story about a jackass customer as it is about a stupid customer. I work in Tech Support for a company that
There is also a brand of vacuum cleaner (built by AEG in Germany) that has the same name as our company (without “software” afterwards). Anyway, two days ago I get a call on our hotline from a customer that doesn’t seem to be very happy. He says when he goes on our German website and clicks on the “product overview”, everything is in English. Why don’t we have the information in German? I had to tell him: “Sorry. There’s nothing I can do for you. We don’t have a German version of that webpage.” So he says he will have to buy his product from somewhere else and hangs up.
Five minutes later a call is in our queue, which was created by the email parser. The same customer is complaining that he wants to buy a vacuum cleaner (he never mentioned that on the phone) and the product information is in English, and Support wasn’t helpful at all, and do we even want his business. I sent him a nice email pointing out that we do not make vacuum cleaners, and the point that vacuum cleaners are not mentioned once on our website, and the website clearly states that we make software to build business applications, should have made him realize that he might have been complaining to the wrong people.
It always amazes me how stupid (or at least stubborn) some customers are.
No he’s not wrong. No one is speaking of simple etiquette. No one is speaking of shopping around and asking a few questions. I support that and do it myself. What we’re saying is that if a shop gives you excellent customer service and provides you with valuble information by actually spending more than a few minutes educating you *and * it turns out they carry what will meet your needs , then please don’t go buy it at a big box coorperate store that gave you little or no customer service or information just to save a couple of bucks.
It’s not a matter of manners. It serves your best interest to do so. They will probably offer better support after the sale and give you the same excellent customer service when you come back to make another purchase. It’s good for both parties.
What we’re complaining about are the people who will go to the store that has informed salespeople and pick their brain for an hour gathering information so that they can go buy from another store for $50 less. They know they won’t get the information they need at the big box so they go out of their way to take up someone’s time who they have no intention of buying from. They are certainly under no obligation to buy but there is a line where that kind of thing becomes jackass behavior. Many customers now choose to do their own research on the internet about products. I can respect that. They are investing their own time.
Now you’re being silly. What’s that 5 car foolishness? Nobody is suggesting any such thing. I’ve seen plenty of salespeople who will lie to make a sale but not everyone is like that. In a very real world sense it is in the interest of the company and the salesperson to keep you a satisfied customer. That means finding out what you want and need and helping you find something that fits your budget. If I push you into a sale that makes me more money that one time then you may not ever come back once you get your product home and realize what I did. That doen’t do me or you any good. Sometimes customers find out that what they want costs a little more than what they originally expected or they become aware of new features that they didn’t know was out there.
Others find out that what they want cost less than they expected. I’ve helped many customers save money by showing them that something more basic and less exspensive will meet their needs just fine. There are commisioned salespeople who take pride in offering good honest customer service.
The point is that even though there are bad salespeople out there there are also good ones and sometimes it *does * work that way in the real world.
Gasp Return a Commodore 64?? Who would even think that?? I still use mine. It’s the best computer ever made, and one day they will rise again to take over the world, you’ll see, you’ll all see!..
Anyway. I used to work at a Michael’s art store. We frequently had knobs that had bought some glass jar, tried to paint it, did a shitty job of it, and then tried to return it. Sample conversation I had once with one of these people:
Customer: I’d like to return this ivy bowl. (a pathetic attempt at an underwater scene was painted on said bowl.)
Me: Sorry, we can’t take that back. It’s been painted.
Customer (flabbergasted): But…I don’t like how it turned out!
Me: Unfortunately policy states that it has to be returned in original condition.
Customer: I can’t believe you people. (stomps off in a huff, taking ugly bowl with her)
What I would have given to be able to say, “Sorry, we can’t take back things that have been painted…especially if you did a shitty job of it. And you did, you no-talent sow.” 
Nearly all of my jackass customers are realtors. I’m working for a property management company now, and we had one guy who was supposed to cosign for his daughter’s apartment. He wouldn’t sign the application (because it authorized a background check), offered to show me his house instead of letting me look at his credit report 
, wanted me to put in an addendum that would prevent his daughter from having boyfriends spend the night, and tried to keep me from telling her that she needed another cosigner because it would “break her heart” :rolleyes:
Yep, he was a realtor. He also set up our appointments around his golf schedule.
My aunt took up crafty stuff after she retired, and she now works part-time at a Michael’s store in Vancouver, as well as teaching classes there. She has told me a bunch of similar stories about jackass Michael’s customers.
Something of a different kind, my online RPG publication customers. I keep having people leave “reviews”*
Paraphrasings:
Review #1: “This product isn’t want I expected; it isn’t like the other products out there!” (Duh! The entire concept was that it worked differently, as we clearly stated twice in the description. We even provided a demo showing exactly what it was like!)
Review #2: “This format is awful and you suck.” (The format is exactly like every other bloody format out there. We left the pretty detail out because it was meant to be printed.)
Review #3: “This product sucks! It’s sooooo unoriginal and has no art!” (You got the printer-friendly version, moron! And how can you say our PrC’s were unoriginal? Every one of them has abilities found nowhere else!)
Review 4: “Wow, good concept for this product. But why did you have weird names and runes on the cards? That’s weird!” (It’s a fucking fantasy game addition, you fucking fool! We pout some made-up name at the top of the page and you criticise us for it? Die, mother-fucker, Die!)
- the “” marks were because I’m beginning to suspect that some were actually competitors. It’s a favorite pasttime on RPGnow to leave favorable comments to yourself (or get more accounts to do so) and burn all your competitors.
I used to work in a bridal shop. The jackasses were legion.
phone rings
Me: Hello?
Caller: I want a dress that I would like. Do you have any dresses I would like?
phone rings
Me: Hello?
Caller: I saw a dress in a magazine. Do you have it?
Me: Which magazine was it?
Caller: I don’t know.
Me: Do you know the maker?
Caller: No.
Me: Can you describe the dress?
Caller: It was white.
woman in store
Woman: I’d like to buy this dress.
Me: According to your measurements, the size you should order is a 20.
Woman: No way. I’m going on a diet. Order a 12.
Me: A 12 will require a very large change in your measurements. Your wedding is in 6 months. I can’t recommend that.
Woman: I’m not ordering a 20.
Me: I won’t keep you from ordering a 12, but I very strongly recommend against it.
Woman: I don’t care.
Me: This will require payment up front.
Woman: But what if it doesn’t fit?
woman in store
Woman: What size is that dress there on the mannequin?
Me: It’s a 12. All of the dresses currently on the mannequins are 12s.
Woman: I don’t wear a 12. I wear a 10.
Me: Wedding dresses are fitted very differently than most clothing. Most people find that their sizes in wedding gowns are very different than street clothes. If I measure you, I can point you to the correct size.
The woman is most assuredly not a 10
Woman: I already know I wear a 10.
Me: Very well. Let me show you what we have in 10s.
Woman: I want the dress on the mannequin.
Me: I’m afraid we do not have that in a 10. We have that in a 12 and a 24. We can order a dress in any size, or perhaps the 12 can be altered to fit you.
Woman: I want a dress that fits. No alterations.
Me: Alterations are included in the price of the gown. Most gowns will require at least some alteration in hem length.
Woman: No alterations.
Me: We can order a dress in any size.
Woman: I can’t buy a dress without trying it on.
Me: One moment. I will double check the stock.
I go to the back room and whisper with a coworker
Coworker goes out front
I wait about 45 seconds
I go back to the front
Me: You’re in luck. We do have the gown in a 10.
Coworker is already hanging the gown in a dressing room
Five minutes later
Woman: I need help zipping this dress.
Me: Certainly!
The dress will not close
Woman: This dress is a piece of crap. The sizing is ridiculous.
Me: Yes, the sizing can be very confusing.
Woman leaves
I hang size 24 back on rack
Wait wait…I know wedding dresses really are sized a little differently most of the time-- but if she couldn’t even zip a 24…how on earth did she claim to be a size 10?
The stupid! It BURRRRRNSSSS
I just read a post about how the worst jackass customers are the ones who insist that their time is money…in fact, I witnessed an example of this at Best Buy awhile ago: some guy was freaking out about how his DVD player didn’t work, demanded a new player, demanded to be waited on first (because he was so busy and important), demanded compensation for all the time and gas money he spent driving to Best Buy. We (rightly) call this guy a big ol’ jackass because that “if you inconvenience me in any way, then you owe me money” argument is irrelevant to the transaction between the business and the customer. It’s just not part of the deal: it’s understood that if you’ve got a problem, you have to wait in line like everyone else, you’re on your own as far as the gas issue goes, etc. I would call a salesman a jackass if he proposed exactly the same argument, but from the salesman’s perspective (my time is precious, I’ve talked to you for 20 minutes, so don’t think you’re walking out of here without buying anything…)
So I was defending a general principle (that I don’t owe you anything for talking to you about your wares). And the point of my intervention was that I seem to see a lot of peeved salesmen violating this principle (at least on the level of their crappy attitudes). You’re talking about extreme cases (that’s the point of this thread, right?). And so the general principles might not work, since these customers are actively trying to screw you and beat the system. As a non-jackass customer, I’m trying to get a good deal, but I’m not trying to rip anyone off…but I recognize your point that there are jackasses who are trying to rip you off. 99% of the time, “All You Can Eat” should mean just that…all you can eat for one price. But then maybe 1% of the time, Homer Simpson walks in and tries to see just how much he can eat before you’re put out of business.
Anyway, it sounds like we agree on general principles, so that’s good enough for me…
When you work at a large retail store, they give you guidelines as to what you can do if you see people shoplifting. Working in the music dept, we probably see our fair share of thieves, but we learn things beyond what they teach us:
If a bunch of kids are loitering and you have had a bad day, you can yell at them, tell them to get out, and feel a whole lot better.
If you play dumb enough, you can direct all the blame on your the manager.
If two very large gentlemen are quietly stealing cds from antitheft devices using a 5 inch switchblade, it’s a good time to clean the display cases…thoroughly.
I agree 100%
I agree here too. I’ve worked with some and I’ve bought from some. Years ago I was buying a car which was a major purchase for me. I was being very cautious and thoughtful about where I spent my thousands of dollars. One salesman made a comment that the sale was taking too long. Well EXCUUUUUSSSSEEE MEEEEEE!Jerk
It’s always disappointing when you spend time with a customer and they decide to “think it over” but when you’ve done commission a while you learn to take the ups and downs. Sometimes people will come in every so often for months before they finally decide to make a purchase and being nice to them makes a difference.
There was a great comment here a few months back where a guy that sold RV’s was bitching about customers wasteing his time. Another poster who obviously had sales experience really set him straight on what sales are all about. It was so good I printed it out.
Most customers are very cool. I see a quite a few who are very wary of salespeople and I understand why, but honest we’re not all high pressure liars.
It’s nice to see them relax when they realize their salesman is an okay guy{or gal} It’s hard for nice customers to realize how crappy some customers are and how dishonest they can be for a small sum of money. Sometimes it’s not just being dishonest. It’s not making the connection. In the spirit of being considerate I’d recommend that people make some effort to remember the good salespeople and ask for them and comment to their manager. If they’ve given you excellent service and helpful information buy from them even if it cost a couple of bucks extra. I think it’s worth it in the long run.
Of course, Me too. Just remember that good service costs something so a “good deal” isn’t automatically the cheapest price.
Me too…happy shopping
Here’s the bookstore equivalent, rarely done over the phone, mostly in person.
Customer: I’m looking for a book.
Me: Did you have a particular one in mind?
Customer: Yes, it’s a mystery.
Me: Okay . . .
Customer: And this person dies, and they try to figure out who did it. Do you have that one?
Me: I need a bit more to go on. Do you remember anything else about the book – like the author’s name, or a bit of the title?
Customer: No.
Me: Do you remember where it was set – like, a big city or a small town?
Customer: No.
Me: Do you remember any of the names of the characters?
Customer: No.
Me: Where did you hear about the book?
Customer: I don’t remember.
Me: Do you remember what the book looks like – paperback, hardback, the lettering, any colors?
Customer: I think it had some black on the cover . . .
I kid you not, this happened several times a week. And because most of us who worked there were voracious readers, with even one clue we could generally guess what the book was. But every once in a while, we’d get one like this: wants a murder mystery, but can’t remember anything about it. Good news was that most of the time, they realized that they were asking for the impossible, so I can’t recall getting yelled at for not being psychic except once.