Give great customer service....or not

Time for a well deserved rant.

I work in retail, where customer service is the most important part of the job. Or it's supposed to be. However, this can be very difficult, when you work in a predominately low socioeconomic area with a large recent immigrant population.

Most of the people I work with handle the language, accent, bad manners and cultural differences of our customers really well, but occasionally we are tested to our limits.

Typical conversations can go like this.

Customer. "I'm looking for a little twisty thing to fit my car's music thingy. Can you show me where it is?"
Me. "Umm, could you describe what the twisty thing looks like and what it does?"
Customer. "It looks like a twisty thing and it twists."
Me. "I'm sorry, but I'm having a bit of difficulty trying to understand what it looks like. Do you have a photo of it or can you draw it for me?"
Customer."Do I look like a bloody artist or photographer to you? Just tell me where I can find it!"
Me. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm pretty sure that we're out of stock of twisty things at the moment. You could try Googling "twisty thing" and see who stocks it locally,"
Customer. "You're f------g useless! I'm never coming back here!"
Me, to myself, "Thank God for that."

Customer. "I want to make a coffee table. Can you tell me what I need and show me how to do it?"
Me. "I'll certainly try. Please tell me what size table you want to build."
Customer, waving his arms around like a Banshee, "It's about this wide and this long."
Me. "How high do you want it to be?"
Customer. "High? What do you mean high?"
Me. "How high do you want the table to be off the floor?"
Customer. "Are you stupid? I want it to be on the floor, not hanging from the ceiling!"
Me. "OK, I understand. What timber would you like to use?"
Customer. "No, not timber. I want to use wood!"
Me. "Sorry, my mistake. What wood do you want to use?"
Customer. "What's the cheapest?"
Me. "I'd recommend radiata pine."
Customer. "How much will it cost me?"
Me. "About $..."
Customer. "Can I make any cheaper?"
Me. "Not if you want it to look good and last a long time."
Customer. "OK, I'll check with the store down the road. If you're the cheapest, maybe I'll come back."
Me, under my breath, "Don't hurry."

Add the aforementioned language, accent and cultural differences and you can image why I'm rapidly developing a drinking problem.

Re: Give great customer service....or not

Having worked in retail I hear you..

I once had a woman in the bakery ask for the bread that makes you slim..
A customer in a supermarket ask about our fresh ravioli. I showed her and then she complained that it didnt look right and I assured her it was fresh..

She said 'nope Ive had it loads of times and it comes in tomato sauce'
I showed her to the canned food aisle!

Re: Give great customer service....or not

I worked in retail for many years . One was a shoe shop , we had an extremely quiet day as weather was really bad , the shop closed at 5.30 At 5.26 , I pushed the door too and a couple entered the shop , I explained that we were closing but they could come in if they wanted , they declined . The next morning I was called into the managers office and given a warning as I was closing the door before 5.30 and the customers had reported me . ( I was paid up to 5.30 only )

I found the majority of customers were pleasant , but the minority were impolite .

When I'm shopping I am always polite and thank the member of staff for their help as I know how much that means .

Long hours standing on your feet , low wages often minimum wage only .

Re: Give great customer service....or not

Why is it that you always remember the impolite ones, and why doesn't the customer who has a good customer experience write a compliment letter

Re: Give great customer service....or not

Fom the customers point of view a lot of sales staff just don't have a clue about what they are selling. Take Curry's or PCWorld as an example

Try going in and buying a camera . Asking about what the max size in GB memory card the camera can take and they are lost. Most wont even know if it takes a CF or SD card let alone the transfer rate the camera can absorb.

And that is just a simple question let alone how high the ISO can go on the camera or frame rate on camcorders.

All they can do is quote from what is on the box which I can find out for myself

Why they don't train staff properly beats me . try going into B&Q and ask what size cable one should use for power or for lighting . The reply you will get is "We are not allowed to give this kind of information in case the advice is wrong and an electrical fire occurs"

Why sell stuff they don't have a clue about? If the staff don't know what they are selling then it should be withdrawn off the shelves"


Still if you really want to see blank looks from the idiots, go into any big dept store as I mentioned and ask detailed questions on any product

If they really don't know you get the standard answer "Sorry but we do not seem to have it in stock, but we can have it here by tomorrow if you care to come back"

How much use is that? None. Why should we ,the customer, run around at their convenience taking up our time and travelling costs because they can't be bothered to check stocks, which more often than not say they have in on the internet.

I know the answer, The store managers mainly who can't or won't do their job properly. Most just appear to go around, if you can spot them that is, looking important but don't have a clue.

How many times, I ask you, has a store manager come up to you and asked if there is anything in the store that looks as if it could be done better?


Every time you are about to leave a store ? zero times
every tenth visit ? zero
once a year ? zero

proves my point

Re: Give great customer service....or not

They often do and those letters are always appreciated.

Re: Give great customer service....or not

Bruce you are so right, If I get good service over the internet for example I always ring them up to thank them apart from feedback requests. One company I rang was expecting a complain from me and had quite a shock when I praised the service they provided.

Re: Give great customer service....or not

I can't remember when I last got "good" customer service from a large company, mediocre? Yes.

Yesterday I had to cancel an urgent carpet fitting at home....well, I told them to shove it up their Yaris. I can't abide unreliability, my time is valuable.

The other I can't stand is the use of mobile phones in the workplace.
This is more noticeable in the pub industry.

When I'm ordering or trying to attract the attention of staff I don't expect the need to wave your arms or tap on the bar whilst the staff text away.

If I'm speaking to someone I expect them to look at me, it's good manners.
I hate it when you converse and the recipient of your attention starts to do other things......it's bad manners.

If they are doing other things then it's obvious you're not important enough to keep their attention. I just go elsewhere, never to return.

Unfortunately this happens regularly.

I mean, if I'm talking to a pal and they start doing other things it's obvious you're wasting your breath, what you're saying is obviously of little interest so you shut up and move on.

Re: Give great customer service....or not

That's good to know I always try to write and thank companies for good service and don't often know if it gets to the people I am thanking.

Re: Give great customer service....or not

At the company where I work, which has 300+ stores and literally thousands of employees, all feedback responses, both positive and negative, are relayed back to the employee concerned. Counselling is given to those receiving poor feedback and rewards are given to those receiving positive feedback. It all works pretty well.

And yes, the company has "Your say" feedback forms available to customers throughout each store, each one of which is sent to the head office for action. Is it worth it? You bet. Are we 100% perfect? No way! But we keep improving.

It still doesn't fix the problem of rude or unrealistic customers.