Wednesday, August 29, 2007

People expect good service but few are willing to give it.

by teresa

I am a magnet for crummy customer service workers!


Last week Lauren and I went to Old Navy to exchange a couple of tops I had bought her. We walked in at 8:50....and they were closing at 9:00. We walked around...picking out some shirts...then at 8:59 a girl walked up to us and said..."you DO know we are closing now...right?EXCUSE ME? Don't rush me girly! Who trained these people? You can lock the door at close....but you let people shop till there done. It's called making money....and last time I checked...that's what your company is trying to do. Lauren and I looked at each other...smiled....and kept on shopping. We had an armful of clothes....and after about five more minutes another girl came over and said...."I just wanted to let you know we are closing out the registers." Grrrrrr! Leave us alone! We don't plan on bunking up for the night....we just need a couple of shirts! Of course after them bugging us...we took our sweet time walking around and making our final choices (cause we're rebels that way). We ended up checking out around 9:15. They were vacuuming around us....chatting and yelling across the store to each other...and playing music. That's just ridiculous.

My second retail nightmare was when Katy and I went shopping at Kohls. We picked out book bags, shoes and shirts for her kids. I bought Chris a pair of pants and I saw the best top for myself. White, johnny collar, tunic length, Chaps tshirt. The collar was trimmed in hot pink ribbon and there was a bit of stretch to it. It was even on sale. I picked it up and we went to the check out. Katy went first...then myself. As the lady got to my shirt she looked it over and noticed there was no tag on it. "Was there any more where this came from?"...she asked. I said, "yes" and she said..."then go get it!" EXCUSE ME? I actually turned to go get one...then realized that shirt was on the other side of the store. No where near the register. I turned back to her and said..."no....I'm not trekking across the store for it." So she tossed my shirt to a side table and rang up the rest of my stuff....and gave me the total. Katy and I just looked at each other in disbelief. She didn't call for assistance...or go get it herself...she just tossed it aside so I could not have it. Once again...I thought the point of you being there...was to make money. I did end up going back a couple of days later to get Nick a book bag he wanted...and I got my shirt!

The last of my customer service flops was at Uno restaurant with Chris and the boys. I ordered the burger sliders (three mini burgers) with fries. Ben had expressed an interest in this...but he also wanted some pasta. So I told him we could share entrees. The waitress brought our food and left us to enjoy. About five minutes later she walked over to the table. I had given Ben a burger...eaten a burger...and had the last in my hand. She looked at me and said, "Good grief...were you hungry?" EXCUSE ME? Did you just call me a big fat pig? Chris and the boys were still as stone watching to see how I was going to react. I looked at her with the most shocked look I could muster. I said,"Soooooorrreeeee!" Then I pointed to Ben and said"I gave him one of my burgers!" She looked very embarrassed and said..."I guess that just means the food was good." I should have said,"Good grief...you just lost your tip!"


If you have any stellar service experiences to share...let's hear 'em.

5 comments:

Sterling Dawn said...

oh i have stellar experiences...just on the other side of the checkout counter. this one time, we were about to lock the doors at lifeway. it was after 9 and this dude runs in. we let him in, expecting him to need one thing. ONE. no...he needs like 20. so we have 5 sales associate (it was christmas time, thus we had 8 people working that night) running around the store getting things on his shopping list. so 10 minutes and like $60 later, he leaves. at lifeway, it's not always about making the money...it's about blessing someone or making their life a little easier to bless others. however, that does not mean we are happy to have people in there past closing. but we're also a little nicer than the old navy schmucks. :)

Zephra said...

Story one: i get where they are coming from. they just want to go home but if me cleaning around you does not bother you, keep shopping. Some places are really strict about cashing out the drawers right at closing though.

Story two" I would have asked for the manager. She needs to find a new line of work.

Musings of a Housewife said...

After working retail, I have some sympathy for the workers in story #1. Sorry. :-/ And those kids couldn't care less about Old Navy getting your sale. There's no benefit for them. That's what employing kids will getcha, I guess.

However. Story #2? You've GOT to be kidding me! Good GRIEF!!! She should be fired.

Story #3. That's just tacky. What was WRONG with her? I like your response about her tip. You should have used that one! ;-)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Lainey-Paney said...

you should write letters.
I'm just a firm believer in that b/c I see the impact kind or unkind words on paper seem to have in my own job.

I'd DEFINITELY be contacting corporate at those places....

Anonymous said...

I just saw you wearing your new shirt. It looks great. I'm glad they still had it.

In story #2, you should have asked the cashier to call for her manager. You might have seen a really quick change in her service level.