Just chiming in to note that this sort of customer would tend to lose you my business; I’m happy to chat with someone briefly (and did last time I was at the local fish-and-exotic-pets store) but if I can’t get rid of them or they’re interfering with my ability to buy something, I would tend to shop elsewhere*. And I hate overhelpful employees, and if it’s an employee bothering me, I’m definitely not coming back.
*Except, you know, that there are only three stores that sell fish in my valley and one just seems unclean, which raises my suspicions about the health of the fish and the other is Petsmart, which I’m sure is a lovely organization but I do try to support local businesses.
She must be driving customers away. They won’t complain to you or tell her to leave them alone. They just won’t come back. I patronize two independent pet supply stores, and if there was someone like her hanging around I would not go in once she was on my radar. I can’t be the only person like that. If I already recognized her as “that lady who bothers me” and saw her before going in, I would backtrack and go to the other store. Unless she’s dropping a wad of cash in your store to make up for the customers you’re losing, she needs to go.
If you’re lucky and your patrons are more kind than me, then maybe most assume she’s some kind of “special” family member or something and already think she’s on the payroll. It wouldn’t keep me from staying away, though.
I’m also worried what harm could be done by a “volunteer” cleaning fish tanks. Don’t they have to be cleaned in a specific way/rinsed extremely well/whatever to avoid killing fish that are put in them? If you have a ditzy/more interested in something else “volunteer” who isn’t very focused on her task, couldn’t they lose a tank of valuable fish if she doesn’t rinse out the soap or puts an unapproved chemical in?
I DO worry about her losing me business sometimes. She’s not overly disruptive, and she doesn’t follow customers around or anything, but here mere presence there is palpable. She hovers.
I don’t know a lot of her story, except that she and her two grown daughters all live together. Sometimes the daughters come to the store too, and they’re just as strange as her. Aside from their birds, I know they have a lot of animals, and I wonder sometimes about their living conditions.
I would also find her annoying as a customer, but I would note that somebody like my Dad who loves to chat up strangers would LOVE to patronize a store with ‘regulars’, so this may not be the problem that some posters have noted.
I would mention that this board skews towards the more analytical, private types of personalities who may not make up your customer base.
I like the relationship judo technique of getting her to volunteer to help clean up around the place. She gets what she wants and you get some free labour.
Since it’s a small store, can you wait until there are no other customers in the store and tell her that you need to shut down while you run an errand/use the bathroom/nunyabizness and escort her out and reopen 5 minutes later (or if she leaves). Repeat a couple times and she might take a hint.
I’ve considered the NO LOITERING sign, especially after the third or fourth time she stood and the counter and calmly watched me eat lunch, but my co-owner thought it seemed needlessly aggressive towards other customers. Also, I really think she would assume it didn’t apply to her. She already goes in the back room to use our restroom without permission, comes behind the counter, and opens cages without asking.
Seriously, if I put up a sign for every single thing customers did that annoyed me, I wouldn’t need paint on the walls.
Yikes. I think this stuff all really crosses a line. Although the restroom thing might be your solution. Just tell her that the restrooms are for employees only and that should move her along a bit more quickly.
[fish geek]In empty tanks you can’t use soap or detergent in them (residue gets stuck under the rim and in the silicone sealant and it’s hard to get rid of) so the usual method is to scrub off any algae or crusty gunk with a scrubber pad and disinfect the interior with bleach or plain ammonia.
Freshwater tanks with fish in them aren’t that bad, again scrub the algae with a pad and use a siphon hose to suck the crud out of the bottom, then replace the water with clean water that’s the right temp. and dechlorinated.
Saltwater fish and especially invertebrates are very sensitive to changes in pH, temperature, and salinity, howver, and I wouldn’t want a newbie messing around with those, especially in a store.[/fish geek]
As for the OP I’ve worked retail and had to put up with customers like that. They are annoying as all hell and I did have other customers complain. I wouldn’t do anything that would encourage her to stick around, even an icky job. The “sorry, busy, can’t chat now” approach gets my vote.
Well, you could always lie and say that it’s a health regulation law or something. “Sorry, the city says we can’t let customers use the restrooms. Got to get back to work now, no time to chat. Let me know if I can help you find anything.”
This woman has taken over your store. A customer behind the counter is totally out of line. She considers herself a *de facto *employee or at least volunteer, even if she isn’t cleaning fishtanks. You need to run her off promptly & firmly.
It’s clear from all the info upthread that she’s socially clueless. So all manner of “hints”, from brief closings to denying her bathroom privileges to posting “no loitering” signs will fail completely to deliver a “message”. She’ll never recognize those hints.
What *does *deliver a message is clear plain English & unequivocal behavior from you and your staff.
When she next comes in, do this immediately: “Please leave our store & never come back. We do not want you loitering in our store & we do not want you as a customer. Good day.” Then escort her to the door. Call the cops if she doesn’t depart. Call the cops immediately when she next returns. Which she will.
If you don’t want a scene with other coustomers present, just wait until whichever day she next shows up when nobody else is in the store. Certainly that’ll happen in the next week or so & if she’s been haunting your store for months then another couple days won’t change the situation.
You will have a difficult & mildly unpleasant time getting rid of her. But she is running off your customers now. And will continue doing so UFN. Until you stop her.
Resist the urge to soften the blow by telling her she might try volunteering at the local bird rescue society or whatever. You want her to stop seeing you as her best / only friend in the world and to start seeing you as somebody she doesn’t want to be around. Given her 4th grade social skills that’s what’ll work to change her behavior. You being the nice helpful charitable person you usually are just won’t work.
Not to be mean or anything, but I’ve got a feeling that Miss M is one of those people who zeroes in on people like you - people who don’t kick her out after 15 minutes of loitering and hovering. I think the resolution that is most likely to work is talking to her directly - “I’m running a business here, and I really need you to not spend so much time here. Thanks.”
ETA: You probably need to tell her what her time limit is, too, so she doesn’t think that three hours down from four is okay.
I agree with Cat Whisperer. Don’t be unecessarily nasty, and don’t leave her wondering what happened. Quote health requirements (employees only in bathrooms and cages) and business reasons (some customers are put off by loiterers however unfair it may seem.) Be straight with her, tell the truth, set the limits clearly and then hold the line.
“I’m afraid that from now on I’ll have to ask you to limit your visits to 15 minutes per day.”
During her 15 minutes each day be cordial but stand-offish. If she steps behind the counter be immediately and obviously disconcerted - and ask her if you can help her find her purchase and follow her out to the floor.
All of you will have to work together on this. But the last thing you want is three socially inept women with nothing else to do but think up ways to get back at you for making their Mother cry.
The good part about all this is you get to stop hiding your frustration and discomfort. Showing it whenever she crosses your clearly stated boundary will be both therapeutic and effective.
Thank you everyone. I appreciate the input here. I’ve been going back and forth in my head with this stuff for months, and I finally realize how much she HAS taken over the store. She’s become a fixture. A toxic fixture with poor social skills and no boundaries. I thought he volunteering idea was a good one until I realized that it might make her come in more!
Put a park bench out front. Plunk her down with some coupons to hand out, and a bird in a fancy cage beside her. Her job is now to a) stay on that bench, b) hand out the flyers, c) tell everyone this is the best/friendliest pet store in town.
I don’t think anyone would mind walking by her, to come in, even if she’s there for hours every day!
This is no better than having her inside the store. She’ll scare off customers before they even enter. You don’t want to enter into a relationship with her at all; she’s already taken over the store. Formalizing a relationship with her will keep her stalking you and your store forever.