Hi all. I don’t post on here much, but this has been weighing on me, so I figured I would see what you all think.
I own and manage a pet store. It’s a cool place. Lots of exotic birds, reptiles, snakes, fish, etc. A fun place to just look around. My co-owner and I try to be really welcoming and kind to customers, and encourage people to ask questions and learn about their prospective pets. Most of the time, our regular customers are just regular, friendly people who chit-chat when they stop in for necessities. Except one customer.
This customer (we’ll call her M) is a strange woman to begin with, but the part that gets me is that she is in my store EVERY SINGLE DAY for several hours at a time. Today she hung out for five hours. She always buys something before she leaves, but really, five hours? She paces around the store, tries to engage me in conversation, tries to engage customers in conversation, hangs out at the counter, and until recently, came behind the counter to sit down and chat with me. She has several birds, and since we breed parrots, she always wants to talk birds with me.
My question is, should I put up with this? She IS a customer, but she drives me out of my mind some days. I just want to ask her if she doesn’t have anything better to do. It’s hard for me to focus on my work with her just standing there waiting for me to pay attention to her.
“We reserve the right to refuse service to anybody.”
Have other customers complained about her? Does she spend enough to make it worth your while to keep her as a customer? As long as you don’t refuse her patronage based on race, religion, or national origin, you could quite legally tell her to take a hike.
I’d just politely but firmly say, “Sorry, I have a lot of work to get through and can’t chat.” Every single time, the exact same thing.
If she’s bothering your customers, I’d interject and offer them some help, then say to her, “Sorry to interrupt, Miss M, but I can go ahead and help him-- I’m sure he’s in a hurry today anyway.” Then I’d physically get between her and the customer, turning my back to her and making it physically clear that we weren’t going to entertain her.
Most of her behavior seems innocuous (though annoying) except for the bit about how she tries to chat up other customers. Honestly, if I were a customer that patronized your store and another random weird customer tried to chat with me every time I walked in, I’d probably find another pet store to shop at. Before people jump down my throat, I’m not saying she’s doing anything bad or atrocious. It’s just that I don’t like being hassled for conversation like that, and if I find it’s happening at a particular store, I just won’t go there anymore if I can avoid it.
So I’d think about either asking her to please leave the other customers alone, or just tell her that you’d like it if she made her purchases and left, once she’s been there an appropriate amount of time. You might lose her as a customer but it sounds like that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Tell her if she doesn’t have anything to keep her busy at home, you’ve got some fishtanks that need cleaning. (don’t offer birdcages)
If she’s willing to stay and actually work, you can tell her to hush and focus on the cleaning and learn about the fish. If she actually works, you may be able to get some help out of her - this likely means that she’s lonely and bored and really likes animals and needs some attention.
If she’s not willing to clean fishtanks, then go with the “I’m busy” shtick whenever she shows up, and intersperse that about once a week with another offer to let her clean out fishtanks. If she decides to help out, then let her stay - otherwise, benign neglect works wonders.
Either way you’re less bothered by her. (Option one - she’s actually contributing something, and if she’s busy, she can talk to you less. Option two - she’s not coming by as often/as long because she doesn’t want to be put to work, and doesn’t want to be ignored.)
I like these suggestions. I agree that she seems lonely, and that’s why I’ve been hesitant to ban her outright. She is harmless, and she’s not rude to anyone. She’s just there. All the time. A friend of mine recently commented that it as such a coincidence that M was in the store every time she came in. It hit me then that it wasn’t a coincidence at all.
Aye, if she isn’t annoying or abusive or otherwise jerkish, ask her if she has a job, etc. and maybe offer her a small part time job. I think it’s prolly a good idea to have her do things that aren’t bird related at first, tho, to see if she can actually be depended on as an employee (I think Lasciel’s advice is pretty good, in other words).
Sounds like a socially awkward person who is basically harmless. I agree with the idea of seeing if she would be interested in helping out around the store.
If you have a small business, are you able to put someone else on payroll atm, esp after the holiday season when things slow down? I think these days you can’t just let someone help for a free product or something due to insurance and tax issues.
A while back I quit stopping in at my neighborhood 7-11 on my way to work simply because this guy hung out there, drinking coffee, chatting with the cashier and customers, opening the door for folks. He was harmless, superficially pleasant, and there every damn time I was. His mere presence annoyed the hell out of me.
mmm
I’ve found that loiterers tend to lose you more business than you make as their presence is off putting to many customers if they are always there. Someone who hangs out hours a day needs to be told to move on. You’re running a business and she’s chewing up your time with socializing. I’m stunned you haven’t been direct with her.
I’m afraid if you ask her to help out or offer her some work, she’d spend even more time at your store. If her presence as a customer is annoying, she’ll be just as annoying as a volunteer/employee.
What’s her story? Does she share anything personal, or does she just talk about her birds? If you knew more about her, it might be easier to decide what to do.
At my first job (ice cream parlor) we had tons of regulars, and a few loiterers. For the most part they fell into two categories with significant overlap: lonely people, and people with mental handicaps. They were all harmless, and we developed little routines to shush them out of the store if/when they became a nuisance (“Oh sorry, it’s getting crowded in here. Can you eat your ice cream outside?”). But we were always nice to them, as they’d generally provide some entertaining conversation/antics to keep the boredom away (we were open 12 months a year and trust me, no one buys ice cream cones in February in Pennsylvania!). They generally spent 15 minutes or so in the shop, and then moved on.
Someone spending several hours a day in your store is a different story. She isn’t just there to look at the animals and talk some shop before going about her day. She likely perceives you as a close friend, and the animals she admires as something akin to pets. If you don’t consider her a friend of yours, it’s probably best to get that across to her sooner rather than later and lay some ground rules to A) avoid hurting her feelings, B) avoid any Cable Guy-like scenarios from developing, and C) avoid her scaring off/annoying any more potential customers. Obviously let her down gently, but maybe directly asking her to keep her “visits” down to 15 or 20 minutes would give you some respite. I would strongly urge against offering her a part-time or volunteer position. It will reinforce her perception that you are someone very close to her, will surely increase the amount of time she spends in the shop, and will teach her the wrong way to form relationships.
I offer you a test that may help you decide what to do. Imagine her after she leaves your store, sitting down with another friend (or another captive shopkeeper). She’s shooting the breeze and says “Oh yeah, I was talking to Alias about that just the other day. S(he) thinks that blablablah… I’m not sure I agree with her, but then maybe if I blablabla like Alias does, I’d think differently.” She uses your first name. She drops it casually, as if you’re old friends and the person she’s talking to will know exactly who you are. Just think for a moment about her talking about you to another person.
Does that kind of creep you out? If it does, you should politely ask her to please spend less time in your shop.
I certainly wouldn’t offer her a job, especially if it would involve interacting with customers.
Is there some sort of bird rescue or sanctuary in your area? It seems like she has lots of time to kill, and that might give her some interaction with other people. What is a drawback in a customer or employee might very well be an asset in a volunteer position.