# Things that most business owners know to be true that just...aren't **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802 "2011-01-07T22:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/81 "2011-01-10T09:51:08Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > I just thought of an example, car rental agencies and their insistence and scare tactics when it comes to supplemental insurance. My company has full-on coverage for all employees for car rental purposes and sends out FREQUENT “do NOT take supplemental rental insurance” emails on a regular basis, but car rental agencies don’t take that as an answer, they’ll go ON and ON with “are you sure? they probably don’t, well most companies don’t, yours probably doesn’t (no matter how many times you reiterate they DO and that you just got the most recent email on it)” followed up by horror stories of people who’ve been in accidents and got screwed because they didn’t take the supplemental insurance. An effective tactic I find is this: work out the annualised premium ie multiply their daily insurance supplement (often about say $10/day) by 365 and compare that to the excess that you are reducing by taking the supplement (it’s often about $2000 around here). Work this out, out loud. If you want to be a real bastard about it (ie if they are annoying you sufficiently) do this loud enough for other customers around you to hear. So say the supplement is $10/day that’s $3650/year. Ask the salesperson if they would buy insurance at $3650 a year for a $2000 car. They tend to shut up at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/82 "2011-01-10T10:11:12Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > I don’t mind this so much if I can understand what they are saying. Many places have a memorized spiel that the person answering the phone has to get through, and they rush through it at 60 mph, then act offended if you have to ask “Is this XYZ company?” When I moved to Glasgow, coworkers would often ask us “do you have problems with the accent?” I’d explain that no, I didn’t have problems with the accent per se, but that the first few times I went to a supermarket it took me a while to decipher that a cashier asking “d’anh’pwida?” as I was bagging meant “do you want help with that?” I don’t know whether the business owner has something to do with it but several times I have asked for an appointment through some business webpage, chosen “email” as my preferred contact mode, and they’ve called me - no email. OK, so what’s the point of asking what my preferred contact mode is? This has happened in both the UK and Spain. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/83 "2011-01-10T12:06:24Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Odd – this never happens at the CostCo’s here in the Twin Cities. And I’ve been there often, like just yesterday. > > So it must be something decided on by your local store or regional manager. So complain to them. Point out that it is NOT corporate policy, it’s isn’t done in all stores. “Why are you doing this rude thing in our store?” No, I’ve seen this very occasionally (maybe once a year out of trips nearly every weekend, for a few years) in the suburbs of Chicago. It seems like they have occasional membership “upgrade” drives or something. I’ve seen it in conjunction with them pre-scanning your stuff in while you’re in line waiting so that it can get automatically loaded into the register when the previous transaction finishes. They look at your shopping history and out comes the “hey, you could save $X per year by upgrading” comment. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/84 "2011-01-10T12:47:00Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > If they actually touch you, then you can respond: Scream loudly: “Help! Stop touching me! Someone help me! Who is this person and why are they touching me? Are you a pervert? …” It will stop very quickly. Really? How stupidly overdramatic. ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/85 "2011-01-10T17:25:00Z")
Personally, I am baffled that in this day and age that software vendors still think you want their stupid partner bloatware/malware and garbage when you download their product, and that somehow giving you the opportunity to uncheck boxes five steps into the install process when you blindly keep hitting ‘next’ is what the customers really want. I defy anyone to find me a customer that wouldn’t prefer the ‘opt in’ option where you have to check the box rather than the ‘opt out’ option where you have to uncheck boxes. I especially resent it when the stupid extra software comes bundled with a software update. I do not want, nor have I ever wanted Google Chrome as my browser, but thanks for continuously pushing this shit on me DivX at every god-damned opportunity. The fact pop-up blockers exist and are necessary is also baffling to me. Do website owners actually believe that you really want an ad popping up over their content before you read their site? That seems like a great idea: “I know Bob, rather than letting our customers get to the items in our online catalog they want and checking out easily, let’s continuously force them to close pop-ups for specials we are running and make the purchasing process as long and painful as possible. This will totally encourage them to come back to our store, rather than going to our competitors who don’t do this crap…” And if you do share your e-mail with a vendor who asks for it, do they really believe you want a DAILY spam from them? I gave my e-mail to JC Penney and they started spamming me daily (sometimes more than once if it was a weekend) with all kinds of stupid offers. Who cares that much about fucking Dockers? I went out of my way in my unsubscribe e-mail to let them know they had permanently lost my business. And finally, if your are business that is going to subject me to the retarded automated ‘speak what you want’ phone menu, don’t force me to listen to an ad before you give me the options. I’m looking at you Bank of America and your continuous whoring of financial services for Merrill Lynch. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/86 "2011-01-10T17:37:33Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Most of the above pales in comparison to overly complicated automated phone menus. (press 1, press 4, tell the computer your problem, press 9, press 2, enter your SSN, enter your account number…) Every one of which is prefaced with “Please listen carefully, as our menu options have recently changed.” Bullshit they have. You just want to shortstop people who would prefer to just press “0” and get an operator and usually, they will. ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/87 "2011-01-10T17:50:13Z")
A good friend of mine worked at Casual Corner, a women’s clothing store, for years in college. One of the corporate sales tactics (it had a specific name but I can’t recall it), was to take items into a dressing room for customers, taking note of the size and styles, then go back to the floor and bring back a minimum of 2 similar additional items to offer them while they were in the dressing room. As in “Hey, I noticed you liked our red sweater, here are 2 other items in your size that you might enjoy as well!” while the customer was naked and vulnerable behind the curtain. This was MANDATORY and if the store manager caught you not doing it you heard about it every single time. You also couldn’t offer sale or clearance items, they had to be full price. My friend said in the 3 years she worked there not ONCE did a customer accept the items she had to offer them in the dressing room, mostly they seemed really bothered by being confronted in the dressing room and asked her to please leave them alone. A few rightly said, “No thanks, I know how to shop for myself.” I have no idea if there are any Casual Corner stores left in the area (we live outside of Washington DC) but the few I did know of are gone now. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/88 "2011-01-10T17:54:33Z")
Upselling in certain situations probably works even when it annoys the customer. But what I hate is when I specifically mention that I am completely done with my order and the sales drone still asks me if I want anything to drink with that. That pitch has never worked on me, whereas I have driven off at least once when they don’t even hear me when I explicitly say “that’s it” at the end of my order. Although I do not drive off when I am that unspecific. It’s when they ask multiple times if I want a drink, or when they ask if I want a drink even after I say “that’s it, nothing to drink” that I drive off. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/89 "2011-01-10T18:00:14Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Somebody must think it is a good idea for a waiter to say, “Hello, my name is Brian and I will be your server for this evening”, but it isn’t. > > I think the worst is the supermarket owner who is terrified that some day a checker might be unoccupied and it will cost him money. He doesn’t appear to realize that every single dollar that goes into his till has to go through a checkout clerk and by restricting the number of them he is reducing his total take. It shows up in customers deciding not to shop there; it has to. In a similar vein…I stopped shopping at a grocery store because they do not let their checkout people sit on a stool. I was tired of going in and seeing older checkout employees in discomfort. I was bugged by it so much I wrote a snail mail letter to the owner who responded with dismissing my idea and that checkers needed to stand as it looked ‘more professional’. Give me a break…let the poor bastards sit if they need to. A tall stool isn’t going to hinder them and make them look bad. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/90 "2011-01-10T18:03:50Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > When I am on hold, I don’t need someone to break in to the hold music to say “Thank you for holding. Your call will be handled as quickly as possible,” every minute. Seriously. Stop. I hear a break in the music, hear a voice and I get all geared up to talk to a person. Just leave me alone on hold. I understand waiting. And the ‘your call is extremely important to us’. Ah…no. Important sure. Extremely important…no. Everytime I call I get that message so obviously I am not hitting you at a bad time. If it was extremely important to you you would allocate more resources to it. Not saying you should…I can handle waiting a bit. However, please don’t lie to me. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/91 "2011-01-10T18:16:23Z")
> [@Winnie](#): > > A good friend of mine worked at Casual Corner, a women’s clothing store, for years in college. One of the corporate sales tactics (it had a specific name but I can’t recall it), was to take items into a dressing room for customers, taking note of the size and styles, then go back to the floor and bring back a minimum of 2 similar additional items to offer them while they were in the dressing room. As in “Hey, I noticed you liked our red sweater, here are 2 other items in your size that you might enjoy as well!” while the customer was naked and vulnerable behind the curtain. This was MANDATORY and if the store manager caught you not doing it you heard about it every single time. You also couldn’t offer sale or clearance items, they had to be full price. > > My friend said in the 3 years she worked there not ONCE did a customer accept the items she had to offer them in the dressing room, mostly they seemed really bothered by being confronted in the dressing room and asked her to please leave them alone. A few rightly said, “No thanks, I know how to shop for myself.” > > I have no idea if there are any Casual Corner stores left in the area (we live outside of Washington DC) but the few I did know of are gone now. Oh mannnn! When I was single I would have LOVED that! I still would like it if I was shopping by myself. There is a local men’s clothing store I shop at…and I always budget more money because I know the guy working there will find something else for me to try and that I will like it. One time he even apologised for upselling me and I quelled that saying that I knew what he was doing but that it was great. But then…I am a weird duck. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/92 "2011-01-10T18:18:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’ve actually stopped suggesting Starbucks as a conversation destination for this very reason. Around here, for whatever reason, the Starbucks joints have the music cranked up to Spinal Tap levels, well above making it possible for comfortable conversation. Thats the reason I quit going to 7-11 convience stores as well… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/93 "2011-01-10T18:24:27Z")
While traveling in “the South” I stopped for breakfast at a place where every waitress would yell, “Good Morning” each time someone walked in. I chugged my coffee, ate my food as quickly as I could, and left. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/94 "2011-01-10T20:20:39Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > … Then again, I am not one of those people who are weirdly secretive about the **zip code I live in**. Oh noes! Random company knows I live in the same part of town as **100,000 other people!** Oh the horror! [Bold added] You might want to rethink that: [What Information is “Personally Identifiable”?](http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/what-information-personally-identifiable) ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/95 "2011-01-10T20:51:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Oh, how I hate that one. Nearly any time you say how much you hate and are irritated by some advert, there will be **someone present to smugly retort “Ah! but you _remembered it!_ - so the ad worked!”**. Bullshit. I’m convinced this is a lie put about by advertising execs, so they can’t ever be wrong, even when they fail. Yeah, this ^^^ [bold added] ^^^. Observe, the IRL result of those “love to hate” ads: “Yeah, that’s right, asshole [the marketroid, not you, **Mangetout**], I did remember it. So now every time I even think of buying something sold by **Circuit City** [I was _ **very** _ happy to hear about _their_ bankruptcy], I remember that ad, and am reminded to go to Best Buy, instead. _Good ad, dude!_ It really worked, for freakin’ _ **Best Buy** _! Now how was that ad supposed to work, again, to increase your sales? I’m not clear on this concept.” ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/96 "2011-01-10T21:19:43Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > That guy in the restroom handing you paper towels as you wash you hands? No thanks. I don’t want to feel obligated to tip you a dollar for the mere privilege of washing my hands. That’s something I love. I take full use of his stuff, spruce up my hair, squirt on a little cologne, maybe pop a breath mint and then wash my hands and dry them on his towel. That’s a hell of a service for a buck. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/97 "2011-01-10T21:32:51Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Speech recognition can be pretty bad. I don’t know if Amtrak has improved Julie or not, but it was always a crapshoot whether or not I’d manage to get it to understand any station before I had to hang up, as I didn’t want to talk to a real person, I just wanted the data on when the train was supposed to arrive. Even worse is trying to check on flight schedules while in an airport. I got caught up when American had to shut down all their MD-80s back in April 2008 and was constantly trying to get updates on my flights and the flights of someone who was on a different itinerary to the same destination. I’d get halfway through the voice menu and then one of the damn automated announcements would come on, be picked up by the system, and then try to transfer me to a real person. There was no way to just punch in numbers. Yeah, I had a really stupid experience with American about that same time. I kept trying enunciate the name of my arrival airport, Point a’ Pitre, Guadeloupe, but it was NOT WORKING. Surprise, surprise. Took me a full hour to almost complete my transaction, and then got cut off (bleeping AT&T) and spent another full hour to get to the same point. These days if there is not the perfectly reasonable option of using the telephone key pad, I go elsewhere. There was a short time back in the early '80’s when I was acting branch manager of a small bank. During my tenure, I repeatedly went head to head with bank management about teller scheduling. I maintained, and still do, that all people want to do is get in, make their deposit or get their money and get the bleep out. I kept insisting on more tellers so our customers wouldn’t have to wait. The response was that they just couldn’t staff for vacations, illnesses and _lunch hours_. Bunch of bleeping losers. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/98 "2011-01-10T21:34:36Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > [Bold added] > > You might want to rethink that: > > [What Information is “Personally Identifiable”?](http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/what-information-personally-identifiable) I look up people every day, and find them off the tiniest scraps of information, but ZIP Code alone is not going to be anywhere near enough to identify someone. ZIP Code and DOB, maybe, but not ZIP Code alone. Thing is, DOB is so powerful an identifier you’ve got a pretty decent shot at identifying someone with DOB alone, if you have a general idea of where they live (as opposed to ZIP Code). Throw in first name and I’d say your chances of identifying them are about 80-90%. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/99 "2011-01-10T21:36:12Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > _Good ad, dude!_ It really worked, for freakin’ _ **Best Buy** _! Now how was that ad supposed to work, again, to increase your sales? I’m not clear on this concept." That was the fate of the Heinz Great American Soup ad campaign circa 1970. A massive production, starring Ann Miller tap dancing, 20 other dancing girls, a 24-piece orchestra, a giant soup can, etc. – the most expensive ad ever produced up to that time – so expensive they used up much of the budget on it, and didn’t have enough money left to show it as often as they had planned. And it DID remind housewives of soup, and they all went to the grocery store and bought soup. Campbells soup. Not Heinz. Each time Heinz paid for this ad to be broadcast, Campbells soup sales jumped. So a great ad, but not for your own brand. I think that’s called a ‘failure’. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802/100 "2011-01-10T21:45:18Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > When I am on hold, I don’t need someone to break in to the hold music to say “Thank you for holding. Your call will be handled as quickly as possible,” every minute. Seriously. Stop. I hear a break in the music, hear a voice and I get all geared up to talk to a person. Just leave me alone on hold. I understand waiting. 1000% percent agree with this! When I’m a long hold, I’ll turn on the speakerphone and zone out until a person comes on. But when they interrupt every 10 seconds to say how valuable my business is, I keep thinking the person has finally come on line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-most-business-owners-know-to-be-true-that-just-arent/566802.md?page=6)