Retail Rant

1066Boy wrote: nobody is truly interested in the customer anymore

I'd have to disagree with this, slightly, and there are reasons for my slight disagreement.

I'll use the company I work for (Sky) as an example, in particular Home Service (the engineers that might visit your home)

From a business perspective, the customer is EVERYTHING. What customers feel about the SERVICE they receive from Engineers is paramount.
It comes down to the age old if the customer is happy, they will speak positively about the company / service etc. If not they'll moan like hell, and who doesn't like a good moan lol. It's this negativity that big business are only too eager to eradicate.

So this is all well and good IF you have folks working for that company that are able to converse to other human beings in any way other than "alright there"... to be able to engage in a ... wait for it... conversation!

The challenge will always come where an edict is decreed that someone (usually an external customer focus consultant) decided that the WAY to interact with every customer is to say a particular phrase. "Our customer focus group has seen that customers that are happy were met with alright there at the door, therefore everyone will now say this as our corporate mantra"

This, unfortunately, is usually done to make sure that even the numpties that can't string a sentence together has something positive to say to new people they meet and greet as an opener to SELL stuff to you. Unfortunately it ends up just being plain annoying, as in this case.

Thankfully, Sky hasn't gone down this route, and hopefully you'll be visited with someone who actually wants to be there and wants to do a good job.

Far too often the script gets in the way of personality, and I think this is where I certainly would not feel like a valued customer. And yes, I agree... "enjoy" ... the appropriate response should maybe be "serendipity" or some other nonsensical word.


For the record, I love dealing with my customers... and the feedback I get directly tells me I'm not annoying most of the time.

My main gripe is with the restaurant/cafe trade. They dont even look interested
when they say it!
I work with the public everyday and adjust my approach to match the customer.
Some want a chat and some just want you to do your job then bugger off!
Some people in retail seem to have lost the art of telling the difference. :laugh:

Probably because they're not lol (interested that is)

Funky Diver wrote: Probably because they're not lol (interested that is)

Thats probably why i get bigger tips than them, I do care and go the extra mile.

I complain all the time; you all probably know that. :laugh: :laugh:
If they said 'are you all right' to me (sic) I would respond with 'No, half of me is left'.
It is annoying when they chase me around asking if they can help - perhaps they think I am a potential shoplifter that needs watching.
If I think they are slightly disingenuous and the greeting is just artificial I just take the piss by being sarcastic with irony. Nine times out of ten they look bewildered.
TBH though, I don't do shops these days apart from supermarkets and usually in those finding an assistant is like finding a needle in a stack of needles; fortunately I rarely want one. I am a interweb surfer. Generally retail shops don't have what I need.

It only works once with any one member of asda but when asked for the umpteenth time if there was anything else in needed help with I took to asking for a hand with the dead body in the boot of the car and if I could just get a hand to load it into one of their bins. Not surprisingly they just sort of glaze over at that point as it just doesn't compute.