Wal-Mart had their “greeters” going back to at least the 1980s, maybe earlier. But in what seems like a very recent phenomenon, like just starting in the last year or two, often when I walk into a store whichever employee happens to be closest to the entrance shouts “Welcome in!” at me. I’ve noticed it at multiple, unrelated stores – Petco, BevMo, Beach Hut Deli. All of these business must have instituted some corporate policy requiring their employees to say this. When did they start doing this? And why? Is there some evidence that having employees “welcome” customers as they walk through the door is good for business?
When I worked retail many moons ago we were told to say something to anyone entering the store (sporting goods), so that they knew we saw them enter (and may be less inclined to steal something, knowing they were being watched). I am sure there are other reasons for doing it these days.
I have stayed in hotels where Every. Single. Employee. greeted every single guest every single time they were within 20 feet.
It sucks to work in any kind of job where you have to deal with walk-in customers. Half of them hate you for not being around when they want something, while the other half hate you for being there when you want to be left alone.
This reminds me of my experience in a Waffle House in Texarkana back in 1997:
Can’t resist this quote from Bill Hicks. Sorry, every time I hear Waffle House I think of it
- “I was in Nashville, Tennessee last year. After the show I went to a Waffle House. I’m not proud of it, I was hungry. And I’m alone, I’m eating and I’m reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: ‘Hey, whatcha readin’ for?’ Isn’t that the weirdest fuckin’ question you’ve ever heard? Not what am I reading, but what am I reading FOR? Well, goddamnit, ya stumped me! Why do I read? Well . . . hmmm…I dunno…I guess I read for a lot of reasons and the main one is so I don’t end up being a fuckin’ waffle waitress.”*
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say “Welcome in.” That such a strange sounding phrase. Is this some local expression?
I think it goes back to the beginning in small town rural America, very small independently owned stores.
At least as far back as the 1970s more often than not I’ve been verbally greeted by nearly the entire staff of any sushi restaurant I’ve entered.
I’ve been inside a Waffle House once in my life and ideally will never be back. The one time I walked into one, extremely sleep deprived, wanting coffee and some food. Every damned waitress in the place told me good morning. It was like a Twilight Zone episode.
That must be a very American thing to do. When Walmart tried to establish themselves in Germany ages ago (I think they failed miserably in 2006 after just 8 years) they had someone in the parking lot greeting the arriving customers. One woman at least made it to the news because she complained upon entering the store that a pervert was harrasing customers in the car park. They gave up first this idea of the Grüßaugust (a very fine German expresion for this kind of greeter) and then the whole of Germany as a market.
Same thing with the bagging of the groceries at the teller: many people rejected somebody touching their stuff, some became aggresive because they feared being stolen. It was perceived as an intrusion of their intimacy. When some sad boy scouts tried to do that for a good cause on another supermarket I politely gave them money to go away and leave me alone. Others must have been more vocal, I never saw that again.
Last time I worked retail was late 80’s - 1993ish.
Bookstore? No greetings, treated a lot like a library. If someone looked confused, we’d ask if they needed assistance, but that was it.
Chocolatier? Maybe a hello, but customers primarily initiated contact.
Cutlery / Gift Store? Required to greet everyone as a “I see you” security thing. Also, because we were such a specialized shop, it opened communication with customers who often had no idea what they were looking to buy.
I usually don’t mind being greeted; however, the last time I went into a gift shop I couldn’t turn around without someone greeting me, asking what I was looking for, how could they help me. It became annoying real fast.
When I go to a boutique or any smaller store specializing in something specific, I expect someone on staff to greet me, ask if I need anything, and then leave me the hell alone until I ask for their assistance. I’ve only had one retail job, comic book shop in 2000, and that’s how I was trained. I can only imagine that greeting customers has been a trait of businesses since time immemorial. Though I don’t remember places like K-Mart or Sears having greeters when I was kid.
OP, are you asking about store greeters or specifically the phrase “Welcome in”?
If these are chain stores, they are almost certainly doing customer surveys over the phone or internet. One of those questions will be about being greeted when you entered the store. (Explaining the justifications for this sort of question’s importance is left to the Taylorite consultants who sell this crap. Loss prevention is an obvious one.)
So this behavior is thanks to store-level management (perhaps at the urging of higher-ups) juking their stats by requiring this obnoxiousness.
(I think greeting customers is nice! I did it when I worked retail. But you can do it in a natural way, and turning away from the customer you’re already ringing up to shout “hello, welcome” from 30 feet away isn’t it.)
At Moe’s Burritos they must have a company policy. When anyone walks in the door the entire crew yells out “Welcome to Moe’s.” It’s very annoying.
There’s another lunch stop that does the same thing, but I can’t remember which. Firehouse subs maybe?
I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before store employees started saying it to me, either. It sounds like “corporate speak” to me, like a greeting invented by some management types. I assume they wanted to convey “we’re welcoming you into our store”, and then shortened it to “welcome in”.
Mostly just greeters in general. But not an employee who only greets customers, but rather making employees stop whatever they’re doing to greet customers when they enter.
Maybe greeting customers was more common than I realized, but I specifically noticed “welcome in” precisely because it sounds so unnatural, making it clear that’s it’s just a script that their boss told them to follow.
That sort of thing was kind of what prompted this thread. When I went to Beach Hut Deli for lunch a few days ago everyone looked up from the sandwiches they were making and said “welcome in!” from behind the counter almost in unison. Although I don’t think it was their policy for all of them to say it; I think it just wasn’t clear who was supposed to greet me, so they all did.
There’s a chain of Kansas City BBQ joints that I could have sworn tried franchising beyond just KC, but their website says not. It’s the same layout as Moe’s. Walk in, order from the hot line, then take your tray and go sit down to eat.
Anyhow, their claim to fame is that when you walk in the whole crew, usually about 5 people all shout “Hi, May I Help You!” before the door has closed behind you. Offputting as hell IMO.
If I’ve never been there before I have no idea what’s on your menu yet, so I’m in no position to be helped. Yet. And if I’m a regular I already know this routine is coming. And while I’m eating every couple of minutes the same raucous cry comes pouring forth as yet another customer gets the “special” treatment. That’s a “lose, lose, lose” plan in my book. Harrumph! The BBQ is pretty darn good though.
Other than that, my general experience is corporate retail always does it with whoever is closest to the entrance and entirely to make sure I, a would-be shoplifter, know they have seen me and will keep watching me. Also offputting. But understandable in many cases.
That does sound awful. I’m surprised you survived the ordeal.
When I applied to work at a flooring store in the early 2000’s, the owner had me visit the competitors and give him a review of each of them. I told him that their main competitor not only greeted me as soon as I entered, but were attentive throughout my visit. On the other hand, at another store, I was not greeted or even acknowledged for 10-15 minutes. After I was hired, I was told the next day the owner mandated the “7-11 greeting”. Every customer is not only immediately greeted by the receptionist (it’s a high end flooring store) but all the salespeople had to greet each customer as they passed, “Good Morning”, “Good Afternoon”, “Good Evening”, not just “Hello” or Hi". Yep, he also owned the bargain end store I was ignored at!
Not a welcome, but I’ve worked at non-retail businesses, 5 star hotel, hospital, school, office building, where there’s a 5 and 3ft rule. Don’t know how it is with the pandemic. 5ft, smile and acknowledge the other person, even if it’s obviously an employee. 3ft, greet with full greeting, not just Hi, Hello or How Are You? and a smile. If a manager sees you not doing this, it’s a writeup.