Employees Are Not Robots

Tags

customer service, human beings, people, retail, robot, rude, selfish, society

Employees in retail do not exist to be a personal punching bag. They are not there to take verbal abuse because you are having a bad day. They are there to work, to help, to make a barely livable wage. That way they are not living out on the streets. Yes, everyone has a bad day but they are doing what others won’t do.

Employees in Retail are Human Beings NOT Robots.

Just because someone works in retail does not mean s/he is beneath you. You are not out there shearing sheep, spinning thread and weaving fabric for your clothes. You are walking into an air conditioned building buying premade, prepackaged items that was stocked on the shelf for you. All you do is find the item (a lot of times with help from someone who is pointing the item out that is right in front of your face), take the item and cash out. All in all a simple process. A process where people feel like they have the right to snap, belittle and be just plain rude to someone because they are not getting whatever it is they want.

That person was just torn into may have a bachelors degree, used to own their own business before the economy went down the drain or may be in medical school to be a future doctor, nurse or caregiver. That person has to give up holidays so that others can shop instead of being home with family and friends. That person may have missed another religious service so that other coworkers wouldn’t this time. That person may be working multipe jobs to provide for his/her family. You do not know anything about that person. Employees come from all walks of life and all backgrounds.

There is no valid reason to be rude.

• “Well, I’m just not getting the service I expect.” – Do you have any idea how difficult it is to give perfect service , a smile and pleasant tone to 50+ people a day for 5-6 days straight. The 50 people is a short shift of 4-5 hours with Maybe a 15 minute break where someone will stop to ask you a question because you can’t wear an out of service sign.
• “Well. My identity was stolen.” – OK. So was the employees but you don’t see the employee ripping someone a new one because now his/her account is frozen, bills need to be paid and food purchased. That employee does more single purchases a day in that store every day s/he works plus days off for items forgotten. That is how it is at ALL retail stores that employ people.
• “That person was ignoring me.” – That person was probably on his/her break/lunch and it is technically ILLEGAL to help customers off the clock because that could be considered working. Again. Apologies for not forcing employees to wear Out of Order signs. Apparently having phone in hand, ear buds in the ear with music playing where anyone can hear it was not obvious enough.
• “They did such & such for me at a different store.” – Get in the car and go back to that store that was comfortable with breaking policy just so they could get you to shut up and leave in a better mood. Couponers. I will get to couponers another time. (That may be a multi-post series)

A lot of times if someone does receive good service they don’t say anything. They rarely tell a manager. They don’t call corporate. They rarely don’t fill out those surveys. Which by the way are always read at least at the store level. The more positive feedback means the better service every time. Those good things will be encouraged. Negative feedback means poor service next time. Why? Now the managers and various supervisors are hounding the grunt employees over every little thing. That is on top of customers’ rude, selfish behavior.

To those that treat retail employees like human beings.

THANK YOU.

You are the ones that make going into work worth it. They are the ones that employees look forward to interacting with. They are the ones that are missed when they go else where to shop. Not because of the money s/he spends but because of the person s/he is. Don’t stop being such a great customer because great attitudes spread like fire and is a joy to contract.

Those that are rude, expect human beings to be like robots, treat employees like their personal serfs they can freely abuse. Please. Oh, please, come do this job for one day and take care of customer after customer that is just as rude for hour after hour all with a smile and a pleasant tone.

 

Ego can be hazardous

Tags

customer service, ego, hazard, job, retail

In the world of retail a person’s ego can be hazardous to others. You may think, “Psshh.Yeah right.”; “My ego can’t hurt someone else.”; “I’m only one person. How could I hurt others when I’m shopping.” The answer to all is “Yes, it can.” “Yes, you can.” It is probably one of those times you really don’t want to hear; “Yes you can.” I’m not going to sugar coat this. If you get upset than you do. You need to figure out why you take it so personally. Maybe you are one of those that does the following or maybe not.

If you drop something liquid or solid on the floor creating a spill tell an employee. Do Not. I repeat. DO NOT assume people will notice there is a wet spot or a spill of some kind. Do not be embarrassed. Everyone, and I mean everyone, does it at some point. Your ego can handle it but that child, other adult or elderly person that slips on your mess cannot handle it. Another person may get injured, possibly really bad because of you. That injury could be avoided but your ego is more important than the safety of others. The effect of your decision of trying to avoid a bruised ego can be major.

Results are as follows:

Another person being injured

Employee gets in trouble

Store has to pay out for the injury

Don’t believe that this happens?

One day an employee was (thankfully close by) stocking the shelves where sunscreen is kept. He looks over and sees a mother looking at some on the shelf and her toddler chewing on the head of a can of sunscreen spray. Seeing how in no way will this end well the employee decided to keep busy close by instead of moving on like he should have. The toddler bites down hard enough breaking the cap and spraying sunscreen everywhere including in his mouth. The mother looks down, takes her child and walks away never saying a word. Thankfully already seeing that something like this may happen the employee was able to clean up the mess before anyone could slip on it. He was also ready to explain everything to the manager in case the guest complained about her child getting sick.

It is Not the Employee’s job to follow you around to be sure you do not break anything. It is Not the employee’s job to follow you to be sure you don’t create a spill. It is not the employee’s job to be sure you are held accountable for your mistakes. The employee is there to help and stock merchandise. It is your job to hold your self accountable.

Navigating Self Checkout

Tags

advice, customer service, machines, retail, self checkout, work

The despised self checkout. You hear comedians mention it in their stand-up. You hear others complain about it. You may be one of those people. Every time you go to use it there is an inward, occasionally outward, groan.

To work the self checkout keep in mind these things. If you can.

1. Where you place your items in the bags is a scale calibrated to items in that store. That scale is Not calibrated for the following:

• Your purse
• Your drinks
• Your wallet
• Your child/baby
• Your child’s carrier/ diaper bag
• Your body or various body parts

The store does not sell these items. Therefore the scale is not calibrated to them.

2. Essentially it is one cashier monitoring four registers being operated by non-trained people who contain little to no patience.

3. If there is a sign that says CASH ONLY. It was Not put there as a conspiracy against you. It means some idiot before you broke the credit/debit reader.

4. The touch screens on the credit/debit readers and checkout screens are like the ones on your phone and other electronic gadgets. The difference is? The difference is that they get used 100’s to a 1,000 times more than your personal devices do on any given day. They are also abused by both grown adults and children. Be happy they don’t have feelings. If they did?  Than there is no way they would ever work again.

5. Follow instructions on the screens. It is that simple.

6. It is going to sound crazy but it is true. You move faster than most of the machines that the general public uses on a regular basis. Have patience.

7. Self checkout lanes are like the express lanes. Do not take a full cart of items. Even if an employee instructs you to so that it would be “faster”. The employee has to say that because if they can’t get the lines to shorten s/he will be in trouble by management and customer complaints of the long lines. If you have a hand basket feel free to use self checkout. If you have a full cart or two tell the employee no unless he or she will do it for you.

8. Do Not ask the obviously pregnant employee or employee that is obviously damaged (ex. Cast, wrist brace, crutch etc.) To left heavy items for you to scan or place on the scale. You can do that yourself and if you can’t, well, help the employee. Do not ask or force such a person to do it his/herself.

Self checkout was put into place to make things more efficient and have less people working. Therefore keeping payroll down. Unfortunately most people do not know how to use them. Well, let’s be honest. A lot of people just abuse the poor machines that were created by man and not a superior extraterrestrial species. If you have a problem with self checkout than do Not use them. Contact corporate and let them know. If you have no issues than by all means use them. They are there for that. Do Not Yell at the employee standing there. The employee did Not install them. The employee did not make the decision to have them installed. The employee just works there and is doing his/her job in watching the infernal contraptions.